THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2157, 27 June 1895, Page 27

THE WEEK.

" Nunquaiu nluul uatura, allud <mp!entia dirit."— JavtsxL, " Good uaturc and good sense must ever join." — lop«. The custom is for newspapers to diccuss the Governor's Speech just as it The is the custom of membera of Opening of Parliament to debate it, but Parliament, as a general rule— to which, however, there have been exceptions— the discussions might easily be omitted without loss to the public. The recent Speech is rather a bad specimen of its kind. The aim and object of a Speech from the Throne (ostensibly) is to provide Parliament and the country with a brief outline of the proposed work o£ tho session. To that extent it is useful. The discussion on the answer to it is generally made to include all sorts of matters that are quite certain to be rediscussed as tbe various measures mentioned in the Address-in-Reply come down— if they ever do come down. It is, therefore, generally superfluous, and, like all Buperflnous talk, wearisome. The present Speech, as we have said, is not a good specimen of its kind — long, disconnected, trivia!, and committing tho Governor to expressions of opinion of a highly debatable and therefore improper character. In consenting to have such expressions put in his mouth Lord Glasgow shows his inexp°rience. We have had Governors in the past— Sir James Pergusson, Sir Hercules Robinson (particularly), and the Marquis of Normanby— who uoed very carefully to revise the Speech bsfore they adopted it, never forgetting that though it was tho composition of Ministers, the Governor was bound to see that what he ottered was at ones constitutional and true. Lord Glasgow would do well to be equally careful. As for the discussion on the Address, no attention is due to it. It is the signal for mere gabbling. The Hon. Mr MCnllough, for instance, whom the irony of fate pufc in the Council a couple of years ago, made in the debate what is called " an attack npon the press" of the colony. WhatMrM'Cullough's opinions may be on any subject is a matter of no conceivable importance. But apart from that consideration, what be said was quite obviously dae to the neceseities of speechmaking, for he was selected to move the Addreßß. When a man who has nothing to «ay is compelled to say something, criticism of bis matter is only a waste of time. If not a very important at least a significant item in the Governor's Speech is the proposal to add another Miniiter to the Cabinet. Ifc is the history of the past in connection with the number of Ministers that makes this proposal rather a curious piece of business. In 1877 and for some years previously the number of Ministers was six (with two representatives in tbe Council) to a House of 95 members. The Hon. John M'Keozie, then plain Mr M'Kenzle, a member of the Opposition, thought air Minister* to 95 members too many, and in that year moved as nn amendment to the Address-in-Reply that they be reduced to five, declaring that there wai no work for six to do. The Government of Sir H. Atkinson was at the time proposing to reduce the number of members to 74 ; and. ifc passed an act prescribing that If the number of members should be so reduced the Minlitry should come down to five. The act was pasted, but did not take effect until the general election of 1890. By that time the Bal-lance«ctm-Secldon Government had come into

power, and they quite ignored the act f«f reducing the number of Ministers to suit th« curtailed House, getting over the difficulty by appointing Mr Carroll without salary, but with travelling expenses to the amount of £400 a year. Now they want to add another Minister. la others words, while the number of members has been reduced from 95 to 74, the number of Ministers will hava increased to nine— that is Beven in the Lower and two in the Upper House. The plea, of course, is that Ministers are overworked — a plea which the ingenuous and the gullible can swallow if they are so inolined. The one thing certain is that the Government, with their pal following of whips and chairmen of various :-ort*», is dargeronsly out of proportion to the number of members. The appointment of under- secretaries would of course intensify the evil.

