PASSING EVENTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1626, 29 April 1903, Page 45

PASSING EVENTS.

History is philosophy teaching by examples. —Thucydides. Mr J. Plight, M.A., lecturer on political economy and constitutional history, in the Canterbury College, has just issued from the press of Messrs Whitcombe and-Tombs, a work which ought to become a text book throughout the schools of this country, if it does not find a place among all schools and colleges throughout the Empire. The author has entitled his book ‘'The English as a Colonising Nation,” and! in the preface to this admirable work, Mr ITight states that liis aim in presenting it to the public as a historical school reader has been to give, in simple and accurate form, sufficient material for the requirements • of the public school course in British history. Our author tells us that the men ivlio first laid the foundations of Great Britain’s colonial greatness are SO' close to us that this generation may entertain for them “a strong attractive human interest in their actions and characters.” Most schoolboys to-day know something of the personal doings of Cecil Rhodes, Sir Henry Parkes and Sir George Grey, but like tlieir fathers they may be too close to the work being done in colonising effort by Sir Edmund Barton-. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, not forgetting Mr E. J. Seddon. the Premier of New Zealand. The work of English colonisation has been accomplished within the past two centuries, although its greatest efforts have been put forth in the one just closed. With the utmost facility Mr Might sketches the history of Great Britain’s American colonies, mentioning the names of the chief men connected therewith; and turning to the Indian Empire ho traces its story with a graphio and facile pen. The- exploits of Clive, the aggressiveness of Hastings, the successes of Wellesley, the crowning efforts of successive Viceroy's are narrated with power and vividness. One of the most interesting parts _ of the book is that dealing with Africa, and most people will appreciate the references to Robert Moffat, David Livingstone and Sir George Grey in the story cf English colonisation in South Africa. Mr Plight is studiously fair to the Beer, and he depicts them as suffering from “a lack cf knowledge of the march cf events in the world.” They were without ‘‘the refining influence of great thoughts,” and remained in a state of mental stagnation ; though intensely religious they were narrow-minded . and bigoted. “Continual intercouse with slaves had given them an exaggerated idea of their own importance, which ignorance of the great world beyond -their veldt only increased. Thus they were ill adapted to live in harmony with the mesf masterful people of m:«ir-r;i tlino.” It is refreshing to

read Mr Hight’s book. It will inspire the youthful mind with lofty thoughts, and the lives of the great men recounted in its x>ages will serve to remind the public school lads that they, too, may pla.y a part in emulating the achievements of the Empire s pioneer noblemen. Naturally much space in ,tho volume, which is beautifully printed on toned paper and covers some Three hundred pages, is given to Cauc'in, Australia and New Zealand and •.,ie innumerable “beacon lights set in -lie sea to mark the pathway of the ! /eo and the story of this colony and ■ :;yj men who made it forms a delightfully informing and inspiring chapter. ' he book is scholarly, well arranged, rnlexed and tabulated with columns of important dates. Wo close the book ' ith feelings of satisfaction, and we nave no doubt that thousands will fully appreciate the inestimable merits of Mr JELight’s work.

It is evidently the opinion of Mr Andrew Carnegie that education can solve the “colour'’ problem m the United [States, and he has just donated one hundred and twenty thousand pounds to Mr Brooker Washington’s institute for coloured people.. The laird of Skibo is a firm believer in the elevating power of education, and it will everywhere be admitted that culture in Europe has raised the inhabitants from barbarity to civilisation. The Americans need not despair of the negro. It may take a long series of generations to raise lus educational status, and it may require almost as long a period to induce the white people to recognise in terms of social equality their black brother citizen. There is, however, no reason why the negro should be despised and condemned. He is capable of culture; he lias proved himself worthy of. trust; innd he is sufficiently ambitious to realise rho necessity for acquiring education. It is his colour that is against him, and that he cannot possibly change. Although the colour is only skin deep, .it is among the superficial and society classes in America sufficient to blacken the characters of the best cultured ancf most moral negro. The colour question is to the American as distressing and as menacing as Hie alien problem is becoming in Great Britain. The British authorities have remonstrated with the self-governing possessions of the Empire against the passage of laws designed to exclude Asiatics and other undesirable immigrants, but the right to exclude aliens is not now seriously disputed, and the British Government is confronted with the same vexatious question. For some years past there has been intermittent movement against the poof alien. Driven out of Europe by oppressive law, social ostracism and such harsh and cruel treatment as our cablegrams tell us this week has been meted out to the poorer Jews by Russians in Bessarabia, the persecuted are finding a haven of refuge in London. In opening her doors to the outcasts of Eurpean nations, England is undertaking great risks, and recent investigation shows that the problem is becoming a more serious one than was generally supposed. It is now averred that the alien is a menace not only to the English working classes, but to the comimunity at large. Various authorities are supporting these contentions with facts and figures, and the census has revealed the fact that in Spitalfields, London, ninety-five per cent, of the population is alien. The menace to society rests in the fact that last year in the North London sessions two* hundred and fifty of the criminals were foreign-bom prisoners. The conditions under which these people live are deplorable, and as many as eleven persons have been found sleeping in an unventHated room. They work for poor wages—probably as much as they are worth —and many hundreds of the aliens in the east end of London are paupers. As there are frequent manifestations of hostility to the negro by the whites in the United States, so there has been considerable friction between the alien and the British worker in London. In solving the black and alien problem the two first nations of the world have difficult and trying tasks before them.

