ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12910, 5 July 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

KITCHENER IN INDIA.

(Lord Kitchener is, above all things, a begiever in efficiency, and whether in Britain, jin South Africa, or in India, his determination seems to be to keep the department for [which he is responsible well up to the mark. Rules and customs and precedents which militate against the efficient working of the army have no peculiar sacredness in his Bight, and it is not, therefore, surprising that Jio is stirring up things a bit in India. Whatever happens, he is going to have his fighting machine in thorough working order, so that when the time for action conies it will not be found wanting. The South African war was brought to a close by Kitchener's untiring energy, extraordinary patience, devotion to his duties, and his magnificent soldier-like qualities. When ho landed at the Capo, for the first time in his career ho encountered what might be described as the luxurious element in the British army. He fearlessly dealt, with it as it [bad never been handled before, and the stories told of his treatment of the luxuryloving officers who had " society at their backs are numerous. One of the first things iwhich attracted his attention at Capetown, was a pile of deal boxes which encumbered! the quay. He asked what they contained, and was informed that the boxes were filled •with champagne. "Capital," was his reply; " they will do for the. sick and wounded in the hospitals "—and to the hospitals they wore dispatched!

YELLOW V. WHITE PERIL. We have been hearing a good deal about lie "yellow peril" of late, and if there is no oausc for panic, there is plenty of reason -for open-eyed caution. There can be 110 doubt that the awakening of Japan, followed by the overthrow of Russian influence in the Far East, must have far-reaching oonsequences, and it is always well to be prepared for all possible emergencies. Britain cannot afford to be caught napping in any circumstances. Referring to what is called the "yellow peril," M. Anatole France recently said: "If it exists, who created it? It was'not the Japanese who came to molest the Russians. It was not the yellow men who came to molest the white ones. We are now discerning the 'yellow peril.' But for many years Asiatics have been familiar with the ' white peril.' Were not the pillage of the Summer Palace, and the massacres of Pekin, subjects of concern for the Chinesb? and would the Japanese have been safe under the guns of Port Arthur? The fact ,is, that European nations created the white peril, and the yellow peril is but the logical outcome of it." There is certainly a good deal of truth in this point of view. The " white peril" is a more pressing reality for the Chinaman than is the " yellow peril for the European. , SLOVENLY EXPRESSIONS. : Yesterday (July 4) was the anniversary of the declaration of the Independence of the United States. ' On such occasions there is no fear of the many and great virtues of our American friends being overlooked, and, therefore, I think I may venture to say. just a word or two about, some American failings. It is only a man's friend, so it has been said with more or less truth, who tells him of his faults, and Mr. Henry James, the well-known author,: has recently been acting on this principle during a visit to the United States. .Ho took a fling at Ameris u can newspapers and public schools while « talking to Bryn Mawr College girls at their commencement. He placed newspapers and schools in the class "of what he con- ■ siders evil influence on English speech, helpv ing to keep it " untidy and slovenly." Pre- " sident Thomas introduced Mr. James to the girls, saying they were to "hear from Iris own lips what is thought of our matchless English by one of the greatest, mastera of written English." Mr. James surely told them what he thought of it. "There are millions of homes in America," he said, " in which the people call themselves educated, and yet they talk about ' vaniller eyescream,' that 'feller,' 'Portor Ricor,' 'dorgs,' and use similar slovenly expressions." Wo in New Zealand may not use precisely the same ■" slovenly expressions" as are fashionable in America, but there is certainly a tendency to "untidy" speech among us, and this tendency should be stoutly resisted by every man, woman, and child who speaks the English tongue. We talk of English as the language of Chaucer, and Shakespere, and Milton, and so it is; but it has grown and changed enormously since the days when those masters used it. Many people do not seem to fully realise this idea. To give some idea of the tremendous growth of the English language, a recent writer has pointed out that the words and phrases under the letter " A" have increased in 50 years from 7000 to nearly 60,000. So enormous, indeed, has been the growth of the English language that it would be practically impossible for the most learned man to be acquainted with every word. Intelligent persons, even those engaged in the learned professions, do not make use of more than from 6000 to' 8000 words all told, although there are properly belonging to our language over 200,000.