It seems rather an unfortunate fact that while (according to the docCrime trines of Francis Galton and and Disease, others who inquire into such things) it takes a tolerably large population— a few millions at least— to produce a genius, a very small one suffices to produce the very highest — or the lowest, we hardly know in which way it ought to be put — ordo? of murderer. Thus Now Zealand with its scanty population has already contributed three* human beings— for in the generic sense they are human — who are quite oompetent to sit in the front row with the historic criminals of the world — namely, Butler, Thomas Hall, and Minnie Dean. The last of these — the first, we are sorry to say, is adrift, and may be in Otago at this moment for all anyone knows — has just been tried and condemned to death ; and although it is impossible not to feel a sentiment of compassion for a woman in such circumstances, there never was one, we aro sorry to say, who less deserved the sentiment of compassion. For the had absolutely none herself — none for the helpless infants whom she was feeding one moment and stranglicg and poisoning the next. Setting aside for thr moment the number of children who have been in Mrs Dean's hands and are still unaccounted for, it requires an effort of the imagination to perceive how great a criminal Mrs Dean is— how deliberate, coldblooded, and self-contained she was in the ghastly work she took in hand. To perceive all this one has to go back iv imagination to The Larches, and watch her making methodical preparations for her journey northwards; taking no children's olothing with her becanee nhe saw that she would require none, but providing herself with an empty tin box large enough to accommodate two infants, one of whom she had never even seen. If that is not enough to get a true estimate of her as a criminal it will cartainly be /sufficient to see her returning with the same box, no longer empty; coolly handing it over to ' people to carry for her; daringly leaving it bidden among the rushes near her own house for a whole night; silently burying its content?, when she had got all her household out of the road, in the very epofc where a former victim lay; and last, but perhaps mest significant of all, planting fresU flowers on tbe pathetic but unhallowed grave. If the woman who could do ail this without even a tremor of the nerves, who could unshakenly preserve the memory of similar episodes over a series of years, in not a criminal of the first rank it is difficult to conceive where such an one is to be got. Mrs Dean is a well-marked specimen of a class of criminal causing much perplexity to the psychologist and the observer. She is not of the criminal type as it Is ordinarily observed, the type which has the inward degeneration stamped upon the outward appearance. Writing of this type, Dv Maudsley after prolonged observation remarks that they are "frequently scrofulous, not seldom deformed, with badlyformed, angular heads; are stupid, sullen, sluggish, deficiont in vital energy, and sometimes afflicted with epilepsy. As a class they are of mean and defective intellect, though excessively cunning, and not a few of them are weak-minded and imbecile." This may be an accurate enough description of the habitual criminal. Butler was clearly of this diseased order, though his intellect (the keenness of which was much exaggerated because his vanity led him to make a dramatic defence of himself) was tolerable. Thomas Hall and Minnie Dean are of a quite different stamp. They too, doubtless, represent a very wide departure from the normal, but the abnormality appears to consist chiefly if not solely in the lack of something which is necessary to healthy man or woman. That something is what is called emotion. The Intelleot is clear, the will is there, the vital energy is unexhausted, but the capacity for emotion has either never existed, or has been lost in the course of existence. The mind is of the kind aptly termed " coldblooded.' 1 The nerves never suffer cither the delight or the disturbance of a thrill. Compassion, love, pity, hatred even, are unknown. The love of self is always s'roDgly there, and the desire to administer to its wants ; so that if the life of another intervenes between the individual and his or her desireß, that life, in the absence of the restraining emotions, may be stamped out as unconcernedly as a healthy individual would stamp out the life of a fly. Such criminals stand their trials with much composure, hear the sentence pronounced without flinching, eat and sleep well in gaol, and comport themselves in the last dread process of the law with some fortitude. With apparent fortitude, that is, for the nerve Is not aotively controlled, but has simply attached to it none of Nature's machinery for producing vibration. It follows that such persons never feel remorse for their crimes. A distinguished prison surgeon has declared that out of 500 murderers whom he bad observed keenly only three could be ascertained to have expressed any remorse.

The fall of the Rosebery Government is not the sort of event to cause a Thft Fall convulsion tbromghoutf the of Empire. That Government Lord Boseberr. has indeed been slowly dying for some time, the only poinfe of Interest being as to what particular question they would be likely to go i to tha country upon. As usual, the unexpected has happened. Lord Rosebery has not appealed to the country at all, and the question which decided his fate was not Home Rule for vm

