ECHOES OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1136, 8 December 1893, Page 23

ECHOES OF THE WEEK.

Fallfd's mV wettpOn, but I'm too discreet To run smock Snd tilt at all 1 tneet. PofE,

BY SCRUTATOR;

So “ Our George,” the irrepressible, undaunted, indomitable George Fisher, who at last, after a very brave fight, has had to “go under ” politically, and whose sun of fortune is at present very much beclouded, is to be “testimonialised ” —a detestable <. word, but it serves the purpose. As a rule I object to testimonials. In many cases the recipients are unworthy of them, in others, they do not want testimonials, and do not thank those who promote them, and in others again they are set afloat more for the glorification of the promoters than for the real advantage of those Who receive them. But there are exceptions, and an exception i Would Cheerfully niake in the case of “Our George;” I was glad to notice that one of the speakers at the meeting the other night expressed an opinion that many of those who had differed with Mr Fisher politically would no doubt be pleased to join in the movement. “ Scrutator ” has differed very considerably with ‘ f oiir decreeV* pdlitieal views,, but he recognises that witli all his faults Mr . Fisher has done a great deal for Wellington, and has done it, too, at a great personal sacrifice. When Mr Fisher left his Hansard appointment and entered politics he deliberately relinquished an honourable and not unremunerative profession. He has worked hard for years— George’s bitterest enemy could not accuse him of laziness—in public affairs, and now that some of the best years of his life have gone,with no permanent and practical financial recompense, it is only a graceful, a right and proper thing to do, for such as can afford it, to send in their guineas and show Mr Fisher that although Dame Fortune may at present seem to have left him outside the sphere of her favour, there are not wanting in the city men of all shades of political thought who have a kindly feeling towards him, and who will give him a practical exposition of that feeling. “Scrutator’s” “little bit” would it were more, but, alas! journalism is not a too gaudily-paid profession—is at the disposal of the committee when they choose to send round to the Mail office for it. With it goes “Scrutator’s” best wishes to “Our George,” whatever be his future career.

Everybody knows the popular English weekly Tit-Bits, that “ happy thought ” in the journalism of to-day which brought fame and fortune to its proprietor, Mr Newnes. Tit-Bits has always its eye kept shrewdly and watchfully awake for a novelty, especially in respect to the “ competitions ” upon which it, like so many of its imitators, mainly depends. Just recently, so recently indeed as the second week in October, it discovered such a novelty in “ competitions ” as its conductors craved for, and immediately made it public. A friend of mine received a copy of the paper from England and has sent me the cutting, which I now reprint, verbatim et literatim, below :

“ One Hundred Pounds for Correct Answer to a Puzzle.

“ Mr Sam Loyd, the famous American chess problemist and puzzlist, author of ‘Fifteen Puzzle,’ ‘Pigs in Clover,’ and other popular games and tricks, contributes one of his original curios to Tit-Bits, which, in addition, to being simple and pleasing, is instructive, as embodying in the rule which gives the solution an important principle which should be known by every student of elementary arithmetic. We offer a prize of One Hundred Pounds to the first person sending in the correct solution by October 31st. Envelopes marked ‘Problem.’ ‘The following,’ says Mr Loyd, is my little problem :—;

Find How to Arrange the Figures 4567 8 9 0

in an Arithmetical Sum which , Adds up the Nearest to 82. I ‘invite all my English cousins to arrange these figures, not omitting a single one, nor using any twice, in a sum which by a single addition, without using signs implying multiplication, division, or subtraction, comes the nearest possible to 82.’ “ Professor Fiske, of the Mathematical Department of Columbia College, is the only person in the world beside Mr Loyd who knoAvs the solution. He pronounces it perfectly correct and remarkably beautiful, and so simple that he said it should and will be taught in the public schools and engrafted in the common arithmetics. “ In sending us the puzzle Mr Loyd says: ‘I guarantee it to be satisfactory to yourself, free from all quibble, catch, or subterfuge ; no objection will come from any source, and every sender will be pleased with the answer.’ «It would seem as though Ave should get thousands of correct replies, but Mr Loyd is confident that no one will find it out. So much so, that our arrangement with him is that he gets ,£IOO if it is unsolved, whereas if anyone is successful the <£loo Avhich would go to Mr Loyd Avill be paid to the solver. In the event of more than one person sending a correct solution, the money will be paid only to the one first received at the offices.”

