NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10424, 23 April 1897, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Somhime since forms of claims for old aga pensions were distributed under the auspices of the Government, with a view to collect facts for the determination of a variety of questions connected with a statutory provision for old age. These forms were to be filled up and returned to the Government by the 30th of April. The time for sending in the return has, we hear, been extended to the 31st August. The Premier in a recent addresß announced hia intention to stand by the Bill, notwithstanding what occurred in the last Parliamentary session of 1896. We learn that answers of claimants have been coming steadily in, and that thore will be no diffi-

culty on the basis of the information eup> plied ■by these relurna arriving at a closely approximate cost of the echeme as limited by the Premier in hie statement upon the second reading of the Bill. The claims tent in to dat« would

probably repreaenb £150,000 a year, and id is believed that upon the wider basis furnithed by the extension of the time for answering, the claims would represent very nearly the £250,000 asked by the Premier.

It wa« calculated by Mr. G. W. Ruaeell during the discussion on the tecond reading that 15,000 old age pensioners afc 10a a week would coßb £390,000 to £400,000. That calculation was made on the hypothesis that any such scheme should be universal in its application. Mr. Eariwhaw suggested the imposition of an additional penny in the pound on the lands of the colony without any exemption. This, he contended, would give the amount required. It is based on the unimproved value of sixty million aerea of land in the colony. It in probable that, the Premier will narrow the question very materially. Whether he will put the additional penny on the unimproved value or will take the money out of the conso-

lidated fund cannot at present be known, If the Utter he is. likely to be opposed by sereral of his own party. But much aa this subject is beginning to be talked about, it is a good while to the next session of Parliament, aqd many thioge »re likely to happen in the interim.

The visit of the Archbishop of York to Moscow, which was mentioned in our cable columns on Wednesday, will doubtless prove to be another of those interchanges of courtesies between the Anglican and Greek Churches which have been rather frequent lately. During last year the present Bishop of London (then Bishop of Peterborough) visited Kuaaia, and at the Cuar'* coronation ceremonies a 6 tbe Cathedral Dr, Oreighton, in full canonicals, \vaa accorded the place of honour »moiiii the foreign ecclesiastics. The Moscow Gazette gave prominence to the Bishop's presence by publishing <q long leading artiole en union. On another occasion Bishop's Wilkinson's aotion in attending the eervice in one of the Greek churohes at St. Petersburg, end offering pp prayer far unity attracted considerable at. tention, a» did also the response of a Greek ecclesiastic in taking part iu an Anglican eervice in London. The Archbishop of York's visit is no doubt quite unofficial still, considering his great position in the Church of England, any overtures (or a tatter understanding or closer union between the two Churches which be may make or receive cannot fail te have great significance. He will probably meec the heads of the Russian Church and discuss questions of mutual interest with them, Now that tbe Papal Bull on Angiicaq Orders bus indefinitely postponed all hopa of union with Home, the feeling after reunion in the AugUcaii Church appears to have been diverted to Kussia, and indeed it has been pointed out that the barriers iu this direction, are not se (treat- In any negotiations with the Greek Church the insuperable, difficulties raised by the Roman Catholic doctrine* of Papal infallibility and Roman supremacy do not block the way, but there me numerous other questions which must make progress towards a better understanding and more friendly intercourse between the Anglican aud Russian Churches painfully slow. Tbe mission of Dr. Maclagan, if such a term can rightly be applied to bis visit, will, however, probably help to clear away somt of the ignorance and prejudice which exist on both sides,

Tbe attitude of the Eastern Church on the reunion question was stated in the reply of the Patriarch of the Holy Synod of Constantinople to tbe Papal Encyclical on tbe subject. After stating tbat the Orthodox Church is at all times ready to receive any proposal of union, and pointing out the impossibility of accepting the Pope's kindly invitation, the Patriarchal letter proceeds:—" And ae regards the sacred object! of reunion, the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Church of Christ is ready, if perchance she have Allowed anything to be perverted or lost, to accept everything which the Eastern and Waste.™ Churches held in common before the. ninth century; and if the Western Church can prove, from the teachings of the holy fathers or the divinely-assembled oecumenical councils., that the Roman Church, then orthodox in the West, ever, before the ninth century, read the Creed with tot addition [filioqut), or used unleavened bread, or that it accepted the teaching regarding purgatory, sprinkling instead of imuieriion, the immaculate conception of the Ever-Virgin, the temporal power, or the infallibility, or the absolute rale of the Bishop of Rome, we have nothing to «»y; but if, on % contrary, it be clearly jhowa, as even the lovers of truth among the Latins admit, that'the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Church of Christ holds the primitive traditionary doctrines then commonly acknowledged both in the East and the West, and that the Western Church corrupted (hem by various innovations, it is then evident to children that the more natural way towards reunion is the returp of the VVeitern Church to the primitive dogmatic and admbutrativo condition, Maine that) the faith is in no way changed by time or circumstances, bub remains always and everywhere the same, that there is 'one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in on, hop* o< your calling; one Lord, one faith, baptism, one God and F.ther of all, who ii above all and through all and in you all." .

