GENERAL EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12713, 16 November 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL EXTRACTS.

• , .— z- — &~, ——. • 1 how the jArs SCOUT. . Each Japanese scouting party is accompanted by a telephone ■ expert, who carries a reel upon which is wound some very fine > i telephone line. "'" they proceed the reel is unwound, and the line laid on the earth. The reel itsslf-is'a telephone, mi when ' the scouting party wishes to communicate : with the main body, they fix a bayonet in ■■ the earth, and , attach the telephone to the - upper end. Oh the back of the electrician, ' in his knapsack, there is a tiny battery, and ■ in a few moments a complete telephonic circuit is rigged up, and the scouts are in close touch with the main body. A loop arrangement i' devised in certain cases whereby a circle of scou,ts r can, be M touch with each - ■other.^t's^VS'':;:^ The telephone is arranged on a system of t secret combinations, and ft© " key" is known to the electrician alone, rendering the in- ! strument absolutely useless ii it fall into the - hands of the enemy. ■ ; . A SILENT LAND. • The 'Never Never Country," the rainless i; interior of Australia, which no man' has ever inhabited, comprises by far the larger part »I'il»a1» island continent. The mounlain ranges fringe the coast and wrest from , {the winds their blessing of rain, and When i they.pass over the great plains of the ini tc-riW, their com;-:* unimpeded, by any hills, • they have ho moisture letfc to impart, at* the • land lies barren. The- trees are stunted and ' dry, and have little foliage, and what leaves ; . there ; are are? usually covered with red or *..•.)•„;i, dust There is no grass, and very . little animal or bird life, and what birds there art- are noiseless. This absence of sing- ;■''■ ing birds renders the bush almost as silent 1 as the grave. The death-like silence has a peculiarly - depressing effect. If - two > men ;■ . are camped in the bush, and one of them • goes'to». ■'. distant, township, to get provi- ', sions while the other remains behind to look ' after the t camp, the- man I who is to remain 1 says to his mate in forcible .goldfieldsslan--1 gunge,' such, as- an editor will not admit; to his pages, "Don't you be long away., you know what kind of a place this is to* live ' in by yourself:" and if his mate Is away for ' two'or. three clays the silence sets upon the ' man's service, and in the'end he shouts in irder to make a noise, and then he is afraid of his own voice. But a study of the map of West Australia would load one 'to believe that it is a ; well i watered countrv; there are large lakes marked upon it. Like many another thins: that has little .--practical use,, they "look ;- well on pap?!'," There is no water in them, they are shallow depressions in the ground of great extent, coated over with salt. After one >.:: the b'eavv local thunderstorms they: contain. a ;few inches of. ; water, but it soon; evaporates under the scorching heat of an 1 Australian sun. There have l*»<-n a few attempts at navigation on these lakes. At long intervals then:- 1- a good fall of rain. '. When that hnnpens the while country is transformed from utter barrenness ir.b- a veritable nnr.idfce, for ever;,-!-■( daisies in every varietv and colour clothe all the -;.';> waste with hs3Hty.—Thft Leisure Hour. ;•" " ' ; ■ ■:; i — »—.^™-«— HAMLET'S MALA The tragedy of Hamlet is that a man of a peculiar introspective temperament iii called upon to settle a,'practical crisis. Hamj let knew this very well him elf, and lias 'makes the tragedy deeper. Brutus Hive; Quoted, when mice Ms decision was taken, that he was the right, man to cure the evils of Home; Hamlet doubted from the very beginning. '■:,:•".<''!.:.::' The times are oat of joist. 0 cursed spite That ever I was born to set them ripht. , He was tot. fine, too distinguished, too j intellectual a character, to he tne rough in--1 strument which late demanded. H$ has j the fatal malady of analysing his own motives:, which is generally tractive or acj tion. It you once begin asking yourself j what will be the results and consequences of is, definite act, yon will find that at the ".mom«ttt ; "Of action your';, will 'is ..paralysed by excess of scrupulosity, as Hamlet's was, when with - his drawn sword to saw his .uncle praying. It was a disease of will 1 from which Hamlet was suffering. In any [other timed It would not have been so fetal. J L? this particular time,; when he was callei 'Upon to do a specific act, to avenge his I father and kill the usurper, it was not lie, } but a mar. rather'' of the Fortinbraa build, J who woffi'd be the saviour of society, Ob- : J j*&rvo,'tt!