THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 29

THE WEEK.

"Nooquam »llud Datura, aliuil sapienlla dlxlt."— Juvihai, " Good nature and good sense must ever join."— Pops.

It is very seldom that an after-dinner speech

of a statesman has as much Chamberlain importance .attaching to it as on that recently delivered by Mr Imperial Chamberlain at the Canada Federation. Club in London. The topic was "Imperial Federation," a subject which as hitherto advocated, with all enthusiasm admitted, has not been calculated to attract practical minds to the great task of promoting federation. The mind of Mr Chamberlain is an eminently practical mind, but it is alto a mind dominated with the imperialistic idea. Mr Chamberlain has evidently a good deal of sentiment in his ow,n nature, but he has also the RagftcUy to see that while sentiment in others counts for a good deal, it will never supply a baei« on which to constinot a practical scheme -of imperial federation. The Secretary- for the Colonies is highly' gratified at the recent ebullitions of colonial loyalty during the national troubles with Germany and America, but ho would now like to see "a serious effort on the part both of colonial aad. lmperial statesmen to transform these high sentiments into pra cfical results." Associations for the promotion of federation have failed largely bec&uae they rested too much upon sentiment, and because too much was attempted at once. Mr Chamberlain himself in making the attack would "seek the line of least resistance," and he would find tbat >in the trade of the empire. His first object wonld be to establish throughout the British Empire common interests and common obligations. When that has been done there will be time enough left to discover what form of representative authority should be chosen to deal with the interests created. But the greatest of the iutferests common to Great Britain and her colonies is trade. Mr Chamberlain, then, first attacks federation on the side of trade. Through trade he would make every part of the empire feel the effeot of mutual obligation. He would first unite them by common material inter tints, and he would let the political unity follow. Thip, be points out, was the origin of the modern German empire, the precursor which paved the way to political unity. "It commenced with the union of two of the States which form that great empire in a commercial zollverein. They attracted the other States gradually — were joined by them for commercial purposes. A council, a reichsrath, was formed to deal with these commercial questions. Gradually in these disensnions national objects and political interests were introduced, and so, from starting as it did from*a purely commercial point and for commercial interests, it developed until ib became a bond of unity and the basis of the German Empire." The illustration is a very apt one, though Mr Chamberlain, aa might be expected, is quite sharp enough to notice that the difficulties in the way of ooroplete unity are infinitely greater where the component parts of an empire are divided by a great expanse of ocean in all directions. But the difficulties, though great, Mr Chamberlain" sees to be not insuperable, and at least the method of attack is the same. He would establish a true commercial zoliverein, the principle of which would be freetrado throughout the empire with the imposition of certain moderate duties against foreign nations. Mr Chamberlain in a freetrader, and he recognises that the scheme would be " a derogation from the high principles of freefcrade, and from the practice of the United Kingdom up to the present time." But he is not so fanatic*! a freetrader but that, while retraining the great principle, he would for a great national object gladly enough abandon a detail of the freetrade gospel. The difficulty, as he points out, lies with' the colonies, which in all schemes hitherto promulgated with the same object in view have not shown any readiness to make any sacrifices. At the Canadian Conference of 1894:, for instance, a resolution was passed recommending the imposition of duties throughout the British Empire upon all foreign tradeapparently independent of existing colonial duties. Lord Ripon at the time knocked the suggestion to pieces, and is now sustained in doing so by Mr Chamberlain, for it would simply mean an addition to the cost of living to the English working man. Mr Chamberlain sees that the sacrifice England haa to make is the sacrifice of imposing duties upon the goods of foreign nation?, the burden of which teally falls upon the Englishman. What the colonies have to do is to abandon their own duties within the empire — have freetrade within every part of it, and moderate duties upon the foreigner. On tuch a ba*is as this Mr Chamberlain thinks the holding of a great conference from all parts of the empire with a view to definite settlement would be jantified. The advantages to the colonies themselves, he points out, would be enormous in the stimulation of their development. There is much reason to hope that the consummation of a scheme of federation is pushed decidedly near, since a statesman so able and so practical has taken the matter up.

