NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9786, 5 April 1895, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Although the Society, of Arts Exhibition this year does not include any atrikirg picture which stands out conspicuously from all the rest, the collection as a whole compares favourably with those of previous years. Our progress in Art may not be rapid, but it is satisfactory to know that we are not remaining stationary. : And this is the more gratifying because the temper and spirit of theageoan hardly be regarded as conduoive to the cultivation and development of the artistic temperament. We are essentially a trading community, engrossed in the pursuit of business, and prone, perhaps, to devote what leisure we can snatch from our daily toil to lawn tennis rather than to literature, to polo rather than to painting. All the more credit, therefore, is due to the few who give themselves up to the arts which refine and elevate life, and whose patience and industry and steadfast application are seen in the numerous excellent pictures in the Exhibition, It is not surprising that so many of our artists should have gone to Nature for their subjeots rather than attempt the more ambitious flights of creative genius. New Zealand is tho paradise of the landscape painter. Her woods and wilds, her snow-capped mountains and sounding coast,' her marvellous wealth of bush scenery, present irresistible attractions for the. artist. . We are confident that some day New Zealand will produce - it great landscape painter. Meanwhile we shall nob complain if our artists continue to give

such faithful transcripts as the present exhibition contains. ' There is ' much good work in the pictures of this year. 11:' 1 ;

In an article which Mr. Gladstone has just contributed to an American publication he abates that " the nations of Christendom are everywhere arbiters of the fate of nonChristian nations." This assertion is receiving peculiarly strong confirmation at the present moment by the part which the Great Powers are playing ,in connection with the Chi no-Japanese war, and also by the crusade which Mr. Gladstone himself is just inaugurating against Turkish misrule in Armenia. Mr. Gladstone speaks of the dominance of Christianity and its general application to the human race thus —"The religion of Christ is for mankind the greatest of all phenomena, the greatest of all facts. It is the dominant religion of the inhabitants of this planet in at least two important respects. It commands the largest number of professing adherents. If we estimate the population of the globe at 1400 millions (and some would state a higher figure), between 400 and 500 millions of these, or one-third of the whole, are professing Christians, and at every point of the circuit the question is not one of losing ground, but of gaining it."

The great statesman goes on to show that the fallacy which accepted the vast population of China as Buddhists in the mass has been exploded, and it is plain that no other religion approaches the numerical strength of Christianity; doubtful, indeed, whether there be any which reaches one-half of it. He goes on to say that Christianity ia the religion in the command of whose professors is lodged a proportion of power far exceeding its superiority of numbers, and this power is both moral and material. In the area of controversy it can hardly be said to have a serious antagonist. Force, secular or physical, is accumulated in the hands of Christians in a proportion absolutely overwhelming, and the accumulation of influence is not less remarkable than that of force. This is not surprising, for all the elements of influence hare their home within the Christian precinct. The art, the literature, the systematized industry, invention, and commerce—in one word, the power of the world, are almost wholly Christian. In Christendom alone there seems to lie an inexhaustible energy of world-wide expansion.

In some respects their almost unbroken career of victory seems to be turning the heads of the Japanese—or at least a section of them. According to the correspondent of the Daily News the Japanese press talks much fustian, but it is curious to observe that much antipathy is directed against Great Britain, and the fashion of the moment is to speak disparagingly of England's prestige. The Kokumin avers that England is the China of Europe, with a " veneer of civilisation," and hintß that it is fortunate for England Japan is not fighting against her instead of China, and quaintly adds that if England be stripped of India, Waterloo, and Trafalgar, she is a very insignificant Power. In n subsequent issue the Kokumin said China was the Turkey, Corea the Egypt, and Japan the Great Britain of the East, minus England's decrepitude and corruption. A Tokio official came at the New Year to call upon Mr. Mclyor,. the American Consul. General, and declared that Japan would have to fight England. Mr. Mclvor did not laugh outright, but gravely remarked that England wan more powerful than China. " I know it," replied the bellicose official, " but we can beat England, and we are going to do it." i

The British relief force In Chitial is advancing with great rapidity and spirit, notwithstanding the difficulties of transport owing to the rough character of the country. The troops have already had a severe bmsb with the enemy, whom they forced to retreat with heavy loss, after five hours' fight ing. The casualties 011 the British side were small. Our soldiers behaved themselves admirably, and fought with great gallantry. A rumour, which if well founded, is likely to lead to very grave results, is current in Berlin, to the effect that France intends to seiiM the Upper Nile country, ns a set oJ to the British occupation of Egypt. Wo cannot, however, believe that there is any French statesman so fatuous as to seriously entertain such a project which, if attempted, would inevitably be resisted by England by force of arms. ; The libel action in England in which Mr. Osctir Wilde is the complainant and the Marquis of Queensberry the defendant is attracting great attention, owing to the extraordinary character of the evidence. It is regarded as almost certain thao the new Governor of Mew South Wales will be Sir Henry Loch, I who was formerly Governor of Victoria, and more recently Chief Commissioner of the Cape. The Hon. J. G. Ward has had an interview with Lord Ripon on the Samoan question and the cable and mail services. He has alio met deputations of Oamaru bondholders and Bank of New Zealand shareholders. The latter asked him for an assurance that no fresh call would be made, but while refusing to give any pledge, he expressed a strong opinion that no further call was necessary or likely.