CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2083, 25 January 1894, Page 15

CURRENT TOPICS.

(Otago Daily Times.)

It is satisfactory that at last something lik finulity has been at tamed in the settle men of the Loan and Mercantile Company's affairs. The programme is a severer one for shareholders than our first reading of the proposals led us to suppose, but it is better than liquidation, involving immediate sacrifice of assets. The weight of the heavy call is somewhat mitigated by the fact that <sut of. the L 5 10a per share called up, L' 3 103 takes the form of preference shares, which the shareholder will be able to sell pretty readily. It is not pleasant for the open creditors that they should be obliged to accept debentures in place of money, and it is a misuse of language to speak of this measure as " thus leaving the company free from debt"; but creditors can hardly complain if a company which haa suspended has to resuscitate on such terras as it cau cifer, so long as such terms are not disastrous. It is better to take a debenture and turn it into a dividend by selling at the market price than to await the Blow course of liquidation. Still better is ib to take a debenture than to be treated as the unfortunate creditors in the Australian banks have been treated, where they have been forced to become partners at tha biddirg of shareholders whose interest had become really only nominal. To have surmounted the difficulty arising out of Baron Schroder's advantageous position and got the company into going order again is greatly to the credit o£ those who have managed the affair. By paying small dividends and strengthening i«s reserves it may yet become a iiourishiDg concern.

There is an air of simplicity about the rivalry between the two bodies of worshippers in Dowling street that is really touching, though it cannot be called edifyiog. The mayor seema to think it singular thac with a power to make by-laws on the subject of religious processions the City Council had wholly omitted to do so. But the real fact appears to be that the business was not so much " cub " a few years ago and it never occurred to the council that ib was necessary to interfere. We should be sorry to see by -laws like those of Milton and Gore brought into f orca here, though we recognise them as necessities tb ere; but we bhall be satisfied to rely on the judgment of the council as to the necessity for them. If hereafter leaders of religious bodies complain they will have *o remember what it was that gave rise to the discussion. Mr Hardy puts it blantly that both the contestants were "jumping the claim of the Salvation Army." The phrase is iccorrect ; jumping is only resorted to when a claim is abandoned. Surely there never has been even the appearance of tuch an abandonment. Really there must be something which will grate on the senses of Christians when one leader says of a rival body, " The peiple are invited to go to the Garrison Hall, which is practically inviting them away from our hall to another one." Whether these different religious bodies teach different doctrines does not appear : apparently not. " The Garrison Hall people" and the Salvation Army are said to be noisy. They probably claim this as their chief merit. One of them certainly commenced operations before Mr Ready. At the bottom of all this dispute is riva'ry which appears to go beyond emulation. This is not edifying.

The stranding of the Jessie Readman shows that all is not right in the method of departing from New Zealand ports. The Chathams are in one sense in the way of a vessel departing from Napier or Wellington, but there is no reason wby they should be. Ab it is known to be the case that sailing vessel* get out of their reckoning, and that there are ocean currents setting towards tha Chatham?, it is not sufficient to take ordinary precautions to avoid them. Some method should be adopted which proves absolute in its operation, and that method should be enforced by explicit orders from owners to give such islands a wide berth of a fefinite number of miles, rendering the passage free of all chance of error in reckoning. A few hours added to its length would be well sacrificed. It is of no moment to remember that such strandings are rare : two have occurred in recent years — both of wool ships — and that establishes a high proportion. A definite order insisted on by underwriters wonld end the matter. We do not suggest that anyone is in this case blameworthy in the ordinary sense ; but there i 3 obviomly room for improvement in the system. A kind of hedge of islands somewhat distant from each other runs parallel with our east coast. To get safely through this, definite ccean roads ought to be laid off, and nothing left to chance.

The last stand of Captain Wilson's detachment is another of those unfortunate but gallant affairs which fill the history of our countless wars for the conquest of South Africa. The gallant fellows, who to a man laid down their lives at the call of duty, had nothing to do with the question as to whether the war was a just one — a question as to which it is hard to find a decent ground for an affirmative answer. They were there as subordinates, and, as it turned our,

Theirs but to do and die. They have added a small chapter to the history of the Empire — not an important one, but one which, like the defeat at Isanffula, reflects infinite credit on the men themselves. To people of this country the affair comeß home at once when we find that gallant young Vogel, born on cue soil, whose cheerful letter desciibing his arrival in the country Vas published not so long since, is among the number. To bis parents and brother we tender our most heartfelt sj mpathy. It is some consolation to reflect; that bis death was that of a soldier. Few men have died more nobly than the lost detachment.

M. Waddiogton, the late French Ambassador iv England, whose lamented death is lecorded, was a fine figure in recent French history. When M. Guizot made peace with Gerrnuny in 1871 on the best terms he could secure— aud those best were very disastrous terms— M. Waddington was a comparatively young man. To mend the broken fortunes of France, get defences ana fiances

into order, put down insurrection, take steps to buy off the Germans who were to occupy part of France for some years, was a stupendous task. To meet the emergency the French Assembly sat at Versailles day and night, Sundays included, for many months. Here M. Waddington with his high-souled patriotism and his calm English good sense was of immense service. He was J;o the front in debate, brushing aside the silly bembast of his defeated couutrymen, acknowledging the situation, and working like a Trojan to redress it. His part was a minor one, but he had the confidence of the French, who always remained grateful. Another deputy, with an English name, who came to the front was M. Wilson, also a man of ability. Ho, however, turned out badly, and after marrying the President's daughter dragged down his family and disgraced himself by procuring the sale of honours to undeservers. M. Waddington, with much of the Englishman about him, was a perfect Frenchman.