NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9489, 19 April 1894, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A few day*! ago a cablegram announced the fact that a conference upon University extension is to be held in London, at which all colonial Universities have been requested to be represented. The extension movement

is a system of local lecturing and «»nii ß Won under ; the auspioas of the fau? Universities, Outside the regular courses of instruction. By some this "development of college instruction has been regarded as less important than novel, and haii even been described as one of the three gre waves of banefloent change which have passed over the world, the other two bein» tne Reformation and the Revolution, "it may be said," writes Professor Goldwi,, Smith, "with reference to University | Extension, or to any educational movement in particular, and it is to be hoped without incurring the charge of illiberally or obscurantism, that people will have presently, to consider the economical as well as the intellectual effects of pressing on everybody what is called high education. The good founder of the Cornell University once confided to a friend his hope that the day would come when there would be five thousand students in his institution. "His friend replied that if thab day did come, the institution, instead of being, as it was a blessing, would be in danger of being' a curs 5 to the State, since there would not be a market for anything like such a number of graduates, and the residue would be without suitable work, unhappy, a i s . contented, and probably dangerous to the commonwealth. It is vain to imagine that people having received what they think a, high education will go back and dignify it with what they deem a low employment. Even of youths educated at agricultural colleges many, ib is said, do not return to the farm. The caution is the more necessary because, from the general ferments of opinion On the subject of national education, the activity of legislation, and the expenditure of public money, a race of educational projectors is pretty sure to arise."

The Chrysanthemum Show is to be opened this afternoon, and all exhibitions of this kind are ever full of interest reminding as, as they do, of the marvellous results obtained by florists in bringing such plants as roses, pansies, and chrysanthemums, to the highest point of cultivation. There is a method of giving at once encouragement and satisfaction to the love of the beautiful implanted within us, which is a very different thing from what has been called the love of the fautastic. This latter state of mind has little to commend ib, still ib has had its day. In days gone by the mania iln the great gardens of European palaces and chateaus was to torbure plants, and by trimming make them assume the forms of men and animals. The time expended to obtain results was great, but the results themselves were not. Queer, quaint, are the qualified terms of praise that alone can be accorded to them. Such gardens are now rare enough, but one exists near Steinham, in Germany. As the cars speed along passengers see & strange hedge, which gradually assumes the forms cf sportsmen, a man on horseback, men quarrelling, a general with his laurel wreath, an elephant, a camel, a llama, sheep, deer, goat, hog, ass, crocodile, monkey, hen, peacock, bird feeding its young, aspinning- wheel, etc. Thedwarf trees of the Japanese are now very well known. Some of them are so small that you could have a dozen of them in your window garden. In all these dwarf trees, the root, unable to expand, being hemmed in by the pot, becomes distorted and crops oat of the ground, so that there is sometimes more root apparent than real trunk. Among wealthy Japanese, it is not nncommon to find standing outside the window a little case containing a number of these dwarf trees, which, left to their natural growth, would have formed a grove large enough to surround and overshadow the house. Curiously enough, the love of the fantastic finds its counterpart in nature. The Brazilian flower known as the running antelope," is so called because its white petals have a series of well-defined dark-coloured lines and dots, in which the imagination can readily trace the form of an antelope, with its limbs outstretched and head thrown back, seemingly fleeing for its life. In the " caricature plant" one species has the imitative form on the petals, and another has it outlined in the ribs and shading of the leaves. This last-mentioned curiosity bears a remarkably well-executed likeness of the Duke of Wellington, and on that account has been named " Arthur and His Nose."

When a little more than a month ago Mr. Byles asked a question in the House oi Commons on the possibility of bringing about the disarmament of Europe he simply raised a benevolent smile. • Could anything appear more absurd than to expect any result from a movement of the description indicated while the nations of Europe were persistently increasing their armaments and the Continent was " one vast camp undermined by explosives ?" Yet, little as Mr. Byles knew it, and little as his fellowmembers dreamt of it, his simple question produced a great effect throughout Europe. 'Eminent men had been thinking the whole situation over, and by cable yesterday we received the news that the Emperors of Germany and Austria and the King of Italy have agreed to disarm whenever the interests of their respective countries permit ot it." This is, of course, very vague, bub it shows the direction in which events are moving. Hitherto all Europe has been complaining of the crushing burden of their increasing armament*, but yet did nothing to lighten it, so ib is a decided advance to have this admission of the desirability of disarmament, and this promise to take steps to place the armies and navies on a more peaceful footing.

