NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10132, 15 May 1896, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The only really effective method of advertising the colony at Horns is through the columns of the newspaper press. Lectures and agencies are no doubt useful in their way, but until the Home newspapers can be induced to afford greater space and prominence to Mew Zealand news we cannot hope to see any great improvement in the dissipation of the dense mass of ignorance which exists in the old country regarding this particular part of the world. What we would suggest with a view of bringing New Zealand more prominently before the notice of the public at Home, and obtaining a wider, circulation there for all useful information regarding the colony, its mineral resources, its trade, its climate, its scenery, and its agricultural advantage?, is the establish* ment of a Press Bureau in London in connection with the office of the AgentGeneral, The function. of such a bureau would be to compile, for insertion in the Home papers, a summary of all news of importance and interest relating to the commercial,-political,.and social progress and development of the country. In short the Press Bureau would be a sort of advertising ageftoy for the -colony, We do not think that any difficulty would be experienced in getting such news published if prepared te a manner sufficiently attractive to interest Home readers; while it must be apparent to everyone that immense advantage would accrue to the colony if arrangements could be made by which its attractions > for the settler, tbe capitalist, the tourist, and the < invalid could be kept constantly before the notice of the English public through the medium of the press.

For a long time pass the Chamber of 'Cotnmtfee at Papeete have been agitating for a direct steam service, for mail and psssetigef purposes, between Tahiti and San Francisco.' At present Tahiti is probably : the most isolated of all the French Monies so far as direct communication with Europe is conoernedt -Lost in the - middle of the Pacific} Ocean, lb depends for the currying of its mails to San S ranoisco upon Balling

rosels, winch ; take from 30 to 4Qda;aos the pjw*ge, '.wbilj the only opportunity there ri? of sending letters to th Mother Country is . every men or . eight W&U ±IS is now proposed thai the Compagnie dea Meters ie Maritime Should OTtflntf their service from Sydney to San Francisco, taking in New Caledonia »p{l Tahiti, and a petition h« been circulated to Papeete for presentation to |ij # Chamber of Deputies asking for a sufficient eobsidy to induce the Mesiageries Maritimes to establish the desired service. It is pointed out thai; One immense advantage which would result would be the great extension of French trade in the Inlands and we notice that this point is bene strongly insisted npon by the advocates of the scheme. At a time when New Zealand is making: an earnest effort to secure the trade of the Islands of the Sooth Pacific, it « neeeaary to watch ray closely the actions of our foreign competitors. Were th< Messageries Maritime* to ran a smiet' between Sydney and San Francisco, vi» Tahiti and the Marquees, it would he found eventually to- nave a very seriou? ■ effect upon the currents of trade, which now flow through Sew Zealand channels, -M

The smallpox epidemic at Gloucester, to /' which reference has been made in our cable ■ messages on several occasions, is described by a correspondent of the London Times as one of fcba most appalling outbreaks which has for a long series of years visited any provincial town in England. Up to the end of March, 118 deaths had occurred, and it is a very significant fact that out of 90 deaths at the hospital, 71 were among unvaccinated persons. This high mortality race shows the severity of the disease, but this is not all. It is so virulent that it has attacked many in the eyes, leaving the young, particularly, blind for life. It is mainly unfortunate young children, says the correspondent, who are the victims of the deplorable attitude which has been adopted by the Poor Law Guardians. That this action—noncompliance with the laws of vaccinationwas based on ignorance and perversity and not conviction becomes clear from the fact that getting frightened at the disaster their default had brought about, they issued notices to the public, for the first time in ten or more years, urging the people to be vaccinated and re-vaccinated ; and, getting still more alarned, they subse- ■ quently actually decided to attempt to undo the mischief of past yean, sod pissed a resolution deciding to eufoic< the compulsory clauses of the vaccination Acts, Mr. Aldie and the others who were agitating in the columns of the Hi bald a short time ago against compulsory vaccination in hew Zealand would do well to carefully study the history of the Gloucester outbreak of small-pox. It might, possibly, lead them to modify their views on tht question of vaccination. Mr. J. Henniker-Heaton, M.P., in Cav sell'* Magazine, in a plea for cheap r cable rates (there would be, he says, a profit in < rate of two cents (Id) a word betwes England and America, and ten cents (sd)a word between England and Australi) recalls an interesting incident"Tfo yearsago theson of a wealthy noblemen la; in San Francisco suffering from typhoid fe/er. Care and skill were lavished upon lim, and still his fate remained uncertain. His friends longed to obtain the advice a the great English physician, Sir Andrew Clark, but Sir Andrew could not be broughi over in time. Nevertheless, his aid was obtained —for what can money not do ? The famout doctor went to the London end of the sable; the other end was hid into the sick room in

California. Thus a strange consultation was held under the sea between, the English medical authority aijd his American colleagues, the very beat of the sufferer's pulse being registered from time to time, thousands of miles away. The lad re covered." Who shall say, asks Mr. Heatoii how many lira might be saved if ttu millions who are not wealthy could communicate as easily with those across the I seas ?

The news from Europe changes with astonishing rapidity, or perhaps to us at this remote part of the globe seems to do bo because we are not made acquainted with tbe processes which lead to the results which are abruptly and br 3y cabled out to thi colonial press. For instance, we are informed to-day that Italy and Abyssinia hati come to a friendly understanding, and have ended the war between them, owing to eh« influence of Russia. The authority for this piece of intelligence, the Paris Figaro, is not altogether beyond suspicion, and wo shall wait for confirmation of the news from Rome before we place much reliance upot it. Then again we are told that the officia • relations between America and Spain an ■ of a most cordial character notwithstanding the bellicose bluster to which we were treated recently. We can readily enough believe this, for it was patent from the first that the warlike attitude of the United States, to which by this time we have grown accustomed and can appreciate at its real worth, was, as we said at the time, the irresponsible bluster of an insignificant section of the America: public. The same party is now di reeling its efforts to reviving the old land claims in Fiji, of which we thought we had heard the last years ago. Russia is said to have obtained important concessions from China, but there is no very clear or definite information on the subject. General Jouberb, the farmer-soldier of th* Transvaal, has been elected vice-president .of the Republic. Mr. Rhodes is said to have distinguished himself in an engage' ment with the Matabele. A Protestant mission station in China hat been looted.