THE WEEK,

Otago Witness, Issue 2292, 3 February 1898, Page 29

THE WEEK,

11 Kunquam ahud natura, ahud sapientia dixit." — Juye:ial. "Good nature and good sense must erer joiu." — J?opk. The absorbing question of the hour is whether it is to be war or The Question peace. It is a question about oi which no one can afford to tlie Hour. dogmatise, but for Beveral reasons we should say that the prospect is all in favour of peace. First of all there is the fact that, happily, those wbo have it most in their power to precipitate war — the Czar or the German Emperor, for instanca — have most to dread from the effects of it. In autocratic or Bemi-autocratic countries an unsuccessful war is very likely to lead to the overturning of the dynasty. A really disastrous war is almost curtain to do it. The German Emperor may talk as much as he chooses about his sacred person, but the fact remains that the old doctrine of divine right has long gone to the limbo of exploded fallacies. King or Kaiser alike reign by virtue of the fact that the exigencies of the State require that it should bave a head of some sort, and although nations are always mora or less prone to stand by the prescrip-

tive head, there are in these days explosive forces enough in. every nation to make a chaDge*s£em a very simple affair. There are reasons why the " fear of change " should bs stronger in monarcha now than ifc was in Milton's day. The danger to Great Britain is infinitely less because the real power is centred in the Cabinet, which may be peacefully changed at any moment. The suLocratic monarch gains enormously by a successful war, and he must accept the consequences of that which is disastrous. He may, as in Russia, be completely in the hands of hia Ministers, but as he wields the actual power the responsibility is properly fixed upon him. That the Czir and the Emperor will hesitate long before they use it we may be pretty sure, and the issues are really in their hands. Then there is a vast advantage in having your quarrel just. If Easiia and Germany seek holo and corner advantages in Cuitia, and Great Britain demands that these advantages shall ba open to the world, it is easy to see where the sympathy o£ the world will be. And sympathy counts for much in a cause among nations, just as it doas in communities — to say nothipg of tha fact that sympathy in national matters is very apt to ran into material assistance. Finally, the war would be a war not of armies, but of navies, which means that Great Britain is the readiest and the best-equipped of them all. with the greatest resources behind her. Hence we conclude that there will be no war. Bat, as we said before, it is not a subjsct to dogma.tise upon. Where oombustible material is accumulated a spark will kindle it into a huge conflagration, just as, when a country is burnt up with drought aed a fierce nor'wester is blowing, the semi-unconscious act of lighting a pipe will set the whole place in a blaze. It is psrfectly obvious that continental nations have got into the habit oE relying upon the peaoe-loviag, commercedevoted tendancies of Great Britain. They fiad the game of bluff pays. It is jnst as well that the secse of security in playing tbat game should be occasionally shaken ; and the probability is that the blunt statement of Sir Michael Hicke-Beach the other day really settled the question in favour of peace. It has now, however, become a truism among the nations that the best Colonial way of securing peace is to Defence. °p prepared for war. Ifc is qaite obvious that the principle extends to the colonies as well as to the mother country. England hsrsalf may be said, in a sense, to be always prepared. The weak point in tha Empire is really the colonies — chiefly Australia, New Zealand, snd the O.pe. The statemant mads that ftusau i* 1885 was seriotssly meditating a descent upon Australia and Naw Zealand v?e may raacHly accept as true, since fcbat would be a. very obvious policy on % tha part of a hostile nation situated as Russia is. These colonies are very desirable acquisitiona—tb^y aro comparatively riab, they are full of potentialities for fcbe future, and they are, we fear, practically <Jet'eiiceleas. Colonel Penion, in his defence reporr, declares that one great impediment in the way of defence connista in the difficulty of making tha people of the colony believe that there is any real dat-ger. We h&va always been accustomed to parfecL Fccuriry; ws dislike to £cc persons paid by the colony permanently idle, and th««o is a vsgne notion that the naval strength of England would, should danger arise, quickly throw a shield of protection I rouod us. A war scsre has therefor^, ! g--)t its uses, and the endeavour HbouM now be to sea tbat the effect oi the present scare should be permanent and not transitory. As a primary step it goes withonfc baying thafc all tha chief ports should be in a thorough state of defence. We may depend upon it that all the continental nations ksow thoroughly the state of cur defences. For the protection of our ports tho artillery arid, torpedo services ara of the first importance. It is ea«y to see thafc both these services have been most thoughtlessly and dangerously neglected. We have guns, no doubt, of a kind, but the forca for working them is wholly insufficient and intfii-efcive. There is a total dearth of qualified officers. Hitherto we have only had one qualified artillery instructor. At present there* are two, and Colonel Penton modestly asks that we should import a third. Torpedo defecca m*y ba said to be noH-existsnt. In these daya of large surpluses it is quite absurd that the defence of the* colony should be so totally negleoied. If the ports were properly protected it i 9 not to be expected, as Colonel Penton remarks, that an enemy would run thftir ships into our harbours ; they would land a force with the view of capturing the forta. Here tha volunteers would come in, aad the volunteer force has been tha most neglected of any. The material — the force amounts to 5000 all told — is good enough no doubt, bub thay receive small encouragement ab the hands of the Government, and there can be no question that the system of offic«iir>g is wholly and ] nakedly bad. It is distressing to think that the Minister for Defence at such a juncture — at any time in fact — should be Mr T. Thompson ; but as Mr Seddon is really the Government the colony must look to him to exercise his wits and a portion of his alleged suipluses upon tha defence of the colony ; and the ! first duty of a Minister with any pretensions to statesmanship is to see that the state of the defences and the defence force is per- j manently efficient, so that war, no matter how suddenly it may break out, may aot find the cq/lony wholly at the mercy of its | enemies. j Mr Beeves, the Agent-general for New Zealand, has been very -busy for ! Labour some time " booming " the Troubles. New Zealand Conciliation and Arbitration Acts in the English magazines for the benefit of the British public. He is a good writer in a literary sense, and those people in England (there are still some, we believe) who trs not tired of the feeble trnmpefcings of New Zealand so-called Liberals in their puny attempts to "lead the world " would no doubt find these articles rather more attractive than the usual run of labour disquisitions, which, it must be confessed, do not often escape both the Scylla of deadly dulness and the Cbarybdis of unpractical high-Matin. Mr Reeves has

