ECHOES OF THE WEEK

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1507, 17 January 1901, Page 34

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

A subject of considerable importance to the citizens cf Wellington, and one which merits, and ■will, it is understood, shortly engage the attention of our . civic rulers, i s the present condition and future use of the valuable, but at present much-neglected reserve, Kelburne Park. It occupies a central situation. It affords to those who visit it one of the most superbly picturesque views to be obtained in any capital city in the Southern Hemisphere. It is capable of being greatly beautified and put to more than one valuable disposition. Yet it-remains, far the greater part, a dusty, ugly, neglected spot, much more an eyesore than an attraction to the city. Mr Bell’s project for the. completion of- the park, it may be remembered, fell through. This ■ was mainly owing to the fact that other and more directly important city works first pressed for attention. The time, however, has now, we consider, arrived when the park should be taken in hand, and the valuable opportunities it offers for more than cue purpose seriously considered and promptly utilised. A suggestion has been made to the Mayor, and will* in due course come before tne Council, that a portion of the park should be made avoir to the Victoria College authorities as a site for the future college buildings.

VICTORIA COL TIE GTS SITE.

As our readers are aware, this journal has always advocated the Mount Cook reserve as the most central and suitable home for the seat of learning which' has been established in our midst. Unfortunately, the Government has point blank refused to grant the Mount Cook reserve for the purpose suggested, and despite an active and determined agitation, its decision remains unchanged. Had the general public- of Wellington exhibited less apathy in this matter, the attitude of the Government might possibly have been modified 1 , but despite the appeals of the press, and the earnest advocacy of a few leading citizens, the great majority of Weiilng’tonians have taken but little interest in what might and ought to have been considered a truly popular and sacred cause. Months have slipped by, and the position now is that the Defence Department has spent large sums in adapting the Mount- Cook Gaol buildings to military purposes, and. the Victoria College is still without a permanent and proper home. The professors carry on their work under great disadvantages, and the cause of university education undoubtedly suffers. For the college authorities to remain tenants at will of the Girls’ High School Governors, for Professor „Easterfield to bo seriously cramped for rc,om in his important Smd valuable laboratory work, and for the whole question of adequate and proper college buildings to, be hung up for an apparently indefinite period, constitutes a condition of affairs which is in every way most unsatisfactory and to which an end should-he put without delay.

HARMFUL INACTIVITY.

A way out of the existing difficulty would be, it lias been suggested, the granting of a site for the college buildings in Kelburne Park, and there is much to be said in favour of the proposal. The site is healthy and picturesque, and with the approaching completion of the Kelburne-Karori tramway, access to the park will be simple anc| cheap. As it is, Te Aro residents can reach the park by means of Woolcombe street and Salamanca road quite easily in, say, a quarter of an hour, and for the majority of students the site would he inearly ,as central as Mount Cook itself. The objection may be raised that the citizens could not afford te part with a valuable reserve, which is required for recreation purposes, but to this an answer is found in the fact that the college buildings would, after all, occupy only a comparatively small area, and that the rest of the park could be laid out as pleasure grounds,' open freely to the general public. As it is, the park, with its fine natural advantages, remains unused and neglected." We have no doubt that were ,the Corporation to grant <a sufficiently large piece of

A HEALTHFUL, CENTRAL SITE.

ings, some of our wealthier and. mere public-spirited citizens might be induced to come forward and subscribe liberally to a public fund for the planting and beautifying of the remaining portion cf the park. At. any rate, the project which we have roughly outlined deserves, indeed demands, • sympathetic consideration at the hands of the City ' Council, and this we trust it will receive.