It will be noticed that Tit-Bits is very confident that very few people will be able to solve the problem, and considering the somewhat extravagant eulogy passed upon t by such an important personage as

“Professor Fiske, of the Mathematical Department of Columbia College,” it is evident, or should be evident at any rate, that the problem is something very much out of the ordinary. But the gentleman who has sent me the cutting reprinted above claims that he has found the solution to the problem, and- not only that, ftiii he' dish tells me that he arrived at what he clainis to' be' th/cori-e’et arisWer' HI a very short time—-solrie couple Of hours Or go; I have the answer in my p'ossessioity add shall give it next week. Meanwhile my readers',' of srtch of them as are given to. problem solving, criri “ have a buck at it/ I will give them first one birtt; and that is that one line in the cutting, add one lirie only, suggested to my friend the course lie should adopt in order to arrive at the solution.

I do not Avish any readers of the Mail to send in solutions of the problem to this office, for tivo good reasons. Firstly, because this is not a competition and there is no prize offered -j.. secondly, because “ this office” is at present’a somewhat mysterious entity; the old Mail ‘office., is a wilderness of scattered timber. The literary staff of the paper are at present sojourning in a temporary, a vefy strange, Odd truth to tell; very inconvenient home', Athere there is do space for the sorting of innumerable answers to a competition or anything savd the most ordinary and necessary work. Work out the problem at home, store it safely up against the appearance of next week’s Echoes, and then you Avill See how far you have got near the 82 and the .proper solution; ,

The New Zealand Herald is frequently to be considered a highly humorous journal —unconsciously humorous but I have never seen it so funny as it was on the morning after the election, when it gravely announced in boldest of. head-lines, “ The Results of the Elections— Defeat of the Government! ” Even the Christchurch Press, most bigoted of Opposition journals, admitted that the result of the elections was a severe disappointment, that the Government had triumphed Avell nigh all along the line, and, the Otago Daily Times took up much the same position. In Auckland, however, thdre are, it appears, some worthy people can make themselves, if not other people, believe that night is day and black is Avhite. . '■' > '

For many reasons I confess to a feeling of no small satisfaction at the news that there ;is no foundation for the statement that the Governor had recommended Mr Seddon for knighthood. With very few exceptions —Sir Robert Stout is a notable one the acceptance of a knighthood by a colonial statesman is a sure sign of his coming defection from the Democratic cause, of his desertion of old and long dear principles, and of a AVretched subserviency to the Avealthy classes, and the interests of those classes alone. This has been the case with the two Queenslanders, Sir Samuel Griffith and Sir Thos. Mcllwraith ; and there are not wanting signs of its being the case with Sir George Dibbs. Even Sir Robt. Stout’s good name with the Democracy has suffered somewhat, but he is true at the bottom, and although the title may be there, there is no betrayal of the people and the people’s cause which has been noticed in connection with the Australian statesmen referred to. Richard John Seddon we know, “Dick” Seddon Ave know, even the Honourable Richard Seddon, we know to be loyal to the Democracy, but plain Dick, plain Richard Seddon let him remain. The knighthood would not sit easily upon him ; he would cease to be natural, and he might —I do not say he would — r cease to be the genuine Democrat as we have known him in the past, and as Ave know him at present. Had I my way, I AVould make the acceptance of any of these tawdry gewgaws doled out apparently as an honour, but really Avith contempt, by the Mother Country, a disqualification for the holding of any high office by their acceptors. We want no baronetcies and knighthoods out here, no miserable pretences at an aristocracy, no shoddyocracy. If Mr Seddon be wise he would refuse a knighthood if it be offered to him, but I hope for his oavii sake, and for the sake of the Colony, that no such offer Avill be made.

