THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 29

THE WEEK.

" Xuunuam allud natura, aliud sapicntia di-tit." — Juvu.nxl. "Good nature and good seiiie must ever join.''— l'oru.

The curious discussion which "took place at the Prohibition Convention Amateur on *^ c subject of the disposal Finance. of the revenue from licenses

will hardly help the cau§e of prohibition in tha boroughs, where reform is most needed, while it will raise up much additional opposition in the counties. Despite the protest of Mr Isitt (whose worldly wisdom was probably more intimately concerned with his attitude on the question than the "dirtiness" of the licensing revenue which ho alleged as the cause) it was decided that prohibitionists should do their best to get the license fees made colonial instead of local revenue. The ,object, as explained by the promoter?, is to get rid of the interest of the local voter in the maintenance of the local publichouse. The Rev. Mr Nicbol got fairly near to tha truth about local feeling when he remarked that while the fear of increased local rates from loss of licenses continued there would be a certain number of votes alwayß secure for maintenance which might other wistj go for abolition, and that if the licenses were colonial revenue there would be no such marked sensitiveness about the interests of the Treasury. That peculiar feature of local politics wbich counts no expenditure or loss material provided "the Government" furnishes the money is here only too truthfully portrayed. But what the Roy. Mr Nichol did not see, and what apparently the convention never thought of, was. the very &trocg opposition they will inevitably raise up to any such change being made at all. The ridiculous claim that the money in question is " dirty " may impress a frothy fanatic, but it is hopeless to expect that it will find acceptance with the average common-sense ratepayer — not that, probably, it would make much difference if it did. But, apart from that, the notion of giving up any source of revenue to the Colonial Treasury is infinitely more odious to the local bodies and to their constituents than its total cancellation as a revenue-producer at all. If the prohibitionists were to b6gin their new campaign by a proposal to abolish the " sale " (as they call it) o£ licenses altogether, and to give them away to applicants instead, they might reckon on some little support from, independent ratepayers. If, however, they propose still to collect the license fees as before, but to get them paid into the treasury at Wellington instead of to the borough cr the county, they will get no support at all except from tbeir own blind adherents — and the leaders well know how much thai is worth. As for the talk about a subsidy from the treasuiy to the local bodies in lien of the

licensing revenue, it is both puerile and dishonest — puerile, because it neglects the notorious fact, so long recognised by every local body, that no subsidy promised by the central Government can be depended upon for three months together, and dishonest because if the lost license fees are to be made up by subsidy it is an utter sham to pretend that their alleged loss can have any effect at all.

Much interest attaches at the present june-

ture to the precise meaning Blockading, of a naval blockade, such as

the Powers of Europe are pro- ■ posing to apply to the ports 6f Greece. A ! blockade on any considerable acale has not j been seen since the American civil war, when • the Federal Government applied the system ; to the ports of the Southern Confederacy, i This was the scene of the blccade-running ex- | ploits of the famous Hobart Pasha and ol | many other less notable but equally daring skippers. Hobart, in his autobiography, gives a brilliant picture both of the dangers and of the profits of the enterprise as carried on during the great oivil war. The chances of getting through were always against the blockade-runner, algo the chance of getting out. again. On the other hand, when they did get. through the profits were prodigious. On one successful trip to Wilmington, Hobart sold a consignment of women's Btaya at a profit of lid in the shilling and bought cotton there for 2d a pound, which he sold in Liverpool for half a crown. Shortly put, a naval blockade consists in preventing j an enemy's ships from leaving or entering the blockaded port or ports, and also in preventing neutral vessels from holding any communication therewith. The unique feature of the Grecian blockade (fcupposiiig i fc to come off) is that it is proposed to be enforced against a " friendly " nation — that is, against a nation between whom and the blockading Power or Powers no " state of war " exists. So far as we know, nothing of this kind has ever hanpened before, and it is probably t ither this unprecedented feature or the hitherto merely j theoretical nature of the naval arrangementa I wbich has elioited from the United States a ! refusal to " recognise " the blockade. Ifor I under international law a blockade, to be ' legal and binding upon neutral Governments, must be reasonably effective — that is, it must i be supported by sufficient naval force to ■ make it a real and not a sham investment of ; ihe affected ports. Under such ciroumatanceß a , neutral Government cannot send its own j ships to the blockaded ports nor protect | from stoppage and confiscation private ship? flying its flag ; while if the blockade itself is merely a pretence (or if, perhaps, as in this instance, it is being enforced without prior j declaration of "war) the stoppage of neutral < ahips might be resented as an outrage by the nation whose flag is lowered. It is a provision of an effective blockade that formal notice must be given to all netitrals, who, i after such notice, have no rights of reprisal { against the blockading power for stopping, j searching, confiscating, or taking off the I contraband cargo of ships attempting to enter or leave the barred ports. It is no doubt in J response to such a notice that the United , Stateo have given the Powers to understand S that they refuse to recognise the blockade. In order to get over the difficulty it may be necessary for the Powers to formally declare war against Greece ; and it will certainly be necessary for them to carry the intended blocks de from the theoretical into the practical stage.

