NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15613, 20 May 1914, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

. Silky EDWARD. CARSON. An interesting sketch of the character of Sir Edward Carson is contributed to the fortnightly Review: by Mr. Edward Legge. The writer says that when first the resistance ; (of Ulster began to take shape; he :' read with,; amazement Sir Edward ; Carson's 'speeches."defining the intentions of» the men of Ulster. i That a lawyer of his .eminence,:a': Bencher of the -Middle Temple, and. a Privy Councillor, should advocate; publicly armed resistance, arid, the enrolling of 100,000 men —that this ' open defiance of the law should bo led by: a practising member of the Bar --seemed;;', beyond• belief. When Sir Edward courted arrest, and trial for treason, and";felony-;of course(he knew, says Mr. ,Tjegge, l? that the boundaries of tho law had not been overstepped; and so did Mr. Asquith. '■■': The;proceeding was safe, and had the advantage of provoking tho Liberal .organs to frenzy. The ,net effect Of it,was to place SirEdwnrd: on a pedestal, simply worshipped by Ulstermcn. And he .deserved Ins triumph. Ho sacrificed for cause a solid £20,000 a year. Sir Edward has never enjoyed perfect health; and,, according to this authority, he has had to struggle throughout his life against an almostf unconquerable inertness. For- [ tunately he was •: blessed -~ with a devoted wife (unhappily no more), a charming woman, full of energy; and ,it was she who urged him on and roused him from his lethargy.' Those who have known him longest say that she "made" 'him. In the old days trivialities were a trouble to him. The paper on his table was not suitable for writing upon; no one could write with "such a pen;" ho was as greats a procrastinator as a Spaniard with his " I "will do it to-morrow." But when he could be induced to make a start ho worked like a steam engine.

"DON'T SHOOT" CAMPAIGN. :. The , new Syndicalist-Socialist "Don't Shoot" campaign,- waß inaugurated by a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, I/ra-' don. . . The object? of the ; demonstration was to impress upon the rank and file of the army the : lesson of tho recent trouble ".with officers over Ulster,"as.it is interpreted by the advanced Socialists, and to urge/the. men to organise themselves ■■ with a view to imitating when next called, out for'duty during labour troubles. the alleged example of their officers in refusing to obey orders. The demonstration will ; be followed up by a systematic campaign among the rank and file of the army, and, to far as practicable, men favourable to the policy will be organised in.a semi-secret society called the/' Don't Shoot" League. The following., resolution has : been adopted by the Strood branch of ■ the ". National Union of Railwaymen and circulated for approval by the thousand;-odd branches of the society throughout the . country —"That, seeing our military officers are not afraid to shoot down railwaymen and other trade unionists 'when on strike, but are now afraid of those in Ulster who have a few rifles, we think the time has now arrived when the Government should provide better '. facilities ,for men to rise from the ranks to the highest positions'in the army, and not, to officer our army with 'class' officers as in the past:"-

_ THE . NEW HEBRIDES. i "A strong indictment of. the New Hebrides condominium i 6 made by Mr. John H. Harris in 'the Nineteenth 'Century.' The Anglo-French convention of 1906 was framed to deal with certain grave abuses arising in particular from the recruiting of-labour,- the liquor trade, the trade in arms,; and the improvident alienation of land. In no; case has it achieved its object at all satisfactorily: The administration of justice is farcical since" the memI bers of tho ..court,. and the litigants all speak different languages, and often triple interpretations are necessary., Moreover, though the British do enforce their penalties on their..own subjects, the French seem to , be treated w.ith extraordinary leniency by their Court, with. the result that relations between the French and English on the' islands \ are becoming increasingly strained." Everyone admits that "something must be done," but, unfortunately; it is easier to recognise the difficulty than to find its solution. Mr. Harris declares that the suggested cession of Gambia to France in return for evacuation -will not meet the. case. Any solution of the- New Hebridean problem, he thinks, •; must be found in the archipelago itself,*'it; must leave under. British control those- islands in which British enterprise has played- the largest part, and it must be acceptable to Australian, public opinion. The partition of the islands fulfils these' conditions, and it is in partition that Mr. Harris pins his faith, . ,

. THE FRINGE OF KNOWLEDGE. ', "Science is an affair of. yesterday," is the epigrammatic 'summary by Sir Oliver Lodge of all that the minds of to-day have achieved on the outer fringe of The Mystery.'; Sir Oliver spoke recently to a London literary society, and succeeded in showing how , little is known • and how much is hinted at,- far beyond, by our * crumbs of knowledge. "The action, between mind and brain cell is absolutely unknown to us at present," proceeded Sir Oliver. "There is a gulf there, .a bridge, an interlocking of two apparently different forms of activity. There is a v connection between the mental' and the material. How that 16 managed we 36; not know, but we are surrounded by puzzles, and when we begin to look into things we find ignorance— ignorance! Not hopeless ignorance, but deep-seated ignorance, which it will take many centuries of scientific groping even partially to solve. Sometimes we think wo have done wonders, and have got along way on towards understanding. Well, as compared with previous (centuries, we have, but there is an infinitude beyond of which we at present have but a partial conception. The ether we cannot solve." Sir Oliver explained how he had tried to move ether by, a • delicate ; optical arrangement. Ho demonstrated that there was no friction between matter; and ether. The earth travelled through ether, without any friction whatever. Then; was there any connection between matter and ether? The connection was of the electrical kind. Sir Oliver referred -to; gravitation as a puzzle. People thought Isaac Newton discovered gravitation, but! Newton himself knew better. It was :■: not explained. "It is perhaps the next big ■ discovery that remained to be made in; physics," proceeded Sir-Oliver. "Many are working at it.. The uniting, welding force- irt the' material world is tlw t continuous ■ medium which ■ unites all the scattered particles of matter. The whole 'universe is linked up together by this '.continuous, all-penetrating, uniform, cohesive ; ; medium. ■ Could you imagine a limit beyond: which there is nothing? I cannot- ' It seems to me to go on and on -without; end. Can you imagine anything like, that VT-canuoU. Yet one or the other, must^be',true—'either 'there must be, a boundary,':or-there:must nqt. .They. are both.inconceivable, yet one it true." - 1 ;;"\;'..•'•:.'■ ;'.-;' .'■■ ■■■'''', _".• [ -;■,-■ _ -• ''• :■' '■..