The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1897.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 29

The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1897.) THE WEEK.

" Nunquim aliud nalura, aliud sapientla dlxit." — Juvx.nal. Possibly a certain amount of public usefulness is, after all, effected by The Commission a judicial body which conon Private ducts its judicial functions Benefit Societies, ia the manner which has been characteristic of this needless Commission's proceoding3. It serves to make us all more actively thankful than it sometimes occurs to us to be for the constitutional safeguards which have made our principal judges independent of political control or reward. I It may serve, too, to set many of us thinking whether there is any good reaßon why inferior ! judges and superior magistrates should not I be similarly surrounded with the bulwarks I which ensure independence. As regards the work which the Commission nominally came here to do — what it really came here to do was proclaimed, of course, day by day ia a quite unmistakable manner by the bias given to its proceedings — it is obvious that none of those who were " inquired into " would have anything whatever to fear from an honest report. The proof is overwhelming that the benefit societies whioh the Government, in obedience to pressure generally effective with them, desires to crush are doing a fine work, are tending to the hearty uniting of employers and of men, and are providing for their members solid advantages not otherwise readily obtainable. The oompulBion, where any exists in name, has never, apparently, been carried into effect; but such as it is, ib exists not by dictation of the employers, but by insistence — on, we must admit, very fair grounds— of the men j themselves. We do not understand the f employ ora to assert— and we nbould not

believe them if they did assert — that their very large contributions to these societies ; are made from considerations of pure philanj thropy, absolutely apart from direct interest. They have a great interest in maintaining them — one of the greatest interests that em- | ployers can haye — namely, the maintenance of a large measure of content among the employees and of happy and harmonious relations between all parties concerned. Such a condition of things in a large establishment lessens incalculably the cares of management, and is so far a solid boon to the employer. But the relief and the confidence so secured to the employer are shared equally by the employee ; and in addition the latter r«aps from the arrangement (as the employer does not) the material benefits arising from the accumulation of funds which his savings and those of his fellows, taken alone, could never have provided. It has not yet been shown that these enormous mutual advantages are attended by a solitary drawback. The proceedings at the hearing of an application for tho examination of ' Ah the Hon. George MLean in Unpromising connection with the affairs of Precedent, the Colonial Bank were of a somewhat remarkable character, and will no doubt be noted carefully by those interested, in the matter. There can be no doubt that, after a loDg " dead " interval in the elucidation of the wretohed story of the bank, an unusually keen anticipation has been awakened with regard to so important a phase in the matter ac the compulsory examination of the president. A report has been made by the liquidators in the meantime of bo scathing a character that even those who bad confidently expected startling revelations were almost appalled ; and it must ba added that the explanations, if they may really be called such, voluntarily tendered by the late general manager of the bank were bo totally inadequate, and indeed in some respects so clearly disentitled to serious notice, that they were followed by a feeling of blank dismay on the part of those who remained most hopeful that only " all save honour " had been lost. The demand for the* examination of the president, following upon this protracted and eminently disquieting inoident, was inevitable ; and it remained to be seen how it would be met. It has, we are glad and relieved to say, been met readily and honourably by Mr M'Lean ; and the only thing that seems slightly obscure to an outsider is why, uneter such circumstances, it should have been necessary to make a formal (and, of course, expensive) application to the Supreme Court to apply any compulsion to the hon. gentleman at all. Perhaps, however, this was, for some legal reason or other, really necessary ; and, at any rate, it was rendered little more than a formality by Mr M'Lean's prompt acquiescence in the issuing of an order of the Court. The " terms," aB they were called, of his submission to the order were all reasonable enough, and it is matter for congratulation that no grievance, real or imaginary, was set up at the outset by the- offering of any opposition to them. The requirement made by Mr M'Lean that he should be examined in the first instance by his own counsel, and only secondarily by the counsel for the liquidators, " might or might not " (as his Honor 3hrewdly remarked) work oufe satisfactorily, but we fail to see how it could be easily made a means of concealment or evasion. The demand, however, is curiously suggestive when it is remembered that the course ultimately determined upon (that of prefacing the evidence by a written statement from the witness) was precisely the line taken by the general manager of the bank with regard to nig own examination. A less disastrous result, it may be fervently hoped, is in store for bis superior now that bis own time has come ; but it seems a curiouß precedent to have deliberately followed. Sir William Clarke, Baronet, whose sudden death from heart disease in The Late the streets of Melbourne was Millionaire, recently reported, seems to bave been one of those rare phenomena, a truly popular millionaire. His father, who made the million or two which descended to the late baronat, know how to pile up the sovereigns, but had either never acquired, or had forgotten, the various becoming ways of spending them. He did not in bis time acquire any startliDg measure of popularity, nor were his occasional visits to this country greatly appreciated by those with whom he spent them. The eldest of the sons who inherited this vast fortune has never borne tho reproaches which ware freely levelled at the hard, unheeding head of " Big Clarke." He has delighted in spending and giving the money, in the trouble of accumulating which "he was so little concerned. He has endowed benefactoriee with tens of thousands of pounds, and it is said that his private benevolences were on an extensive scale as well. He seems to have had hardly any enemies, and heapß of staunch friends — but the latter a very rich man, like a very prosperous politician, never lacks whatever his character may be — even, indeed, if (unlike Sir William Clarke) he has no character to speak of at all. The point that naturally arises in the mind when one hears of a rich man who is unquestionably popular is, What would he have been withont his riches ? The answer in Sir William Clarke's case does not seem to be far to seek. He would probably have been an amiable nonentity, who might possibly by the age at which he died have reached the position of a senior clerkship or a branch agency of a bank. That was about what the French call his metier. As luck and fortune would have it, he became, not a bank clerk, but a bank president at one jump. He did not illuminate the position, nor did the position enrich him; but it never occurred to anyone that he was out of his element in the forefront of a great institution, and that it did not was due to his riches — combined, of course, with his absolute honesty. He maintained, all his biographers are careful to say, a battery of artillery at his own expense — an odd development of the millionaire's search for interesting means of usefulness — but we have not come across any account which dilates upon the practioal usefulness of this unique military force. It came in handy at various Melbourne shows, however. Sir William'fl ventures into the realm of snort were