A trifle more than a year ago I made reference in this column to a rumour that was afloat to the effect that betting was very prevalent in connection with a certain sports gathering on the Basin Reserve. Some of the officials connected with the gathering affected to treat my remarks Avith a haughty disdain. “ There was no betting.” “This ‘Scrutator’ fellow didn’t know Avhat he Avas talking about ” ; “Avanted something to scribble about” ; “ gross misrepresentation, and so on.” Whatever mistake I may have made as to the gathering of last year, I make none whatever in connection with the Amateur Athletic sports held on the Reserve last Saturday. “Seeing’s believing,” and when one sees with one’s own eyes three or four seedy spieler looking men openly bawling out “ I’ll lay 4 to 1 on the bicycle, I’ll lay, I’ll lay,” Avhen one sees bets booked by the dozens and money passing freely, there is no good anyone denying the fact that the betting nuisance was in full swing at the sports in question. There was also a very full and free exhibition of filthy language, but that, where the bookmaker is found, is apparently an inseparable concomitant. Anything in worse taste than this betting on amateur athletics ’to be alloAved to flourish like a foul weed under the very nose of the committee, cannot be Avell imagined, and yet I saAv no effort made on Saturday to put a stop to it. Mr Bell, I believe, takes a, great interest in the welfare of our amateur athletes. lAvould ask him whether he considers it to be to the interest of good honest sport, to- the interest of she club and its members, that betting should be openly carried on at the club’s meetings,

Avas the case on Saturday. I think, nay, I feel ware, that he will ans Aver in the negative. What he ought also to do is to bring pressure on fteff committee to adopt such rules and regulation 1 ? will effectually prevent a similar exhibition at any future gathering of the club. Mr Bell is, I understand, a determined enemy to the evils wrought by the drink traffic.’ As a illrtii of the Avorld, and as a laAvyer, he ought to know that gambling is just as great A cttrse to young New Zealand as dririk, arid I trust lie will, M president of fhe’clifbV see' to it that there'be' no opdn gambling,• at any rate?, at the' club's- riex : t meeting.

The frankest and niost sensible atfriotttfceirient I have read for a long time' appeared in the Marlborough Express on the day oi the election. It was delightfully brief—“No leading article to-day. We are tired. Full many an editor felt “ tired ” of politics and politicians last Aveek, but only one, so far as I know, had the courage to Say so in so plain and unmistakable a maniiel. “Tired” of politics! I’ve heard and lead enough on the subject during the last few weeks to last me my lifetime.

A good many Wellingtoiiians have from time to time been apt to laugh at Nix McLean’s “ nationalisation of mines fad, as it has pleased some to call it,but two. cableor'anis which appeared in the daily papers last week set lrie’ thinking that the theory of nationalisation of liiiiies rind minerals will not long be considered a mere fad,) but Will have to be accounted a very serious factor in modern politics. The first cablegram read as follows:—“ Labour members in the House of Commons have submitted a Bill for the nationalisation of mines and minerals in Groat Britain on payment to the OAvners of their present Value.” Now read the second: “Immense profits have been made by the Durham coal oWnerS Avhose men did not join the strike, and who Avere thus enabled to command the market. The Marquis of Londonderry alone is said to have netted ,£250,000.”