There is possibly no man in Great Britain whose comments and criticisms upon public affairs are more eagerly awaited and’ carefully studied than Lord "Rosebery, and yet he remains outside practical political life, and is apparently averse to assuming the position of Liberal leader. The “Little Englanders” dislike his broad and enlightened Imperialism, but the great mass of the Liberal rank and file would cheerfully w r elcome his advent to the position now occupied' by Sir Henry Campbell-Ban-nerman, who is rightly or wrongly regarded as a mere amiable mediocrity.both as to political theory and political action. But Lord Rosebery prefers apparently to remain the cri d alid to held aloof from any active participation in the national counsels. How far this attitude is justifiable, from the point of view of a high-minded and self-sacrific-ing patriotism, must be left aside as an open question, hut the fact remains that Mr Gladstone’s old ward and political pupil possesses a keenly analytical mind and a remarkable faculty for seizing upon the basic causes of national troubles and laying them bare to the public eye, so that their results become at once, through his masterly exposition, matters calling for and receiving the most acute and careful public attention. The address recently delivered by Lord Rosebery in his capacity as Lord Rector of the Glasgow University, exhibited the critic-statesman’s genius for getting at the bedrock cf things in a singularly able way. He warned his audience that it was impossible for the nation to prosper while it lay “basking in history, glory and the past.” Fifty years' ago, British manufacturers, British shipbuilders, British merchants, British public men faced a world that was comparatively inert, but to-day there was trained and scientific rivalry in the arts of peace, there was ever increasing subtlety and development in the arts of war. The 20th century would, he said, be a period’ of keen, intelligent—almost fierce —international competition, both in the arts of peace and those cf war. How should we prepare for that epoch and for that conflict? The first need of our country was men —-first-rate men, if possible; if not, as nearly firstrate as might he. The processes of discovery were imperfect. The brainivork test took no account of force of character, quick’ decision, physical activity, endurance, and the indefinable qualities which sway mankind. The mest illustrious of our public schools had no modern side. Oxford and Cambridge still exacted their dole of Latin and Greek. He thought that when our national ignorance of foreign languages had become not merely a by-word, but almost a commercial disaster, we might reconsider part of our educational apparatus. Our Empire' required also a race, vigorous, industrious and intrepid; but in city rockeries and slums an Imperial race could not he reared. Health of body as well as of " mind was necessary. The avoidance of excessive luxury, and a more intense industry and a constant adaptability to circumstances were also needful. We must be more businesslike and thorough as warriors, merchants, statesmen. We must look to the training of our men for the struggle before us. On that depended the future of c.ur Empire and our race!

XORD ’ ROSEBERY A.S NATIONAX CRITIC.

The speech, as may be seen by the foregoing, was that of an able critic, but something more than mere criticism is looked for from him who would be regarded not only as a man of high patriotic ideals, but a statesman in whom the country could 1 place implicit trust. The lack of constructive ability, of suggestive power, is Lord Rosebery’s, fault to-day, just as it was when he was Prime Minister. Criticism without the exposition of an alternative policy to that pursued by those ' criticised, is the function of the editor who writes on purely “party” lines. From the statesman the public expects somethingi more, and here it is that Lord

HIS LACK OF CONSTRUCTIVE ABILITY.

aetital lack of constructive ability, so lamentably fails. The London "Spectator,” which, at present, is pledged to tiie Imperialism of Salisbury and Chamberlain, is curiously antagonistic to Lord Rosebery, and is. not altogether to be accepted as an unprejudiced critic of his public utterances; but in one sentence, at least, in a recent article, has hit off. in a peculiarly happy and accurate manner the exact position which Lord Rosebery holds in the world of British politics. The sentence is as follows: ‘’‘Lord Rosebery is neither counsellor nor man of action : he is the brilliant man who comments.” It seems to us that here, ,to some considerable extent, is a valuable explanation of Lord Roseb'erv’s failure. His old chief and political tutor, Mr Gladstone, whatever may have been his faults —and from the Imperialist’s point of view they were many —was just as keen a critic as liis would-be successor ; but he did not confine himself to criticism; he had ever an alternative policy, a policy well defined, easy of public comprehension, and, as a rule, courageously adhered to. He was not only the ‘'brilliant man who comments,” but he was the “counsellor and man of action.” It is of no practical benefit to the nation that a man of Lord Rosebery’s political position, past and present, should content himself with delivering eloquently - worded speeches, of pessimistic tone. If he perceives, as he poses as perceiving, the exact' ills and faults which are leading to what he considers national decadence, it is his duty to propound and declare a policy, which, in his opinion, would stay the course of national “dry rot,” and restore a healthy virility to the. conduct of national affairs. To sulk, like Achilles in his tent, and to refrain from active participation in the political struggle, savours of disappointed egotism, and is, moreover, aim anachronism in one who is apparently so confident that he lias hit upon the true ‘causes of national misfortune. The surgeon who skilfully lays bare the human anatomy may display the most masterly talent, but unless he suggests in what way the ill disclosed by his operation can be remedied, the value of the dissective ability is small indeed. What the English Liberals, and Colonial Democrats, who look forward to Lord Rosebery taking a high place in the counsels of the British nation desire to see. is some-evi-dence of constructive power. To talk brilliantly, to criticise shrewdly, is ail very well in its way, but useful counsel as to the future, and a well defined policy' of reform are absolute essentials m a great political leader. When will Lord Rosebery cease ho be the critic, and become the man of actions not words ?

