WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 29

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY.

(THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1898.)

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" Nunquam aliud natura, aiiud sapiontia dixit."— Juvenal. "Good nature aad good sense must ever join." -Pops,

As the new jear opens, succeeding to the vanished year of Jubilee, the A responsibilities of Empire Critical accumulate with acceleratOutlook. ing urgency. Though locally

the talk is of increased commercial prosperity — and very welcome in its way such talk is — the outlook farther afield is such that Englishmen must feel that the solemn protestations of last June may at any time be put to the test. The Indian frontier war is not finished ; it is difficult to tell how near we are to completing the work of punishment and subjugation there, and still more difficult to estimate what will really have been effected in that direction when the word is given to cease firing. The one thiDg certain is that our troops have had to face conditions almost too terrible to realise at this distance — long forced marches in fearful country swarming s-t every turn with fierce and pitiless enemies; often no relief night or day from imminent danger ; a trying climate, and hardships innumerable arising from the difficulties of transport; the demoralising influences that result from the lack of definite comprehensible object in the movements undertaken ; and among other things, according to a section, at any rate, of the Indian press, insufficient competency in the generals commanding. It is now leaking out that virulent disease has been among the terrors of this arduous work, and there is much reason for anxiety until it is all over. In the midst of all this, the rather staggering news comes from Cairo that 12,000 British troops are required for carrying to a conclusion the operations of the Nile Expedition. The dervishes have taken heart owing to our long pause at Berber, and are eaid to be advancing on that place ; and, even when they are driven back, there remain yet Metemmeh and Omdurman before the siege of Khartonm itself ia begun. That British troops would be wanted to lead the final operations was, of course, known all along, bub tbe notion o£ sending 12,000 has nsvsß

been in the public mind till now. The quarrel with France on the Niger is not settled yet, nor is the Venezuelan arbitration began, nor the question pending with the United States approaching final solution. A formidable continental combination to crush England is known to have been seriously proposed during the past year, and was only abandoned owing to international jealousies — not that it was necessarily very practicable even had those not existed. The position finally created by organised and systematic foreign aggression in China and Corea is full of difficulty for English statesmen ; already the warshipa of at least three natiocs are in dargerous proximity to each other in Chinese waters. In all this we have not exsggerated by a single word, and it will be admitted that John Bull never had graver occasion to keep his powder dry. We have our hands more than full ; and yet, even before they were half so full, we bad the Commander-iii-Chief of the British army publicly declaring that a strain was being pub upon the army which, a3 at present constituted, it could not bear. We can only trust to pluck and luck, which have often carried the Empire through ciiseß as grave.

Lord Hampden's opinion on the accommo-

d&tion available for tourists Lord HiYMpden through the Hot Springs disat trict is worth some attention. Rotorua* His Excellency might possibly at the first blush be suspected of over-sensitiveness on the subject' of food and comforts generally, an Australian vice-regal residence beiDg a poor preparation for roughing it in the hideous waßtes where our thermal wonders are unfortunately domiciled. But this view of matters would be an error. Lord Hampden made it quite clear that he and his party are ready to be content with a wholesome meal and a clean bed j wherever they go, other thirgs being j reckoned on the modest scale which such requirements typify. That is no more than we »H want. Unfortunately it is a good deal less than many of us get, and there is nothing to be gained by refusicg to be frank about it. In some few localities in the Hot Springs district tbe accommodation is just reasonably good, though not good enough to prevent the innkeepers cle-imicg the forbearance and self-denial of their guests on the grounds cf " so many travellers just now " — a state of things which, whertver arrangements fcr the reception of tourists are on a proper scale, tends to expand and not to limit the full enjoyment cf hotel facilities. In other parts— notably on the route from Taupo via Ti kasnu and Pipiriki, and down the Wanganui Kher, which Lord Hampden's party followed — tbe arrangements are of a painfully primiiive kind, and ladies who have candid friends are usually oil such liDes of transit. His Excellency reports that owing to the rigid system of prohibition in the King Country the innkeepers' business is too poor to admit of any adequate attention to cortforr. We have no donbt this is so, and the remedy is obvious. The hotels should bs fully licensed to sell any kind of liquor to travellers taking meals or beds there, and a certain amount of the present pretence of \ superlative self-denial for the good of the Natives should be conceded in the best interests of the country. The penalties for gelling liquor to Maoris could remain, and very likely if the truth were known there would be no more sold than there is cow. lioid Hampden believes that "if better accommodation were provided and reasonable charges made thousands of tourists would be tempted to visit the district," and bo do we. It is not that people want cheapness ; but a fair standard of comfort they do want and must haye — otherwise thsy won't come. It seems to be useless however to go on drawing attention to these things. A Minister who has just been tbrocgh the thermal districts is always full of pUcs for the thorough re-organisaiion of the traffic as soon os he gets home, particularly if he has taken his wife and daughtejs with him. Bnt bis enthusiasm, like everything sl&e belonging to the Hot Spri»gß, goes off in emoke Eooner or later, and the next traveller suffers.