The Agricultural department, at the instance of Mr A. C. Begg, is about to Microbes institute experiments on the to efficacy of " chicken cholera " the Rescue, as a destroyer of rabbits. A

few years ago this remedy waa much in evidence aB a possible cure for the pest, but we have not noticed that the idea has been revived since the New South Wales Government apparently bscame satisfled that the scheme had failed. It will be remembered that at the time of the New Bocth Wales trials a special interest was imparted to the undertaking by the presence ot direct representatives of M. Pasteur, despatched specially to the colony by the great scientist with a supply of the cholera microbes direct from hie own laboratory. The New Souch Wales Government; claims lo have spent an enormous sum upon the subsequent experiments ; but these were conducted with considerable friction and unpleasantness owing to some misunderstandings between the French experts and the Ministry, who were accused by the foreigners of. 'ta-mperiog with their confidential letteis from their chief. So far as we know, however, all parties on the spot eventually agreed thac the trials had been fairly and adequately conducted, and that the results were disappointing. M. Pastaur himself is reported to have complained that tbey were wrongiy apprehended ; but, as is well known, his principal local representative, M. Lair (a nephew of the grand scientist) practically acquiesced in the conclusions formed by the Government, accepting an invitation from tne Queensland Stock department to enter its service as anthrax and tuberculosis expert, and allowing his original mission to die a natural death. The present revival of the chicken cholera idea come?, perhaps on that account, from Queensland, where a local bacteriologist seems to have formed great hopes of it. It was matter for comment in this colony during the experiments in New South Wales that no effort was made to have- trials made in oar raoister and cooler climate, and perhaps it is as well that this omission ishould now be supplied by the Agricultural department. It is to be hoped that the Clydesdale experiments will be conducted under the joint control ot thoroughly practical pastoral or agricultural settlers and of a competent bacteriologist such as Mr Gilruth. The presence of both the practical and the hcientilic elements in due collaboration in connection with such a matter as this is absolutely necessary. Reviewing what we can remember of the history of this matter, we can only warn those interested against too sanguine a view, while entirely approving the interesting enterprise on which the Agricultural department has embarked. We would point c ufc f hat all care should be taken in using the microbes, and that a disease so deadly to domestic fowls should not be permitted to be introduced into a colony where it does not now exist un-

less upon the clearest evidence of its efficacy in the thinning-out of the all-destroying rabbit.