A curious discussion has arisen in England over what has become, in the leading service papers, the vexed question as to whether Spion Kup is to he accounted a -British victory or a British defeat. The military mind has, it appears, been exercised as to what battles are to be added to the colours of regiments, and of what regiments, at the close of the South African war. Sir Redvers Buller, in his .now famous Aldershot speech, claims Spion Kop as a British victory, but despite this official decision it dees not therefore follow that the name of Spion Kop wti be inscribed on the standards of the regiments taking part in that battle* Lord Roberts gave it as his opinion that the order for retirement should never have been uttered, andi although it is pointed out that the commanding officer is alone responsible for giving the order, his act is in itself enough to deprive his men of this addition to the numoer of their trophy names. An historic parallel to the Spion Kop has been unearthed bygone cr>tic, who quotes, as a case in point, the refusal of Sir Charles Napier, in 1843, to allow the name or Meanee to be added to the colours of the Grenadier regiment under Clibbcrn. “I ordered the retreat. Why should the regiment be punished?” Clibborn wrote to Napier, who replied : “What ? A retreat when close up to the enemy ? When the battle was doubtful? When the regiment you were ordered to support was giving way under a desperate struggle with superior numbers? Was that the moment to order a retreat? Clibborn, I did, and do, believe you to be a brave man; but you showed an absence of that presence cf mind which the hour of danger demands from a military man.” It is thought possible that in the case of Spion Kop all difficulty may be got over by the addition of Ladysmith only to the colours of all the regiments who fought their way thither under General Buller. Most people at this end of the world who have closely studied the published accounts of the Spion Kop engagement, would, we imagine, consider that the name of Spion Kop is one which it would be well for the reputation of British officers were it allowed to be forever forgotten. There was' superb gallantry on the part nf +hrv mpn: huh some ghastly blunder-

A “SPIONkop” DISCUSSION.

In liis pro-Bcer enthusiasm, Mr W. T. Stead recently published two sensationally worded pamphlets, entitled respectively “War Against War” and “Hell Let Loose.'' Mr Stead, indulges in these precious productions in a series of charges of cruelty, and much worse than cruelty, against British soldiers who have been figiiting in South Africa, and it is significant cfi the malice and utter lack of patriotism of the man that lie has openly avowed his approval of the pamphlets being translated into Dutch and widely circulated throughout South Airier, where, nc doubt, we might hazard the suggestion, they have been responsible for further stirring up lacial hatred, and indirectly* embarrassing the efforts of the British authorities to bring about peace. As to the uffcer unreliability and wanton mendacity of Mr Stead’s statements, one instance may suffice- In his “War Against War” the “good man” alleges that four women of a Natal Boer famihq tlie Besters, had been outraged by British soidie v s. The Bishop cf Natal, noticing this vile statement, referred it for inquiry as to its accuracy to* the Vicar of Dundee, the Rev Gerald (J. Bailey. Mr Bailey made careful inquiry and investigation amongst tiie various members of the Bester family, with the result that he found no one in the district had ever even heard of such acts as Mr Stead had alleged had been committed. Mr Maritz, a leading Dutch farmer, and father-in-law of the ueaa of the Bester family, promptly stigmatised the statements as “a pack of lies/' With regard to another charge made by Mr Stead, Mr Bailey states : (! No names are given in this case, tlie only person spdeified—one of the outragers—being a soldier in Highland uniform. As you know, there have never been during this Avar any Highlanders stationed at Dundee. Thousands of British soldiers have been through and about Dundee, but I never have heard of a single case of outrage, or anything approaching to it. Their behaviour, to my mind, and I haA r e often remarked it, has been excellent.” In forwarding Mr Bailey’s letter to an English gentleman who had drawn attention to Mr Stead’s pamphlet, the Bishop of Natal observes that he is glad to send a reply which he thinks ‘“will be regarded as entirely satisfactory in clearing away the vile charges whi-cn Avere made against our men.” In any other country but Great Britain a man like Mr Stead aa 7 1io AA'antenly disseminates literature containing vile attacks upon his fello’w-countfymen, literature tee, Avhicli is used as a. means to inflame the minds of his country’s enemies, would be severely punished. in England, however, Mr Stead’s penalty is merely the contempt of all rightthinking men.

