PASSING EVENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4301, 9 March 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

PASSING EVENTS.

HistXjry ia philosophy teaching by oxampiAa. —Thucydides. (From the "Now Zealand Mail.”) iu one of the comic papers a cartoon appeared setting John 15n.1l and Brother •Jonathan in apposition. “You are a Jong time iu crushing Do Wot,” the .latter was made to say. “I think you ..ire finding that Again Ido is a tough rascal,” replied jonn. Dull. But the •crushing of both dosp-radet-.s is Certain, and neither Yankees nor the British will, spurn expense in its accomplishment. While tlio British Commons vote fifty-eight millions for the South African war, the American Semite so amends its war estimates as to ■;ive President McKinley control of the Philippine Islands. From recent accounts it would appear that the Americans have practically failed to bring Again-’ a Ido 1,0 his knees. They have been pursuing him for over two years and a u-'d i- There are stories of internal dis- » elisions among the rebel forces in the ■ Philippines, and wo hear of followers declining to he further led by their guerilla leaders. But the ringleader himself is still in tlio hold and shows no signs of .surrender; and so long as ho is holding out “the giving of President McKinley control of the Philippines/’ is merely a phrase pleasing to ho ear of the American nation. There ■is a remarkable similarity between the ■conditions of warfare in the Philippines and South Africa. The British are pursuing do Wet iu muck the same way that tlio Americans are chasing Aguinsvldo. The repeated escapes of de Wet must cause torturing chagrin to Lord -Kitchener and the British generals who aro following so closely in his wake. 'The press censor ponmits the “Times” correspondent to explain the method of the Boer leader’s last escape in the most ■plausible tcrmsT. It was- “during the silent watches of the night,” so says the correspondent, that do Wet’s rearguard “slipped by the Kimberley column and recrossod the railway.” Whether it is in the dark or in the daylight do- Wet has succeeded, as if by miracle, in escaping every time. The Boors are manifesting signsf of demoralisation and discntcgratiou, and in the ordinary course of events cannot long hold the field. Meantime thirty thousand more troops aro being -hipped to South Africa, and surely that number ought to bo sufficient at this hour of the conflict to terminate a dreary and protracted war.

A good deal of obvious nonsense has been talked by Dr Nikola Tesla, the scientist who avers that ho has received a. communication from Mars. Yet a ■"rent many people believe that the Martians, if that plant is inhabited with intelligent beings like ourselves, have actually conKiiu uicalod with this earth and that Mr Tesla has been the first to make the discovery. Men like Sir Robert Ball have questioned the feasibleness of Mars having signalled to Mother Earth. Sir Robert reminds us that when Mars is nearest the earth, it is thirty-four millions of miles distant; and that at the present time that interesting planet is eighty millions of miles away. Tho imagination reels at the contemplation of the distance, but common-sense says that no sane man would think of communicating to a friend in Lamb bon quay from the top of Mount Victoria, if he could do it from tho other side of tho street. Of course, if there were a telephonic connection there would bo no difficulty about tho matter. Wo do not, however, know how it would be possible for the people of Mars to conjure up an interest in us, if they exist, and existing, know anything of tlvp earth and its people. Sir Robert Ball says that if a flag of the size of Ireland wore Happing on a pole fivo hundred miles high, lb is possible a keen observer in Mars, looking through a telescope as powerful as that in the Lick Observatory, might see a little thing like a pin head twinkling backwards and forwards. That is to say, if the South Island of New Zealand wore hung out on a flagstaff two hundred thousand times tho height of Mount Cook, the observer with the most powerful telescope in the world might notice thp_ flickering object, but a communication with ns without a prescribed code of signals would he as interesting probably as a conversation between a Hottentot and a Chinaman. Professor Marconi hopes soon to bo able from Land’s End to communicate a telegraphic message without wires, but not without apparatus, some hundreds of miles, and we- may flatter ourselves that some day we may lAiild a bridge to the moon, and from that objective, being some distance nearer to Mars, commuhicato to our own satisfaction with the Martians. Wealth is a matter of comparison. It is related that two American millionaires were discussing the death of a mutual friend-who had died worth a million dollars. They were both astonished that Mr B. had been so hard up. Still it is not necessary in order to come under the designation of being wealthy to possess millions. Mr Alfred Vanderbilt was married the other day to Miss Elsio French, a young lady who camo of “a wealthy family,” and the marriage is said to have united nine millions sterling. _ If the bridegroom possessed eight millions, then the young lady was comparatively poor, although of a -wealthy family. Yet to tho man or woman with £IOO.OOO tho possessor of a. single million is fabulously wealthy. And tho possessor of a fortune of £lO,000 is tho object of commiseration to tho owner of a quarter of a million. When it is -considered that Miss French’s “wealthy” family was only able to contribute £200,000 of the million

which a.s a bride sho possessed, it may

with fairness bo assorted that Mr Van- \ dorbilt married a poor woman. From this gossips will conclude that the marriage was a love one; and it wag only when tho bridegroom slinped into the hand of his bride a silver bos containing £BOO.OOO in gilt-edged securities that she became tho possessor of a clear million in her own right. The possession of great wealth may become a blessing or a curso not only to the community, hut to the possessor. In striking contrast to the harpy conduct of tho notorious Isaac Gordon, wo hare the beneficent acts of Mr Samuel Lewis, the Loudon money-lender, who has just died wortti'four millions, all of which he has

left to his widow, with instructions to disburse a million of it in providing

dwellings for the poor and in other charitable .ways. During his life-time Mr Lewis’s benevolence was well-known, and ho was described as a man who acted on tho principle of giving to the poor by lending to tho lord. He drew his profits from tho follies of the rioh, and ministered to the necessities oi the poor. By his marriage Mr Vanderbilt has divided his wealth, and it is to bo hoped ho is happy. Mr Lewis by his death has brought happiness to many, so judging from this it may be asserted that the world appreciates more than his living the death of a millionaire.

Tlio domestic servant problem is one that disturbs the felicity of many households. flood servants are scarce and inddi'ere.iit servants arc tho plague and worry of their mistresses. It may be that some mistresses have spoiled good servants by disregarding their comfort and treating them as menials. The status of the servant girl has been raised within the past few years. This is to .some extent due to education, but is more attributable to tho fact that tho avenues of employment for women have enormously multiplied. With a wider field for work, young women do not prefer domestic drudgery before factory freedom. And with half the wages the conditions,of shop and. f actory life are preferred to domestic life with tho tedious round of household duties. To- some extent mistresses have tho improvement of tho condition of their helps in their, own hands. If servants arc to be continuously looked down upon and their relations iu tho household embittered by indignities, however trivial, at tho hands of their employers, it cannot be expected that there will be careful and ononomical servants. Some mistresses treat their servants well and have no difficulty with them; but all mistresses have doubtless experienced the trials and worries of indifferent and bad servants. They have sighed for a better class of servant and the “lady help” has come; but it is to be feared that cV on she has failed to raise domestic sendee into an honourable and attractive occupation. If domestic

service is not raised further than it has boon, and in the same way probably as nursing has been dignified, by young' women of good education engaging in it, then mistresses may resort to the methods of a San Francisco lady. After many troubles with housemaids and cooks, she advertised for “a clean, reliable young man of good habits to do housework and plain cooking.” There were eighteen applicants and she selected one who had been formerly a music teacher, bub being without pupils his pride was not wounded by the character of his work, Tho solution of the problem may be here. There are young women clerks ; why should young lads jib at domestic service?