Mr Lories paper read before the Conference of Australasian Fruit-growers, Co-operation in We'lingtoh, was a eomeiu what expansive but by no Production, means uninteresting document. It was, perhaps, hardly necessary for Mr Lorie to give a detailed account of the various failures and repulses he suffered before finally establishing the Teviot' Co-operative Fruit-growers' Association upon a sound basis. Bat if his objeot was to encourage others who might be disposed to build up similar associations elsewhere, the method he adopted was as good as any for warning them of the difficulties with which they would have to contend. It is not easy to induce growers to enter into co-operative associations of any kind. Gooperation has been more o? less of a success

in the department of distribution merely thov"ti the Ryatem has made bob small of late years. Is It, however, I much more difficult to establish a workable ay stem among producers, and It is easy to see that the frnltgrowars of the Teviot have a good deal to be thankful for in the business \ activity and organising capacity of Mr Lorio. We fear 1 that before their business becomes a permanently flourishing one a good deal remains to be done which does not lie within the scope of the organiser. They must find | larger markets and a cheaper means of transit; but there can be no question that their position is much better now than it was before Mr Lorie undertook the task of building the association into shape. The; get a fixed price for their produce, with quick returns, They have only one man to doal with instead of msny. They are kept up to the mark in lookirjg afier their gardens, the one becoming vt> it were responsible for the others, and they have their own representative in town to look after their collective interests. The weak 6pofc in the constitution of the association is that its) success rather depends upon the existenoe of Mr Lorie himself, who bag preoißely the qualities required for the management of an affair of the kind. He has, however, very muoh lessened the difficulty of the task of forming fruit-growing associations to others who may be icc'ined to try the experiment, and for that fruit-growers generally have reason to be grateful to him. ,

A very curious case has just been settled in the English oourts which has The Seal a direot bearing on the oftof raised question as to the Secrecy. duties of secrecy imposed upon professional ' men in connection with the affairs of their clients. The case was one of a certain Mrs Kitson against Dr Piayfair and his wife. Dc Playfair is an eminent London physician, a man quite at the Lead of his own special branch of the profession, Mrs Kitson, who sued Dr Flay fair for slacker and libel, is a married lady, an Australian, who went to Europs for the benefit of her health and to consult the doctors, and had in 1891 called in a certain Dr Muzio Williams, of London. Dr Williams could not altogether understand the case, and in his turn he called in Dr Piayfair. At this time Mrs Kitson had not* been in the company of her husband for nearly two years. On the stc#nd occasion on .which the two doctors consulted they decided to administer chloroform to Mrs KUson to facilitate an operation found to bo necessary. The chloroform was duly administered, and on recovering consciousnesss the patient overheard Dr Playfair remark that the case was one which necessarily implied misconduct on her part ; that, in fact, Mr* Kitson was snffering from the consequences of a previous miscarriage — an* opinion in which Dr Williams concurred. The patient, whose life appears to have been blameless, was naturally indignant at the imputation, and on subsequent occasions she endeavoured to induce Dr Piayfair (who is married to Mr Xi 1 son's sister, and whose own family was on intimate terms with Mrs Kitnon) to listen to her own history of her illness, but without effect. Adhering to his own view of the case, Dr Playfair some time later mentioned the matter to his wife, with the view of putting her on her guard against intimacy with Mrs Kitson, and finally to Sir James Kitson,. a. brother-in-law of the patient, who allowed her an income of £400 a year — an income promptly withdrawn upon receipt of the communication made by Dr Piayfair. Deprived of her income and blasted in character, Mrs Kitaon appears to have had a hard time of it, but she was happily supported throughout by her husband, who refused from the first to believe the statements made about her. Then she sued Dr Piayfair for damages, first for his defamatory statement about her at the time of the cen-

sultation, and secondly for the statements to the same effect made to Sir James Kitson. The case was tried by Mr Justice Hawkins, lasted for a' week, and ended by the jury (with the emphatic approval of the judge) assessing the damages at £12,000. The question of the guilt or innocence of Mrs Kitson wa3 not directly brought up, though* a Dr Spender, who is as eminent as Dr Playfair in the particular branch of medicine involved, declared that all the facts of Mrs Eitson's case, though rarely occurring, were quite coneiatenb with innocence. Dr Play fair pleaded that his statements W6re true (in which he was still supported by Dr Williams) and that they were not actuated by malice. Malice in the ordinary Bense of the word there was not. Bat legal malice is a very different thing, and in this case it consisted in communicating to the serlons damage of a patient alleged facts which, whether true or false, the doctor ought to have kept to himself. The moral of the story is that communications made to a professional man or learnt by him in the course of a consultation are made or learnt under the seal of secrecy. It is not denied tbat there are circumstances under which a professional man may communicate his secrets, as where, for instance, it may be necessary to do so to avoid the committal of a crime, or for the purpose of protecting the innocent from punishment. It was on some euch plea that Sir Julian Salomons revealed the secret made by Meagher to him in the Dean case, though whether his case had urgency enough attached to it to warrant the breach of confidence is still a matter of controversy. But at all events the Kitson case proves that no medical man can divulge the knowledge he has acquired with the view only of saving his wife from continuing an undesirable acquaintanceship. This is the severe lesson that Dr Play fair has learnt.