We hope that the usefulness of cholera microbes iv smashing up the Bctlucca rabbitß will prove to be conto siderably greater than that of Atoms. the " Atomic Ore Reduction

Process" in pulverising tho refractory oreß o£ Western Australia. No doubt it is easy to be wi6e a.f ter the event, but if our memory serves us right we pointed pretty clearly many months ago to the inevitable end of Mr Goodman's erratic but wholly unscientific speculations on the enormous wealth which this alleged prcc6ss was going to bring to his company. In fact, the particular feature^ of this swindle, distinguishing it from the many others o£ which Westralia baa been the scene and London syndicates tho" perpetrators, was the uniqua completeness of the chairman's brag. It would be cruel to reprodnce the ipsissima ve)'ba now that the unfortunate company has passed from the consolidation into tha liquidation stage, and is groaning in impecunious agony at the bottom or the pit into which it has been cast in company with so many others. But it is almost impossible to forget ihe brezon impudence of tha assertion that " nix or eight of our own experts, specially educated with all secrecy in our proceßS, are nor/ ou their way to Western Australia to take up tho position of mine managers, with results that in a few short weeks will revolutionise the jniniDg markets of rbe world." If. vz^\d bs interesting to know what particular "kind of Jie this was. Hitf these "experts" really been educated in some secret process or other, deluded into actual belief by baieg mads to witness some bogus experiment or common chemical disintegration], and then actually despatched to Western Australia under the full belief that they were the bearers to the antipodes of a miraculous alchamy? Or were these men," instead of merely being fools, selected rather from the rogueß ol LondoD, and induced to collaborate in the j sordid conspiracy by a promise of participation in the gains ? Or, lastly, were thay — and this is the hypothesis we favour ourselves — so many syndicatial Mrs Harrises, created for the occasion of the meeting in ! question by the chairman or his prompters, and existing only in their fertile brains'.' Whichever supposition may be the true one, I Western Australia has not yet, so far as we | know, heard of the arrival of these gifted i emissaries, nor has the rest of the world yet ! seen anything " reduced " or " atomised " [ except the Atomic Reduction Company itself. "Burst with its own peßtle " would perhapß be a more fitting epitaph than that provided by Hamlet for his proverbial engineer.

The Chatham Islands, a correspondent from that locality has just announced, are going to the dogs. There are, ha says, some 200 or 300 people there, whereas there ought to be 2000 ; and a " fearful depression " has been caused by " the locking up of the land and the exorbitant charges for freight and passage." The latter evil, we fear, is incurable. Cheap fares and freigkts will never prevail where 200 or 300 people, situated on rocky isletg 400 miles at leaat from any mainland port, ha?e to be provided wich the necessaries of life and relieved of what they prodace. Possibly the locking up of the land might yield to" some of the patent nostrums which have so signally failed here, but we should not like to bo confident. It is to bo hoped the hardy islanders are not really going to " chuck up " and leave the country to the immigrant Maoris and the handful of iudigenous Morioris who have survived the raid of the 800 New Zealand cannibals some 70 years ago. The country is one of those that are interesting to live ont of ; but it is part of Now Zealand, and deserving of attention from several points of view. Sympathy at leaat should be given to families which have been expatriated during bo many years en these lonely islets, and have failed to reap what eurely was their due reward.

We cannot help thinking that a good deal of unnecessary fuss is being made about the aspersions cast on the value and wholeaomouees of frozen meat by a foolish and probably irascible member of the House of Commons. The Ministers of Agriculture in Australia, the Agents-general at Home, and the authorities of the Board of Trade are all in energetic communication with each other about the matter, and we suppose it must be coc eluded that when so many great peopla are fussing themselves in'-.o fits over a given thing, ifc must possess some intrinsic importance of its own. Still, one would think that a trade that has been a fully established one for 15 years, and has grown to such enormous proportions, could hardly be seriously injured by such babble as the speech in quastion. A little wholesome contempt would bave seemed to us more in keeping with* tha requirements of the case. As "it is, the gifted being who deduced imminent caucer from a temporatare of 20deg Ib no doubt experiencing the highest gratifiaation from the effect he has produced. It is probably the crowning point in his political career.