A mild local controversy (foredoomed to utter oblivion in about three A Commercial weeks) is raging on the subPaitneishlp. jeefc of " The Sign of the Cross," the alleged " spiritual " pl&y which is more than su&pected of deriving its titles from considerations arising out of tbe immense advertising success of Mr Hall Caiae's novel, "The Christian," This latter work was sold in advance by thousands of copies on the mere announcement of it 3 title, and " The Sign of the Cross " — which is a play written by a playwright into whose personal opinions on the subject of the Crucifixion it never occurs lo anybody to inquire — is witnessed by troops of people who would never have come near the theatre if the bills had been headed " Mercia "or " The Woes of Stephanus."' On the whole, such people go away disappointed, if not shocked ; and, on the whole, it serves them right. Why there should be this perpetual BtiainiEg after setting up a wholly imaginary affinity between " church and stage " we are quite at a loss to imagine. We are not cynical, and not, we trust, unduly suspicious, yet we unhestatingly assert that in nine cases out of ten such pleadings are either connected not remotely with the advertising agent in the background, or are simply the published mental compromises of clergymen who do not see why they should not go to the play when they have a night off. Some of these days the " Confessions of an Advance Agent "or "How I Wrote the New Jerusalem in Five Acts " will make fine copy for some magazine, and lugubrious reading for certain " church and stage " enthusiasts. We prefer the separation of functions which actually do exist rather than the combination which these people (cunningly moved thereto by persona less disinterested than themselves) are always alleging to exist. A very pleasant evening can be spent at the theatre without anybody beicg "ennobled" at all; and, on the other hand, it will be a queer day for the churches when they have to call in a professional playwright and a company o£ actors to " elevate " people in the inteivals of a ballet by way of supplement to the attractions of the pulpit. "The Sign of the Cross " is a clever play, and in many respects a good one ; and it is, on the whale, admiral}!? acted by the comnanv

ii. ***** recently [interpreting it in town. Thee^ briefly put, are the two simple faotfi upon which' people in the towns in which it is yet to be produced may be safely recommended to decide whether or not to go and see it. Anyone who goes there to be '.' ennobled " will go home to bed much the same person as he o£ she was the night before ; in short, anyone who goes to " The Sign of the Cross " for any other reason than he would go to " The Mikado "—namely, to see a clever composition adequately staged — will deserve to be called what he will undoubtedly call himself when the curtain falls.