The Brunner fund is said to amount to rather^ more than £21,000. This is a very respectable sum, and, prcperly managed and invested, should be quite sufficient for the support of the families who have unhappily lost the breadwinner. Nothing can wipe out the honor of such a sacrifice of human life as took place at the Bruuner miae. But the suffering arising out of the catastrophe may be much mitigated; and the public in responding so generously to the demand for money has done all that it can in the way of mitigation. A wise step was taken in placing the money in the hands of the Public Trustee. The Advisory Board will also be useful to guide the Public Trustee as

— — — ■; -™ r— — ■% to the distribution, which will of ponrgft vary a good deal with the lapse of time; The Kaitangata fand, though some portion ! of the money was badly invented and lost—, a fact which ia scarcely surprising when wa remember that the accident happened la " boom " timae, when values were very inflated,— was so economically managed by the trustees that it proved to be more than sufficient for its purpose, and now supports— gradually melting the while, however — a number of beneficiaries who had no original claim upon it. In the Brnnner caee principal and interest are set aside for the sufferer*. The money oan be safely invested— that is to say, a safe investment and a low rate o£ interest will do ; for as all the young beneficiaries, and doubtless a number ot others, will fall out of the fand with the lapse o£ year?, to say nothing of deaths, the principal can safely be used in aid of the interest for th<3 first few years while the demand upon the fund is heaviest;. Thus with the closing of the fund and the settlement of the management of it, the painful circumstances connected with the Branner disaster may happily be allowed to drop oat of the public mind.

By the deaths oTSir Patrick Buckley and Dr Pollen two very well known names are removed from New Zealand public life. Dr Pollen, though for many year* he has held a comparatively humble position as a Legislative Councillor, was a man calculated to take a high place in any colony. As a matter of fact he at one time held the position of Premier, but, like other public men of the day, he was a little overshadowed by Sir Julius Vogel. He was, however, a very able man, of strong individuality, highly cultured, a rare good speaker (a gift k« managed to keep to the very last), and with a fine sense of humour of his own. Verj few men who have held the position of firat Minister in New Zealand could represent the colony as oreditably as Dr Pollen.

Sib Patrick Buckley was a man of a wholly different stamp. He owed his elevation in public life to a certain easy good temper, associated with no fads or crochet* of any sort, and with opinions which indeed hung rather loosely upon him. He was a lawyer of respectable standing and no more. His appointment to the bench was without doubt a mistake. It would be wrong for vi to put the matter in any other light now. II is probable that the appointment was given him as a mark of respsot from hit colleagues to a man who could not in the nature of, things, as it now turns out, be expeoted' to hold the position long. Sir Patrick Buckley will be missed by a wide oircle of political friends. Looking to the neads of the Supreme Court Bemoh, it was a most fortunate thing that no Attorney-general wat appointed. He would have had a claim to the unfortunate vacancy now created, while it is quite certain tbat bad he been a Government follower— in the House, that is— he would have been wholly unfit for the position. The Government haa now a rare opportunity for choosing a man from out the entire ranks of the legal profession in the colony, and it will be unpardonable if they do not make' a good selection.

The news from South Africa that the sentence of death passed on the five members of the Reform Committee had been commuted to Eve years' imprisonment was in a certain aspect satisfactory. It was pretty certain the death sentence would sot be carried out, for it would have been precieely the sort of event to precipitate the troubles everyone is now anxious to avoid. Still, the men were sentenced to death, and it conla not be positively known how far President Krugei might be driven by men by no means as reasonable and worldly wise as himself. But it is only when the all-important difference between the death sentence and five years' imprisonment is considered that there is any satisfaction to be got out of trie turn events have taken. It, te a little distressing to find tbat in the heart of *an English dominion — for that is what South Afrioa is all but _in name— a mere handful of Dutobmeu have it in their power to sentence even to imprisonment Englishmen who have no shade of the oriminal in their compositions, but are rather of the class that pave the way for civilisation and make a new colony great.

The Boers are within their rights, of course. They are the rulers of the country. The condemned men have been found guilty of treason — they bad • 9 design to overthrow the established Government, and nations could not exist unless such offances were severely punished. But the undeniable fact underneath all others is that their real crime lies in theii non-success. Had the existing Trannvaul Government been overthrown by the efforts of tho Reform Committee, unassisted by Dr Jameson, there is no impartial person, be he Englishman or foreigner, but who would have said that the facts justified the rebellion. If 14,000 Englishmen attempted to rule over a large and rapidly growing popu« lation in the centre of Holland, denying them the suffrage and all other rignts of politioal citizenship, and exacting at the same , time nineteen-twentieths of the taxation from them, the sympathies of the whole world would -be on the side of the Dutch, and against the English. The fall of this ourions South African republic — an inverted pyramid it has been aptly called — is merely a question of time : in the nature of the circumstances, it could , not last for another decade. The sense' of dissatisfaction with the sentences even aa commuted lies in the fact that the men ara being imprisoned for doing that which in the order of nature is inevitably destined to bo done with the lapse of a little time.

