CURRENT TOPICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1352, 27 January 1898, Page 15

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE BUSH FIRES AND THE SUFFERING SETTLERS. Mit John Gbaha.m, of Mastertonj called upon us on Thursday to ask us to impress upon the public the urgent necessity there is that assistance should b 3 given to the burnt-out settlers in the Forty-Mile Bush. Mr JohnL. Grahani, of Pahiatin, has just completed a tour through the district? affected, and says the state oF many of the smaller settlors is ' pitiable in the extreme. It has already been made an excuse'' '•■ for not responding to the call for aid that the newspaper reports ar« much and that the burning of the logs and' trees on the different sections will do J their owners more good than harm. Mr Graham assures us on the authority of his son that the privation and misery entailed has been, understated instead of overstated by the special correspondents. He personally knows of 30 families who are'homeless, and who without help will be ruined. is urgent . need for clothing, as well as cash, some of the sufferers after escaping in their clothes having had them literally burned off their backs.-'.-. The loss of grass, and the destruction of all the grass seed," is,-perhaps, the most serious feature" in the whole sid business. In a dairying district like the Forty-Mile Bush it is fatal to the settlers. Some of them are now offering their cows for sale for whatever they will bring; but who is there to buy them when all the holdings have been more or less denuded of fodder ? Surely this is a state of things which appeals to the common humanity of the community, and which calls for selfrdehial even that relief may be at once afforded. We desire to appeal to our readers in the strongest possible terms on behalf. Of a large number of suffering and trust that no time will be lost in' the taking ©f steps to alleviate their "Sorrow and distress. • ~':>,

colonial ARMAMENTS.

It is but a few days since the Victorian Government sent Home an order for 5000 rifles, which we explained at the time are to be small-bore weapons with Martini breech action, and therefore single-loaders. At the time we expressed ourselves as favouring the action of the colony, but a field officer of, the Canadian Militia has written to us from the Army and Navy Club, London, drawing attention to an article on " Australasian Armaments " in the Morning Post of December 3 last, which places the transaction in a rather peculiar light. It appears that in 1892 Canada ordered 40,000 small-bore singleloaders for her Militia—a body of men, we may state, parenthetically, which in efficiency compares favourably with the Imperial Army, and, we may add, is inspired by the highest feelings of loyalty to the Empire. The rifles so ordered were never delivered, for the members of the Canadian rifle team at Bisley made such splendid shooting with service weapons, lent to them for the occasion -by the Grenadier Guards — and the Canadians were consequently unpractised in their use —that the Dominion Government purchased 40 000 of the service, (that is, magazine) rifles and the single-loaders, which had meantime been mac|e, remained unsold. Naturally, the question arises: Are those rejected articles to be sent out to these Colonies ? When the Military Conference met recently in Australia it was decided that the magazine rifle was the best weapon to issue to the Volunteers, but in spite of this we are told that inferior arm? are to be supplied. If Colonial forces are to fac<3 foreign troops admittedly better disciplined, the colonials should he armed with the very best weapon procurable. The demoralising

effect on troops met by an enemy "with superior arms is so great that those responsible for the inequality may be said to court defeat. Granted, then, that a rifle of the latest pattern is an absolute necessity, we would ask what is the position of New Zealand in the very probable event of a European war ? Our Volunteers, on whom rests the responsibility of defending the colony from a foreign raid, would be absolutely powerless in the event of a filibustering expedition to our shores. To send men with Martini-Henrys to meet an enemy armed with the latest weapons of precision is to condemn them not only to defeat but to annihilation. And how When the Militia Act is put into force; will the auxiliary strength be served out with the Snider —a rifle about as practical as a peashooter ? . ,

It is indeed high time the people of New Zealand awoke to a sense of their position. Every day there comes news from Europe and the East telling how the dogs of war are straining at the leash. At any moment we may be told that the nations of Europe are at one another's throats; and we shall be utterly helpless— at the mercy of any Power which ohooses to attack us. The negligence of successive Ministers of Defence in this matter is most reprehensible, almost criminal, and we sincerely trust that the present Government will realise its grave responsibility in the matter, even though it be at the eleventh hour. The money which is now paid by the people of New Zealand for "defence" is worse than wasted, and an immediate change is imperatively necessary.