NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10430, 30 April 1897, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

As indicating the present «tate of feeling among the Boers respecting the British, we extract the following from the Volkstem, published at Pretoria:—" It is simply rldltilllous to talk of allaying the race hatred between Boer and Briton as long as the Briton believes he has an innate tight to insult the Boer. How ia the reconciliation to be bronght about? Every attempt haa been followed by an inexcusable attack on the part of the Briton. Bloodshed has always followed. Are we always to accept weakly and blindly such treatment? Wβ will not. English and Dutch cannot lire in unwon in Sooth Africa, hence the one race mutib rule and the other obey. Let us end the uncertainty. Let us see who is to be master while we have still the men of Boumplaate, Lange'a Neck, Jugogo, and Majuba with US." The Volkstem declares that the Transvaal will attack Great Britain, whatever the outcome of the struggle, if an English fleet takes posiessios of Delagoa Hay.

The feeling in Germany towards England is not more friendly. The Nachrichten declares thab ib would be both foolish and criminal to fail in combating "Bngland'i grand but immoral policy. The beat waj to settle John Bull h to show him your teeth. He always has the moral conrage to concentrate himself backward in the face of a determined enemy. A weak opponent U always treated brutally by him." No people, it goes on to say, have ever understood better than the English how to dieRUise their villainies by well • sounding phrases, and to claim the prestige due to individual efforts where natural advantages de.erre most credit. Freetrade is their cry. Yes, but freedom to trade for Englishmen only. A typical English proverb say, that all is fair in war, another eays that trade is silent war, and no villainy is inexcusable in their eyes if a competitor caa b. driven from the field. Hence this dig. tortlon of facts. The world is told that English goods command the market by reason of their excellence. In reality it i, their cheapness, for England, baring coal, iron, and colonial produce in abundance can undersell everybody except in eoodrequiring the highest skill. English ability, we are told, built up the colonial empire! Yes, English ability to embroil other nations in wars and to make a grab while no one is looking. Englishmen, we are in. formed, alono can make a colony rous, end this is the reason why Gernun and other emigrants emigrate to English possessions. Will the English please compare the state of their possessions in the tropics with that of the colonies next to them! In tropical Africa the Germane have laid out coffee plantations which already bear fruit, they force the soil to yield its riches in epite of the fact that the climate ia unauited to them. The EnoljsV man, on the other hand, does nothing to develop his possessions. England is om gigantic trust, and this truct can onlj prosper if its competitors can be renderec impotent by quarrels among them?elvea If we would protect our own induei rie.», if w( wieh to keep even the miserable sharo thai has fallen to ue of the territory worth colonising, we mueb oppose everywhere John Bull's attempts to bring about a war in which he is not himself concerned sufficiently to endanger his own akin."

iVopoeale made in the New York Legislature to curb the abuse of certain metropolitan dailies have attracted wide attention in America. Prominent among the measures introduced is the Ellsworth Bill, which forbids publishing the portrait of »'ny person living in the State without bis or her written consent. Violation of this law is to be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than 1000 dollars and by imprisonment for not les3 than one year. Another Bill provides for the appointment by the Governor of a censoi for each newspaper in counties having more than 10 000 inhabitants, whose duty ii shall be to examine and read all artioles intended to be published in the paper with which he is connected, and to eliminate all libellous matter and everything " inimical to the interests of the State or any officer thereof." One half of the salary of the censor is to be paid by the newspaper. Few of the papers of the country treat this ". censor bill seriously. But many believe J that the. Ellsworth bill in come amended i form will become a law. Moat of the Nβ* g I ft* p«po» favour its passage. ||| , : ■■'■■. ■--■:' .■■ ,m

h j> • t -} a y."g^jjtabnthi ago the Methodist Recorder, of Lorotoßi offered three prises to bona fide *•■■' porting * en who aTe the beet and fullest ■ anelritt til the question, " Why do not the ■;''"'>^orHii.af (! '*" 68 go to church ?" More than .. £ tnjpiireii working men responded. The jj j^j M1 (Jec publishes in full the three prize : ft' ess»Jß wltb selections from the rest. Th/ ■f I tllhiiili of the working men towards thl I (jtiurbij ia t'lusexpressed in the intraductal Wl to 'So r6l! P rizo essay:— workic ' mfln»rn not universally opposed to Chit I ijjjjityi e y have no fault to find \>lfi 1 tte'iii'Ol'f 1 * 5 ' neither would they take up"Ay H ."(iirtcflv hostile attitude toward the Chlis 1 iL-uYCh ''•''>• They simply go their ton P' M ifT' '°& tlie Church as complete* as tJjqign ?'■) did not exist at all." Weiive h tri ooridc form the reasons for thij: — J, Jiie f-if system in the churches, vjiich r/iAiks ««i' I and class distinctions. 2. The lS|||i ol« r ice—too much machinery, lack ,of Bpon , .' )ity and fascination. 3. Pew M lent). *• l 9 coldness of the cliurches.ilnP gtesd of '.J- , ,ng full of zealous Christianity, (-. ttot with rhe Gospel, full of glad tidies, •V fjjjj j}lil»'.:h-M are cold. 5. Changed style [ .. ii (jrojichli.. —sin toned down. C, Chris- .. Hec ilea ■ iteucy. 7. Sheer spiritual in- ' dlffßrcnw 8. The counter attractions ; (olflw*- ' i ntertainraent and pleasure. 9. :., he net.* ■ for rest. 10. Bad preaching. . 11, Tho • I'.rtainment-proriding ptopensi • Hi of '.:■. Church, impressing the public ,i nilid iritr ■ lecreasing belief in the power of tha (>uj' ■ / spiritual forces supposed to be resident in .he Church. 12. Prejudice and the apifi'. "i the age. 18. Lack of a proper ocntWe*'* •'■lμ of workihgnien for Church J;offices. " 'jack of sympathy with the lTorlij.;;. ■■■■-> in their friendly societies or trad? anions. 15. The comparative in-tiihVutk-e ol the Church to the impoverished ' joiidiUon '''• the masses; that is, the J6g!er'-''il 1: ■; Church to speak out on the , pteSfliir ' ■ '-'1 problems which affect the workiu; , ■. :K3Bof to-day. The m between Greece and Turkey

Uiay now bo ugarded at ad an end. The PotkTl u o'vitiating, with the object of

Krlising ibi.ut a cessation of hostilities. • The Kii.u iii Mreece, who is now the most •w[...ni.i\, mail in the kingdom, although a iiv >;c i> ■■ i sjo he was the idol of the populace, o2ors u in favour of his second

eon, Prince George. After a reign of nearly thirty-five years it has come to this I Serious rioting has occurred in Athens »nd a revolution is feared. The indignation of the populace is excusable. The troops at the front eoem to have behaved in a shameful way. Ab Larissa they became panic-stricken ab the approach of the Turks. A wild stampede ocourred. The officers were among the first to take to flight. Hundreds were trampled to death, and many more were shot by their own comrades in the confusion that prevailed. The Turks, whose approach seems to have created eucli consternation at Lariasa, are apparently acting with extreme moderation. Edhem Pasha has issued an order punishing by death any Turkish solriier guilty of pillage, and patrols are keeping guard over the principal buildings and residences. Those precautions have ie•tored confidence in the city end business is being resumed.