CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2272, 16 September 1897, Page 22

CURRENT TOPICS.

There must have been very few spectators on

the Caritbrook ground on SaturBRUTAi, flay day afternoon to witness the at Welliugton-Obago football match football, who were not d'sgusted with the

exhibition of what we can only characterise as a brutal disregard of the consequences, and had play continued much longer ib is cafe bo say bbab the game must have degenerated into a free fight, which probably would not have been confined to the players. From its nature football cannot be a gentle gaoae. • It is no game for a milksop or one who djes nob care' to brava contusions and falls. But ib is quite possible to play it, as it i» now governed by the rules, with comparative immunity fcom risk to lite and limb, and certainly without arou-ing the baser passions that find their proper outlet in tha prizj ring. When play is brutally rough it i-j because the laws of the game have been violated. If the laws are violated two persons are responsible— he who violates them and he who, h*ving c jntrol of bhe gatneiu order to see that the rules are observed, permits their violation without prompt punishment. We are compelled to hold the reFeroe entirely re<pons ble for Siturday'a exhibition of b'utaliby. He is equally culpaHls whebher he svw the off-nces or did nob. If he saw them and did nob warn or, if necessary, order the offenders off bhe ground, he failed in his duty. If he did nob see them, then others of tbe public did, and he equally failed in bis duty, for a maa has no ru>ht bo accept such a position unless he i« cipable of seeing everything that gies on. This is the fiot occasion on wnioh an outside referee has officiated in interprovinc'al football in Danedfn, and it id to be regretted bhab the gentleman selected performed his duties so unsatisfactorily. Under a fi^m and efficient referee it would not have been possible to see men struggling and fighting without the ball or a member of the visiting team inviting any one among the spectators bo fight. The referee must h»ve known bbab the captaiu of the visiting "team was aob long -ago disqualified from acting as a captain for nob properly controlling his team on the field of play, and he ought, therefore, to have been unusually vigilant. We regret thab a section of tbe spectators so far forgot themselves as to bebave in an unfair and unseemly manner. Fortunately, this section was composed mainly of the small boy element, v»ho may to a certain extent be excused for bsing unable to control their feelings. None the less, such conduct mutt be put down. Such exhibitions as thab of Saturday are calculated to bring the hitherto popular winter game into disrepute. If play of such a kind becomes common, pubic opinion in Dunedin will, we feel assured, soon pub an end to ib, and compel the police bo interfere to prevent breaches of the peace.

The demonstrations on the return of Captain

RiHu on Saturday evening were

cXptain spontaneous, hearty, and grabibobin's fying, and must have tried

EETURN.

eorely the modesty of tbe re-

cip'ent, who has done his duty so well that his modesty and absence of selfconsciousness may be assumed. He ban come back to his home'loaded with honours. Under his command the New Z^alaud contingent bai been the most noticeable, the mo«b admired, and, it may be added, the mosb efficient of all the contingents sent to grace the Royal Jubilee, and the result has proved tbab Captain Robin possesses those qualities that leaders should have. His proficiency and aptitude in military matters caused the greatest tturpriae amongst; military men, who could hardly believe that he had nob seen active pet vice, and this fact proves what can be made out of a volunteer imbued with ths right spirit. Captain Robia was singled out for special honours during the celebrations, and the position he at once gained conferred honour upon the colony which sent him. It was amongst the most happy ideas of the Jubilee that suggested the sending Home of the colonial contingents. Their presence and their bearing more than anything else showed tbe people of Britain that their kin beyond the seas were kindred still — not divided by the ocean but united by it. It showed that tbe impulse which moved the .calonists to swarm from the parent hive in nowise lessened their affection for the dear old land — whose hills, valleys, and streams (associations of their youth), live in their memories still, and are transmitted with unabated vigour to their children. The presence of the Maoris, also, added to the intereib manifested in the New Zealand contingent. No other colony. could so triumphantly demonstrate that honourable and brave indigeuoua enemies could be converted into such splendid fi-innd*. In fine, tha expedition has been a marked success, and it is no secret that Gtpfcain Robin made it so. Therefore, the thanks of the colony are due, to him, and the town where he spent his childhood and has his home should welcome him with reciprocal honour.

