CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2255, 20 May 1897, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

The particulars which have been elicited con-

cerniag the imprisonment of a volunteer volunteer at Christchurch for discipline, non-payment of a fine of 50s

imposed upon him for nonattendance at drill show that a great hardship has beeu inflicted, and ib is a matter for regret that the Minister for Defence did not order the nun's release instead of detuning him in prison until someone satisfied tho claim. It seoms that the man had nob attended a sufficient number of drills to earn his capitation allowance, and an order was signed by Lieutenant-colonel Gordon and Captain Snow fining him the sum the company would have received had the volunteer been efficient. This order had the same effect as an order signed by a magistrate. A warrant of distress was signed by Mr Beetham, S.M., and was returned "nitlla bona," and a warrant was then issued for tho man's' comaaitiment. Htt had gone to Mount Somers to work as a blacksmith at 253 a weak, of which he seufc 23s regularly to his wife aud family in Christchurch. He was summarily arrested and lodged in gaol, and his placa ab Mount Soiners has been filled. The man had been oufc of work for some lime, and it appears that the cause of his absence from drill was his search for work in order to support himself and wife and family. It is quite clear this was not a ease for such har*h treatment, and it is a gre\t pity that the commanding officer and the magistrate were not placed ia possession of the facts, whsn probably the warrant of arresb and commitment would nob have been" issued. Discipline is all very well, but the "Volunteer Force is nob an octopus, which will retain its grip under all circumstances. It would have been more creditable to let this man go and earn a subsistence than to pub him in gaol and leave his wife and children to the mercy of the world. The man was released ou Tuesday last.

There is no doubt that the loyalty »>f tho

Canadians to the British Crown Canadian is a living sentiment that finds LOTALTr. expression in naoro th.-in words.

The Montreal Daily Star recently organised a subscription in a-id of tho Indian famine fuut], and from 'all parls of the colony money poured in until about £10,000 was raised. The nature of the appeal was most graphic. A largo picture in the paper represented the Union Jack floating from Canada towards India, aud thft latter couutry was affectionately termed " Eastern Britain," the phrase embodying the idea cf British unity all over the world. While the subscriptions were coming in whole pages of the paper were filled with subaccibsrs' n&mee in large print, aud specimens of letters accompanying donations were inserted. The following is one of them from the rnstyo* o? St. Stephen, and it shows how the response to the appeal for help was niado a matter ot ioyaifcy : " The towns of St. Stephen and Mill! own, with the villages of Oak Bay and Ledge, He on the Canadian (side of the River Sv. Croix, with a water front of 10 miles and a population of GOOO. Whfju you consider our close proximity to our American cotvaius, this generous outbnrsb of British -sentiment and Anglo-Saxon charity is a practical answer to the articles in the Americau newspapers dealing with Canada's anxiety for annexation. Our relations with our friends aorosß tho river are peculiar to the locality, and do not exist elsewhere on the frontier, Sfc. Stephen and Milltown, N.B , lie directly opposite the towns of Calais and Milltown, Me., and are connected by four bridges in a dietance oi two miles One water system supplies all four towns. Oae gas company supplies all four towns. One electric light system lights all four towns, and one electric railway supplies them all. And still we are British subjects through and through."

The3e table waters have achieved a world-wide

reputation, and aro almost as apolt,inaris well known in the leading

AND JOHANNIS.

Australasian hotels as they are in Europe. The Apollinaris

Company has been in existence since 1873, and has paid handsomely. Its nominal capital is £400,000, of which only £40,000 ia paid up. The shares are held in about equal parts by Mr Smith (of Smith, Elder, and Co., tho famous publishers,) and Mr Sfceinkopff (proprietor of the St. James's Gazette). But in 1895 the supremacy of Apollinaris was threatened by the advent of Johannis, a water almost identical. The capital of the Johannis Company was put at £140,000 in £1 ordinary shares and £1000 in £1 founders 7 shares, and it had a fluctuating debenture issue, which at the date of the prospectus of amalgamation stood at £35,000. It struck some one that ib would ho advautageous to amalgamato the compiiiieff, and the scheme has been freely and adversely criticised. The capital the public aro asked to subscribe is £3,230,000 for the two businesses. No information is vouchsafed as to the title to the springs, nor of the profits made in recent years, nor as to the value of the assets taken over. In fact, as the " Investors' Review " pats it, the investor pays , his money blind' folded, It is further quoted to the discredit

of the Apollinaris mtnsgement that after being deprived of the agency for Hunyadi Jdaos ifc continued to sell another bitter water under thab name, and incurred severe ceasuro from Mr Justice Kekewicu ia granting an injunction to put an end to the practice. Verily tho company promoter in London is a parson whom ib behovts investors to be wary of. To quote a homely Scotch proverb, •• You need a long Hpojn when you sup with thedail."

