NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11867, 20 January 1902, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

1 The very capable Berlin correspondent of The very capable Berlin correspondent of the London Times writing at the end of No--3 vember, refers to the outburst of German 3 Anglophobia. He said:—"There are . in- " numerable signs that the latest phase' of the " anti-British agitation is rapidly waning. The " best classes of Germans would not readily 3 forget any slight cast upon the army if they > were convinced that a slight had been in--3 tended but some' of them recognised from - the first thKt the popular impression was en--3 tirely erroneous; others have now come to 7 the same ; conclusion. ' The North German. 3 Gazette, in its review of the Press, gives ex--3 tracts from various journals which deprecate - the 'indignation movement,' and points out r that its effect has been to exhibit German 1 public opinion in a light which can only pro--1 duce interested satisfaction ,in Franco and y Russia. ' The Kreuz Zeitung condemns in t particular the attacks upon King Edward, g" which it most inaptly compares to the criti[l cisms and cartoons of the German Emperor g in the period immediately following the Img perial telegram to Mr. Kruger. The Con- . servative organ says : ' There was great and „ justifiable bitterness of. feeling among us on | account of these things (in 1896). The more do we regret that in our illustrated comic papers the person of King Edward g VII. is treated in a way which not only .j offends the feelings of every educated person, but outrages all that monarchical sentie ment which in England is well known to be I very strong. These tasteless and tactless I aberrations cannot be prevented, since England refuses on her part to interfere when - similar things appear in the English press. But we should have been pleased if Germany S had adopted the nobler attitude and had e exhibited more respect for the institution of " monarchy as such.' ' The same journal, in 1 its weekly survey of foreign affairs, adopts 3 a tone which strongly confirms what I have 1 already said about the attitute of the better-. - informed classes in Germany or of those who - have taken time to consider and reflect. - The Berlin Conservative organ, the newsf paper which is most widely read among 1 officers of the army, now reproduces—from t the ; Journal des Debats, ,it would seem— - whole sentences of Mr. Chamberlain's 5 Edinf burgh speech in English, in order to show - the context of his allusion to foreign Powers. 3 It also quotes some very ironical remarks - from its French contemporary, about those.

dinary zeal in assuming that Il 'i dinary zeal in assuming that the cap waa I intended to fit them. Finally, it adds-: '111] | ; this fis uncommonly • instructive;' Anyone f who calmly examines the text of Mr. Cham- It ! berlain's speech must admit that there was § absolutely no reason to take it as "applicable l ,j j f to ourselves alone. . . . We can only ■' | regret that in all the . floodtide of publio | meetings there was no one who looked at the"■ ;| authentic text of the speech in a somewhat ' § more critical spirit.'" ' "V ; ■' " 3 Captain Malum, in an article in the Na« | j tional Review, deals with the question how ; • '] | the war in South Africa affects the prestige ■_ ft of Great Britain. By that lie means the , i' general conception of the position and the ' • i' resources of the British Empire. He shows jj that prestige depends very much upon many ' i; things that strike the popular imagination, ' : and that it tends ,to be either in excess or ■. 1 J.! the reverse of the actual fact as it appears f] to careful and dispassionate thinkers. For - H example, the blunders that have undoubtedly ■ been made in the conduct of the war and Ml the unexpected prolongation of the struggle, 3 together with the ignorant abuse of our | policy and our troops which certain persona • | in this country have encouraged foreigners." , ,'•§ to indulge in, are calculated to lower our I prestige in the eyes of the unthinking ma-; \ 1 jority. But these are not the things upon ;§ •which a serious and philosophical student ' I bases his estimate of the effect of the war. - - f He rather regards the enormous vitality and • * | staying power shown by the maintenance for .' I two years of an army of 200,000 men, 6000, | miles from our shores, and many hundreds» . ' J of miles even from our ports of debarka-: 1 tion.' He looks at the sustained energy, p 1 . 