NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11432, 24 July 1900, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Mr, A. P. Humphry, a member of the Council of the' National Rifle Association (of which ho was formerly secretary), who won the Queen's Prizo in 1871, subsequently commanding the Cambridge University Volunteers, has just reported to the association upon his recent examination of rifle clubs and ranges in Switzerland. The great advantages of the Swiss clubs, which have a close connection with the military system of the country, ho states to recognition for the purposes of the military regulation rifle practice; the supply of Government ammunition below cost price; the possession by the men of Government rifles in them own homes; the small expense at which ranges can be made and worked; the custom of shooting on Sundays, when men are free from work; and tho great popularity of rifle shooting and belief in its value for national defence, and (partly as a consequence) freedom from the competition of athletic sports of other kinds. The following advantages are stated to facilitate obtaining —Obligation on the part of the public to provide ground; absence of insistence on an ideal standard of safety to the public; indisposition on the part of landowners to make difficulties; willingness on tho part of shooting men to put up with inexpensive arrangements; frequent occurrence of mountains or forests available as stop butts; in populous places the largo numbers of contributing members of clubs, and consequent funds available for providing handsomely-appointed ranges; and the non-requirement of long ranges.

Mr. John Morley, speaking at the annual dinner of the Palmerston Club at Oxford, said he did not think that what the Liberal party wanted was reconstruction. What it wanted was clear views, distinct opinions, fidelity to broad, sound, and established principles. He could not distinguish Liberal Imperialism from Unionist Imperialism, or see what difference there wan between Liberal Imperialism and Liberal Militarism, It was not to the militarism of soldiers, but to political and clerical militarism, that some of them objected. With regard to the present war, ho could never accept the view that it was made just and inevitable by the Boer ultimatum. He abhorred the whole transaction of the war, but they had now to face the situation as it was. He thought it was in many ways an irreparable situation. The problem before them of governing two white races was exceedingly difficult, and it had never been so atrociously and irreparably bungled, as it had been in South Africa. They would bo crowning "their errors if at the present moment they committed themselves to any specific modo of reconstruction. They did not know enough to enable them to do that. When ho saw it suggested that the present High Commissioner should go to the Transvaal to arrange a settlement, he felt that that would bo tho last link in the chain of folly that had marked tho whole affair. As to Liberal policy, on the day when the Liberal party forsook its old principles of peace, economy, and reform, it would have to disband and disappear, and the Socialists would take its place. But the Liberal party would not disband.

Sir Henry Juta, a distinguished Afrikander (a term which, as most people know, indicates a person of South African birth), who has held high office at the Cape, has pronounced squarely for the absolute annexation of the Boer States. "Surely," ho said, in conversation with a representative of the London Daily News, "you would not leavo the effective cause, the motive power of all our present ills, to remain? Would you have it all happen over again? Do you suppose that there could evor be peace and prosperity in South Africa, now if you left the, power of organising from without, and the pecuniary means for forming another armed camp in the middle of South Africa?" Speaking about the inevitability of the present war, Sir Henry said"The struggle between British supremacy and Boer supremacy was bound to take .place, and given a powerful, wealthy, and splen-didly-armed State such as the Transvaal on our borders, and the feeling for independence, it seems to me that the war was inevitable. Yet I may add, that if the struggle had taken place, say, five years later, I believe South Africa would have been lost to the Empire." Asked if ho believed that there was a conspiracy to drive the British out of South Africa, Sir Henry Juta, said:—"'Conspiracy' seoms to mo an unfortunate— wrong word, as it does not convey the process which has been going on. I can remember when, 20 years ago, the same ideals of a national flag fere prevalent, and when some of those who at the present day. aro prominent on the Boer side used to speak pretty freely of such things. -, But these ideals were for a Jong time only ideals, ~ J They were not taken ! seriously by the mass of the people. There IP no power of organisation, amino money

to give practical shape. to; these ? dreams. But a! very"■ different: state of . affairs • was created after the development of the Rand goldfields. When, in' time, the Transvaal Government '":'■ became powerful.' /. and wealthy, : ' when 'it' found itself face to face' with .the great questions which the increasing Uitlander population settled in tho country naturally gave rise to, then it began to look to the Cape Colony. -or, rather, to a certain settlement therein—for assistance. Then the real agitation began, and there woro ample means, for carrying it on. For a long time I refused to bolievo that money was spent by.tho Transvaal • Government in ', this agitation. I changed that view some time ago. Every means was used to intensify Dutch feeling as against the English. Historical incidents, r almost ! forgotten, and to many unknown, were revived and! distorted—until, indeed, one had to be very blind not to see that.'the old ideals of national independence as distinguished from British /rule, -were assuming a very practical shape indeed."

Tho mendacity and ' duplicity of the Chinese render their assurances regarding tho safety of the Legations utterly valueless. It is now admitted by a responsible Chinese official that it is possible to communicate with Pekin in three days, and according to the same authority tho telegraph officials were threatened with death if they made any disclosures respecting tho massacres. It is believed that the object of the Chinese in maintaining secrecy regarding the fate of the Legations is to enable the Court to bo removed from Pclrin to Sian-i'u, and to foster international jealousies. The decision of Great Britain to hold 3000 troops in readiness at Hongkong, to operate in the Yangtse province has allayed tho panic at Shanghai. Russia has defeated 4000 Chinese in tho Amur district, and captured 40 guns. Thero was enormous looting in Tientsin, though the British, American, and Japanese troops took no part in it, being restrained by their officers. Russian troops have occupied tho Lika arsenal, north of the city. Fighting is reported to have occurred between the Koreans and Chinese on the frontier. There has been some serious fighting both in the Transvaal and in tho Orange River Colony. The Boers made a determined attack on a position held by the British near Heidelburg, but wero repulsed. The 1500 men belonging to De Wet's commando who recently broko through the British cordon were defeated near Lindley.