NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10378, 1 March 1897, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

There are evidently (says a Victorian contemporary) three principal causes which have led to the changed relationship between mastere and servant'. These may be roughly defined as education, locomotion, and variety of occupation. Fifty years ago the great majority of girls who went out to service were but scantily educated. Many, indeed; could not read •or write. Nowadays the State school and the newspaper Press have altogether obliterated this disqualification, more particularly so in new countries like our own. Even as recently as when George Eliot wrote, the servant girl seemed a being of another sphere, for that gifted writer, who had a remarkable insight into the habits and character of the working classes, arrived at the disheartening conclusion that cooks aud housemaids were a olasa apart, that they bad not even ordinary reason and were eternal children. Any mistress who' Would base her treatment of her servants to-day upon such an hypothesis would make as great a mistake aa if she wore to follow the example of Mrs. Pepys and " beat her saucy wench." The great facilities for travelling which railways and steamships have introduced into modern life are also potent factors in the servant girl problem. Travelling was a serious and expensive matter in former days, but with us tbo servant girl ia equally at home in Melbourne, in Sydney, or in Adelaide, and the old attachment arising from domestic service is a thing of the past. Unfortunately no new tie has as yet arisen to take its place, and too often, it is to be fearod, servants look upon their omployers as their hereditary enemies, to be exploited and bullied on principle.

The great widening of the field of occupations for women of late years has also exerted a strong influence on the statue of servants. The factory or shop girl has often to work much harder, and her food is much less satisfactory, than that of her sister at service, but her hours and duties are precisely marked out, and she is, outside a certain specified time, her own mistress. She can comu and 1 go as aho pleases, and rightly or wrongly she has come to look d,own upon her more dependent sister, whose occupation U described as " menial." If we look beneath the surface (says our Victorian contemporary) we find that work is considered respectable in proportion as it is on a commercial basis, and by obtaining si\cb a basis for their work, more clearly defined duties and hours of recreation, longer terms of engagement and more comfortable quarters, the condition of the domestio servant may be much ameliorated. 16 is therefore quite natural to find that domestic sorvantsaro bestirring themselves, and that they are about to form a union in connection with the Trades Hall, Meetings have been held and by.lawa have been drafted., and we may expect to see within a short time a flourishing institution, with its seoretary, treasurer, and representatives.

A correspondent of the Times say» that those who are well informed about the Far East have little doubt that a secret treaty has been actually signed and ratified between Russia ai\d China. He goes on to say that since General Ign&tieff in 1860 cajoled the Chinese Government into signing the treaty whioh gave Russia an immense territory on the Amur and Ussuri, larger than many important European kingdoms, no such diplomatic success has fallen to the lot of any Minister at Peking liko that. just achieved by Count. Caaaini. The most cursory examination of the treaty suffices to show that it is tantamount to a, treaty of alliance between Russia and China or, more correctly, to a protectorate in which the former is content that the latter should take only a, passive part, There is no doubt that the modus operandi of Count CaßSSJiii in 1890 was precisely the game as that of hie great predecessor in 1860. In a Japanese Universal History it is contemptuously recorded that "Uhina in 1860 ceded t.a Russia a kingdom'for 2000 rusty muskets." ' She ban now, made a more important concession, for an even less tangible equivalent. There ie no apparent danger '.tg 4 the existence p{' (ho tyanchu dynasty. 16 follows that Count Cassini must.have conjured up one, and there is a certain omounc of evidence to bliow that ho availed hlrosglf i» of 801)18 ':, minor diplomatic .. occurronQes to emphasize the possibly imminent outbreak of another war with Japan, The; manner : in which ■ the-, Chinese have been/ inveigled into transferring to. Russia •the whole! provinces of Kirin and Leaojtong. thowe thai) their diplomacy ■; is- still quite

unable to compete "with • that otjLte Russian statesmen. The Belgian ii iecon sold, who is reported -tqW. i j. q u.Y • Peking as adviser to the TsungH- Maes has not arrived there a moment to* ion ' ' -'' : t ~ t — i ..." *' ** - Lord Salisbury hai explain I L' ' autonomy scheme for Crete agreed t amore' ' the Powers to the House of! Urs,-'* : eays that if either Greece or Turkw refusj to withdraw from the island, tM P aff en will compel obedience to their projwsala b! " v ' : force. -The King of Greepe is it fa 0b; ' profoundly annoyed at the attitude of the Po\ve« i and indeed he. is in a very'fell position, for it is eaid that if, % wnc j ' tiona withdrawal from Crate h], fBrQ ,, will be endangered, m fiiriota' are tH populace at the turn affairs have take] The Greek authorities has tefuH to Rive a-, promise that thpy will rj call their forces;, and the combined flee 1 are threatening to blockade the qnti Cretan .coast, The Parliamentary iiiqiij concerning the Jameson raid is proceedin Mr. Cecil Rhodes being still under ex f «n nation, His replies to questions put U Mr, Liibouchere appear to hire been rev frank and direct, and he is said to have m':■'£': than once cleverly turned the tables ojiij • questioner. The strike on the North E«te ; Railway in England, proves to be a, yfy L ',' rioue affair, and it is feared tlietrouhSnL | affect the collieries and do immense dinan' to business generally. The comply hy offered to confer with the men, amU {e, w l porary settlement has been arrange! while ■' the parties concerned discuss the /JsJHpn • h'■■'■ Owing to the heavy sea now run Jig' "• '"■•'/: ati'f>ndod stoamer Orotava has svfung , leak, and ia in a dangerous position • • •'•} • N , M f