Now Avhat do these two cablegrams taken together really mean ?‘ They mean that a "section of the public are beginning to see that it is a Avrong thing, an unjust thing, that one man or one set of men should have so firm a grip over the treasures of the earth, treasures which in this instance are an absolute necessity, as to be able to monopolise the means of lighting and heating, of manufacturing. Coal is just as much a necessity to the English people as is water, and yet' it is possible, as is shown by the second cablegram, for an already stupendously Avealthy man to further enrich himself at the expense of the people, You may be sure that His Lordship of Londonderry did not sell his coal at the ordinary price during that, for him, really “ royal time of the coal famine. Whilst thousands of miners were Avell nigh starving in their effort to compel the colliery OAvners to do them justice. His Lordship of Londonderry was heaping together his thousands. It would be interesting to know the exact amount, if any, which the noble marquis contributed to the miners’ relief fund. By the strike of the Midland and Yorkshire miners he profited to the tune of a quarter of a million sterling. What did he give them ?

Depend upon it, you may laugh at the idea as a Socialistic, Utopian, faddist, crankish idea if you but like, you Avill see sooner or later, however great and powerful be the opposition, this state of things come about—the Avhole of the coal mines, not only in England, but in America and in Australia and New Zealand will'' become the property of the State. No single man, or set of men, will be allowed to make a « corner in coal ”to the detriment of the Avhole community. Mr McLean used to be laughed at as a faddist. If he lives 10 years he will, I firmly believe, see his socalled “fad” of coal mines nationalisation become a practical reality.

Unless that potent, grave, and reverend seignor, His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, has not been misrepresented by some careless reporters, he has contrived to say as heartless and absolutely idiotic a thing as could well be said. Asked to sanction the setting aside of a special Sunday for collections to be made in the churches on behalf of the unemployed, His Grace, so the cablegram has it, cannot countenance the proposal, as he does not believe in any such “ sensational efforts.” His Grace of Canterbury, with his snug income ; <£15,000 a year, 1 think it is may consider a combined effort to find help for the unemployed a “ sensational effort,” but people who are starving do not care very much Avhether an effort be sensational or not so long as it be successful. Anyone who reads the English papers with any regularity, and who read the last batch to hand, cannot but be struck Avith the tone of despair Avhich is echoed through the whole press in connection Avith the dual problem of the unemployed and the coming Avinter.

In nearly every English paper I have picked up of late I have noticed paragraphs expressing the fear that the winter Avould be a more than usually trying time for the working classes even those Avho have work, for trade is slack and will be slacker. But bow about the tens of thousands, aye hundreds of thousands, Avho have not got work, and Avhose chance of getting work is but precarious ? The “ unemployed ” spectre is at the gates of every Londoner wlio chooses to study the social problems of the great modern Babylon, and lioav to “ lay ” the ghost is Avhat many men are puzzling over. Surely at a time like this, the head of the great English Church —a Church which has seized for its own benefit lands and moneys originally left for the benefit of the poor —could have said and done something more hopeful, more kindly, more

charitable than he has done. in aid of the poor is “ sensational."’ How, then, about the effort in aid of the luxurious Church Ho.use oti ifiY? Thames Embankment, for which money cciufd 1 and was found so readily a year or two agio? There. Avas a special Sunday for that institution,, if I remeiriber rightly, and yet there Avas XSO talk of “ sensational efforts ” then.

Prayer is cheap, and the Archbishop would no doubt be happy and Avilling enough to set aside a Sunday for special prayer for the unemployed. But prayer* won’t fill empty stomachs, prayer Avon’t put coni in the grates of the starving families, prayer won’t keep the infant from dying at the breast of the mother, from dying from “ emaciation accelerated by insufficient fpod ” (see a recent Weekly Despatch). No, prayer is a good thing in.its Avay, but something more than prayer is wanted.

The Archbishop, good man, doesn’t like “sensationalism,” and so there is to be no special Sunday collection for the poor. Very Avell but perhaps His Grace will get “ sensationalism ” very soon, more than he Avants, in a revival, stronger than ever, and successful this time, for the disestablishment of the church of Avhich he is the head. By his foolish, selfish utterance His Grace ,has placed a sharp and formidable weapon -in the hands of Iris enemies. Those enemies may make him feel the weapon before long. A o-eneral election is not far distant, and the English Democracy does not love the Anglican parson—of the Canterbury sort. The Democracy will say—“ work, be truly Christian, favour not the wealthy and the titled, give up those revenues of which you have despoiled the poor, set your house in order, or we Avill pull it down and build a better, more useful edifice.” His Grace not like “ sensational efforts.” He may have still further cause to • dislike such efforts, and that, too, before many years are over.