The seemingly unabated virulence of the dis-

pute in the iron trade in Britain

the may lead to a barren victory on engineering either side, for if it continues stjrike. much longer the shipbuilding

and engine buildiDg trades will take their departure to foreign lands. Wo have already mentioned that the strike is unprecedented for magnitude and the extent of the resources on both sides. The employers have formed the^mosfc powerful combination ever known, and the engineers have fuuds to the extent of a very large sum. It is only too much to be feared that the demand for an eight-hour day by the employees is insincere, and that wh&b they' really ask is more money for lesa work, and wish to add overtime rates to their wages. Such a demand would be more intelligible if it took the form of a stand for an increase in wages. And it would be more easily answered. Pub in the specious form of a strike for eight hour*, the employees have on their side the cuttom of their members abroad, who in the colonies and dependencies enjoy an eight-hour day, and regard it aB the palladium of industrial libwty. Moreover, they have on their side the example of the Government, which has conceded the eight-hour day in its dockyards and so on. But the misfortune is that the busiest period known for many years has been chosen for the strike, and strike clauses in agreements do not cover an infinity of delay ; so that orders for vessels and for engine? and machinery, which must be fulfilled will be placed elsewhere than in Englaud, and it may fall out that irreparable ruin will be inflicted on tha trade in which Britain has prided itself most.

There is probably no incident which creates more widespread sympathy than A pathetic such a one aa that reported Utoky. in last issue, where three " children near Wagga Wagga, in New South Wales, wandered away from their home and perished in the bush. These three mites, aged three, four, and five years, wandered

after an opossum on Saturday erening, and were not Found until Friday, the weather meanwhile having been cold and web, and when the woman who traced them through the movement of some crows found them they were lying dead f*ce downward on a stony ridge, being thinly clid and without boots. 1$ is won difficult to imsgine thab the woman's forebodings when she saw the crows hovering over the spot must have led her bo expecb a more gruesome cighb than a d«ad lamb, bub luckily this additional pang was spared to the parents ; and, as is invariably the ca«e, the whole of tha neighbours turned oub in the inarch. In Australia, where there are unpeopled solitudes even in districts which ar» termed settled, men and women leave their own business at the cry of "snake" or on a rumour thab tomeoue is lo*b. The despairing cry of the mother and the pale and set face of tbe father find ready respouse from willing hearts, an«l frequently no rest is Uken until the fabe of the little ones is ascertained. Sometimes a whole continent is thrilled bjr the news that after a number of days the lost ones have been founcj unharmed ; and the incidenb furnishes material for pathetic pictures and sbories, ifc may be, of childish heroism Such episodes are almosb peculiar to the coloniea, and they contribute not a little to the romance which pervades colonisation.

Ab a recent meeting of the Royal United

Service Institution Mr Hud ion JLN aerial Maxim gave au accou'it of the torpedo. aerial torpadoe-i invented by him.

Ho pointed oub thab the c^n^es 1 ;. between guns and armour had productd battleships . c'otbei in such walla of steel as to reduce mobility to a minimum. Bab with the in*roduct : ou of high explosives armour would be found useless, and would be discarded, and everything would be made sub-ervient bo spaed and mobilis?. Ib would be impossible to oppose high explosives with any efficient means of protection when applied in large quantities. By subdividing a ship's hull into watei tight c -mpartmenls and surrounding ib with netting sornn protection in " afforded against even the largest of the present forma of toroedoos. Bub the latest of th-se carry only 2001b of guncotton, whereas 5001b exploded against the nett'Ug of a modern battleship would ensure he- de*truc!i m. For filing his aerial torpedo Mr Maxim has a. gun of 24-in calibre, weighing 46 tors Thi projectile weighs abanb 27001b, of wh ; cb 14-20 w. uM be picric »cid, and wibh a charge ot ab >nb 16lb of Maxim-Scbiiopans powder would leave tbe muzzle with a velocity of ab>u6 2000, foot" seconds, with a range of nearly nine miles. Mr Mnxim th«i proceed-d to show that, taking the cost of a batblwhip aft £1,000,000 and th»t of a cruiser ab £100,000, a fl-'et. of borpedo cruisers cap»bleof destroying 1000 firsfccl&ss bs.ttle>-hi pa could be produced for tbe cost of one babtlesbip. He confessed that this conclusion waa astounding, but claimed to have laid such a foundation of facts hs to bring \b within the category of practical probabilities. In conclusion, he dccc ibsd the "Ma-xinaice" or picric acid as follows: —"A nibrogelatin, consisting of 70 or 80 per cent, of nitro-glycerine, with 30' or 20 per cenb. of a very soluble form of gt-l*bin-pyroxyliu, wai frozen stiff *nd reduced to powder. Aboub 75 to 80 per cenb. of this explosive sawdust was then incorporated with 25 to 20 per cent, of fire'y pulped tti-nitrin-celluloss, ths whole bt»ing saturated wi'h water. He claimed that projectiles filled wibh this compound might ba thrown ab service velocities with perfect safety."