A leading European statesman recently declared that the mania for armaments was an epidemic of which all, without publicly confessing it, would bo glad to be cured. The most mischievous thing in these armaments is, he states, that the only cure is war, and that, the war over, there is no telling that the malady would not begin again, either for the sake of fresh revenges or because experience had shown that tactics and weapons had not given the results expected to accrue from such enormous sacrifices. The prospect of intermittent wars making even peace ruinous, is disquieting all minds and leading statesman, and even sovereigns are reflecting on it. The difficulty is to devise a plan of lightening this crushing burden without imposing upon any State a diminution of forces or a renunciation of what it considers legitimate claims or aspirations. .According to the statesman in question the only means of putting an end to these continuous warlike preparations and outlay is to reduce the term of compulsory military service to one year. Universal service, he contends, has been considered compatible only with a reduction of the seven or 'five years to three, thus materially lessening the expense. After years of experience it is now seen that three years' service is incompatible with universal service. Nothing, therefore, is more logical than to reduce by two-thirds burdens which are becoming intolerable, and from which before long the only way of escape will be the utilising of the engines of destruction accumulating for years, so that war will have to be made for its own sake, and it will be better to perish in action than at peace. This ™™™°*£ the direction of disarament has, however, been rather rudely checked by the latest attitude of the Czar, who, according » « cablegram published in another column,

\jfonA point blank to entertain a stion that be should oall a conference * fl^ e * ho question. Hit reasons for IP 8 he stand are not announced, and *! klD losal is certainly rather inconsistent jShOa reiterated professions of peaceful rations which he lias made on every con'"Tent occasion. If the tat refuse, to -in the movement can the other nations '°' n „t!ne to tbemsolvea discontinue the gilding up of tbeir military resources ?

When Captain Hunter-Blair was here, ting M A.D.C. to Lord Glasgow, he was 10 v much pained, while up the Waikato, L witness the neglected state of the millL cemeteries, where lay the remains of £ a men who had bled and died in maintaining the supremacy of the Queen, and • •„„ security to the colonists. He comSonicated with officers of regiments who nanicated with officers of regiments who , ] been in the Waikato and other oam*L nSf with a view of raising a fund for Butting the military cemeteries throughout jjx, country in a state of decent repair. Captain Hunter-Blair gob a hearty reinse in many quarters, and there is Jew-on to believe that the publicity given to his action, through the press, stirred up the Colonial Government to perform a long selected duty, that was of making the •novation of these military cemeteries a acred national trust— debt of honour ■rbicb the colonists owed to the memory of the gallant l men who had laid down their ljre.« in their service and interest. At the darenth hour the Government are seeing to the various burying places, bub as jhowing the interest taken in the matter by regiments which served here, and are now Jn various quarters of the globe, Major Elliot, the Governor's Private Secretary, has received communications from officers asking how this question now stands, and offering further subscriptions for putting the cemeteries in a fitting condition. It will be a poor day for the colony when the colonists, looking upon the broad acres won fcv the blood of British soldiers, ever permit British officers and men to bear the charge of keeping in reverential order tie craves ot their comrades who have fallen in the various compaigns in this country. Jti; to the credit of the officers and men of the Royal Navy serving ou tho Australasian station, that they have for many a lone year, whenever opportunity offered, attended to the graves of those belonging to their branch of the service, who fell in the various engagement*.

Sir W. V. Harcourfc's Budget has not fiven satisfaction to the press, or to the Scotch or Iri?h members. Its complex a*tare and electioneering character are complained of, whiie the proposal to intreaie the duty on spirit* has greatly bceused the members from the two great whisky - producing countries of Great Britain. On the other hand, the Radicals •re delighted that the death duties have been increasedthat is to say the poor Radisi? are delighted. Sir George Grey is to bo banqueted by the Colonial Institute, and the Imperial Institute is also desirous o {King him a public reception. Sir Georgef ifi greatly pleased at the reception accorded Jim by the Marquis of Ripon, the Marquis si Salisbury, and Lord Koutsford. The Powers constituting the Triple Alliance ce evidently ia earnest in their desire to brinp about a general disarmament. They isked the Czar to convene a Congress of European Powers to consider the advisability of such a step. His Majesty however iecliried to do anything of the sort. By an explosion on a Brazilian gunboat 50 persona lost their lives. The London Globe iserta that H.M.s. Uuracoa is in a shameini condition, and ought to be ordered borne. Two murders are reported from Australia, the victims being a bank manager in New South Wales, and a Frenchman in Victoria.