1 with which the tedious business has been; prosecuted; at the steady endurance with; . J which disappointments have been met, and! - J at the ease with which a great financial ea-j''! - •'! penditure has been home. He looks fur-' \ ' I ther at the moral effect throughout the Em- | pire, at the way in which it has knit to- . i gether the colonies and the Mother Country^' I at the- increase of sea-power which directlyj 1 results from colonial awakening to the needs i '-I of local defence, and at the beneficial effect ; - I upon our army itself of long practical traini. • ' " 1 ing in the : field. Having regard to th® ;■ 1 magnitude of the task, the size of the counV ; | try operated in, the enormous advantages! ' I enjoyed by our opponents, and the experience'■ " ) of other nations in. circumstances more or; ;: ' 1 I less analogous, Captain Mahan holds thatj ; : there is nothing even in the conduct of thai ' war itself which should detract from the: I prestige we enjoy. His general conclusion-* " ; I may be summed up in his; remark that he I believes the prestige of the Empire to be en«i " 1 hanced by the war in the opinion of foreign? :: j Cabinents, however it may for the time havel " t sunk'in the streets or the cafes of foreign) 1 towns. , ■< t ■ ■ ■ v. I ■ An American who, in the classical lan« : | guage of his country, is at present " located'*' | in London, wants to know whether any city, -? z j in the world is quite so : niggardly as tho, - | -English capital. He has been going the" jj round : of the London restaurants, and has!,' J encountered in the . management of them;' • a spirit which distresses him. "There is,. \ to, begin with," he says, " a charge of from; ] 2d to 6d for guarding your hat and coat in' I the cloakroom, and a tip ifl addition is ex-' pec ted. You want to wash your hands— , another 2d or another 6d, and another tip. You take up the menu, and behold! there ' is an -intimation that a . charge of 3d each I [person will be made under the < guise of ' : 'table money.' This charge varies according . ~-i to the nature of the place is the lowest,, ■ i 6d perhaps the average; at a great , many. ' p restaurants it is Is,' and in at least two that • I have visited Is 6d. The only difference is that in the lower-priced' restaurants it is - called 'table money,' and in the higher- . 1 priced ones placed .under the , captivating heading of I couvert. To my. mind, an en- ' ■ fa' trance fee, frankly demanded at the door, V would' be much less offensive than to find . yourself asked at the end of a dinner to pay : .V; for the trouble and'expense of cleaning up, , : ; the cutlery you have used." His conclu- ' sion of the whole matter is that "London lives by imposing a fixed tariff on the accessories that in' every other city I have ever been to are thrown in gratis;" and he thinks 1 that being a gentleman is one of the most - 1 expensive professions an Englishman can ; have. He declares it to be an utter delu-f sion that London is a cheap place to live; in. " For . the poor . man,!' he says., " the! a man whose income is less than £800 a year,, : : there is .no city where less can be had in • the way of the comforts and even the neces- .; . sities of life. In . New York it is. only the : ji , • luxuries that cost; the expenses• of everyday living may, be as great or as small as one i cares to make them.' New York, in fact, ; , is laid out for the poor man. From the i- transportation system to the price of such .V. ;j fundamental charges on the household trea- f ■ sury as coal, ice,' fuel, meat,-bread, milk,; and fruit, almost everything' conspires ; to( : bring him in a good return for a very small! outlay. All these things are cheaper in Newi. : York than in London." " '■ • ■ ' ! The Spectator, 'in an article on the Leader!; . of the Liberal party,' says: —It is' the atti-l' L • tude of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and 1 . i of his supporters that is chiefly, responsible •: , for the genuine and unsubsidised, exhibitions [ of Continental sympathy with the Boers. 'And. ' after all, can we blame people on the Con- . ; r tinent if thP£ declare that the Boer case must indeed be . strong if it gets such , sup-, port as it does in England ? A man, they;;; ; argue, must have a very strong case if : he, . ; feels compelled to assail the actions of iis I own country during a period of war. It seems, therefore, to the Continental . thropist, a positive duty not to fall behind. I those who . have the courage to tell their > " own countrymen that they are employing : the methods of barbarism. . ■ ,