PEN-NOTES AND PENCILLINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 47

PEN-NOTES AND PENCILLINGS.

“Battles 3re won. by stomachs. Stomachs arc sustaaiied cm beef and mutton. The man who has the beef and muttonto sell is king. The Chicago man has more beef and mutton than anyone else. Ergo, battles are won in Chicago.” Such is the boastful reasoning of the “New York Tribune,” and the tning that has called it forth is the present campaign in China. The editor of the eminent journal which once said that the Australian telegraph companies had great difficulty in preventing the blacks cutting down the wires to make earrings of, assumes that because the Chic-

ago provision dealer receives big orders at war time, the nations of the earth would be compelled to remain at peace if he refused to supply them. In point of fact, a nation having the money can always get supplies, and it matters not whether they are sold to her willingly or not—she can, if need be, employ the necessary force to compel their production by anyone having them who is at her mercy'. The “N.Y. Tribune” assumes a position which is illustrated in the accompanying sketch, but omits to discover the forjee that is propelling the pot-hatted, gentleman who is rolling the barrel. True, the great Powers require to fill the stomachs of their soldiers; hut it is not for that the contractor keeps them jogging on top of his consignment of provisions. Behind it all is the power of gold, and where gold is, there also is the force to compel obedience.

REGARDING AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS.

Colonel Wyndham, the officer commanding; the Imperial contingent, granted a press interview, in which he eulogised the colonials for the part- they ha ve taken in the war in South Africa. He was not a, participator in the struggle himself, he said, but he knew scores of men who had been there and seen the colonials, and the consensus of opinion was that the colonies produced a quality

of fighting man inferior to nothing in the world. The importance of their work was that it demonstrated their extraordinary adaptability, and this would he seen by everyone in the great European war, as, of course, no future British army would be complete without its. Australian contingent. Colonel Wyndham, who holds his commission in

the 21st Lancers, was loud in praise of the system of interohaliging troops, which he thought would prove beneficial to both sides. While Englishmen would learn a good deal in the colonies that they can’t learn in England, colonials, by a course of training in Britain, would learn discipline and organisation.

THE VANDERBILT' MILLIONS

The Vanderbilt- millions available in. the estate of the late Cornelius Vander-

bilt have been distributed, with the result that his youngest surviving son, Alfred, takes ten millions, and his eldest, Cornelius, a. paltry one! It is a- remarkable fortune that of the .great American family named, accumulated in a remarkable fashion, and accountable for very remarkable things. Ajs everyone knows,

the founder of the family was “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt, a rough old ferry-boat master, who, starting with a pair of sculls, saw grow to the credit of his account leagues and! leagues of the shining sails that glitter across the American Continent. Seeing how history is repeating itself, the Commodore had two sons, and one was saving andl the other flighty, the result being tfye safe one got the money and the other had to be content on the interest of £40,000. The heir that followed the safe man was the Cornelius Vanderbilt who has just died, a haughty, purseproud democrat, whose bitterness against his son marrying an actress was doubtless intensified by the fact that his own grandfather was a river boatman. The wealth of the Vanderbilts outside hard cash is something enormous, and is invested in all kinds of ways, but chiefly in railways and Government securities. A large part rests in houses, and here it. may be mentioned that the Vanderbilt mansions are among the finest private residences in the world, and the Vanderbilt. yachts among the most exquisite pleasure craft ever designed in a dockyard.

AN EMPEROR’S RECOGNITION

The German Emperor has decorated Vice-Admiral Sir John Fisher for showing kindness to some German sailors who were in a serious predicament- His Majesty says that the Admiral’s action proved that there is an eternal bond of comrade-'Jiip among men who sail the sea, and also that blood is thicker than water. By the latter expression is meant—and no doubt Britishers would do for Germans what they would not for some other countrymen, in which the Raiser is no doubt right. Admiral Fisher, K.C.8., i,s the highest ranked officer

in the British Navy, and has no compeer elsewhere, except Admiral Dewey, of the United States. He, is a, gallant seaman, with a magnificent record, and it may

be mentioned that his was the advice on which Great Britain depended at the recent Peace Conference at the Hague.

HOW THE UNION JACK IS MADE

The Union Jack is allowed to be a striking flag. Heraldically speaking it is a triumph of design, and in its significance the finest in the world. Campbell speaks of the flag that has braved a thousand years, but that is

poetic license, as the Jack is no more an ancient flag than Britain is an ancient Empire. The Union Jack typifies the union of the three kingdoms of England, Ireland and Scotland, and had its origin accordingly. The illustrations show how the flag is made—thus: The one on top is the cross of St. George (reap the centre one is the Cross of St. Andrew (white on blue), and the one at the bottomi is the Oro.ss of St. Patrick (red). The placing of one cross over another produces the standard of whicn Britons, all. the world over, are- so justly proud.

AUSTRALIA’S SECOND V.C

There have only been two V .C.’s granted to Australia in connection with the present war, and both have gone to little Tasmania. The second soldier to be honoured in this fashion is Lieutenant Guy Wylly, who is now the proud pos-

sessor of a second Lieutenant’s Commission in the South Lancashire Regiment. Tlie deerl for which he was honoured in the way dearest to the soldier’s heart

wa,s performed at Warm-bad? —suggestive name—a little north of Pretoria. As may be seen from, the accompanying picture lie l has- v fine open. countenance and a “elfin” which, if such things count as contended, should yet make him, a Field Marshal. Lieutenant WyJly cornea of a fighting family, and: is not yet twenty-one years of age.

A TROUBLESOME CUSTOMER

Christian de Wet has shown . himself, to be the most resourceful- of all the, Boer generals. Slim Peit, *&■ Joubert •used to be called, was like -many other great men, the enjoy er of a reputation, slightly spurious, and Cronje was only an obstinate old man, although he was;-, able to give a magnificent account of, himself against the greatest of England's captains. De Wet, on tie -other hand, a previously unknown leader, has turned:

out a second Aquinaldo, anti if should continue much longer it will be due in a great part to the skilfulnes® with which, with a handful, he shrikes and escapes. On- at least half a. dozen occasions he has been completely surrounded, ' but in every instance he has broken through the cordon and escaped to fight another day. Hs own scofcsjt* no always appears to know just where, to get his enemy and no matter how elaborate the plans to checkmate him, he is away before the British have quite realised his attack. The existence ,of die Wet is a, direct incentive to Iris countrymen to continue the struggle, and his methods are .sufficiently harassing to justify the British in taking any step-to capture and remove him. As the Transvaal is now Britisn territory this cunning Boer leader is clearly a rebel and amenable to the laws which exist against- rebellion among civilised nations. A reward for his capture large enough to tempt some of his following to hand him over would, be justified both by precedent and circumstances.