The Minister for Marine has given tho gratifying information that it is his weather intention to place tho equipment roRECASTS. of the weather station* on r.

better footing by supplying existing stations with modern instruments, and to establish a number of new stations so ag to enable complete, forecasts to bo marie. This is a. matter that his too long bßeu neglected. For ra*uy years even the condition oF the river.-j was left to be ajcortaiaed by chance, and it accordingly happened that settlers on the alluvial plaint near tbe mouths of rivers such as tho Taieri, Molyncux, and Oreti ia Southland suffered heavy loas because they wore not warned in time thit the river was rising up-couutry. They do these things better in Australia, where the height of the one considerable river, the Murray, is telegraphed daily to Melbourne and Sydney and other towns where psople are likely to be interested. Our contemporary the Christohuroh Press, in referring to the intention of ths Minister, points oub what it terms an inex-> disable omission in the weather records. Its remarks nausb be endorsed and emphasised when it says: — "It i 3 an act of suicidal folly on our part that while we note every shock of earthquake, every gale, and every rainy day, we take absolutely no account of the most attractive feature of the New Zealand climatenamely, the abundant sunshine with which ire are favoured. Afc an expenditure of a few pounds, the principal stations .could bo provided with sunshine-recorders, and the observation* could bn taken just us easily as those of the rainfall or the barometrical pressure. The results, when obtained, would, we feel sure, compare so favourably witu the English raiurue that in no other way could the attractions of our climate bo so effectively set out. Under the present system all the worst features of our climate aro carefully recorded and published to the world. Surely, now that their attention has been drawn to the matter, Government will see that the observations shall in future include one of its good qualities as well."

Cablegrams state that the Volksraad has repealed the alien immigration the BO3R law on the ground of objections B\cks down, by the adjacent States. As Mr j Caambsrlain Bays, thin has greally relieved the tension between England and the Transvaal ; for it is intolerable that; Britons should, in a country which their exertions hava made wealthy, be treated as if they were inferior beings and compelled to carry a pinsporfcaa if they were in Russia. The relative positions aro made clear by portion of -the evidence given by Mr Rbodea before the South African Committee of the House oi 1 Commons. In examination by Mr LabOucliere the following particulars were elicited :—: — You stated that there were 60,000 Boers, but of these only 20.000 were males. Were you alluding to the whole country or 'only to Johannesburg? — No. And you say there are 80,000 male TJitlanders?— • Ye 3. Do you put it, then, that in that country there are 80,000 in*le Uitlandera and only 20,000 male Boers?— Yes. Three years ago, when President Kruger was elected, there was a very keen competition between him and Joubert, and only about 17,000 voted. I know that almost every Boer voted. If you pass through the country you will find ib, I will not say a deseit, but very sparsely occupied, and my judgment is tint the voting then fairly represented the population of the country. You must remember that votes may be taken by field cornets, who have great distances to rirle, ;>ud the competitiou was raoßt keen. That reaches to only about 15,000 votes ; I have allowed them up to 20,000, which I think ia more than enough, because, in addition to that, a great number have trekked to the north and to the chartered territories — an enormous number, — and they are still trekking. Joubert urged the burghers of the Transvaal not to leave the Transvaal, but they are doingso because they think there is a better country. Therefore, I say there are not more — aud I think I am right in my judgment— than 20.030 buighers at the outside. What often mis* leads is the statement that the Boer population is 60,000 or 70,000. That is so becatise of the women and children. Oa the other hand, the new population are practically nearly all males, because they have not brought their wives out from Home, or very few of them. So in the one case you have a large male population, and you must compare that with the male population of the old burghers to get a fair idea of the situation of the country. 1 And Bince the alien laws operated with respect , to even the Boers' own countrymen fpom neighbouring States, it will be seen how intolerable i they were.

He was trying to tell them the story, It was broken by coughs and by spits. And the points of it came very slowly, By starts as it were aud by fits. And they said, "You should take ■ something forf it, Something that is wholesome and pure/ And he said " I'll be all right to-morrow, For I'm takimr Woods's Great Peppermikl Curb."