Special interest will be taken in this part of the world in the petition which has been presented to the Qaesn against the use of the words " Erjgland " and " English " as descriptive of the Empire and its inhabitants. Over 100,000 Scotchmen have requested the substitution of the " British " equivalents for the more apparently exclusive term. We are not told what the precise prayer of the petition is — whether it selcs for the future couching of all public documents in the manner suggested, whether it claims a proclamation by her Majesty, or seeks its ends by way of parliamentary Statute, or whether it merely — as is moat probable — grumbles at large, and invites her Majesty to " take such steps " ae> may ssem to her best to remedy the grievance complained of. .The sentiment which inspires the petition is admirable, and indeed there is no possible controversy about it. The Empire would be as incomplete without Scotland, for instance, as its army would be without the Gordon Highlander?, and everybody knows and admits ifc. The difficulty, if any, comes in when we leave the domain of sentiment and enter that of practice.

How are we to make people who mean " British " when they say " English " say what they mean 1 A law will not effect it, nor will a proclamation, nor an Order-irt-Council, nor an avalanche of letters to tha newspapers signed " Justice." Suppose, for instance, it were made a matter of formal complaint by the navy that people had a loose fashion of talking about " officers," and bunched up admirals with majors, sheriffs' deputies, volunteer colonels, and even constables, to the manifest impairment o£ the dignity of the ward room. Everyone would forthwith admit that the fact is as charged, but as for a remedy, few would think one necessary and fewer still would trouble their heads to thick one out. Or suppose that the chronic compl&ints of onr " barbarous " system of spelling came to a serious head, and the conductors and clients of the " Forsetic Nuz " produced in a petition to the Queen the unanswerable arguments frequently advanced in that publication in favour of their peculiar orthography — what would be the practical outcome 1 Such questions might be multiplied indefinitely ; aa for ourselves, we can ask them, but do not pretend to answer. them. We are fully in accord with the sentiments of the petitioners : " Britain " and " British "—or some equally comprehensive equivalents — should stand for the nation, and not " England " or " English." One thing that possibly the petitioners do not know is that in the language of international diplomacy '• Great Britain" is the usual expression ror the couatry, while the Qaeen is " Her Britannic Majesty " and the Ministry " tbe Government of Her Briteanic Majesty." This should re&cl to mitigate the grievance so far »3 Scotland is coacerned, bnt obviously only so far. The comfort in the whole matter is that the Empire is the Empire whatever you call it. and a barmlers tquabble among ourselves about a satisfactory name for it will nofc affect the answer to the ancient question " Stands Scotland where she did 1 "

The engineers' sfciike is one of the greatssfc covomercial disasters ever experienced by British trade, and the end of it seems as far < fi. as ev«r. By 55.000 to 1000 tbe scciety have just tt jected the amended terms offered, by the masters, and by 42,000 to 8500 they have at the same time refused to countenance the compromise submitted for their favourable consideration by the union leaders themselves. The society says it has £100,000 or so left—it is usual to make liberal estimates in public of the funds available ia such cases, — and tbe masters reply by issuing 1000 more lock-out notices ia order to deflate more rapidly the alleged fighting fund. Meanwhile the trade ia manufactured iron and steel— the pride of British commerce — as well as scores of other trades are going literally to the dogs as the result of this disastrous quarrel. It would seem likely that by the time it ends there will not be* work available for half the men who have gone out — the orders will have gone to Germany or to Russia, for instance, wanted 200 locomotives the other day for her new Siberia railway — an order which meant perhaps half a million sterling— and despairing of the English workshops undertaking it her statesmen sent the order to America. No doubt similar things are occurring every day ; and in many, the connection once broken will never bs renewed.