MR STEAD’S ‘‘VILE CHARGES.”

The inhabitants of Wellington city will be gratified to learn that t,he Government lias decided to purchase, under . the Public Works Act, the whole of the property at the rear of the General Post OHice. The intention is to extend the latter building and provide accommodation for the Post and Telegraph services rad the general public, in keeping with the importance of the capital, and the 'iovy large amount of business transacted here. The inconvenience caused to the officials and to the clients of the Department by the existing condition of affairs has frequently been commented upon in these columns, and it is with more than, ordinary satisfaction that we are able to announce that the Hon J. G. Ward has, with that foresight and business grasp which is characteristic of him, determined to institute a new order of things. Under the process above referred to a large number of old buildings will be thrown down, and premises will be erected in their stead which will not only suffice for the needs of the Post and Telegraph Department, but will no doubt supply accommodation for ether departments of the public service, which are at present scattered over the city. No doubt- a stately pile “four square to all the winds that blow” will take the place of the tenements which have served their purpose and their time. That the undertaking will eventually prove a profitable one no one can doubt. The purchase could have been made at no more suitable time from whatever standpoint it may be viewed. It is understood that as soon as the necessary steps for the acquirement of the land have been completed, the work of constructing a new building will be proceeded with.

pos : OFFICE ’.a TENSION

The inevitable result of the circumscribed area covered by Wellington proper has been a branching forth of suburbs across the contiguous flats and hills and 'ike the tentacles of an octupus they spring from all sides of the body central, lire necessity that has caused settlement to be made on the hill-tops of Brooklyn and Mitch ell town and on the undulating slopes across the divid_ ing range at Island Bay, has at the same time created the need for a rapid means of communication with the city, and as the congestion of population at headquarters becomes greater, the lack of speedy transit to and from the outskirts i.s brought more forcibly before the citi-

SUBURBAN TRAVELLING FACILITIES.

pelled to remain with in the city bairnclary through, insufficient transport facilities. The- Ohiro "District- Ratepayers’ Association is now moving in tlfe matter of establishing a tramway between Brooklyn and Vogel town and the top of Willis street, by the inception, of which it is claimed that the population of the suburbs will be speedily trebled, to say nothing of the convenience that will re_ suit to present residents of the localities through the greater facilities it will afford 'them for reaching *?the city. ‘The proposal has been quietly pressed on with for the past five 'or six months. A syndicate has long since /expressed its willingness to undertake the work and expense of instituting the system. There is, though, a widely-favoured alternative agitation to have the matter taken up by a municipal body in preference to a, private one. Since the Wellington City Council has proved itself too cautious to respond favourably to overtures made to extend its present tram system via Newtown to Island Bay, the residents of that locality have decided to throw in their lot with Brooklyn, and agitate for the consummation of their scheme by the Melrose Borough Council, with a proviso that the line be extended to their suburb. The route to Island • Bay via Brooklyn is said to be one and threequarter miles shorter than that by way of Newtown, and it is generally eonee_ deck that there are no insuperable engineering difficulties to be' met with.