NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9479, 7 April 1894, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Yesterday, April 6, was the 44fch anniversary of the departure from India in ISSO of that remarkable diamond known as the Koh-i-noor to pass into the hands of Queen Victoria. Like all the other great historical diamonds, this one has a romantic history. The interesting career of these stones is doubtless due to the eagerness of wealthy people to geb possession of them. The Koh-i-noor was, it is stated, discovered at Golconda in the remote ages of the past, the tradition of tho Hindoos being that it was the property of Kama, King of Anga, who reigned some three thousand years ago. Coming to more recent times it is said to hare been stolen from one of the Kings of Golconda by a treacherous general, and given to the Great Mogul ■ about the year 1640. It was then in a rough state, and much larger than at presen A Venetian diamond-worker employed by the Great Mogul to cub it, did his work so badly that more than half the gem was lost, and the rest treated very imperfectly. Instead of being paid, this jeweller was fined 10,000 ducats. A French traveller in India over two hundred years ago, saw the Koh-i-Noor, and told of the intense wonder with which it was regarded in that country.

Since then the Koh-i-Noor has had a remarkable history, frequently changing hands among the Indian Princes by force or fraud. Early in the present century it was stolen from the Khan of Cabul in a most audacious way by Runjeet Singh, Chief of Lahore, who invited the owner to his court, and having him in his power demanded the diamond. The wily guest had provided against such a contingency, and after a show of resistance produced a perfect imitation of the famous jewel. However, the lapidary to whom Runjeet gave the supposed diamond for mounting, said it was only a bib of crystal. Runjeet, in a great rage, ordered the abode of his visitor to be ransacked from top to bottom. For: a long time the search was vain ; but at length a slave betrayed the secret, and the gem was found beneath a Heap of ashes. When the Punjaub was conquered by the English in 1850 the Koh-i-noor was included among the spoil, and ib was presented to the Queen by the East India Company. The European diamond merchants pronounced ib badly cut, and its re-cutting was entrusted to an Amsterdam firm. The late Duke of Wellington gave the first touch to the work, and the gem has since been regarded as mora dazzling and beautiful than ab any former time in its history.

The death of Mr. R. M. Ballantyne, who passed away at Rome recently, will be very generally regretted by the juvenile Englishspeaking world, and those who are no longer boys will also have kindly recollections of the author of " The Coral Island," " Deep Down," "The Gorilla Hunters," and other stories of exciting adventures by land and sea. Mr. Ballantyne was connected with the well-known family of Sir Walter Scott's printers. He was born in Edinburgh in 1825, and when 16 went to Canada in the service of the Hudson Bay Company. Returning to Scotland in 1847, he published in the following year his "Hudson Bay, or Everyday Life in the Wilds of North America." Hespenb some time in the printing office of Messrs. Constable in Edinburgh, bub about the year 1856 ho gave up business and adopted literature as his pro*

feaaien. Every Ohri^aas; saw afc least) one new story from hisWy pen. For thq material of several of : stories he reverted tp his Canadian experience. ,Ho made it a rule, indeed, tc. write always, when he could, from his owy qsperienoes, Before he wrote " The Lifetbouse" he lived for some time with the k&p era on the Bell Rock. He prepared for " L,p Down'' by a visit to the Cornish mincsfer " The Pirate City" by a winter in Algiers and so in other case«j. This method of proration gave a realistic character to his wor-and a graphic force to his descriptions* D-wn to 1887 Mr. Ballantyne had written 74 vermes containing 62 separate stories. He also a clever artist, and often exhibited >Hter colours in the Royal Scottish Academy, For many years past' he had resided jfttj Harrow- A short time ago he fell into IM health* the result of overwork, and he hid gone to Italy in search of relief and rest. V It appears from » cable message m another column that a man named Meunier and another Anarchist have been arrested iii London on suspicion of having been concerned in the dynamite explosions which occurred in Paris in 1892, and for which the notorious Ravachol was punished. The Anarchists of St. Etienne at that time, in view of the then approaching municipal elections, issued a manifesto stating that those who went to the poll would *' imitate the sheep going to the shambles." A series of outrages which occurred ab the Parisian restaurant of M. Very shortly afterwards were traced to Ravachol, who was arrested. The arrest was followed by the blowing up of the restaurant on ! the eve of the trial, and the city waa thrown into » abate of panic. The jury shared in the general scare, and only brought in a verdict of "guilty with extenuating circumstances," which was freely spoken of as a miscarriage of justice and a display of cowardice. Ravachol was sentenced to penal servitude for life; but he was afterwards tried on a charge of robbery and murder, and executed at Montvoisin on July 11, 1892. ,

The order seems to have gone forth to the Ministerial press to magnify the importance of Mr. Seddon's visit co the Urewera country, and to minimise Lord Onslow's visit to the chiefs of that rough and inaccessible part of New Zealand. We . find that the New Zealand Times, which is the official organ of the Government, has been: made to say that Lord Onslow was refused by the Urewera chiefs permission to pass through their country. We are at loss to understand why Mr. Seddon should be so anxious to suppress the true facts of the case, which - are on record, unless it should be to give a fictitious importance to his own visit to the Urewera country. When Lord Onslow and Mr. Cadman,, the then Native Minister, visited the Tuhoes at Ruatoki they were invited by the principal chiefs to traverse through the whole of the country, and Mr. Cadmau, in a telegram sent to the Premier, Mr. Ballance, said that the Ureweras had given the Governor " an excellent reception, and had invited him to stay and visit the whole district." Yet we find the New Zealand Times, which is, curiously enough, controlled by a Minis of the Crown, declaring that the natives "refused to allow the Governor to pass through their country." Mr. Seddon is no doubt anxious to magnify the importance of his office as Native Minister, and it) no doubt flatters his vanity to be invited to travel through the Urewera country; bub before setting his journalistic hacks to work he should have, made himself acquainted with historical . facts. His attempt to pose as the "first European of importance " who had been invited by the Uroweras to travel through their country, is a pitiable exhibition of over-weening vanity, when it is remembered that a Governor of the colony had been invited to visit any part of the district that he pleased. Lord Onslow and Mr. Cadman might have gone from one end of the Urewera country to the other, without let or hindrance. They were pressed by influential chiefs to extend their travels, but were unable to do so owing to other engagements. The present attempt of the Ministerial press to represent Mr. Seddon as the first official to be invited to go through the Urewera is both false and foolish.

The strike riots in Pennsylvania have assumed a very serious aspect. Owing to the threatening attitude oi those on strike, it was deemed necessary to call out the local militia. The troops met the rioters, with the result that seventeen of the latter were killed. The manager of one of the works was killed by the strikers, and his body burned in an oven. The president and secretary of the Miners' Association have been arrested in connection with the murder. By this collapse of a shaft in a mine in Germany eleven persons were killed. Two anarchists have been arrested in London in connection with the dynamite explosion at the Cafe Very in 1892. The missing witness, Scott, in the Ardlamonb murder case has surrendered to the police. It will be remembered that the accused was discharged on the Scottish verdict of " Nob proven," This verdict permits the police to again arraign him in the event of additional evidence against him being forthcoming. Whether the appearance of Scott, who was regarded as a most material witness, will . lead to further proceedings remains to be seen. Tfie German military authorities are endeavouring to stamp out gambling in the service, and fifteen officers of the army, who have been found guilty of thia, offence, have been dismissed. The examination of Mr. Lark worthy, in connection with tha affairs of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, is disclosing some remarkable incidents in regard to the management of the company. Mr. Gladstone is to undergo an operation in June for his defective eyesight.