We are in receipt of the report for 1895 and

1896 of the British and Foreign education of Institution tor Promoting the the blind. .Education and Employment of

the Blind. In tha United Kingdom the school authorities are now m*de responsible for the education of blind children from five to 16 years of age, but schools for the blind not matte-g^d by a school authority must pay one-third ot the cost for the maintenance and training of children sent by school boards. The London School Board and the Normal College authoritieshavecometo an arrangement whereby the higher education of the blind is carried on beyond the age of 16 Ths further education of pupils beyond the age of 16 largely engages the attention of th« institution whose rep >r - we have received, and accordingly it procures and disseminates literature in the Braille type. It also obtains employment foe the blind. A powerful auxiliary union has been formed cmBistiog of a number of ladies and gentlemen who write or correct the embossed manuscripts, and encourage employment of the blind. Tha manuscripts are afterwards stereotyped" and printed in large number*. During the year there Lave been printed " The Story of Naosftn," aa told by himself, and Sir Herbert Maxwell's " Sixty Yoars a Queen " in interpointed Braille, which simply means that by this process both sides of the leaf can be used and much bu'le obviated. To be bliDd in these enlightened days is no longer to be committed to a life of enforced idleness and misery. Literature of all kinds is available, and many employments are possible. The late Right Hon. Mr Fa,wc«tb proved that literary work of the most important kind can be p-r-formed by the blind, and it is now practicable to teach them with other children in the schools. The laSe Dr S'.u&rb took very much interest in this subject, and especially in the two blind pupils attending the Wakari School.

Mr F. J. Moss, Resident ab Rirotonga, has hi* own little licensing troubles drink in just like obher potentates civirakotonga. lised and uncivilised. The re»i-

denb medical man, Dc Craig, made a report on bhe disease* due to alcohol in Rarotonga, and said, inter alia, " th»t there are special facilities and encouragement given for the liquor traffio^among natives." The doctor was requested to furnish an explanation of this abatement, and seemed somewhat surprised ab the request. He says bhab it is generally known thab the chiefs are directly interested in the sale of permits to sell liquor. These permits, he says, are openly and indiscriminately sold. He says: "Certain individuals openly retail liquor daily to all comers, charging so much money per drink, without any police interference. No one could go aboub for a week in Rarotonga without noticing the disgracefully drunken habits of the natives. It is a rare thing to walk 500 yards any evening in the week without meeting half a dozen drunken natives, sometimes considerably more. A*, long as these facilities for trftffio in imported spirits are allowed bo exish, ib is impossible to attribute any of the blame for bhe drunken habits of bhe nabives to the much less potent' beverages cf native manufacture. These are to be ranked with such an Englfsh beverage as cider, wholesome, and, even in excessive quantities, doing infinitely less harm than the poison thab is ret&iled to the unsophisticated natives as rum. Kindly forward a copy of this letter in your next despatch to the New Zealand Government." In sending the doctor's letter to the 'Arikis, Mr Moss added the comment that if the statements were correct it

would nob be himself and Mr Gamier, tha licensing officer, that would b& blamed, bub ths Arikis, the Arikis' courts, and the police, and the question would be asked, " of what use are' they, and why cumber they the ground ?" (Luke xiii, 7.) No one can buy liquor frem » vessel without a permit. Hence permits are sold or else smuggling ia practised. Just what happens under prohibition elsewhere.