CURRENT TOPICS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6311, 11 September 1907, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

THE TARIFF. In the light of Friday afternoon’s explanations, tbs Government yesterday returned to consideration of the tariff. Business was resumed at the stage where progress was reported on the previous occasion, and a protracted discussion on one item—lasting about four hours—ensued on an" amendment moved by Mr Guinness to make boilers imported for mining and dairying purposes pay a duty of 5 per cent., instead of 20 per cent. Town and country members ranged themselves for and against the proposal. As will be seen by the division list, the Government this time won by eleven votes, and thus the 20 per cent, duty is retained. Of tho six Liberal members who were the cause of Friday’s incident in the House, Messrs Hornsby, Jennings and Boss voted against the Government, as on Wednesday last; Messrs Dillon and Field ‘paired against the Government; Mr Hall, who on Wednesday joined forces with Mr Herries. this time voted with Ministers. Messrs Flatman, Graham and Hogan, who did not vote in last week’s division, last night threw in their lot with tho Government,

CHILDREN IN THE BACKBLOCKS. Some hardships which settlers in the blaclcblocks suffer are referred to in a question of which the member for Kaijpara gave notice in the t House yesterday —Whether the Minister of Education will provide the settlers of Lower Eaupo with a school, now that he has received the following statement "of absolute facts from the Auckland Education Board?. There are children who have passed the schoolage; and others rapidly passing that age, who have never seen the inside of a school since settling there, and it is doubtful if they know their alphabet. One settler has four children, and unless the desired school is erected they will have to go without schooling, unless the settler sells out and removes to some locality where there is a school. Others are in tho same position, the settlers being nearly all in possession of young families. There are twenty children who have never seen tho inside of a school. Another settler has v four children in standards one to four, but they have been unable to attend the nearest school for some months owing to the state of tho roads, GLASGOW JURY~AND RUSSIAN REVOLUTION. Some few weeks ago the cables informed us of tho arrest of several men, in different parts of the Old Country, for having illegally in thei? possession large quantities of ball cartridges. Some of the men when arrested at once gave information to the authorities as to how the "explosives" came into their poseee7 sion. Among those arrested was John Reid, a Glasgow Socialist, who absolutely refused to say how th© cartridges cam© to be stored in his property. The authorities, for one reason or another, seemed exceedingly anxious to secure a conviction, and so John Reid was charged, not only under the Ordinary Explosives Act, 1875, but also under the panic-inspired Act of 1883 which involves the possible penalty of twenty years penal servitude. Under this Act Reid was charged with having 15,000 cartridges in his possession "for an unlawful purpose/' Prisoner, \yhile refusing to divulge' the name of the party who supplied him with tho ammunition, stated h© had "intended to try and get it sent abroad to friends who were taking part in the Russian revolution." Th© jury upheld the prisoner's plea that such was not "an unlawful purpose." and accepted hia plea of "guilty" pf "being in illegal possession" of explosives. Reid was fined £Blos. The decision of th© jury was applauded by the Radical press, -os thd action of the Government in seeking to convict Reid under the 1883 Act was held to be equal to "taking sides with the Czar." The finding of this Glasgow jury, it is declared, has established "the lawful rights" of the people of Britain, as individuals, to assist Russian revolutionaries. That all th© hidden cartridges have not yet been discovered by the authorities is clear from the wording of th© following announcement in a Glasgow paper:—"A defence fund is being raised to meet th© inevitable expenses incurred by the men who . . . may still be arrested and fined for their share in this good end necessary work." A FAMOUS SOCIALIST. M. Jaures, the famous French Socialist leader, whom a cable message published in our columns yesterday declared to have made a startlingly anarchistic speech in Paris, is a notable figure in Europe. Though his speech on this occasion mode an appeal to force in order to ensure unity among nation*, ho is an old friend of pMm and arbitration. While the; Rnnto-Japaassr war was in pcofrsM ha miftoil a Eurspsa* demfMtration fe ®rfer to bring tho struggle io a ohooo. l*ow indeed have written more powerfully in the cause of intexnatioßal peace them. he. A