<>, that, like many intellectual men, J k» -.' iwot he sure of his own moods. lie sec* the ghost of his murdered father; ■ but is it an honest ghost, is it really bis father's spirit?; Hamlet believes in it on the battlements of Elsinpre; but he entirely disbelieves it'in another mood, when, despite the evidences of his senses, he talks of "the; bourne from which no traveller returns." The traveller who had returned is dismissed apparently-'as a fantasy of his brain, - And these supernatural Visiitng? in such an analytic and introspective mind da not, *,- a matter of fact, supply him with the motive fo. his subsequent a'etfoh. The ghost can make him put on an antic disposition, play ';■■ with such-creatures 83 Rasenerantz and Qtiildenstern, deride the senile hwmourings of Polonius, and i lessen I the torrent .of.his words against his wither. But what the ghost cannot do is to make him kill bis uncle. He murders him at last.'more or less accidentally because his mother was poison-" ed and Laertes had slaved foul in the fencing bout. So curiously destructive ,of strong practical volition is tin sV>-i"llcctn,il malady when it has grown morbid—the tendency toward introsoection. self-analy-sis, metaphysical 'speculation.*™W. L. Court- : 'emuy jr ; National Review. :' LIFE AT SANDHURST. The life of the Sandhurst cadet to-day is by uo meahs M tough and ready, as it was a ; quarter of a-.'century■ago— fact that some Old soldiers are apt to lament, The idea at present is to treat the cadet as an officer and gentleman, the old system being to re- ; gard him rather in the light of Tommy Atkins, and to' treat him: as such. The ;,' language ot the riding, master of ■■other. instructors towards the cadets in bygo.ie days was something appalling, but* they ;; learnt not one whit; better 5 than they do at ; present' when they ■ are addressed in the ;•' manner\ in which : their future superior; officers may be expected to; speak .to them. ~ Much has been " said: of the expenses of a cadet at Sandhurst, and as a general rule the tendency has been to greatly exaggerate the ■ cost of fixing at the Royal Military College. Under the new system a cadet is required to spend two years at Sandhurst; the period of training at the college 'used to be ;■ eighteen ? months, and during the South ; African War, when there was a pressing demand for; officers, it was cut down to one year. - • Naturally the cost of an education extending over the lengthier period under the present system is more than in former days, but economy;;is more strictly studied, and unnecessary expenses have been rigorously cut down. For instance, cadets are ;no longer allowed to drink wine, beer being the solitary tipple allowed at'meals. Enormous wino accounts in i former times used' to be : run ; rip ;by . some 'of the cadets, but this is no.longei permitted. The fees for a cadet amount to £150 per I annum, and a sum of £36 has to be deposited i for him when he joins, against which sum are charged the various incidentals he may require: during his time at Sandhurst?! This sum, though it has been estimated ■on ; the calculation of a one-year's residence, will,' with economy, last for the full period of two years. ■ The cadet actually requires no ready . money, for anything he may; want is supplied to him at the 5 college at' the lowest possible 1 prices on his signing an* order for what he may require at the different college shops or stores. The tuck shop is one of the features of the college, where every imaginable class of cake, sweets, 'and; other;; dainties is sup- ; plied to the cadets, and during the period of afternoon tea the tuck shop is crowded with cadets making purchases for that popular meal. No cadet is allowed to spend < more than £2 per month in extras on food and drink, and in -the; purchase of any othex' | article the order of "chit," as it is calleu, j ! must he countersigned by the commanding officer of the cadet's company if the sum I exceeds five shillings.—Oaseeu's Magazine. I