Wb have received some fresh papers from the Navy. League containing a variety of useful information respecting the work' cf the league and the present conditions of Imperial defence. We take the opportunity of asking once more, and, it ig to be trusted, for the last time, What has become of Jfcha movement towards the establishment of a branch of the Navy League in Dunedinl Some months ago a branch of the league was formed In Ohristcburcb, and we then directed the attention of the Dunedlu public In general and the Chamber, of Commerce in particular to <••

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desirability of following the example of , our nsighbonw, Aiker a qolte unnecessary delay, preliminary action was taken l»y tho Chamber of Commerce. A resolution was* pasßed, on the- motion o£ Mr Mal&abd, with & view to seeking the oa-ogeraiion. «f the Mayor and holding: a public meeting. But the weeks have gone on aod nothing has been done. / Who is to blame foe this extraordinary and> culpable apathy ?. Saiely tha Mayor, as an old volunteer, must be> alive ta> t&e, importance of this question.; and if be i» blameless in the matter, we hope he wllL lets the public know who It is that stops the way. Tbe Dnu«din. birfnch 1 of the Navy, Lsagao OBghfe to> have been farmed' three months ago. The papers just received from- th& league oonbaint as ha& been said, much interesting Clatter, calculated to be of use to colonial branches, and in an- accompanying circular letter the' secretary of the league gives additional particulars, and specially callß attention to certain misunderstand in ga concerning the objecti of the> league. For instance: "In some pl&oes oar intentions uppear to have been miionderstood as proposals for contributions of money to' be made to the league for the conBtrnotioH of Bhips. • Tof rectify thift misappreheßkion, the -Navy League* prepared »nd ■ issued the leaflet (M 1, sent herewith) explaining 1 what are and' what are not the • lntention*of the Navy Leagne,and indicst6- ' ing, the direction in which British subjects tesident in the colonies; may co-operate ins - the* objects ©£ the leegu*" Ttte= coßteata of this particular' leaflet shoald be uaefal'. 'lib the' speaker** who ifitroduce tha qnesLiou: At tht meeting whi^h we hope to- Has Galled' In Danediß' in tbe coarse of the next few days.