ful man this, erstwhile Professor at Tonlouse has rapidly shouldered his way into the front rank of french politicians. When in 1885 he was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies he was only twentysir years old, though already a Professor, and, .when in 1889 he lost his seat, he returned to Toulouse, and resumed the duties of his chair there. Since then he has been re-elected, and to-day few men wield more influence over the masses. The most advanced views are associated in M. Jaures' case with profound learning and much personal charms In the better relations now subsisting between Franc© and England he finds particular satisfaction; ■ ascribing this result to the enlightened opinions of the working classes on both sides of the Channel, and regarding it as the first step towards automatic international arbitration and eventual international peace. MATRIMONY IN JAPAN. Miss Murcutt, during her lecture on the Japanese at the Concert Chamber of the. Town Hall, mentioned that the Japs regard marriage as a strictly business proposition. The women are not "courted/' but were given in marriage by their relatives to men whom they have never seen. But the lecturess said that when she boldly lectured to them on "Love, Courtship, and Marriage/' as Western people understand it, thousands came to listen to her, for they regarded such things as intensely novel. She recommended her audience to arrange their matrimonial undertakings more on Western lines, and a fortnight after a breathless young Japanese rushed to her house, and told her how he had fallen in love (a thing never before heard of), that "she" loved him, and that they were "engaged" in approved European style. The human heart, said Mies Murcutt, is the same kind of organ whether it beats under a brown, or a white breast. Its* l, owners only want to be told of the possibilities for matrimonial happiness, and of the joy of courtship, which she believes is generally the happiest time of life. THE WELLINGTON MUSEUM. "Things are not what they seem'V in the Wellington Museum. The investi gator from afar is a good deal misled when he examines the cases containing curios and valuables by the labels, or lack of 'them. Almost as soon as he gets inside the door the stranger finds a case with some handsomely embroidered Indian cloth of gold specimens. In the centre there is a ticket indicating that the case contains a Portland vase. There is no vase. At the top of a most interesting collection of old war .relics, rifles, flags, shells, and the like, appears a ticket sotting out that underneath, are bones of extinct birds. There are no tickets at all on some exhibits, notably those of the most importance—Maori curios, etc. The tickets saying that the within collection is a "temporary arrangement" have lain there for a very long period, and will probably remain longer. The "Uvest" thing in the museum which really represents great value, is the exhibition of native lizards. A little editing of tickets would do no harm.

