EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9656, 9 October 1907, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AN D COMMENTS.

Titi.- House **of Representatives devoted - seven hours yesterday to-the consideration of * a single- clause'- of' tiie- LandLaws- Amendment -Bill, - and ■if anything like the same amount of time were taken over the other. ylauses of the measure the end of ((he year would see Parliament stall in session. But there is - no likelihood of such a thing happening. The clause which was discussed yesterday embodied one of the cardinal principles of the modified land policy of the Ministry, and was. anticipated that, around it would - rag© one of ths battles in Committee'on the Bill; " But much more, tune was consumed inidiscussing-the questions involved than, was at. all. necessary, for all that was urged oa-botlf sides* had Been put forward time after time, and there; , was not a single member-in such a condition of doubt- as to how he would vote that argument and -eloquence became necessary stimulants- to his halting, and. sluggish mind. The first trial of; strength took place upon, the proposal to, abolish'the lease-in-perpetuity, and in this connection tho Opposition joined forces with the small section of the Liberal Paity who con-, tended for the retention of tho "eternal lease," and so once niore gave their inconsistency. Times without number they have denounced the ,999 years' "• lease as bad, but they" strove yesterday., to . prevent its abolition. It is true that' Mr Massey announced that he'would be pre- : pared to-vote to do away %ith the, lease-in-perpetuity if anything better were.jproposed; but his sole idea of anything better is to throw the whole of the remaining lands open for sale,, and neither the House nor the country, is prepared to follow him in • sach a reckless discpunting, of ' the ' future. The' discussion was-iot, however, I without profit, for it gave Mr' Tanner an opportunity to remind the House and the people of the Dominion that the 999 years' lease was not a part- of Sir Jotoi M'Kenzie's original lana for settlements scheme, and that it- was merely conceded by him hi order to get his libetal. and beneficentland policy through-ah intensely Conservative Upper House. It was. a concession made to prejudice in the interests "of the people who were clamoring for land and who had been denied reasonable opportunities of making homes for. themselves and obtaining a permanent means of securing a:livelihood. Neither its' author nor anyone else ever imagined' that it would become a system of land tenure as unalterable as ' the iaws of the Medes and Persians. Ex- . perience has shown that.it is ,a system capable of serious abuse in the way of speculation, and that it is desirable-that it should be superceded by a tenure which, while it will enable people to secure land on reasonable terms, will conserve the common interest. It is ridiculous for Mr Massey to talk of tenaints'being made nervous by the proposal to, change the law. 'No attempt to change the. tenures under !which tenants hold their lands has .been ; made or suggested by Ministers, who have shown a desire to loyally adhere to the bargain that has been entered into. It is with Mr Massey and his friends that there has originated the only proposal to vary the contracts entered into between the State and its tenants, and all the talk of tenants being rendered nervous is meaningless monsense indulged in to deceive the unthinking and gratify the selfish. What tile Government propose is to substitute for the leaie-m-perpetuity a lease with a 66 years' tenure and right of renewal thereafter. That reasonable proposal was affirmed by the House by 40 to 20, and the country will, we believe, applaud the decision. The Faust Legend has always possessed a weird fascination which has been felt by cultured as well as vulgar minds. The- - original -person'around whom a variety of miraculous stories' has gathered appears to have been Johann Faust, who was born ' towards the close of the-fifteenth century, in the little town of Knittlingen, in Wur. temburg. His parents were poor, but by . the bequest of a rich uncle he was enabled I to study medicine. Faust attended the j University of Cracow, studied magic, which was there taught as an accepted hranch of knowledge, and appears to have afterwards travelled through Europe. Melancthon is quoted as having said "This fellow Faust escaped from our town of Wittenberg, after our Duke John had given orders to have him imprisoned. . . This sorcerer Faust, ail abominable' beast, a common sewer of many devils, boasted that he. by his magic arts, had enabled the Imperial Armies to win their victories in Italy." The theologian Johann Gast, probably on the strength of some popular Tumor, makes the following statement anent Faust: —"The wretch came to a terrible end; for the devil strangled .him." Faust gradually passed out of notice, and no particulars of his death are extant Which are authentic ; but the. wandering life which he led, as physician and necromancer, made him well known throughout Germany. As was but" natural, his name became a magnet- around which gathered floating rumors -of diabolical compact, power and final punishment. The original form of the Faust Legend is a book published by Spiess, in Frankfort, in 1587. The first, part of the title runs : '"History of Dr-Joh. Faust, -the notorious sorcerer and black-artist: How he bound himself to the devil for a certain time : | What singular adventures -befell him | therein, what he did and carried on until t finally he received his well-deserved pay." The book, was at once popular, for a second edition was published in 1588 ; then'came a Low German- version, and an English ballad on the subject in the same year; an English translation-. in 1590,-. two Dutch translations in 1592, an® . one French in 1598; - .Marlowe's tragedy, 'of "Br Faustus," (probably written'.- about 1587—0r 1588) appears to have been acted in London in 1593, the "year of the dramatist'g death. "Dr Faustus" "was published in quarto in 1604 ;md again, in 1616, aiudi t no doubt formed part of the Tepertoire of ' the companies of English strolling players I who were accustomed to -visit Germany. I Shakespeare, probably owing to the ex- ! cellence of the work of Marlowe, made ■ijo definite use of the Faust. Legend, and to the Germans fell the honor of possessing the second : great tragedy. To quote Bayardi Taylor, the translator, to whom we are indebted for most of the foregoing information, "it' is not the least of CJoethe's deserts "that, although in his youth, 'a new Faust was announced in every quarter of. Germany,' he took np. the theme already hackneyed by small talenfs, and made it his own solely and for ever." '