NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10417, 15 April 1897, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Tbi movement in favour of the repatrlfc tion of the " 100 th Prince of Walei'i Royal Canadian Regiment' , lias made rqpid prp. grass in the Dominion. More than 200 petitions have already boen signed, and all classes of the population have united in the expression of a general desire for the rentoration of the old title and the linking of thi regiment to the country of its origin. The earlier 100 th Kegiment was disbanded in Canada in 1818, and in 1858, during thjj strain caused by the Indian Mutiny, a fine' battalion 1200 strong was raised inCanadi in a few months. On January 10,1859, th; Prince of Wajei presented colours to (hit battalion at Shorncliffe, and referred to it aa the spontaneous offering of the loyal and spirited, Canadian people. The military connexion thnr happily established between the colony and the mother country lias since been severed, ind in the course of army reforms tin regimenb was associated with an Irish battalion and received its tentorial title from Leineter. There is every reason t< believe that the proposed restoration, coupled with a distinctive uniform bearing the (Janadian bidges of the beaver and maple leaf, would enable the regiment to be locally recruited by means of a depot at Ottawa or Halifax. The Secretary of State for War and the Commanderin-Chief have already promised to give favourable consideration to a scheme which wonld bt advantageous alike to the Army and to the military forces of Canada, and would tend in a marked degree to consolidate the strength of the Empire.

The British Ambassador at St. Petersburg has sent to the Foreign Office certain documents relating to the new system of a Grown monopoly for the sale of epirituom liquors. The Ambassador's report and the documents in question have just been laid before Parliament!. 11. de Witte's policy ii to supersede the Excise system under which vodka, or corn brandy, was sold by private individuals by one under which the Crow* would entirely nionopoliee the sale. The Minister's object is nob only to increase the public revenue, bub also to supply corn brandy of a quality superior to that supplied under the present system, and to remove some of the evils attending the old type of dramshops, where illegal pawnbroking was frequently combined with th« sale of spirits. In January, 1895, thi new system was introduced by way ol experiment in the provinces of Perm, Ufa, Orenburg, and Samara. As the reiuiU were satisfactory, especially in a financial sense, the system was extended from July 1,1896, to Bessarabia, Volhynia, Ekaerineelav, Kieff, Podolia, Poltava, bhe Taurid», Kherson, and the Black Sea provinces, and it is to be introduced in the rest of thi empire from July 1 next. The main features of the scheme are the abolition of the present excise on corn brandy, the official control of the existing distilleries, and the supply by them to the Crown of rectified spirits in such quantities and at such pricM as may be decided, the establishment ol central spirit stores by the Crown in each province, whence the spirits will be distributed in sealed vessels to special shops in towns and rural districts where the liquor is sold by official agents. There is also a system of licensing inns and eating-houses to sell the spirits. The new scheme applies only to vodka, and not to wine, beer, etc., which continue to be sold under ordinary licensing arrangements. Sir N. O'Conor points out that the scheme has not been applied over sufficiently wide areas oc sufficiently long to enable safe general conclusions to be formed. "Judging, however, by the favourable financial results already obtained in the four eastern provinces, when the measure was first enforced, it may, with some degree of probability, be anticipated that the monopoly system in question, when applied to the whole ol Russia, will result in a very large increase of the revenue of the Crown, in the shape of profits derived by it from the exclusive sale of corn fcrandy."

The MiUn papers publish a very interesting and timely letter from the old Garibaldiin, Colonel Achilla Fazzari, to Menotti Garibaldi, the son of the popular h«o. ! Br says that Lord Paunci* . :

,1011 hi* come to an understanding with flog Victor Emanuel and General Garibaldi that the Turki should be hunted out I Crete, and that a Prince of the House °[ Savoy should be put at the bead of autonomous government ot the island. The execution of this scheme was actually menc cd. Fazzari remembers that his lopoured General betook himself to Ischia, -coornpanied by a few faithful adherents, -ho were in the Becret ' Garibaldi pretended that ha was going thither for the kinefit of the tea-bathing. General Birio dad the steamship in readiness which was to carry Garibaldi and his troops straight to Crete. The daring project, which would live had the support of the English foreign Office, was suddenly prevented by •be unexpected interference of some of the Italians ot the Extreme Left, who pro tested energetically that nothing should be ittenpted by Italians on behalf of the freedom of other people until the whole of ltd>a irredenta was itself freed from the fll |e of foreigners. ' Even this protest, it appears, might have been ineffectual but {or the unlucky fact that the protestors fere in possession of some scandalous pergonal tales about King Victor Emanuel, ipd they threatened him with the publication of thorn unless he instantly called ,pon Garibaldi to abstain from the intended crusade for the liberation of Crete. " Garib,ldi was obliged, with a very heavy heart," says bis old colleague, "to give up the adventure which had so great a cination for his freedom-loving eoul, and be went straight from Ischia to hie island ofCaprera."

Although both Turkey and Greece are itndiously refraining from declaring open w»r, tho state of affairs on the TurkoGrecian frontier is one of actual warfare. Ibe Greeks are making use of the irregulars of the National League to invade Turkish territory and attack Turkish troops. This ji done in the hope of provoking Turkey to declare war against Greece, So far the Greek irregulars appear to have met with success. It is reported that they have raptured the outpost of Baltino, and defeated a Turkish force sent to the relief of the garrison with groat loss. Volunteers continue to swarm into Turkish territory in ipite of the "efforts" of the Government to prevent them. The meaning of this, of coarse, goes without saying. The Greek Government are incurring an immense responsibility in thus stealthily forcing 00 a war with Turkey, while one b at a loss to understand the meaning of the concert of Europe in allowing such things to be done. Sir Win. Veroon Hercoiirt'e motion protesting against the employment ot British force against Greece and Crete bus been defeated in the House of Commons by a large mnjority. A battery of heavy guns has been landed at Delagoaßay for the Transvaal Government. A Nihilist plot has been discovered in St. Petersburg.