I have every sympathy the earlyclosing movement, but I have nCBe with rowdyism. Whether the persons avlio tjrew rotten egg? about in the crowd Avhich sembled in Willis street oh Wednesday night were shop assistants or were not I do not know. I trust the/ Were not, for if anything is calculated to estrange the public sentiment from a good cause* it is that particular fonh of . blackguardism which consists of throwing rotten eggs about. I trust that the Shops Assistants’ Committee will make inquiries and endeavour to discover who were the guilty parties, and if successful in discovering them, most severely admonish them. Of all the beastly, disgraceful, blackguard things this flinging about of eggs is, I think, the very Avorst. Whilst oil this subject, I would ask the authorities of the Bank of New Zealand to Cee that no person, either members of the bank staff or others, are allowed to get on the roof of the bank’s building on the Quay and throw rotten eggs in the croivd which may have assembled below through any public excitement such as that of election night. On that night there Avere three or more Avell-dressed blackguards on the roof of the bank engaged in the filthy pastime to Avhich I have alluded. One egg fell on a silk dress of a lady standing near me, with the result that thepoor lady, covered with evil-smelling filth and with her dress spoilt, burst into tears and got into such a nervoits state that she had to be taken home in a cab. If some of those who witnessed the outrage could have got hold of the educated, well-dressed “ things ” in the shape and form of a man Avho were responsible for the deed, it would have o-one hard with them. Now that-the matter has been brought undei the attention of the authorities of the bank I trust they will not alloAv the roof of their building to be used by gentleman larrikins on any future . occasion. Ae to the practice of egg thi owing, I devoutly hope that the first cad caught at this filthy Avork will get a week’s imprisonment Avith hard laboui, no mattei Avho or what he may he.

King Lobengula, of the Matabeles, may be an old savage, and may be a poAver in South Africa, Avhich, “ in the interests of civilisation ” —gin, bibles, and landgiabbing —must be Aviped out, bitt he has some good points in his character, judging by some of his correspondence with the South African Chartered Company’s officers just before the Avar broke out. This correspondence is published in the course of a Character Sketch of Lobengula, King of the Matabeles, published in the Review of Reviews for November. The Avhole article is an admirable bit of journalism, “up to date, well informed, Avell written, and deeply interesting to those who take an interest in South African questions. Writing on the 27th July, Lobengula says : —“Let my cattle be delivered to my people peacefully. I wish you so let me knoAV at once. I thought you came to dig gold, but it seems to me that you have come not only to dig the gold, but to rob me of my people and country as well; remember you are like a child playing with edged tools. Tell Captain Lindy he is like some of my own young men; he has no holes in his ears, and cannot or Avill nob hear ; he is young, and all be thinks of ;s a row, but you had better caution him carefully or he Avill cause trovible, serious trouble betAveen us.” Later he writes “ I received your wire you accuse me Avrongfully—What goods have the impi stolen and destroyed, and lioav many cattle have been captured ? . You only say that my impi has done all this as an excuse for firing 1 on them. I am not aware that a boundary exists between Dr Jameson’s and myself ; avlio gave him the boundary lines ? Let him come forward and shoAv me the man that pointed out to him these boundaries ■ I know nothing AvhateA r er about them, and you, Mr Moffatt, you know very well that the white people have done this thing on purpose. This is not right my people only came to to punish the Amaholi for stealing my cattle and cutting your wires; do you think I would deliberately

go and seize cattle from you. No> that would not do.”

