NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9828, 24 May 1895, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The conclusion of peace has, according to a Tokio correspondent, caused great satisfaction in Japan to all except the extreme war party. With regard to one aspect of the recent developments in the East arising out of the war it is interesting to learn thao Japanese statesmen are unanimously of opinion that European fears respecting the commercial competition of Japan in China are exaggerated and premature. It is certain that it will be a good many years before Japan can establish an export trade with China upon any considerable scale. In any case, it is argued, a country like Japan, with only 45,000,000 of people, cannot hope at any time to obtain anything approaching to a monopoly in supplying the wants of 400,000,000 of Chinese. Furthermore, it is estimated that at least five years will bo occupied by Japan "in repairing the breakages of war." This will be a ; ace against time, and the help of foreign manufacturers will certainly be called in without stint.

In Germany the encouragement of thrift has reached a point which it has not yet attained in British countries. In many instances Savings Banks have been established in connection with large manufactories, and the following is a translation of the rules under which one of these institutions is conducted : —Every pay day 2 per cent, is kept from everybody's pay for the Savings Bank, and the work pays 5 per cent, interest on this at the end of each year. The pay tickets every pay day state the money saved and amount to the good of the worker. One-half of this can be had at any time, and in cases birth, death, or marriage—the whole amount can be got by applying to the directors or workers appointed for that purpose. On any worker leaving on his or her own accord, the full amount, including interest, is payable to him or her four weeks after leaving the work, and if not in the neighbourhood, is sent free to his or her address. On anyone having to leave for want of work or being sent away, the money and (interest are paid on the day he stops work. At the end of each year the company adds 20 per cent, to encourage saving ; 20 prizes (?) are given—ten of £1, two of £2 10*, two of £5, two of £7 10s, two of £10, and two of £12 10s. The one half of this is for married, and the other half for single workers. At the death of any workman employed by the company, tho widow or children (under 16) get £15 at death, and for five years, every throe months, £1 ss. Books and money are examined every six mouths by five men appointed by the workers.

Egypt is a land of wonders. Professor Petrie, who has been conducting explorations there, has found unmistakable traces of a new race of men, entirely unrelated to anything that was known of Egypt. He has found in the Thebaid, and has quietly and thoroughly m vated, a large 'town, with remains of bodies, buildings, and arts all complete ; and he has proved that this town belonged to a people who have never been met with in Egypt before. Evidence that seems indisputable has established that the date of the remains is about 3000 B.C.—that is, the very obscure period of the seventh and eighth dynasties. Professor Petrie and Ida assistants opened and thoroughly examined nearly 2000 tombs, and in them, strange to say, " not a single Egyptian object was found ; not one scarab or cartouche, nob one hieroglyph, nob one peace of the usual funereal furniture, not one Egyptian bead, nob one god, nob one amulet, not one single piece of Egyptian pottery such a3 was found abundantly in the neighbouring Egyptian town." Still more curious, the dead were not mummified or buried at full length ; they wore buried with their knees bent up to the arms" in the manner of primitive man," as Mr. Lang's Ballade has it. Moreover, although this town and sepulchre appear to have been the centre of the now race, traces of them have been found over a region extending to a distance of fully a hundred miles. From all the data Professor Petrie comes to the conclusion that the date of this interesting people, as we have said, was about 3000 b.o. ; that they represent a conquering invasion; and that they resemble "the Libyan and Amorite typo." They were unquestionably cannibalistic, ab least in a ceremonial sense; but they were not without some -developed arts. They could not write or draw, bub they could work in metals, they evidently carved wood, and they bad a marvellous skill for 6 making flint implements. Their beads, of hard stone, are beautiful, and their red pottery is all the more wonderful since they show no signs of having known the potter's wheel. From this fact Professor Petrie infers that they must have destroyed the neighbouring Egyptians pretty com-

pletely; for the potter's wheel was well known to them ranch earlier, and if they had survived even as slaves they must havd taught their conquerors the use df it.

TbeQueen, though seventy-six years of age to-day, has a memory that seldom fails her, and she never forgets any of her pets ; and although there are one or two, like " Spot,' the fox-terrier, and " Marco," the red Spitz dog, who accompany Her Majesty on all her travels, the larger number, who reside .It the kennels and on the Various farms at Windsor, are never overlooked. The keepers of the animals are liable at any moment to be asked after, or to be called upon to pro* duce for inspection any one of their charges. At the Windsor kennels, situate about a mile from the Castle, there are upwards of sixty dogs of various breeds, ages, and sizes. Each one has his own residencea little chamber from 14 to 15 feet square, with a neatly-tiled yard in front of about the same dimensions. A comfortable bed of clean straw, renewed every day ; a tap of water in the front yard, always dripping; two good meals per diem; an attendant to take them for walks— are the Royal dogs to be envied by their plebeian brethren ! Opposite the kennels, and separated from them by a titled walk The Queen's Walk," if you please—is a large paddock, in the centre of which is a bath wherein the animals perform their ablutions. After the bath is over, the pets adjourn to a drying tent in a corner of the paddock. Happy dogs 1 They are infinitely better cared for than hundreds of thousands of human beings, each with an immortal soul.

News of a shipping disaster involving the loss of 169 lives comes from the Philippine islands. During a cyclone the Spanish steamer Gravina foundered, and out of 171 souls on board only three were saved. According to a statement in a German newspaper the North Pole has been reached, and we are vouchsafed the important and startling news that the region is teeming with bird and animal life. The Paris Figaro a short time ago made a somewhat) similar statement. The Marquis of Salisbury, speaking at Bradford, invited the Government to go in for a policy of social reform instead of trying to upset the church and break up the Empire. Sir W. V. Harcourb has no sympathy with bimetallism, and asserts thab the Government will lend it no countenance in any way. The prospects of the frozen meat trade are said to be very hopeful, and an improvement is anticipated in the autumn. Ib is expected that a great trade will spring up between the colonies and Manchester and Glasgow, and that when better methods of distribution are-adopted in the provinces the result will be a large increase of consumption. The Marquis of Queensberry and his son, Lord Douglas of Hawick (not Lord Alfred) have been bound over to keep the peace. The trial of Oscar Wilde is proceeding. In the course of his remarks at the banquet given to him in London Mr. Warrl defended the colonies against the criticism that their frequent borrowing was in some way at the expense of the British lenders. He claimed that the advantages W6re mutual, and that the money borrowed was well employed. Auckland goldmining properties continue to command great attention in London, where mines representing a capital of £100,000 have been floated.