much of the tame kind as bis banking and soldiering achievement*. There was lots of money wanted (and forthcoming), but there was no grit and no oommand. He probably knew very little at any time about how his affairs utood — which was jußt as well, as he was hardly the man to alter them beneficially whatever they might be. He was, in short, an excellent citizen, who would never have been heard of but for his money, but who is | entitled to the full credit due to those rich men who avincs a real appreciation of the fact that riches mean responsibilities to j humanity as well as happiness in the possessor's immediate surroundings. Here are four consecutive cable messages from Europe, all received the Old Words same day :— and New " Hadji Michali, chief of the Meanings. Cretan insurgents, is convening the Assembly. He proposes the formation of a communal police force in Crete." " France has placed a proposal before the Powers in favour of arranging a Cretan loan for the esfcablihhment of a foreign gendarmerie and the seleotion of a Governor for Crete. It is understood that Great Britain and Russia favour these proposals." " The Times says that the Christians in the eastern and central districts of Crete are willing to accepb autonomy." " In the House of Commons Mr Balfour stated that he did not expect order restored in Crete until a Governor was appointed and an efficient gendarmerie established." This chaos of conflicting proposals is what Greece has effected for the Cretans by her insane snatch at the island and her equally insane onslaught upon the Turks in Thessaly. She herself lies prostrate at the feet of the victorious Sultan, while all the other doctors of the situation are busily at work after their kind giving strange and novel meaninga to the good old Grecian word " autonomy." This " autonomy " has been preached by all the Powers from the first as the true and intended outcome of the" recent disturbances, but apparently the only one who understands the meaning of the word is Hadji Miobali, the gentleman largaly responsible for the original commotion. He at any rate perceives that i£ the island is to be autonomous it must be policed under popular authority. Autonomy, however, according to France, England, and Russia, j resembles Mesopotamia, in that all its sweet- | ness lies in the name. Cretan autonomy in their view is sufficiently effected by sending a foreign legion to keep the people in order and selecting a foreign Governor to toll the legion how to do it. It is magnificent, doubtless, but it is not autonomy. That kind of autonomy applied to New Zealand, for j iußtacoe, would produce quite a crop of Hadji j Michalis, taking more closely etymological views of the meaning of the " blessed " word, and probably prepared, like the original Hadji, to back up their interpretation in a practical way. The insurgents have given up their original cause — which was direct annexation to Greece— in response to a promise from the Powers of "autonomy," and now it is leaking out that autonomy i means what we have defined above. We fully believe that the. autonomy proposed by i the Powers for the Cretans is quite as large j an instalment — or should we not rather say ; quite as colourable an imitation — of the r«a ! . article as is good for them ; but that ia noi" ! the point. Hadji Michali's views of. the i situation are clearly entitled to consideration j under the circumstances, and it is no wonder j f that he is innocently summoning an Assembly j with the notion of arranging for the Govern- ! ment, while the Powers are going woodedy I ; ahead with their own arrangements for a, | foreign police. It will b« difficulc for him ] when he appreciates what is really going on j to find the right spirit wherein to face tba ' Europaan music a3 tun6d to " concert '" pitch. British diplomacy has quietly scored a j point in waking up French susceptibilities \ as to German intrigues in tba Transvaal. It has always been a little puzzling to Englishmen why Americans ana Frenchmen, who have large interests at stake in the Rand, have exhibited so little sympathy — j to put ib quite too mildly— with England's j insistence on her position as paramount ; power in South Africa, both withia and ' i without the Boer Republic. The maintenance of the sights and property of \ foreigners on the goldfields depends upon the , power of Englaud, whose flag is indeed the i charter of English, French, and Americans j alike. Should the Germaus successfully a9siat i Kruger to throw off the British yoke, what, | it has been quietly asked io Paris, would be the probable advantage to French colonists ? Would they like to change their poaltion under English suzerainty — all too lax as that suzerainty admittedly ii — for the policeing of a German garrison? Certain memories of 1871, and the conditions prevalant pending the payment of the great indemnity, will '• have provided an emphatic answer to the i question. It may b8 pretty confidently j anticipated that one effect of the Transvaal f plots will be to very largely dissipate the antagonism hitherto existing between French and English authorities in various ' parts of the African Continent. Something of the nature of a common causa has been clearly shown to exist. The abandonment by an English agent of the endeavour to provide for Dunedin a properlyequipped tramway system is a matter of melancholy interest for town and country alike. There seems to be no doubt that Captain Craddock and bi3 principals were in earnest in desiring to acquire the existicg plant and turn it into something really up-to-date. Their motive, of course, was j money, and it is the only motive whioh will j ever induce any similar attempt to improve the city and make it a pleasanter place to live and travel in. The City Council seems to treat people who want to confer these benefits as if the benefits were totally unacceptable unless accompanied with wholesale loss to those who provide them. They would rather have a bad system which has cost its proprietors half their capital and is not returning them » penny than they would welcome, or even permit, an infinitely better one which might ' possess the drawback of paying a substantial percentage for capital expended. This | kind of thing is hopeless. We need not hope j to rival other centres while we encourage such a wairit in the city authorities, nor »

