NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2529, 7 June 1895, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Tho Wilde case has been more commented upon than anything that has happened of lato years, and tho last development will probably not lesson the volume of remark. la Paris, after the Queensberry trial, the newspapers devoted much attention to this fact of universal curiosity. "We manage these things hotter in Prance," they cried in chorus; " we ."imply do nob report them." - On this text they all appear to have insinuated sermons oa the greater pruriency of the British mind. It is one of those questions on which a good deal may be said on both sides; ;But it is not altogether a question of pruriency. There may bo pruriency in everything; especially in the reading of. certain reports. But these reports aro not published to encourage pruriency. With proper care they should be clean, and then if there is pruriency on the part of tho readers it is disappointed.

On one side of the Channel tho press aims at giving as accurate a picture of the world as is possible, subject to certain conditions. The press’ is contemporary history, and history is the. teacher of mon, and history must'hot-' be false. On the other side of the Channel, certain pages of contemporary history being left, out, the instruction of tho public is defective. Wholesome criticism has appeared with benefit in a hundred papers on tho English side. On tho other the world is encouraged to believe that it is very much better than it is.

This difference of practice is difficult to understand, A certain class of literature is printed in Prance and openly circulated. It is objected in,England as encouraging pruriency. It is defended in Prance as giving true pictures of life by master. hands. But the truth is not. always self-evident ;.: and it.never is attested by sworn testimony. Why should a press which favours the romance which is confessedly not written for “ the young person,” object to the publication of reports which taka care to be decant, and certainly never present ..vice in an attractive light ?

The French press has curiously enough given matter for further reflection in this Wilde history. Aftorthe Queensberry verdict a Paris journalist referred to the disgraced prosecutor as an intimate friend of certain brother journalists and ~ literary men. Among the names mentioned was that of the famous writer M. Catulls Meades, whoso books are certainly (some of them) not written for " tho young person." Like Gautior, ho might say" I don’t cut broad and butter for a young 'ladies’ seminary.” Catullus resented the statement made about him, and promptly sent a challenge to tho offending journalist, with tlib result that Catullus was run through tho arm. But as that did not provp that Catullus was an intimate friend of Wilde’s, people began to talk about the illogicality of duelling. ■

It was not for tho first time. A few weeks before that a Parisian journalist, well known by-his signature of “ Barry Allis,” fell but with a captain of Chasseurs, called him out, and Was run through tho heart. The catastrophe l caused a tremendous sensation, chiefly bn the ground that duels do not usually cost life in the gay capital.. Thoughtful writers took tho opportunity of pointing out that in England, twenty miles over the border, nobody fights duels, aud nobody’s courage or honour is over on that account called in question. There are, it was stated, other and more rational methods of settling controversies in England.

In Germany tho "ordeal by battle” has just proved itself even more illogical. The following paragraph from the Berlin correspondent of tho Times speaks for itself: — " Herr von Kotze, the master of ceremonies at Berlin, who was recently acquitted by a military Court of the charges of writing libellous lottors which had boon brought against him. was obliged, nevertheless, in order to clear his character completely, to challenge his accusers. He fought his duel with tho first among them on Saturday, and was shot in the thigh; Tho Radical newspapers denounce the system which compels an innocent man thus to hazard his life without reason;” The denunciation is not without, reason. The unfortunate officer has been vindicated by other methods, ye|t hfi jhas to give all his accusers a chance of kill!fig Jiim. The chance* are that for him life will p fLVP to ° short to prove that which has already ijeeu proved by competent tribunal, viz., his in-, nooence. If ho wero allowed to take his pistol and shoot all tho mon ffbo accused him wrongly; the system might bp described as barbarous, But as he is only allowed to fight, ,it ifl also supremely absurd. , , ■ ■ , r

It may bo well for Sir Henry Parker Sir George Dibbs and Mr Bald that Sydney is not under' the law of ordeal by battle. They may thank their stars that they live in a country which has realised that the result of a duel never settles a question of fact. If the knights were to kill tho Premier, (.r the Premier to wing tho knights, public

opinion about them all would remain exactly where it is now. No amount of burnt powder or of swordplay would make the coalition honourable or the Ministerial policy wrong.

