NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10901, 4 November 1898, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Tuesday week last was the anniversary c i *V tho charge of the Light Brigade at Bal?f]L •%' Nearly all those who took part in tint char ® • have passed away, but some of their deseed dants are amongst us. Perhaps one 0 £0?-! best accounts given of the famous charge i 8 ' that from a soldier's point of view, by Jf J. W. Wightman, of the 17th Lancers, ' rotary of the Balaclava Commemoration cictv, which appeared in the Nineteenth Cen. tury. He and Private Bevin, of the King'j Royal Irish Hussars (father of Mr,' Bevin chief clerk of the Auckland railway station)' ' were taken prisoners in the charge by tie Russians. Wight-man thus refers to their - experiences with the Russians:—' reached the Tchnerva, the Russians wen as kind to us as the Cossacks had been bnttal before. 1 placed on the window ledge jfon bullet which had been extracted from m '' rknee. The Russian sentry .took it, and asked IS by signs if it had wounded me. I nodded §1$ whereupon the Ruski spat upon it, and threw ®) : : it out of the window, exclaiming,' Sukinsin' %>■ -son of a female dog. A strange thing happened this afternoon. Private John Be. W vin, of the Bth Hussars, had been having hijfftf wounds dressed. A Russian cavahyman who was lying on the opposite side of ttj'S hut, and who had two desperate sword-cuts on the head and three fingers off, had been M ' looking hard at Bevin for some time. Atlajjf&v ho got up, crossed the floor, and made Bevin understand that it was lie who had cut the®' Russian about so severely. Bevin cheerfully owned to the charge, and, pointing foiyl|j fragment left of his own right ear, gave the Russian to understand tjiat it was he who had played the part of St. Peter. Whereupon ',? the two fraternised, and Bevin had to resort to much Artifice to escape being kissed by the « battered Muscovite. About four the sane'--afternoon, when we were all very stiff and sore, General Liprandi, the Russian commander, was so good as to pay us a visit, He was very pleasant, and spoke excellent'M English. ' Come now, men,' lie asked ' what did they give you to drink? Did they'll not prime you with spirits to come down aid";-, attack us in such a mad manner}' William Kirk, of the 17th Lancers, an umrouiiM prisoner, who had lost his horse, was leaning against the door when Liprandi spoke.' He .« had been punishing the Russian vodki/a hitj-'IP and he stepped up to the General and said, ' ' You think we were drunk? By heavens, I .' tell you that if we had so mucfi as smelt the barrel, we could have taken Russia by this.itime.' Liprandi looked at him with a smile, and remarked quite humorously, 'Indeed, then, to be sure we should have had a poof f.}' chance.'" Sir Francis Hastings Doyle says of the charge: . • And though beneath yon fatal hill ' Their dead the valley strew, U : ; (irimly, . 1111 cold hands clutching still ■; iS'C'''' The broken swords they drew: :'{-iviM « e cannot rail (heir lives ill spent, If to all time they show, , hitsMfi I'} whero the Light Brigade mis sent, The Light Brigade would go. -

The Agent-General, the Hon. W. h. Reeves, has been interviewed by a reporter from the London Echo on the subject of the Compulsory Arbitration and ?ConciliaMoE Act, and its working in New Zealand quote the conlcuding portion of the interview : — Compulsory arbitration is admittedly a success in New Zealand," Ire-', marked, " but yours is a small country, and the labour disputes are very insignificant in''. comparison with ours. Are you of opinion that a similar law could be made effectual in England, where trade organisations are so f "f large and so highly complex';" "Yes, lam . sure of it," the Agent-General said, and to fil answer is worth taking account of, "The extent of the trade organisation is no obstacle at all. Rather is it a positive ad- f i vantage. You can deal with things on 4 large scale much better than with small wor-. '. vying matters. But, as I always say, yon cannot go beyond the' stage reached e by the general public opinion. Wo carried advanced labour legislation in New Zealand — true; but • only /. • after , educating and converting public opinion up to the point of the legislation,' And what a task that is is probably known ', to me as well as to any man." This is »- most fallacious view. • Public opinion wal '.-l; not educated up to the point. ,When one man-one-vote is the law, you have only to - preach to the most numerous class that s®! l and such a course is to their interest, and they vote for it. That is the mode in which public opinion is now " educated" in New Zealand. The' Act is a great misfor- v tune to the colony, and will ultimately prove so to the workers themselves. It to done more injury to the manufactures of. Now Zealand than a series of strikes.

It is pretty plain now that the desire of Prance is to get up a European concert to. make a demand upon England to evacuate Egypt. France would make that a cutis of TO if she could get the requisite support. Great Britain, it is evident, does not intend to listen to such a proposal, at whatw? £g risk. The Berlin correspondent of the Stan* dard says that Franco's efforts to obtain Russian aid have failed, the latter pleading that she has undertaken quite enough in Far East to occupy her energies for so®' \ , time. Great Britain continues her prepay toons as if war wore imminent. The Ghaa* nel squadron are now at Gibraltar, the MeSh terranean fleet are assembled at MsM?i whilo the coastguard vessels are mobilising•. .^v,=. The fleet at China, which is a very poW one, is coaling and getting ready for . service. A thousand Scottish Canadian® ® British Columbia have offered their services to the British Government in the event of An Abyssinian convoy lias been attacked. 1 the Danakils, a tribe under the protection 0 j Italy, and four Frenchmen, belonging * political mission to Abyssinia haV6 W' : killed. Jibutal, where the incident a V?SfU£ curred, is not- far from Raheita, where t!ie« has been a revolt against Italian authority- u It is stated that the Egyptian Govern®®' intend to spend £300,000 in the construction 1 of a railway from Atbara to Khartoum. Egyptian Government here means the Eti lish Government, find the project shows #|g| the English have no idea of clearing oft jjj 4 the country, but on the contrary are strengt ening their position in every possible Mr. Hooley continues his revelations,this Is* being apparently as sensationa' ftjJraßßjj which hare preceded. Our has become an advocate o« extreme labour measure? in England. He explains the p°" visions of the compulsory arbitration, always a^y n , e? tj la t jt ia3 been 8 gi-eat unqualified, and admitted success.'-' At conclusion of an address, of which we ;

c r ay by cable, Lord Chief JusK - Russell said lie thought it was inadvis- !' to pto on the judges the enforcement f'hi law. The experience of New Zea " fi is forcing to the same conclusion. The !"L when sitting in the Arbitration Court, not deciding criminal or civil cases, but ' 818 Impelled to administer a piece of one- ' class legislation. They are placed in Altogether false position.