BETTING IN. THE 18TII CENTURY. *' While the great majority of sensible thinking people will heartily sympathise } with the anti-gambling crusade which has recently been started in Auckland, we must , not imagine that betting and gambling are quite recent inventions, though it must bo admitted that the totalisator has caused the evils to .spread enormously among both . . sexes and all, classes of society. An interesting article was published in the North American Review some time ago by Mr. George Street, based on the betting book still preserved at Brooks' Club. Ihe wagers, which commence with the ye«u 1771, are all entered in the handwriting or those who made them. The name that appears most frequently is that of Charles Pox, but there are numerous references to Fitzpatrick, Sheridan, General Burgoyne, and many other celebrated or notorious persons. Mr. Street, as lie sits .with the volume open before him, can people the room with its former tenants, the wits and statesmen who did such great things and said such good ones, yet took life easily all the same, and were not much disturbed by colonial rebellions, Gordon riots, or contested elections. They must live meantime; they had the world at their, feet. Why should they trouble themselves. Their point of view was natural, says Mi. - Street. "In license and security they were so many Kings; they governed England ■with ono hand and threw dice with the other. One should reflect on the fair side of things, and, in place of condemning their faults, imagine for one's pleasure the charm of this union of the great with the trivial, a charm which no English _ society is likely to create again." This ,is culte true; the age of levity departed with the a ge of chivalry; and the light-hearted ' gaiety of the eighteenth century cannot . breathe an atmosphere which is loadec with the problems of humanity. Were Ij • Possible for such an establishment as Brooks' was in those days to exist now, we might expect to hear of it being "raided"' by the police. Society in l™ was just at the height of its good fortune. Public opinion did not exist. The world was made, as has been said, not only ioi a few, but a very few. "One could almost tell on one's fingers the happy families who could do anything and plight have " have everything." "Pooh!" said the .JJuKe , of Wellington, "who ever, heard ot an •English gentleman starving?"

SOME INTERESTING WAGERS. Commenting on the above article, the Standard states that "there was a charm about that old society which we. do not find in its successor. Its recklessness, r nonchalance, its self-satisfaction, its freedom arid independence are >cj. A good deal of it was destroyed, M '°- himself said, by the French Revolution, which first made the aristocracy tlunK a gossibl« that someone was among them w*

simt, f k a " cl f. g °° d deal more Was dissipated by Parliamentary reform, which bioke up the charmed circle. The bets ft by Mr Street remind one rather SIJiS « y .We almost I member the White Ilorse Tavern and the UoAvlm Green at Tnnbridge Wells, and the wagers , between Harry Warrington, Lord* March, and his friend Mr. Jack TP fmm,i 1 hey are the counterpart of what the Si "looks' betting c —whether hi™ f? f l,een sberry would die at or £VfV«" suchi an hour on this or tlut day of i 1? month; whether Home SStJZf- P,ttld be lm, >B c<l first; CIL! ITT X WOl have the gout before £ I m f,' are some political , who was in the .eciet bet General Blune > on March would lJ"v' ea + T a i fc jord Rockingham would be First Lard of the Treasury on 178? meeting V Parliament after Easter, JSnJfl oltll r S res 'B nan was an--8 the 1- days afterwards, and on Aprß/ the tipw M*° • Commons reassembled, with the new Ministers in their places and at the head of ti,em - Later the if , SOm ° remavkllb wagers, though V \ iad become comparatively few and K'« V the micSdie of last century. rnpli 18 ' , a be t for a pony' that Mr. Di'swnnlfl r n C ']f l ?. ell ? 1 ' of th Exchequer, loS Va, Ra - dlCal Another refe,, to Loins Napoleons success in France." I his sort of tiling looks all right fined V CeU f3t a ''" ,,clistance ' and con--5 1.1 11 few ; seems" all very charming uf the halo 01 romance thrown over it; but times have changed, and at close quarind pvpT fir t0:d iy ' witl ' llien . women, and even children infected with it, gambling becomes a sordid business. The «meral opinion among men who love their country „ that the time has come when it should be effectually checked, and something must and will be done in that directlon - ■ The General.