land nor the existence or reform of the House of Lords, but simply whether he was beeping a sufficient quantity of gunpowder in stock. A thin House in Committee decided that be was tot, and the Government retires. After doly allowing for all tbe difficulties that cumbered his path (obief of whioh was lha succession to a giant statesman), it must be admitted that Lord Rosebery has generally been a great disappointment. This should Jiofchave been the case, perhaps, for there waß a pretty shrewd idea, abroad tbat had ho not keen a peer and a millionaire— it is Che corat>fc»tion that makes the overpowering mixture — ha would never have filled tbe position of Prime Minister. Tbe man who lad really earned tbe position was unquestionably Sir William Harconrfc. In politics, however, the man who earns a public position by no means always, or even often, gets it — unless his individuality la altogether too strong for reaistar.ee. The faot seems curious &t first, bat the explanation is simple enough. The man who earns a position in political life must do so by the fighting process. He must fill the breach, defend his party and friends, attack his enemies. He mast influence i Parliament and the country by his speeches, and if he is a man of what George Meredith IcalU "aptitudes," he soon discovere tbat ridicule acd satire are among the most effective weapons he can use. The gift of persaaaiveneia is no doubt a safer and batter weapon, bat it is rarer, and the progress it makes is slow. There is, however, a constant flex and reflux of political opinions, which results inevitably in the ultimate fusion of paitieß and sections, so that the natural leader in politics is often supported by persons whose wounds, inflicted on them by himself, have scarcely healed— perhaps can never altogether heal. In the hour of triumph they naturally overlook the man who has led them to it.. They want a safe man who has few enemies, and the safe man who has few enemies is of coune the more or Icbs colourless man. Disaster generally follows, and by tbe process of exclusion the right man is generally got at last. This is tbe process which thrusts into the first position the AddingtoDß, the Fercevals, the Godericbes, the Abordeens, and the Roseberys of English public life ; while for a time at least it condemns the Cannings, the Peele, the Disraelis, tbe Ohamb&rlainß, and the Harcourts to a good deal of unpopularity. If the present English Liberals were to return to power to-morrow they woaid never dream of again accepMDg Lord Rosebery in preference to Sir Wm. Haroourr, but they would probably cast an eye over the ranks to see if they could secure someone without any corners to his disposition. Another failure, and then Sir W. Harcourt, if his individuality lasted out the ordeal, wonld have the r6le of a great Minister before him. The colony of Victoria v now paying the penalty for its love of the colonilew. While the colony is unsettled, tbt revenue sinking, and thb financial institution* still staggering under the recent shock, she has a Prime Minister who has Bet all tbe powei'B of his mind upon the Saving of coals in the official fires. The chief elements of the new English Government will without doubt be the Marquis of Salisbury, Mr Bilfdur, and Mr Chamberlain. The Dukeof Devonshire adds the mixture of rank and wealth plus much moderation and good sense. That Mr Bilfour is marked out for supreme power thtsra is every indication ; but until complete fusion takes place between him and Mr Chamberlain, from whose restless ambition and commoner individuality there might easily be danger, it is perhaps as well tbat Lord Salisbury is there to take command. The present English Parliament is not yet three years old, and in the natural, course would have still four to ran. A dissolution, however, was inevitable, and whether the new combination is to have - a good working majority the next few weeks will tell.

If our readers do not chance to know much about the Kiel Cacal, they A Groat will at ka&t see by the cableUndertaking, grams tbat the opening of it is regarded as an event of much international importance. Tho warships of nearly all the civilised nations were there assembled, and passed, a stately procession, through the canal ;. and age was cot enfficient to prevent England's most venerable statesman from lending historic dignity to the occasion. There is a twofold significance, In tbe opening ©f this canal, though both aspects are inseparably connected. It marks at once the engineering activity of the age, and one of the main directions from whioh the stimuli to international commerce proceed. The Kiel Cacal is 40 miles less in length than tbe Suez Canal, and is not, of course, by ary means so commanding an undertaking. It dceß not open oat one of the world's great highways, but bears about tbe same relation to the Suez Canal that an important district railway would to a main trunk lice. It is nearly twice '■•be length of the Manchester Ship Canal, in itself a most important, bat, it is to be feared, not very profitable undertaking— 61 miles as against 35. The canal cuts 'through the German province of SchleswigHolstein, thus making a direct passage from the North Sea to tbe Baltic, and saving to the Gorman navy and merchant service a seagoing distance of 237 miles round by the Skagerrack and Kattegat— nameß that generally manage to get imprinted in Efae mind of ev<*rj schoolboy. The saving in sailing distance will be about the same for Great Britain taking London as the port of departnre. Had the canal existed at the time of the Rassiaß war, 250 miles of dangerous navigation wonld have been saved to the fleet, assuming, of course, tbat the passage would be free. Tha nations next to Germany principally profitirgby the canalare Sweden, and Russia, the latter having Indeed borne a large portion of the coat of the work, whioh was in all about eight millions sterling. The Kiel Canal enables a compariion to be drawn between similar works 100 years ago and those of the present day. Toward* the dose of. the lost century it wai considered a great' work— acd really wa» to— to cat through ' the same country vrith a canal 26 miles locg, which utilised the River Eider for 70 mile 3oi the rest of the way, permitting the passage of such small oraf t as could get through 9ft of water. The present canal

starts from the mouth of the Elbe, and admits to the Baltic the largest ve3sols afloat. In relation to some of the other powers the position of Germany at the opening celebration was peculiar and perhaps a trifle embarrastirg. The Franch naval officers, we are told, somewhat churlishly, but still intelligibly, refased the hospitality of the German Emperor. The memory of the war of 1870 was still too strong with them. On the other band the Danish King laid himself out to extend royal hospitality to the assembled nations. Yet ie waß as late as 1864 tbat Scbleswig-Holstein was wrested from Denmark by the combined forces of Prussia and Austria ; and the eama province was shortly afterwards the main cause of the quarrel between these two national thieves, a quarrel which was terminated in favour of the Prussians by the historic battle of Sadowa, leaving Schleswig-Hohtein in the sole possession of Prussia. The German Etiperor, who is also the Prussian King, was therefore treading more del'.cato ground with the representatives of Austria and Denmark than with even those of France. Wisdom demands that the quarrels of nations, like the quarrels of individuals, should be forgotten as soon as possible, bat the Fiencb seem to be peculiarly slow in learning the lessons of wisdom.

