NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9793, 13 April 1895, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

To-morrow is Easter Sunday, or, in the words of old English Calendars, the festival of " the uprising of ouie Lord," or " the agenrysing of our Lord." It has been called the queen of the ecclesiastical seasons, and is perhaps- the most ancient of them all. It was kept as the principal festival of the year in the very first ages of the Church, as is shown by the fact that about the middle of the second century Polycarp, a disciple of tba Apostle John, had a consultation with Amcetus,. at Rome, as to whether it should be observed according to the reckoning of the Gentile or of the Jewish Christtians. This controversy continued for several centuries. The Western Church always kept the festival on the first day of the week, as being the actual day of the Resurrection, while the Churches of Asia observed the third day after the 14th of the Jewish month Nisaro, whatever day of the week this might be. In the year 325 the ; great Council of Nicea declared for the Western method, and as scientific help was required to determine the proper Sunday in March or April, the Church of Alexandria was requested to send timely notice to all the other Churches on this point. The Church of England continued to retain for some ages a modified form of the Jewish method, which was nob wholly banished from the northern parts of the island until 714 A.l). According to the Book of Common Prayer, "Every parishioner shall communicate at least throe times in the year, of which Easter is to be one."

In the course of the recent debate in the House of Lords on the subject of the Uganda railway, lord Salisbury paid this remarkable tribute to the indomitable spirit and the success which m irk the colonising operations of Englishmen. * He said that if a number of British adventurers " are pitted against an equal number, I care not of what race, in any part of the world, if you will keep politics and negotiations off, in a few years it will be our people that will be masters, and it will be our commerce that will prevail, it will be our Empire that will rule, though not a sword has been unsheathed, and not a blow has been struck." Colonists, at any rate, are not likely to question the accuracy of the character thus given them. '

A recent report by the United States Consul-General in Russia gives information respecting the railway through Siberia, which is to extend from St. Petersburg to Vladivostock on the Japan Sea. The road runs through the agricultural portion of Siberia, which is mostly low land with alluvial soil, and an average temperature of about 60 degress Fabr. between May and October. This region is well watered and timbered, and therefore as favourable in many respects for raising as for cultivation of cereals. The western section of the railroad, that extending from Cheliabinsk to Omsk, about 500 miles, was finished last summer. Passenger trains began running on it in September, 1894. Passenger trains were despatched from Omsk only twice a week. The distance from St. Petersburg to Omsk is about 2128 miles, and requires, as Russian trains run on that line (stations in Siberia being as nearly as possible twenty-six miles apart), four and one-half days to make the journey. The Asiatic boundary is marked by a, granite obelisk, reached from St. Petersburg in two days and four and one-half hours. It is of interest to note that an increasing stream of immigration has been pouring steadily from European Russia into Siberia by way of the new railway, no fewer than 18,000 having settled in the agricultural region last summer. Even at the present stage, regardless of the increase sure to manifest itself from year to year, the western section of the Siberian railroad will haul, it is declared, at least 16,000,000 bushels of wheat, only a small portion of which will go to supply the Eastern Siberian demand. Most of it will go into European markets, and to that extent add to supplies available for importing countries. .

• "What iz speling?" asks the leader writer in a new paper—the Speler, the first number of which has just been issued. A further perusal of the article suggests that " ipeling is only a joke." For one of the objects of the paper is to teach us by example nob to spell. In has several objects, in facb six, which appear thus under the title :—" Dovoated (1) tu the

■ ; ■ ; TTTT77TT— y- ■" ■ m Worship and ' l>6r of the Lord God * n * airier Jesus j Christ §s 'The ■ Aultaeiti*. (2) The Kultiur or the RelijttY Leif, and tbairbei the Ekstension or the Kingdom or God, or the Church, konsiatihg of aul ha warship the Lord and keep Hi* Komandments ; (3) The Investigaehou or Spiritual Tru'th; (4) Spelinsj'■ Reform ; (5) Shorthand ; (6) Fees on Er'th." Every line of it is as amusing as the works of that noted humorist Josh Billings. You can get it for a penny, and "tu or raoar kopia po*«t free.)' But it must be a sad trial for Ser Eizak Pitman to acknowledge that there are few words which cannot be spelt wrongly.

With regard to French designs in the Upper "Nile country a well-informed London correspondent of an English provincial journal wrote some time ago that " little doubt is entertained " that in this part of Africa France and the Congo Free State art now working together. "~ This view is entertained in London as well as in Cairo, by men who are in a position to know something of what is going on in Central Africa. Not only is the expeditionary fores which was collected on the Upper Mobanghi some months ago, believed to be well on iu way to trie Kile Valley, but emissaries of France are also, it is reported, making their way to the Galla country from th» east, with ths small French colony of Obock as a base. The object is said to be to gjv« France a continuous line of territory stretching across the continent and although I need scarcely point out that this design is very far from its accomplishment, it appears certain that active steps are being seriously taken in the direction indicated. The interposition of another European power between our own provinces on the Upper Nile and Egypt cannot be a matter of indifference to this country, and I believe that the state of things I have described is at this moment the subject of negotiations between the British and French Governments. What is apparently feared by the British officials in Egypt is that the negotiations may be so protracted that while they are in progress, event* may happen which will seriously modify the situation to oar disadvantage."

The following are the rninimun rates of wages which the Victorian Minister of Public Works has decided must be paid by Government contractors :—

According to a semiofficial Russian journal, Russia will oppose the cession of any Chinese territory to Japan, no matter what the attitude of the other Great Powers may be. Latest advices from Cbitral report that Umra Khan's supporters are dispersing, and that the collapse of the revolt is impending. The negotiations which have been going on for sometime for the purpose of arranging for the admission of Newfoundland into the Canadian Dominion, will, it is now confidently anticipated, be brought to a successful consummation. The New Plymouth bondholders have approached the Hon. J. G. Ward in London, through the Council of Foreign bondholders, headed by Bit John Lubbock, with the object oi getting the Government to come to heir aid. The Colonial Treasurer said the Government would not give the assistance asked for, and treated with contempt a threat which the Council was ill-advised enough to make that New Zealand stock would not be quoted un the Exchange unless the concession asked for was granted. He is to be interviewed again on the subject. Oscar Wilde and Taylor were brought up before the magistrate on Thursday, and again remanded. Very damaging evidence was adduced against them. It has transpited that the police have been watching them for some titn« past.

Trade. Bate Per Day. *. d. Plasterers.. .. ... .. „ 8 0 Bricklayers .. .. .. '.'. 8 0 Carpenters .. .. *. .. 8 0 Mawins .. .. : .. _ 11 0 Engine fitters .. .. :,. .. 10 0 Boiler-makers and rivutters .. .. I« 0 Blacksmiths "".' 10 0 Painters .. 8 0 Plumb-rs „ .. .. „ 9 0 Shipwrights •• •• ".. .. 12 ,S Copper and brass workers .. -*. 10 0 Moulded . V „ 10 0 Engine driters .. .. .. „ 8 0 Labourers .. .. .. ..8 8 Planers, borers and Blotters.. .. 8 8 Tinsmiths.. .. 9 0 Iron turners .. .. .. .. 10 0 Pattern makers.. .. .. .. 11 0 Coppersmiths 10 0 Brass finishers lor engineers' brasswork .. .. 7. V. 10 0