NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11200, 21 October 1899, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

La Caledonie, published at Noumea) calls attention to the danger of French interests in the Pacific becoming weakened and finally destroyed by the growing influence of England and Germany, It recalls the ' time when French power might have been dominant in Tonga, had only the oppoi- i tunity been seized. But nothing was done, and the Germans have now taken the place , .formerly held by the French. "As foi the '■ New Hebrides, we could at least hope," !' says La Caledonie, " that owing to their ' 1 vicinity to New Caledonia, they would sooner or later become a French possession, • and at, one time we seemed to be on the i point of seeing that hope realised. Fifteen : years ago the people of New Caledonia ' thought only Of the New Hebrides. An , 1 important trade was established with the i ! | islands, and businesses were founded on I i j every side by young Frenchmen, and mag- ' I,? cent coffee plantations created. What j has how become of all this activity? . We 1 sent troops to Havannah and Mellicolo. This was veiled possession, and it was only necessary to maintain the fait accompli. But | w thought ourselves obliged tc retire, beI cause of the hubbub raised by. England and ;

Australia. We have ourselves created diffi. cutties, and voluntarily complicated a situa- ||| tion that was at first all in our favour. • sft J||| have concluded diplomatic conventions, - which bind us only while the English lajT'i then hands on all the neighbouring islands, gj They took possession of the Solomons and ;V Santa Cruz, and we said nothing. If we do not take care they will do the same with •. the New Hebrides, and that will be the end of French influence in this part of the Paci- ; v fic. Squeezed on all sides by Anglo-Saxon •'£ or Germans, the French element will he } k doomed to disappear, and New Caledonia will become a satellite of Australia. Was it worth while making so many sacrifices for h\ such a result? Nevertheless, that is the .} ; solution tr. which we are being fatally car- • ried by the short-sighted and timorous poli- M tics of the metropolis, and it is time, it is high time, that the men who are in power -fx should pay some attention to this danger., U: and devise means of dealing with it." Reference was made in our leading columns j % yesterday to the Anglophobe craze in France. Even so eminently staid and sober-minded a newspaper as the Journal des Debats can* *'£ not resist sneering at England. "There are," it says satirically, "people who do not i love England. They are wrong. England is a great country, and exports humanity, jgS whisky, and cottons. Sometimes it may appear that England does not carry out her -jf: own humanitarian ideals, but that is only CI because England is very humble. She does not wish to push herself forward. Do you / • know the genial, gentle, graceful Dum-Dum s bullet? England lias given the Hindus a taste of it. But their humanitarian zeal '■ does not stop here. The excited Boers, ; who are white, men, will also be pacifiedwith it. ... Let us all bo grateful -C that once more England, strong in her goodness of heart, and the gentleness of her man- « ners, leads the world in civilisation." j According to a paper read by Mr, Ji || Fraser, at the conference of the National «:y. Federated Foremen Tailors' Societies in Newcastle, England, there never. was a time in history when ]$• people dressed so much alike as they js| do now. Even the professions, said Mr. .Jj; Fraser, could not resist the Infection. The p. clerical frock timidly gave place to the clerk cal jacket, which on week days boldly gave way to tweed, and even within the sane-.' tuary itself he had heard the clerical collar. ridiculed. In the opinion of the writer this •£' ! uniformity was most hurtful to tailoring ; 3? the art of tailoring could not grow in a democratic atmosphere. Another evil affecting their trade was cheapness. It was remark- $ able that though the country was much richer than before, the prices obtained for y tailored work to-day were comparatively - small. J The Norwich city police force has for a £• long period consisted of a race of giants, : i\ and a few years ago not a single member was V under 6ft in height. Now, however, the ;£ Watch Committee find themselves unable to 'g obtain constables of the same fine physique, % and recently they advertised for men at sffc $ llin. Even at the reduced height sufficient J. men were not forthcoming, and now adver- gjj tisements are issued specifying sft- 9in as the | standard. The dearth of sons of Anak is | locally attributed to the depopulation of 4 the country districts, which lias been going | on steadily for several years past. The .<§ births in the villages are, moreover, becoming fewer every year, so that the police force S : ; seems in no immediate likelihood of recovering its former prestige for exceptionally fine- || men. g| Japan lias opened 22 additional ports tt|| foreign trade, under the new treaties. The ports thus thrown open are : Shimizu, Take-i ■ toyo, Yotsukaichi, Shimonoseki, Moji,-|f Hakata, Karatsu, Kuchinotsu, Misumi, r|; Izugahara, Sasuna, Shikami, Naha, Hamada, Sakai Miyazu, Isuruga, Nanao, Fushiki, fsOdaru, Kushiro, Mororan. It is stipulated K that if, at the end of two years, the total amount of exports and imports does not i! reach 50,000 yen at any one of the 22 ports, S the Government shall have the power to 'i close such port. It is also decreed that at, Mororan the exports shall be limited to coal,, slphur, and wheat, except when explicitly sanctioned by the Minister for Finance. There were hitherto only six open ports in *| Japan, viz.: Yokohama, Kob", Osaka, ft Ngasaki, Hakodate, and Nugata, Needless to say, British merchants will feel the greatest effect of this reform, since Great Britain is the country which sends by far the largest share of merchandise to Japan. War has begun in earnest in South Africa, the latest news being that 1500 Boers have • been killed at Mafeking. Colonel Baden- " Powell, who is defending Mafeking, led the Boers into a trap by feigning a retreat. The Boers believed that the British were retiring . . from their position, advanced, and were drawn over some Lyddite mines which had been laid. The mines exploded, and 1500 Boers were killed. The Bechuanaland contingent then made a dashing sortie, and killed many additional Boers. In Natal, however, the Boer tactics have been more successful. A train containing a number of British officers and men going from Ladysmith to Gleneoe was captured by the Boers, ? and the passengers taken prisoners. A Natal corps, largely recruited from the I'utch, has mutinied, and joined the Boers. The First Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders has sailed from London for the Cape. , The Queen telegraphed God-speed to them. An excited debate on Britain's policy in the Transvaal hr. taken place in the House of Commons. The action of the Government was challenged, and Mr. Chamberlain justified the steps taken in a brilliant speech, which lasted two hours and three-quarters. He admitted that he had not seen early . enough that war was inevitable, and on this . account the Boer armaments would at the beginning be stronger than the British. President Kruger, he said, had appealed to the God of Battles, and Great Britain had ac- «; cepted the Transvaal's challenge, believing 't her quarrel just. The adverse motion was | defeated by 362 votes to 135.