The Study of literature.

There are very few intelligent young men and women with the groundwork of education in them who are not conscious in their early years, and while the emotions are Btill fresh, of aa ambition for literary knowledge The number, it is to be feared, who acquire the knowledge is not great. Early aspirations fade away and disappear in the struggle of" daily life. After a time the nature hardens, the habits of business life become set, and the individual is content to skim the daily or weekly papers, and let his mind nourish itself on what can be extracted from them. To many men who have ample time for billiards, cards, and indoor games of various kinds — which are by no means to be despised even as mental exercises, however — the literature of the world past and present is a sealed book. Perhaps this oondition of things is in some measure due to the fact that even where literary aspirations exist the individual is often sharply repelled from the habit of reading. He may think it necessary to begin at the beginning, and takes up a book of proße or poetry written for an age of which he knows nothing, by a man for whom be has no sympathy, in a tongue which he scarcely understands, and in a style which it Datura 1 ly weariness itself to him. It may be one of the world's masterpieces he has got hold of, but he throws the book aside in the belief that the world's masterpieces are extremely dull and uninteroßting — which is, as a iule, the fact. There are books which transmit a great reputation from age to age for some special literary flavour that the bookman and student only can appreciate. Books like the " Anatomy ot Melancholy," ,the " Compleat Angler," White's "History of Selborne," and "The Vicar of Wakefield " are good examples of the kind. They are really charming to the man whose palate has been educated to the taate of good literature and who can throw himself irito the spirit of the age in which thay were written. But the young literary aspirant of the hour finds them (much co his vi her astonishment) rather dull, and hastily concludes that all literature outside of Tit Bits and the like is dull and to be avoided. On this subject Home admirable advioe has recently been addressed to university students by an American professor, and his remarks are well worthy the attention of anyone anxious to acquits some literary knowledge : The best introduction, aaya Pr ofe3sor Stanley, to littri-ry study is undoubtadly by way of lictiou I would lay fche greatest Btoeis ou what is now almost neglected — the study of current literature. Bat too oi'tsu the graduate is led by his collegiate training t j look slightingly on the art ot his own times ta favour of tho classics, and even to sneer at the preseut under cover of the past. This is fatal to all productivity and usefulness in tiie present. Litara.ure is at ouce tae expreßsiou of life and the introduction thereto, and heuce the art of every age has it« main function for its own timo. The main interest ot th? scholar naturally and rightly lies in the present;. . . . Current history haa lately beoom ■* a study in some colleges, and I would enter this plea for ourrent literature. The advice here given seems to us to be excellent for anyone desirous of literary knowledge. To read some of the beat novels of the hour is far from being a waste of time. They may at least excite interest in readiDg where more solid books would fall. They give an insight iDto a larger life than is to be seen or lived in, say, Central Otago ; arid the literary allusions and references of the author must lead the reader to other authors and to other styles. The very study of history itself may proceed better and faster in the first instance by reading current essays upon history than by study of specific books on the subject. The youth who reads Fronde's " Casiar" may form a better notion of Roman times than by studying Momsen or Gibbon, and he will probably end by reading both. The same author's history of Erasmus will give, an admirable insight into the Reformation period. It is not that Froude excels all previous writers in the Dower of enchaining interest: it is simply that he addresses himself to readers of his own time.

The work in connection with the improvement of the Market reserve at the southern end of the city has been commenced in good earnest by the Reserves Conservation Society. Judging by the success which has attended the efforts of the society in the past, tne reserve in question, which has long been an eyesore, should be transformed into a place of beauty. Thus anothet and an important additjou will be made to tbe list of ornamental spaces about the. town, for which citizens are so greatly indebted to the society. The hospital returns for the week are as follow :— Remaining from the previous week, 109 ; patients admitted during the past week, Iff; and discharged, 20. Katie Nelson and Bertie Proeser died in tbe institution during the week, and the number of inmates remaining is 103. Au old-fashioned tobacconist lo3t his trade through not keeping Frossard's Cavour Cigars— B for la 3d.