Numbers of intelligent men among us aro able, from their "knowledge of the rise and fall of previous civilisations, to discover evidences of decadence and degeneracy in the most cultured and dominant races of the present day. \et parallel with the signs of decline are to be found evidences of vigour development and expansion. It 'is not necessary to point out what are regarded as indications of decay. It is more cheering to consider what makes for the mental culture and physical development of our people. The work of our educational institutions cannot be too higlily extolled, although hero our pessimistic friends are discovering that too much learning is driving the people (mad; or, at all events, causing them to forget what is due to themselves, their friends and their country. On the other liand, the training which many hundreds of opr young people are undergoing in the physical culture schools must have a beneficial infiuenco u£>on the race, and school mast era ought to stimulate their pupils t-o tests of skill and physical power on the play-ground, in the gymnasium and the cricket held. Unlike the physical culture of the Greeks, our physical training schoolmasters strengthen the we:d- e.s well, as develop the st-rone. Wh pi. . >ie;d o : 1 -

ture declined among the Romans, the nation itself became luxurious and effeminate. When gymnastic training was left to the gladiator, and when the Romans depended on the Saxon and the Celt'to fight the battles of the Empire, tho Romans themselves dwindled away to ultimate extinction. W hat gavo the nobles and feudal lords their power throughout the dark days of Europe ? Simply their excellent physique and their skill in military exercises. Tho common people were serfs—hewers of wood and drawers of water. When the various petty kingdoms were struggling for supremacy in England, the training for warfare oompeiled the fighting men to manly and military exercises, and probably in these days the foundations of England's greatness were laid. Many churchmen stimulated tho peoplo to physical training and development, and the Germans attribute to Father John tho honour of having established gymnasiums throughout Bavaria. It was, however, with tho establishment of industries and their pursuanco under unhealthful and oppressive conditions that the physical status of the working poor of England declined, until the late war revealed tho astounding fact that out of fifteen thousand youths offering themselves as recruits only three thousand were declared to bo physically fit. Child labour, over-crowding, unheal thy tenements, have undermined the constitutions of many thousands, and tho decline at Home of agriculture has driven the sturdiest of families of Great Britain and Ireland into foreign lands. Thus successive Governments" are to some extent responsible for whatever decay is manifest in the nation. With the establishment of gymnasia in all parts of the country much might be done to redeem the physical weakness of the millions; but tho mainstay of the nation is after all its rural population, and _ Great Britain has avowed her intention of restoring if possible one part of the Empire to its normal condition. Let ns in this country stimulate all forms of physical culture among our young peoplo, and in Qsl" generation wo will bo doing our part in removing the evidences of national decay.

During tho absence of Mr Chamberlain from England, the Unionist Government suffered several severe reverses at tlio polls in bye-elections It may be nothing more than a coincidence, but (since his return the British Government has been quickened into newness of political life. The great land reform scheme for Ireland has been announced. Certainly it was in train before Mr Chamberlain went out to South Africa ; but as he is acknowledged to be the most advanced and progressive statesman among his colleagues, who shall say that with the support and sanction of the King himself the Secretary of State for the Colonies was not the moving influence in promoting the most comprehensive and liberal scheme of Irish land reform ever devised ? • Tho announcement of this scheme has arrested the decline of support to the Government throughout the country. It is admitted that an Opposition Ministry would have offered no more generous measure to Ireland, and the Irish members opposed to the Balfour-Chamber-lain Administration have moderated their hostility, and on several occasions actually voted with tho Government against their opponents’ adverse motions. Now tho Budget presented by the Hon. C. T. Ritchie a marvel of simplicity and effectiveness. It has surprised his Majesty's Opposition as greatly as it has inspired confidence and restored the Government in popular favour throughout tho country. It lias been stigmatised, indeed, as “an electioneering Budget,” aud an early appeal to the country is predicted. Should a general election speedily follow, the tide of popular unrest and discontent will have been mitigated; but should the recent elections be then indicative of tho country’s opinion, an alternative Government could scarcely be expected to do more. Tho income tax is to be reduced and the bread tax abolished. This will solidify the Conservative interest on the one hand and gratify the masses on the other. Even Sir W. Vernon Harccnirt could find little to disparage in the Budget. After congratulating Mr Ritchie on its deliverance, he declared it to be scandalous that the Government should relieve the direct taxpayer so much more than the indirect taxpayer. Looked at closely, there is not much serious denunciation in this criticism, for the direct taxpayers are few. and they are also individually indirect taxpayers, T’ha remission of fourpence in the income tax only reduces that tax to elevenpence, whereas before the war it was threepence lower, and remains at a higher figure than it has ever reached since 1855-56, being tlie years of the Crimean war. The income taxpayers are still continuing to bear an extra burden, besides contributing indirectly along with those who escape the income tax to the general inland revenue of the country. In the abolition of the corn duty Canada sees now no bopo of Britain’s reciprocating tlie trade concessions of tlie Dominion, but Canada is no worse off than she was before the imposition, and the colonies cannot expect any Government of Great Britain f i impose taxation upon tho food of + heir people in order to benefit the pro-

ducers in outlying dependencies. For tho sake of the advantages of “an invinciblo navy,” tho colonies ought to bo ready to modify their tariffs so as to render them favourable to tlie trade of Great Britain, always remembering that what stimulates hers promotes their own.