Sir Graham Berby in his Premiership days was bs self-astertive a "Liberal" as Mr •SeddoD, but he did not understand, as that gentleman and one or two of his colleagues have done, the commercial value in cash which is latent in the tern?, and which can be developed by patient and cunning cultivation directed to the main chance. Ha created no banking billet to supplement hifl salary, he hired himself out to no foreign syndicates bent on "embracing a Cabinet; Minister," he bought no estates from himself as a Minister for himself aa a private individual, he lavished no thousands of public money on trip?, drew no illegitimate allowances, and* though remaining in State employ in one way or another for 30 years or so-, he announced himself as being practi-* cally penniless when the general election ousted, him a few months ag* from the position of Speaker of tha Victorian Assembly. That House has sinca been engaged in considering various schemes for meeting the position, the Government having flatly refused to propose a pension unless at the express desire "of Parliament itself. That desire apparently did not then •xiatu and in place of it a caucus msetisH^

substituted a self-denying ordinance which virtually threw the old politician on the private charity of members. That sounded very well, but, as might have been expected, the theoretical objections entertained by many members to State pensions became practical ones Yfhen it was proposed to substitute a lobby contribution instead, and With virtuous unanimity they recanted and threw the unfortunate subject of these vacillations back upon the S>:ate. Finally, an annuity was purchased, but meantime, as our Melbourne correspondent points out, the House had managed to io flick the maximum of humiliation on its aged recipient.

The Hod. W. H*ll-Jones, Mini&ter for Public "Work", arrived in town on Tuesday by the express from the north, and ltfb Dunedin next morning for Edendala. He wiil then go on to Qlenham, and stop a night at FortroEe. Leavicg the nest morning for Invercargill he will inspect the Seaward Bash line of railway en route. He w)lt arrive at Invercarg 1! abou f 3.30 p.m., and leave again at 4- o'clock for Orepuki, arriving there on Thursday nig'ut. On Friday he goes to the Waiau River, and then back again to Orepuki ; thence to Wiuton to in'pacfe the Hokonui railway. Oa S>i'u-day he proceeds to Hetiot, and fiom there ha wiil go ou to Roxburgh and Clyde, and then following the route of the Ofcago Central liae of railway will retnrn here on Thursday week. He will rem -in in town over Fcidiy to look into eomo departmental matters, and then go north on • Saturday. • ' A three-roomed houso- in Vogel street, South " Ducedin, was destroyed by fire ou Sunday morning. The house wai ownf d and occupied by a presser named Alfred B ker, who, with ■ three- son?, retired to bed ab 10 o'clock oa • Saturday night leaving a email fire burning in the kitchen stove. A little before 3 o'clock in the mox-Dirg the eldest boy, aged 15 years, who was sleepius with his two j ounger brothers iv a rocm the kitchen, was awakened by a noise, and Gn get'iog up he discovered the kifcaben in fl.mes lie l<xt no time in awakening his faiher T who was sleeping iv another room, and fie four of them hsd to €£c*pe by a windGW aa qu'cwly as possible. Unfortunately, however, the father and his jyounge&t son («ged seven years) were badly burned about the hands and face before they could get clear of the window. It was af«rwarJs found necessary to remsve the boy to the hospital, while the father also had his burns • dressed at tfce hospital. Both are progrdssiag satisfactorily The hou3e was injured ia the New Zealand oflke for £50, and the furniture in fche same office for a t imilar amount. Tae fire is supposed to have heen caused through a defect in the kitchen chimney.

A jouug man named M. Hf>gan, while essgraged in wrestling at the Waianiwa tport", , Scu^h'and, had hi 3 coliaibone broken ; hie opponent, after securing the buufc, falling heavily on him.

Henry George Newman, fishmonger at the Bhiff, who was dne cf the survivors of H.M.S. Orpheus, wrecked on Manukau Bar in 1883, died on Saturday. Although a fine, posverfui- . looking man, he never shook off the fff^eta cf the exposure on that memor-illa occasion, and succumbed to lung disease. • -A large shed near Foxton, containing nearly • 700 bales of flax, wtfs burned down ou Friday. __The flax was ready for shipment; to Wellington . for the Bitossa, cne of the- Fieight Redaction . Committee's vessels. The flax, which was the property of Messrs A. S. J?ater3on and Co., was valued at £1100, and was insured in two of the local offices. The smount of fiSx destroyed was 420 baits, and the loss is estimated at £700.