TOPICS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 3956, 23 January 1900, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A NEW TRIPLE ALLIANCE. In the course of a speech the other day, the Right Hou Joseph Chamberlain' made some reference to the new Triple Alliance which has causer! quite a flutter'in the diplomatic circles of Russia and France. Passing over the anglophobia displayed by’a certain section of the German press, Mr Chamberlain said it was not .with the German newspapers that Great Britain 'desired an understanding or an alliance, hut with the German people. Mr Chamberlain then pointed out that at bottom the character, the main character, of the Teutonic race differed very slightly from the character of the Anglo-Saxon, “and the same sentiments which bring us into close sympathy with the United States of America may also be evoked to bring; us into closer sympathy and alliance with the Empire of Germany. What do we find? We find our system of justice, wo find our literature, we find the very base and foundation on which our language is established the same in the two countries, and if the union between England and America is a powerful factor in the cause of peace, a new Triple Alliance between the Teutonic race and the two great branches of the AngloSaxon race will he a still more potent influence in the future of the world. I have used the word ‘alliance’ sometimes in the. course of what 1 have said, hut again I desire to make it, clear that to mo it seems to matter little whether you have, ah'alliance which is committed to paper or whether you .have an understanding which exists in the. minds of the statesmen of the respective countries. Au understanding, perhaps, is better than an alliance, which' may stereotype arrangements which cannot he accepted as permanent iii view of the changing circumstances from day to

day. An understanding. a doterminacion to look favourably upon the motives of those with whom we desire to bo on terms of fi iciidslnp—a fooling of that kind, cultivated, existing, and confirmed hv all these three, countries will, ! am certain, he 1o their enormous advanlage. and 1 believe, whether they (hink it Ihemselves or nol . will also he lu I Ik* advantage of oilier nations.'’ A MAY • WAIT GAME.” Tho Tovv.vn (Merioneth) magistrates had before them a, little while %f'o six sehoolhoys, all under fourteen years of ago, on a charge of doing malicious damage to a house, it was stated in evidence that all the hoys of Llanegryn, a village at the foot of fader Idris, recently formed themselves inio a. "commando of Boers” and a "regiment ol British troops.” They (hen marched to the top of an adjoining mountain (Dundee), by different ionics, and a desperate eonfiiel ensued, resulting in tin* feat of Ihe " enimiiando." Being nimble to retain the posilion. Imwev.-iy the " British " re I rented to the fovl of the mountain and occupied a vacant house (representing Badysmilh), the property of a neighbouring farmer iiiund Davies, and when the •• Boers” arrived they bombarded the house so effectively with stones that every window was smashed, and the house generally damaged. Tho evidence caused much merriment in Court, in which the magistrates joined, but, feeling that discipline must be maintained, they decided upon, the infliction of a small tine.

NK\V CENTRAL ASIAN RAILWAY. According to Austrian official accounts the Russian Government is the. construction of a. new railway going Irom the smith of European Russia, to Turkestan. Through this railroad it is intended to connect, tho commercial centres of Russia witii Central Asia, by the shortest route. Two projects exist. Neither lias yet been finally decided upon. One of ‘ them goes from Orenburg along the left hank of the Ural, through the Turgai territory, via Turkestan to Tashkent. The other starts From Alexandrovsk, the terminus of the I’olcrowskUral line, passes through Transcaspian territory along the left hank of tho Amu Daria as far as the station of Tschardshui, on: the Transcaspian Railway. Both projects are far less costly than tho great Siberian Railway itself, whereas the natural resources of the Turkestan territory are scarcely inferior to those of SitTeria. * FARADAY’S INSPIRATION. It is interesting to know that tho great scientist and philosopher, Faraday. gave eredit to the “ Encyclopu'dia Brilaimica.” for having furnished him with Ids first incentive towards scientific investigation. Whoa thirteen years old, Faraday was apprenticed to Mr George Riehau, hook-hinder, lie happened one day upon the volume “G” of one of the earlier editions of the “ Encyclopiedia. Brilanniea,” and became interested in, the subject of chemistry. Ho at once commenced making such experiments as were possible with his limited means, and thus, while serving his apprenticeship as a book-hinder, he was laying the foundation for the work which has made his name familiar to all nations.