DO NOT EXPECTORATE. In tho Chief. Health Officer's room there is tacked to the wall an enamel plate. It is the notice posted in all towns in Belgium by the "Digue National© Beige Contr© la Tuberculose," and its message is "Ne crachez pas par terre" (do not spit on the ground). But this notice goes further than the notices in Wellington go, for, to translate, it continues—"lt is indecent and dangerous, for the dried sputum of.the consumptive ie nearly always the medium for th© communication of phthisis." Th© Belgian police help this league and local bodies second the work of the police. Phthisis is considered to be a national and danger. Whether a person is.or is. not suffering from lungtrouble, , public expectoration is • disgusting, and Wellington has too many public oxpectoratoTS, No person has been brought before th© Court yet for breach of the existing by-law -on, this matter, and it seems that something might justly be done to mitigate a nuisance and danger that is recognised fully in Belgium ,ae in. most other continental countries. SURVEYS AND SURVEYING. It is not yery remarkable, all things considered, that disputes as to the boundaries of land areas are common in New Zealand. Giving evidence in the Supreme Court yesterday Mr R. K. Richmond, C.E., stated that certain plans, submitted to his Honor Mr Justice Cooper, could not be relied upon, because they were evidently based upon th© survey mad© by Captain Smith before that historic day from' which the topography of Wellington apparently dates—the earthquake of January 21st, 1855. "And/ Mr Richmond added, "surveyors in those times didn't take one-tenth of the trouble that surveyors of to-day are compelled to take." This recalls a remark mad© by Mr Justice Cooper some time ago when dealing with a somewhat similar case. H© said it was generally, regarded as good history that th© reason Auckland's streets were winding and crooked was that the thoroughfares of that city were originally surveyed and mapped out from the quarter-deck of a mian-o'-war swinging with the tide at her moorings in the stream I This is almost as had as the of Sydney, in Which it is said, survey of any kind was dispensed with, and people who proposed to build houses unto themselves took as their street alignmfent the edges of the sheep tracks! NEWS NOTES The Takapuna, with the inward Brindisi mail, passed outwards from the Manukau at 7.45 a.in. yesterday, and resumed her voyage to Wellington from New Plymouth at 7 o'clock last evening. She is due between 9 and 10 o'clock this morning. The Napier High School old boys resident in Wellington, at their first reunion on Monday night, decided to make arrangements for an annual football match between themselves and Wellington College Old Boys. The secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association yesterday received from his Excellency tho Governor and Lady Plunket a donation of £ls (the Governor £lO, Lady Plunket £5),. towards th© furnishing fund of the Y.W.C.A. Home. The Wellington Benevolent Institution Trustees met yesterday afternoon. Pre—Barr. W. A. Emus (chairman), Mrs D»rmll, K«n Cook, London. Wakefeua. Befeerteon, and feaitk* Mr A. fi. TrmsfcridK ufer U the Ohiro Hsbm, - laparlM fet thaw* were then 74 mt\u\ CbA IS fen like in the The the Treefee OTfcro" sbmt!**iSfe mfefer is reported evhere.

The Wellington Working Men's Club Has paid to tho Hospital Trustees the sum. of .£ll 18s, tho proceeds of a concert given by the club. The Trustees passed votes of thanks yesterday to the club, and to the Central Mission Band, for assistance to the funds.

At the Wellington Benevolent Trustees’ meeting yesterday afternoon. Dr Valintiue, Inspector of Hospitals and Charitable Institutions, remarked that the more often ho visited the Salvation Army Homes tho more he was impressed with their splendid organisation. The executive of the Wellington Employers' Association held a meeting yesterday afternoon, when the proposed amendments to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act were considered. The result of the deliberations will be reported to a general meeting of members to be held this evening. The filling in of the Sydney street gully by the Corporation is progressing with rapidity, and yesterday one head of the tram-rail that is carrying tho spoil got clear across, making solid ground. In the matter of shifting and . trucking soil the Corporation has put up something like a record m the construction of what is officially known as “Anderson's Park."

The delegates to the 1 conference of sports bodies at present meeting in Wellington represent athletes numbering not fewer than 36,500. Details of representation are: Rugby football, 10,000; cricket, 6000; hockey. 4000; cash athtetics, 3000; swimming, 3000; lawn tennis, 3000; amateur athletics, -2000; association football, 2000; rowing, 2000; cycling, 1000; boxing, 500.

That municipalities are' beginning to regard the control of observatories as their particular car© seems to be evidenced by action which has been taken recently by two councils in the North Island. The Napier Borough Council, has voted «£25 for the upkeep of tho observatory there, and the Auckland City Council has offered a site in Albert Park for an observing station for its weather. The forest reserve which the Eastbourne Borough Council has been endeavouring to acquire, and which was held by the Victoria College Governors, has now been conveyed to the Crown by the Governors, and will shortly be vested in the Eastbourne Borough Council as a Domain Board. The Council has already'outlined a scheme for the improvement of this fine area. The Hospital Trustees are going to make further representations to the Government, through the Qity Council, to have Botanical road exempted from the necessity of widening. It was pointed out that the road would never bo called on to carry very much traffic, and in any case one side would always bo bounded by the city reserve. The Hon. C. M. Luke, chairman of the Trustees, states that the Minister (Hon. J. McGowan) expressed himself favourably towards the request, which will probably be granted when it is again preferred. At a meeting of Old Boys of the Napier High School, hold in the Trocadero, aver thirty, were present, Mr A. S. M. Poison, headmaster of the school presiding. It was decided that an annual reunion should be held, and a working committee was formed to carry out the decision. Following are the names of the committee:—Messrs H. F. Gibbons (chairman), A. H, and G, V. Bogie, W. H. Wilson, C. PaUlser, and B, W. Millior (secretary). The old boys partook of sapper, and an excellent musical programme was given. The meeting closed with three cheers for the headmaster.