The man Avho wrote those letters may he savage, may be a tyrant amongst his own. people, but unless he is a terrible hypocrite, there is strong evidence in the letters that he feels he has right and justice on his side, and that the Europeans are treating: hint badly. No doubt he aftenvards found it impossible to keep his young men in order, and that he Avas eventually forced into the position of hostility he took up against the whites, but that there Avas deliberate aggression and sliameful violation of good faith on the part of the Europeans I have not the slightest doubt.

Labby puts the whole case in a nutshell in Truth of October 5. The famous London paper is not very widely circulated in this Colony, and outside the clubs and the houses of a few of the Avealthier classes, it is rarely seen, For the benefit of my readers who have only read one side of the question, I give what Mr Labouchere has to say in his oavii trenchant practical style; —“Look at the Chartered Company of South Africa. It is true that Mr Cecil Rhodes and his gang created a company with a capital of £1,000,000, on which nothing Avas paid, and they are most anxious to sell the shares of this company for cash to investors. It is equally true that they formed a company of another million, the shares of which they took and paid for; and, having done so, forced them up to a premium of above 500, Avhen they kindly parted Avith many of them to fools. It is true that this second company has to pay one-half of all net profits to the first company. True also that the second company lias spent the million, and has nothing to shoAv for it, and is uoav worth £500,000 less than nothing. ‘True, also, that it is very improbable that there is gold in paying quantity in Mashonaland. But what of all this ? Mere incidents. Having made much money by palming off AVorthless shares to idiots who fancied that Mashonaland was a land of Ophir, they noAv want to lay hold of Matabeleland in order once again to play the same game. What prevents them ? The presence of the owner of Matabeleland with about 20,000 fighting men. Obviously this objectionable oAvner ought to be ejected. Is lie not a cruel savage ? _ Does he not maltreat some of his subjects? Ought such a man to be allowed to stand in the way of civilisation and Christian progress ? Perish the thought! . He ought to be replaced by a number of Christian gold-seekers, and, whether there be gold or not in his country, it ought to become the property of the South African Chartered Company, in order to enable Mr Cecil Rhodes and his friends to make money* by announcing that the land is auriferous, and by persuading British investors to believe them, and to purchase shares of the company.”

“ These devourers of other men’s goods have become more plausible; but in this alone do they differ from Ahab. That monarch lusted after a vineyard, and in a simple and straightforward Avay slew its possessor, and took possession of it. YlacL he declared that Naboth was a bad, Avicked man who had no real right to have a vineyard ; had he murdered him on this ground, and, having done so, had he converted the vineyard into a company Aviih a capital ten. times the value of the vineyard, and palmed off the shares upon the investors of Samaria, he would have created a body of men ready to swear that the vineyard had been most legitimately acquired, and that it was his boxmden duty to acquire in the same fashion a few of the surrounding properties. If Ahab had lived in our days, he Avould have got some African concession, turned it into a company, with a couple of dukes at its head, and been respected as a ma.ii of large and philanthropic . aims, Avhilst, in addition to the good opinion of hit contemporaries, he Avould have very comfortably feathered his own nest.”

Mr Labouchere unfortunately cries in the wilderness. When John Bull sees a profitable game of grab —either of gold or land —he Avill rush into it careless of all considerations of justice and heedless of any protests. But he is highly hypocritical Avithal, is the modern Ahab, he calls his work of looting and murder —the glorious progress of civilisation!

John Bull’s sons, who at present are engaged in the glorious work of civilisation ” in Matabeleland, will have their reward. Each man has been promised a farm of 6000 acres in Lo Ben’s country. (This is a fact, confirmation of Avhich Avas given in a letter from one of the expedition appearing in the New Zealand 'Times a fortnight ago.) Ahab is cutting up his vineyard before he gets it. He will get it all right, and there will be great slaos of sentiment ill all tlie daily papers about the gallantry of these brave young Englishmen and poeams of praise to the God of Battles for having, as usual, favoured Johu Bull as the Only Virtuous ! Faugh !