Ouc congratulations were recently given to the first Maori barrister to make his appearance in the colonial courts. Most ucpardonably a similar greeting to the lirst of what may be a long line of feminine lawyers — this time of our own race — has been hitherto neglected. Lst us hasten to repair the omission, with all apologies to Miss Ethel Benjamin, Bachelor of Laws, barrister ?.nd solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. We cannot recall that the pait of Portia has been seriously played in any English court ; but from the delight which it invariably gives when presented for popular appreciation before the footlights, why should it not be fair to conclude that the new departure will " catch on " with the litigating public? True, Portia in the original weais the habiliments of ordinary doctors of the law — slightly glorified, of courge, for purposes of stage effect— but this implied slur on the sex will now become an anachronism, and the Dc ge of Venice will have to project himself a few centuries forward and read the introductory letter from Ballario with Nerlssa before him in petticoats. "And here, I take it, is the doctoi come " will be the cue to introduce Portia similarly attired. Even Sbylock will have to

impart an additional hardness to bis stonji heart — "a stony adversary, an inhumant wretch, uucapable of pity, void and empty from any dram of mercy " — when in th« undisguised glory of her sex she tains to him with the soft appeal,

Then must the Jew have mercy. Hardly will he attain, in reply, to the snarl with the famous Irvinian emphasis,

On what compulsion must I? Tell me that, or resist from her lips that sweetest of Shakespearian strains that gives the immortal answer.

It has been announced that at last tha dimensions of the Great Eastern are to bo exceeded in a modern steamship, the Oceanic; some particulars of which are given in a note elsewhere in thiß issue. It is said that the plans of the now giantess have cost £10,000,. and it would be very iotoresticg if someone would find out and announce how much Mr Brunei was paid nearly 50 years ago for his orawicga and specifications of the Great Eastern. Probably it did not amount to a fifth of the sum just; named, for, sizeapart, the complications and the finish of th 6 Oceanic transcend those of her great predecessor in muoh the sama degree as tho furniture of a modern battleship surpasses that of the famous Victory. The raul interest-, in fact, o[ the wonderful statement* made about, the Oceanic lies not so muoh in her wonderful capaciaa and powers — those are but one more step ahead in the tremendous advances made since the great Orient (now a second-class Mfaip) astonished the world but a fsw years ago-~as In the fact that now, for ths tirst rimo in 40 years (it must be roiaembsroci that the Gr<mfc Eastota took ecvon joasrs to get ready) Brunei's achievement- ie, as regards dimensions, abont to bo surpassed. That is really a surprising fact, and clearly shows that tho giant aleamsbip of 1852 9 was a conspicuous instance ol a creation " ahead of her time." •She vraß, moreover, an experiment ; the aucceas of tl»e Oceanic is as much a certaiuty now, two years before she flotil s, mb though her trial trips were already things of. the paat. So much at least has science done meantime.

Tim Great Eastern wa3 a failure. Her portrait is familiar enough to the present generation— those of them who have not aaau the monstrous ore&lnre herself during ber brief and disastrous career — as that of a long, hugely tall steamer, with her four paira of paddle-boxes and her four screws, her fiva funnels and her six masts, her tremendous deck-hamper and her lovely lino^. Her steam gear broke down at the- etaiT, killing several people, and requiring eight months of repairs and alterations. Sb* then effected the passage of the Atlantic, taking, for all her four paddles and her four screws, juat double the presens average time, and nearly three limes the period intended to be occupied by the Ocsauic. On thao and her aubßequeni; American trips she broke the heart of everybody concerned by the enormous losses incurred in her running ; but sha kept at ib more or less, with repairis oa a hngo scale going on all the time, until sbe found her true mission in the saying of tbo lirafc Atlantic cables in 1863 0. Than they r.riei3. ber as a passenger ship sga'n in connection with the Paris Exhibition of 1863, but the results being aa disastrous a3 evtr aha vreat cable-laying for the AUanric fcfcd Extern. Companies until, after a truly humlUrtiog old ege in the capacity of a coal faulk at a British naval station and a- hardly less dignified dotage as a penny bhovr, she was broken up a very few years ago and sold fci old lumber in the Liverpool ■shtpjards.