A peculiar accident occurred on Tramcar No. 59 while it was proceeding at a fair rate ot speed along Lyell Bay road, Kilbirnia South, on its way to Miramar, at about 7 p.m. yesterday. Only one passenger was in the car, a man sitting in the rear smoking compartment, with one knee jutting outside the doorway. Conductor Alexander Sutherland was passing along the footboard, and, not noticing the man's knee, struck it and overbalanced, falling on to the road. Sutherland’s left forearm was broken in .the tall. Dr Kemp set the ini ured limb. Sutherland, who is a married man, was to have been promoted to motorman’s rank on Saturday.

The sand-drift which constituted such a grave nuisance at Eastbourne has now been stopped, - and the operations of the Borough Council in this connection are completed with satisfactory results. The area has been fenced and planted with marram grass, four tons of which have been astd, and it is "holding” vigorously. The method is to pull the clumps apart, one man digging a hole, another following with a small clump, putting it in the hole, and kicking the sand around it. ■ Barricades of ti-tree and wire have been erected across gaps in the sand-drift area. The estimated cost for the completion of the scheme was ,£BOO, but the actual cost will bo only a little over £3OO.

The Hawke's Bay Trades and Labour Council has written to the Hon. J. A. Millar, objecting to thfe proposed amendments to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The chief objection is that while the employers' representatives are independent of the workers, the workers' representatives would, on the dissolution of an industrial council, depend for their livelihood upon the persons with whom they had been contending in the dispute. The wish of their Council is that the Conciliation Boards should have power to make awards binding. The proposal, to give Magistrates power to enforce awards is objected to on the ground that this removes the matter from the tribunals specially created to deal with it.

Mr E. W. Christmas, artist, has a small collection of-his most recent works 0,1 view at Messrs McGregor Wright and Co.'s. The largest, and perhaps the /most notable, canvas is a bush and water scene, in which detail, distance, atmosphere and colour are, oommendably good. Some pictures of glaciers and icefields are faithful to nature, the efieot of sunlight in one picture being especially rich. A scene of desolation, showing a burning in the bnsh, with a smouldering log in the foreground, standing bush in the distance, and a palpable smoky haze over all, is partially _ impressionist, and remains in the mind’s eye. One small canvas showing a sunset through trees/ with a rivulet in the centre of the picture, is a little unreal and too highly coloured, but all the other works are distinctly creditable. Speakini? to, a "Times” reporter yesterday evening, Mr Williams, inspector for the local S.P.C.A.. said there was a commendable diminution in the number of aged and infirm horses working in the streets during the past few weeks. Some had been destroyed by the society, and owners of others had met the wishes of the society, or had destroyed old beasts for fear of consequences. Mr Williams, however, condemned a habit of some local horse-owners who are so greedy for gain that they put "babies” to heavy work. Young horses frequently jib, and the whip has perforce to be used. Many young horses, he says, are entirely spoiled by being put to work too soon, and become wrecks at a time when a decently used animal should be in its prime.

The Invercargill Magistrate had before him last Friday morning a boy possessed of somewhat strong opinions on the question of '‘individual freedom/' and with sufficient initiative to put his ideas into practice. The lad was thirteen years old, and of an intelligent disposition, having passed the fourth standard. But, his father having married a second time, the boy did not choose to go to school, and another little fad of his was to sleep out on the section in a tent. yn* father seldom saw him, and on on© occasion lost sight of him for a whole fortnight. The boy stayed out all day, and never returned to his camp much before midnight. In the mornings his father had repeatedly tried to catch him. but as the parental arm lifted the nap erf; one end of the tent, the bundle of mieskief hopped at the other. It ms only wheel a constable was sent along t the boy was effectually trapped. Ho was committed to the Burnham Induol&rUl School.