it Toronto. #is nob, of course, proposed ' ' to alter the sfctus or position of the regi. » . menb in the very least. The Canadlw Ip£ Retriraenb wiS bo aa much a part of tht J|f British Arinj m the Somersetshire 01 the Lincolnshire or the Poreetshin Regiment. ,ft will serve like . tho* ' £ regiments In India or Egypt rit '1- ,7 Singapore 0} at tho Cape. The onjy J* difference mil be that, if the scheme is ■'->■-. igroed to, tha depot will be at Toronto in ' >'.' ''. stead of at soma place in the United -'111 Kingdom— i.e., the home battalior. '^ -M will be. lopated in Canada — and the fm recruiting will toke place there .in. \kA stead of M some English county town. '•Xi Hie advapttges from the Imperial point of ; . ?| via* of enoh an arrangement are obvious. "' :" No burden is placed upon tho Dominion', ,5and yet Canada ie made to foel that she has 'Rk athare'in the British Army, and that her £§ sons are taking their pko« under the '£§ common flag. Canada, that is, is associated with the military work of the Empire. %M Nothing bat goal can come from making ''M the colonies feel that they are part of the *3sl Empire, and are directly interested therein. '{': % A most important step is to make the i'fl colonies conscious of the great organism of j$ whioh they form a part But' without ji doubt they will be helped to do that by >M having a British regiment localised in their territory. If « Canadian regiment ie '[■•% fighting in the Soudan or on the Indian '' : frontier, wo may be sure that the Canadians --'? will follow, with far keener interest the '. fortune! of the war. In a word, the exten. ' eion of the territorial system to the colonies will help to make the empire conscious of itself. ;l : For this reason the Spectator trusts tilt f - if the Canadian proposal is agreed tq tie , movement will not atop at Canada," bat will be. extended if possible to the qthfi'V;' colonies. We should like to see, says the Spectator, the depot of a British regiment ■ ■ placed alto in Australia, in New Zealand.! ■'■ ":'■ ''■ and at the Cape. The present year affords .''" an excellent opportunity for putting such a ? "<- plan into operation. To establish regi- '■§[ mental depots in Australia, New Zealand, ' Vv and at the Cape would be a lilting method % of commemorating the longest reign, We M do not suggest that entirely new regiments ';;; should be railed, but rather that three ot 3 the linked regiments should bo unlinked, ' and established an the Australian, the New ■ Zealand, and the South African regiments, with their depots at, say, Adelaide, Auck- « land, and Capetown; each, of course, with two battalion;, and with an establishment like that of every other British regiment. We fully admit that che military effect of thus \ establishing four Imperial regiments, and or ■ having depots at Toronto, Adelaide, Auck- j land, and Capetown, would not at first be very great, and possibly that there would be a certain amount of extra trouble thrown on the War Office in arranging for reliefs, etc. These difficulties would, however, be quite counterbalanced by the moral advantage gained by interesting the colonies in the British Army, and by giving the greatei dominions of the Crown a share in our army. But apart from these moral and political : advantages, we believe that there would in the end be very great military advantages in the establishment of these Canadian, Australian, and South African regiments. In the first place, they would carry the \ sound military traditions of the British ' Army into the colonies, and provide, as it . were, rallying centres for the strong ' military feeling which exists in the .1 colonies. Next, and this is perhaps th( - most important feature of the whole scheme, j they would greatly broaden the recruitinj base oh the British Army. ♦ I| The victories of the Turkish forces havi '| awakened Greece to a sense of its danger, J and a proclamation, has been issued by the J Government, calling upou all capable of %', bearing arms to join the army. Both sides '■ in the battle of Maluna Pass showed great • courage and tenacity, but the superiority 0! the Turkish artillery proved irresistible, while the Sultan's troops completed theii victory at the point of the bayonet. Th{ ' Greeks in retreating abandoned their tents, The Mayor of Larieea ie leading a volunteei force of citizens to the aid of the Greeks at the Raveni Pass, where the! arc offering a stubborn resistance to ai * army of fourteen thousand Turks, who have ; been seven times repulsed in their attacks ,; on the Greek positions. The Greeks have burned Damasi. The Turkish forts in the c'i Gull of Arta have, it i 3 said, disabled, two ■• Greek cruisers. The Turkish fleet 'hat ■ pa*s«d through the Dardanelles with sealed ', orders. Owing to the absence on thi '"■ continent of both Lord Salisbury and the * Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Cuizon, considerable uneasiness is felb ia England.