NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10126, 8 May 1896, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

About a year ago, the British Admiralty placed at the disposal of the Governments of the Australasian Colonies, several naval cadetships, It will be seen, however, from the following dispatoh from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that the recent examination of the candidates has been far from satisfactory;— " With reference to my circular dispatch of the 15th May, 1895, respecting the four annual colonial nominations to naval oadetahip, 1 have the honor to state that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty hare drawn my sHention to the facb that in the recent examinations, very few colonial candidates havo done well enough, to pass into the Britannia, and that several of those who passed only just obtained the number of marks requisite to qualify. The lew colonial nominations to naval cadefcships are much sought after, and I am anxious as far as possible to avoid their being wasted through the failure of nominees to pass the qualifying examination. I request, therefore, that before recommending any candid?' 9 for a nomination you will warn the part, is or guardians as to the uselessness in. arring the expenses in sending boye up for examination unless they are advised by those who have the educational care of the boys that they are are not likely to fail, and thereby cause the nominations to be sacrificed, and that you will in all cases ask the parent or guardian for an assurance that there is a reasonable prospect of the bey being able to pass the examination."

The Johannesburg Star in referring to the High Commissioner says :—Whatever opinions may be entertained of the unsuitability of Sir Hercules Robinson for his present post in times of such national crisis and danger as these, hie growing physical feebleness.

which seems to be finding its inevitable flection la a want of moral and dtplom* stamina, his almost pitifn; anxiety V matters in South Africa should beallqwJ«] flounder along as best they can so 10t* 33 nothing is done, the Natal papers Joe warned that any attempt to utilisfhis growing feeling for the sake of adding an old colonial project) will be timi with the warmest condemnation./ The proposal is nothing leas than the ref ision of the High Commissionerahip, estajsbing a separate officer in Eastern Soutprtca. It was just this innovation, of"» independent and divided Comfsionership, wliich plunged the coup into a sea of troubles from 1877 h wards ; and to repeat the experiment /w, when there ut& so many other cirfnstances which establish a close historil parallel between 1880 and the presently, would be to add one more fatal orfn to the present situation. South Afrjf is a problem one and indivisible. ByJl means let us have a High Commisaiof who will represent the British Crown iill necessary strength and vigour, but rPi" for him a supremo and undivided conjAThe two convicts chafd with the mure'er of Mr. Smith, of pwvoll Lodge, have been committed for/rial. In commenting on this tragedy the Spectator Bays: The few who cc ider that too much fuss is made aboi the murder on Muswell Hill, and thinl that the newspapers accord to it a n disss amount of space, fail to underatal some of the conditions of life in Lend i. The immense city, or central group If cities, is surrounded with a girja of daughter towns, more than fay in number, each one of which wild be accounted in any other country n important and wealthy place, would possess governing institutions of its ownivould be adorned with municipal bnildiik, and would be served by dignified and lumerous churches supported by the Stab, Some ten of them, for iusfcauce, in Kor,h London alone. have names beginning wih the letter H. the number of well-to-d\ households in them is prodigious, much gpter, we fancy, than the number in aiy Continental

capital, except Paris, and the sows of a murder like that of lit Sui:h, affects them all with a well-founded sense of alarm. Their members are for fch«most part among the most secure classes it] the world, being wholly free from official oppression, from any danger of a rising from below, and from any dread of mtlicious injury t( I person or to property, they are, in fact, almost too perfectly "podded" for tht proper development of cluracter; buttherj is a weak place in their umour, nevertheless, of which they are all at times faintly conscious. The nouses in these suburban towns are a Utile too defenceless against bold thieves. They are curiously segregated, their orcupiers for the most part knowing nothhg of each other; they are deserted by tbeir male inhabitants during the day, and at night they are very imperfectly watched or patrolled, the Metro* politan polio, which is responsible for) them, being occupied elsewhere. The difficulty of providing sufficient police to watcb so vast an am is in fact very considerable, and there has litherto been little readiness to organise tnything approaching to r, separate aur'hary service of parish constables. There, is always, therefore, *- vague dread of "burglars," which, though it is usually kept down by long experience of security, never gees quite to sleep, and is sharpened by an incident like the murder ol Mr. Smith into a terror which, if the incident were repejted, would speedily become panic, would iffect rents, and would probably end in a movement which wonld be felt even in Parliamentary elections.

Our cable messages to-day state tbab no specific reference is made in President Kruger's message to the Volksraad, to the grievances of the FJitlanders. Drilling is paid to be still going on at Pretoria. There is a rumour current that Sir J. de Wet, th« British agent in the Transvaal, has been recalled. The directors of the Chartered Company are considering the propriety of accepting the resignations of Messrs. Rhodes and Beit. The Italians are withdrawing from Adigrat. The Matabele have suffered another defeat.