Hr Russell has lost no time in replying to the champion of tho cyanide patent. “ A more detail in the specification which can ho altered at any moment ” says the champion in a warning voice. On tho other hand, if tho contention of Mr Russell, supported by what he lias quoted from tho judgments, is good, tho patent is as dead as Julius Oiesar. As well might the Prohibitionists take out a patent for quenching the human thirst with cold water, and license publichouses to levy a royalty on tho same for tho profit of tho temperance cahse. That is what the reply amounts to. It is a pretty quarrel, of which wo hope to hear more anon.

Wo were treated last night to a little treatise on Naboth’s vineyard. The Hon John McKenzie was the Ahab, and the vineyard was the Ardgowan estate. Xho story is good, but somehow it misses tho point. At any rate, it might be road differently by mauy people, who, adopting tho comparison, might consider themselves justified in regarding tho vineyard as in the possession of Ahab. and being claimed by tiie heirs of Naboth from tho bands of tho monopolist. If wo are to talk about theso Biblical people, wo can talk as straight, and more correctly perhaps, than other people.

But tho thing is not one merely for the exchange of sarcasms. There aro very few people in New Zealand who have not accepted the principle that for settlement purposes lands may be resumed by the Slate. The principal objection made was that tho statute might be worked unfairly. When tho first case of resumption occurs, it is enough to cry out generally that it is a case of oppression, and it is absurd to draw pictures of innocent victims being despoiled by tyrannical oppressors. Is the process unfair ? Is the resumption unnecessary for public reasons ? Theso are fair points for discussion. But they arc evaded. Tho resumption is necessary, and tho method adopted for tho resumption of tho land is absolutely and scrupulously fair.

We heartily congratulate Taranaki on tho oil development. A boom in something is badly wanted in New Zealand at the present moment, and if oil is to bo tapped freely all over the district from Moturoa to Inglewood, there will be a boom to throw all its predecessors into tho shade.

Wo uuoto for public information tho Times’ report from the American oilfields.

“A remarkable; rise in the price of petroleum has caused great excitement in tho Pennsylvania and Ohio oilfields. Two years ago oil was 5*3 cents a barrel. Last January if*was 1 dollar, and since then it has been advancing rapidly, until this week it touched 2 dollars 51 cents. On Wednesday the Standard Oil Company, at an early hour, posted 2 dollars 50 cents as its purchase price for Pennsylvania oil. Pittsburg opened at 2, dollars 55 cents, and advanced to 2 dollars 70 cents. Then, with few transactions, the Standard Company ceasing to buy, it declined to 2 dollars 15 cents, closing at 2 dollars 17 cents. Tho increased demand for oil caused by tho exhaustion of tho stock recently led tho Standard Oil Company, which mainly controls tho output, to advance the price. This has caused increased prospecting for oil. In the Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other oilfields 2,000 new pipe wells have been sunk, while dynamite has boon exploded in tho old wells with a few to increasing the flow. The Standard Company has boon making extensive purchases of oil lands. As tho oil ‘ fever ’ increases tho makers of drilling tools and woll-borors are being greatly overworked. Prospectors aro hurrying all over tho country trying to buy farms or leaso wells, and there is very active speculation. At Toledo crowds of excited speculators congregate, and the entire population is described as ‘ oil crazy.’ Leading Pittsburg dealers say that tho daily output has been about 20,000 barrels short of tho demand, and all the stocks are running low.”

Hero is a void in tho oil market. Oil is evidently something which is not going to ruin everybody by falling in price. With a daily output at tho American centres of 20,000 barrels short of the demand, in spite of 2000 new wells aud the use of dynamito to increase the flow of the old ones, there is a future in oil for anybody lucky enough to got it. Wo wish our Taranaki friends the best of such luck. Possibly Sir John Lnbbook and tho other holders of Taranaki bonds may soon feel safo. They may oven, not improbably, desire to foreclose on the land endowments with a view to sinking capital in floating companies.