NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10433, 4 May 1897, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Attention has already been called in this column to the truly appalling document on the condition of the British troops in India, which was recently presented to Parliament in the form of a report by a Departmental Committee appointed by Lord George Hamilton. It is obviously impossible to deal with this subject ,in the columns of a daily newspaper, but a few of the most significant facts may be given :— From 1890 to 1892 a Cantonment Act wa( in force, which was abolished in 1893 in consequence of a report of a committee presided oVer by Mr. George Russell, M.P. During the earler yearS thite was a steady and even rapid decline in admissions tc hospital; after 1593 there was an equally steady and rapid increase. 2. The highest recorded figure of incapacitated men wai reached in 1895, when 5*22*3 men pel 1000 strength, or .536-8 per 1000 of troops in cantonments only (excluding troops on field service in Chitral and Waziristan) were in hospital. 3. Among 5882 men detailed for field service with the Chitral relief force; 462, or nearly 8 per cent., had bo be rejected owing to disease; 279 moro, or an additional 4J pet cent., had to be transferred from the field hospitals to the base. According to this ratio, 8880 men out of a total force of 71,011 British soldiers in India would have to be put down is useless. 4. How many ol these men when they return from India communicate infeotion to the civil popula* tion at home, it is impossible to estimate. Perhaps we can get some inkling of the truth in an inverse fashion from the following fact: —ln 1894 It was discovered that only 37 per cent had never suffered at all, either in or out of India. 5. It is known that among the majority of European armies special regulations are enforced in combating disease. Our army in India is an exception. Now, let us compare the following figures: The ratio per 1000 strength of men incapacitatsd in the German Army ii 27*3: in the Russian, 43; in the French, 43"8. What is the ratio in our own army! It is 203-7 at home and 438*1 in India. Comment is surely superfluous. 6. This deplorable state of things does not appear to be attributable to general causes, bub to one cause alone. Drunkenness and crime have greatly diminished. More care than ever is taken of soldiers in the way ol recreation, cleanliness, and the encouragement of athletic and manly sports. Commenting on the deplorable fact! brought to light in the Committee's report the London Daily Telegraph denounces thf repeal of the Cantonment Act as a national crime. "A Ministry and a Ministerial majority, cowering abjectly before the echo of every casual shriek from a platform, allowed fanaticism in this country, it says, to sweep away every one of those barriers against disease and death which they stood pledged by the plainest obligations both ol military and civil duty to maintain j and the fruits of that ignoble concession art now being gathered in. In pursuanci of it we have enlisted thousands upoi thousands of Englishmen for the de fence of the nation — men ' mostly,' in the words of the Committee, 'verj young, and nearly all obliged by' thi conditions of the service to ■ remain unmarried;' we have removed them fron home ties and restraints into a country where' climate and environments' surround them with the severest temptations to the indulgence of 'the strongest passion in human nature; 1 and the 1 disastrous consequences,' as the report in only too measured language describes them, confront us today in an army half disabled for defensive purposes, and with 50 per cent, of itf soldiers not only incapacitated for immediate military service, but unfitted for subsequent civil life, « curse to themselves and to their relations, and a radiating centre of infection to the community with whom the remnant of them that survives must one day mingle. To this shameful and barbarous treatment have we subjected youths who were presumably not informed when they enlisted that they were not merely undertaking to devote a few years of their lives to the defence of the Empire, but were selling themselves body and soul to a country which callously intended to leave one half of them to sicken, rot, and perish as a sacrifice to the prejudices of a few score of masculine women and womanisl) men, For that is all, so far as any human intelligence so far as any human intelligence can discover, that has been gained by the maudlin and mischievous policy which successor# Governments in this country have allowed tnbft fnnuil nmn f.Viom

The Roumanian Deputies bare pawed a Bill, the intention of which is to enable peaianti to Irajeut nobles. Of the lis

million hectares of arable land in the country, two million belong to the nobles; bat in future a peasant may borrow from the State sufficient to purchase twenty-four hectares. It is believed that the peasant* will avail themselves of this privilege, that they can in various ways compel the nobles to sell, and that they will within a few years own the entire ■oil of the country. The measure is denounced as Socialistic, but the creation of peasant proprietors is, says the London Spectator, in no way a Socialistic measure. The proposed loans may involve a most imprudent use of the State's credit, but nobody is coerced by the State or robbed by the State any more than under the Purchase Acts in Ireland. The " boyars," as they are called, of Roumania, have not hitherto done much for their country, and they will still retain most of the forests and of the wild lands. The same process was carried oub in France, and whatever its other demerits the class it fixed on the soil has hitherto been most conservative.

The articles which "Imperialist" recently contributed to the Fortnightly on Mr. Cecil Rhodes, have been published in book form by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, Limited, with additional matter containing reminiscences, by Dr. Jameson. When Dr. Jameson was hesitating whether be should begin the war against the Matabele or not he wired to Rhodes for instructions. Dr. Jameson says: Rhodes was down at the House at Capetown. I wired to him from Victoria the exact situation, and said it was an absolute necessity to assume the offensive and strike straight atßulawayoat once. Rhodes, who does not waste words, wired back briefly, " Read Luke fourteen thirty-one." I had nob a notion of what ho meant. ... I asked for a Bible and looked np the passage, and read, " Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth nob down first, and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him with 20,000." Of course, I understood at once what Mr. Rhodes meant. The Matabele had an army of many thousands. I had 900 settlers available for action. Could I, after careful consideration, venture to face such unequal odds ? I decided at once in the affirmative, and immediately telegraphed back to Mr. Rhodes at Capetown, " All right; have read Luke fourteen, thirty-one." Five words from Mr. Rhodes and eight from myself decided the question of our action in the first Matabele war.

The Greek Premier is desirous of bringing about an armistice, but hesitates in the present state of feeling in Athens to propose it. Lord Salisbury has suggested that a Conference of the Powers should meet in Paris for the purpose of discussing the affairs in the East. Further fighting has occurred. A severe engagement haß been fought at Valestino. The result is doubtful. Both sides claim a victory. The German Emperor has sent a message to the Sultan of Turkey congratulating him on the successes of the Turkish troops. News from South Africa states that Eloff, the traducer of the Queen, has been appointed to the command of the police at Pretoria. Twenty-five Spanish anarchists, implicated in tho Barcelona outrages, have been sentenced to death. An Italian exploring party has been massacred in Africa. The Cape Government has been saved from defeat by the casting vote of the Speaker. Id another column we announce the death of Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson, formerly Governor of West Australia. He as born in 1834, being the third son of the late Admiral Hercules Robinson, of Rosmead, County Westmoath, and a younger brother of the present Lord Rosmead (Sir Hercules Robinson). He was private secretary to his elder brother in tho Government! of St. Kitts and Hongkong from 1855 to I860; Governor of the Falkland Islands from 1866 to 1870; Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1870 to 1873; Governor of West Australia from 1874 to 1877, and on two subsequent occasions; and Governor of Straits Settlements from 1877 to 1879. He conducted a special mission to the King of Siam in 1878, and was afterwards Governor of South Australia, and for a time ActlngGovernor of Victoria. It was owing to his administrative experience and extensive knowledge of colonial affairs that he was nominated for a third period to the governorship of West Australia, when he had to preside over the inauguration of responsible government in the last of the Crown colonies of the Australasian Group. In this responsible positiou he was entirely successful. Sir William was a musician of considerable eminence, and was the composer of a number of popular songs, of which the best known are: "Remember Me no More," " I Love Thee So," " Thou art My Soul," and " Imperfecta."