need we look for any relief for either resfr dents or oountry visitors from present; vexatious conditions while we insist tbab benefits shall be bestowed upon uo as $ species of oharitable aid before we consist to receive them at all,

AN English journal hau been discussingj~Off rather its correspondents have been dieousßing for it, the best way of making jubilee bonfires. It appears that the bonfires lit 'on the occasion of the last jubilee 10 years ago (we hope this expreesion ie correct, for aoma people are exceedingly nervouß about thd right name to give to this month'B rejoioingß, and we are bound to aonfeas that the above phrase sounds queer somehow) were in most casdß a miserable failure. They smouldered, and they smoked, and thoy went out, and in short did everything that bonfires ought not to do ; and all because the excellent intentions of their constructors were unsupported by the necessary experience. Most people think tar a necessary element in the business (we were under this delusion ourselves), whereat it seems it is fatal to success. It smokes abominably, and causes your bonfire to eventuate after everyone has got tired of looking out for it, and has gone home to bed. The proper principles of constructing a. bonfire are apparently those :— (1) The material must be mostly dry wood, gorse, bark, clippings, &o. — not large logs on any account ; (2) it should be built in a conical pile with a central tunnel from top to bottom ; (3) before building it, radial or parallel ditches should be dug on the f ite, so as to supply air to the fire, as in tho case of firebars ; (d) just before lighting it, someone should climb- to tho top with a can of kerosene (or, better, benzoline, if he will promise to be extremely oaroful, for the liquid is dangerous if carelessly used), and pour it straight down over the pile. Let go when he oomes down, and you will have a bonfire au it should be — a brilliant affair of an bour or two, not an economical smouldering pile reminding the onlookers of a charcoalburner's plant for a week after they bave gone soberly baok to their work.