The evidence fn a case wßibh. occupied' the attention of the bench *t tb>* Police-Court tfll : balf-pasb 5 on the 19th'. 'mat;., disclosed a Bhocking state of" juvenile deprnvi+y 'in taist city. ' A Chinaman living in a house in, Moray place was charged with defiling, tt girl under the age of consent. tTfle evidence of this and another child— the former being 14, and the latter 11 yoars of age — wae of a nature that btartled even those who have become accustomed to the tales of misery and crime daily recited in tbe courts of justice. The younger girl admitted without h^sitati- n that Bhe and companions of a similar age were fre quenfc visitors to Chinese decs, and there islittle room for doubt that the object was prostitution. And not only that, but they did' not,, confine themselves to tha houses of ''Chinamen in the ci by, but travelled ' to those „ as far off as Saw/era' BayEnd Anderson's Bay. The Bench, in com* , mitting the accused to take his trial at the next criminal sittings of the Supreme Court, expressed a hope that the police would take steps to have those children who 1 wander aboat - the streets without any apparent, parental 1 control brought before the' stipendiary nragis*r*te. ( i Mr James- Green, M.H.R,, addressed a mccfclug of- his constituents at' Mertoa on- Saturday night, and also a- meetings at Bvansdsl* on. - Monday, nigfafc; Ho received d voter of thanks and confidence at each ploitei , The -house of Mrs Amelia- Mbrrif,, which was ' burnt down at Sbi«l' Kill ou Monday afternoon, Tras, with the furniture it contained, injured in the Alliance office for £900 odd. ' It is estimated' - that; Che- lots exceeded the insurance by £300. An early colonist in the person of Mr Jauies Mbllitonjpassfed awayftt-Morningfconon the 20'bh. The deceased was born- in, 1818 at; Thornton, near Laurencekuk, Kmcardineshire, and' leffi Scotland in 1858 for. Victoria. After remaining in the sister colony for two or three years, he came to New Zealand and settled in Dunedin, ■t»rtirjg. in his business of bootmalcing in Rattray street. The deceased gentleman waa for mnny year? an elder' of First' Church. Mr Robbing, the Government dairy iaBtructor, leaves- fox his. home iv- the United States, by the next mail steamer. He intends to visit the chief dairying districts in America, with a view to acquiring information on the dairying prnet,i.-e • lit- re. Mr J. Wr Mason, obainnan of tha Mount Ida Miners' Association, writes; to say that in bur report of the annual meeting of the association words are placed to his- credit that he never uttered' and distinctly denies. Mr Mason asks us to publish the report, of his remarks which appeared, in the Mount Ida, Chronicle. , Replying to Mr R. E Ihdqr, who asked '• whether the rule was still in force which made it necessary for a mau to use the pick and' shovel before be was eligible for a seat on the committee," - Mr Mason is reported to have " read the clause referred-to, which was to the effect £hat honorary • members who did nofeeacn their living bymanu«l labour, were nofc\ eligible for a seat on tbe committee, but could attend the meetings, but could not vote. He thought, for his part, that if iiie miners were so neglectFul of their owa interests as to allow men who were not' miners to get on the committee— well, let thera." On the question of the Government water race Mi Mason said-: " The charge* brought against Mr Murray were certainly very serious. If the race was capable' of carrying so much m-ore water than was brought in it certainly meant a very.serious loss-to the district. Still, all would -admit that the manager of the Government water race had' a most arduous task to perfoim . to please everybody. Breaks would ocoor on any race, and as for the water running to waste, "possibly therfio-rt'is might be by-washing. If Mr Murray were in t! c habit of only filling the race to within 15ii •< 'he top it was unreasonable 1 . Mr Guffie obj v<; to one man h«ving control, but' Mr Munaj seemed to. be bound down bj regulations, and the Government might b« to blft&e after all. It ieemed ridiculous that water should be- turned, to. waste when there Iras a flush, rather than give the miners the benefit of it, as by so doing they would be better able bo pay for it." At a meeting of the Noi'tb Ofcugo Land League held iv Oxmaru on Monday night a motion was catried unanimously to the effect that -the Government be recommended ttt acquire Tuka-Rahi without any delay, with a view to its immediate settlement. A further resolution was carried, after considerable discussion—" That in addition to Toka-E»hi early feteps should be taken to acquire those large Estates more contiguous to Oamaru, suoh as Aware oa and Totora, on account of the large demand for land in tb'm particular neighbourhood, which eveu all tKeae estates will' ha insufficisnt to satisfy.." The friends of the Rev. A. D. Thomson, who was recently, settled as Presbyterian miuisfcrat Otepopo, will regret to learn of a- sad bereavement which Mas afflicted him, two bright, intelligent girr«,' aged three and fire respectively, „ fanving bdcn. carried off. About a week ago • 'tltreeiof .the girls were smeft with somftinys--teriota form, of illness, rapidl* became nacon- ( jciojzi, andin. fcha case o£ two of them remained

oo MIL death. They passed away within half an hour of each o^her. ' The third girl, aged 10 years, has- recovered oon»ciousaees, and is doing,, aa well as can be expected. c Mr R b A. f jtke stsafcaa that there is nob a scintilla of, fcrrifeh in the rumour that he intends to oppose Me Allen at the general election for the Brace- eeafc. The Nortb Ottaga Times abates that about toro-bhirds'of those who applied; for land on the Ardgowan estate were dummies for the other third. The sale of the Horcalas No, 2 Oompauy'a claim, pliiut, &c, sribiia.ted at ftt>xbargjb, offers an oppoifcuuitry to capitalist*, mi'iing investors, ■ and others which cannot fail to b« taken advantage of in . view of the tarn tit' the tide of British capital to tbia part of the colouy. Tbo sale is to take place at the auction rooms of Mpf6rs James Samson and Co., Dowlirfg street, Dunedin, at 2 o'clock oa June 5, and a Targe ' attendance of tho^e interested fa confldenUy j looked forward to. The Chriotchuroh Press says that Mr A ' Busck, who for a little over two years has filled the position o£ Goverument dairy instructor • and dairy inspector in the Ctuuttcburch district, has resigned hit appointment, and , intends taking- a trip to his native ' country, Denmark. Mr Buiclt has been sums five years' in this colony, aad daring' that time tremendous stride? have been made in Denmark in the dairying industry. 15x Busck has by books, &c, kept himself abreast of- these, and intends ta m*k« hiauelf thoroughly conversant with the very latest' metn*ods of the.daizy export bußinegs. Ha is a . man this colony can .ill' afford to loss.