During August tho Christchurch City Engineer granted seventy-six building permits, representing in the aggregatea value of <£40,000. ..

Tho Labour Bills Committee of tha House of Representatives'will meet on Friday next to take evidence on the Industrial Coilciiiatiou and Arbitration Act Amendment Bill.

When tho central school at New Ply" mouth reopened on Monday last it ; was found that over 2CO scholars were unable to attend on account of sickness,, and many of those present were suffering from colds. It was decided to cloeethe school for another week.

A meeting will be held in the Kent terrace Presbyterian Church to-morrow evening to bid farewell to Muss Rosa Davy, M.A., and Miss. McGregor, who are leaving to take up missionary work in India, and Dr Kirk, medical missionary,, who is going to China. Addresses will be delivered by theauistsionarics and by the Revs. Dr Gibb and J. K. Elliott.

An interesting release of a prisoner of the 1857 mutiny from the Andamans is reported by the ’‘Hindu Patriot." Moosama Singh was transported in 1859 for taking part in the mutiny of 1857, and after forty-eight years in the Andamans has now been released. Ho will have to report himself one© a month before the Superintendent of Police, Bast* ern Division. A rather clever invention was tried by the tramway officials yesterday afternoon, namely, a patent trolly-head and ear, so devised as to practically make it impossible for the head to be pulled This should prove useful to all tramway as repeated trials proved it to be a great success. ’ The trolleyhead is.the invention of one of the Council's employees, D. Amos, now employed as motorman. At the Otago branch of the Farmers* Union it was decided by the executive to advise tho Labour Bills Committee of the House of their willingness to give evidence concerning the Arbitration Amendment Bill. The executive further expressed the disastrous effect to the farming industry which would be brought about by bringing agricultural labour under the Act, and decided to urge the Government to bring in an amending Bill to exempt agricultural labour. In the course of his address on “Cremation" before tho Auckland Trades and Labour 1 Council, Dr Purdy pointed out that cremation was being adopted by all progressive communities. The modern process was not repulsive; was cheaper than burial, and more advantageous from a sanitary standpoint. The average cost of a funeral was JEW, but after the erection of a crematorium at an estimated cost of .61020, the cost of disposing of bodies would not be more than JSS for a start.

A statutory meeting of Johnsonville ratepayers was held last evening in the Eeohabite Hall, to consider a proposal to raise a special loan of .£IOOO for the purpose of installing an acetylene gas service to light the town. Mr F. T. Moore, chairman of the Town Board, occupied the chair, and moved n formal motion supporting the proposal, which was seconded by Mr Alexander Hay. A. discussion, which was at times stormy, followed, lasting for about three hours, at the end of which the proposal was tarried with only one dissentient vote. The notorious longevity of pensioners is forcibly brought to mind by the financial accounts of the United Kingdom, just issued as a Blue-book, from which it appears that two pensioners on the Civil List of George the Fourth are still living, and three on William the Fourth’s list. Another link with the .past is the pension which the Clerk of the Court of Bequests has received ever since 184 d. when the Court was abolished. The bailiff of the Marshalsoa Court, too—irrevocably associated with ’’Little DorTit"— is still alive, and draws a pension of XoO per annum. Daring a recent visit to Wellington the chairman of the Taranaki Petroleum Company received inquiries regarding the supply of crude oil. which, it was suggested, might be used in combination with other ingredients in lien of pitch for the making of briquettes out of the email coal from the-State mines. This is claimed to be a much cheaper process, and Mr Berry was given to understand, says the Wanganui "Herald," that a small test plant was to be at once erected in Wellington, bo as to test the quality and cost, with a view to asking his company to quote a price for crude oil. '