three further advantages in presenting hi 3 case to English readei'3. Firstly, be naturally knows his subject very thoroughly, and therefore is not betrayed into the generally inevitable slips about matters of fact which mark the contributions of the mere critic. Secondly, he is the actual author of the legislation he applauds, and he naturally takes full advantage of the fact that his readers do not know that he is the author. It is as though Sir Walter Scott had devoted a considerable share of hia leisure time to writing up the author of " Waverlay " in the literary organs of his time. Thirdly, the great engineering strike — the greatest commercial disaster, probably, under which England has suffered since the failure of the City of Glasgow Biuk — has naturally directGd men's minds to the subject on which Mr R,9sves writes, and j engendered a powerful desire to seize upon j any possible means that may be availablo to ! aveit similar catastrophes in the future. For all thesa reasons Mr Beeves speaks i from a position of great advantage and to willieg ears; and it would be no wonder j if he succeeds in attracting a considerable ! amount of attention to the New Zealand Bjstem. Its advantages', which are many and real, are all mads the most of ; upon its drawbacks in pr&ctica Mr Reeves is naturally I silent. From first to last, so far as we have bseu privileged to observe hi 3 contributions, they treat iha legislation of tho present -Government as the acme of peifecfcion: not a flaw is admitted, or even hinted at. Whether that is the belief entertained^n the colony itself is>, of course, A Little very much open to question. liiglit. The opinions of employers are not permitted to count for anything with Mr Rsevaa, who finds it convenient to ignore the fact that it is exactly that attitude of mind that led to the very struggle which has been oonvulsing English j trade for months, which has coat a powerful union £000,000 in cash and two millions sterling in w*ges, a&d which has ended in its utter and iical defeat. We have maintained the utmost openness of mind about those acts ; wa recognise a great deal that is absolutely good iv them, and we do nob evrennow condemn them as a failure. But it muaS be apparent to the most casual observer that atnorg the drp.wbfl.cks that Mi 1 Beeves ia enabled, through the ignurauce of those for whom he writen, to ignore ia a mannar which would bo unpardonable in a writer pretending to impartiality criiieisms is one which is assuming ike proportions cf a public nuisance. j We sf«f«r, of cou<ss, to the apparently in- | definite multiplication of trade " disputes " for sciitkiaenc under the Conciliation and Arbitration Acts wberfl no disputes would, in the absence of euch legislation, ever have existed At all. The temptation offared by the facils machinery of th«aa acts to the trmpluyes who would otherwise have been j eoute?aadl.? wcrfeiag under conditionsas satisfactory ,\g tha state of his trade or iadiwtry permits, in represent himself to the courts as act injured and down-trodden servitor, is apparently an overwhelming one. Thera the court it are — v?hy not \v;q shem ? It costs nothirg — or hardly smychiag —and th.B risk is simply oil. He is getting so many shillings a day, t working ao many hours a weak — «hy »<i& a^ply for one more shilling cr 'naif * doz«u less hours, and chance the result ? It cttnnot peßsibl? cad in his getting less shillings or more hours, aad it j may er,d in his getting a sixpence or two pat gu, or a hAlf-hour or two taken off. '•' Conciliation " and " compromise " are vpsn to ths contented and the diuconteoted aiikf, aud thera ia practically no i admi3sioa fee and no expenses. Hence we see the columns of the press filled day after ; day with lists of grievances, a proportion of I which are genuine, while a proportion are the diract result of the virtual beckoning to ampfoj«e3 to "come and have three shots for a poany and win a pound," which the authors of the act* hava virtually instituted. We do not say thab thin serious drawback fco th« usefulness of the acts, aud others like It, should ba fatal to their existence ; bus we certainly do think that to coolly ignora such obvious disadvantages ill becomes a wcKer who professes to present hi» case ia %& impartial way. The distracted state of France over the Drejfus case just now affords The a very curious spectacle. Bre}f«s Case. I* seems odd that the trial and conviction of an inferior cffloer by a military court should V>e E-uflioienl almost to th> eaten the existence of the Republic, bnl eational convulsions bave had smaller beginnings than that; perhap?, indeed, they gensraliy do have small beginnings. Captain D>djfu3 may himfcelf be an insignificant individual, but he now, whether inuocent or guilty, represents a cause, a sort of national stnsc — the sense of justice. The sense of justice of the individual may be outraged with impunity, but naver that of any Jarge section of a comiou»ity. Such an incident as that of Captain Drejfus it is quite safe to Bay could &ct occur ia England. In the first place the nation — and the fact is neither to its credit aoir discredit — could never be worked up to ths same pitch of fury over the odious crime of which Captain Dreyfus waa accused. The danger of betrayal ia by no means the same in England as "it is to France. The Briton enjoys so much security from his insular position that he knows perfectly well no traitor can betray him to his enemy in any national secse. " If only a river or a range of hills lay between the Britith nation and its deadly enemy the case would be different ; we should then be able to understand something of the vindictive horror with which the alleged crime of Captain Dreyfus was regarded in France. Every act of military treachery threatens the vesy existence of tbat nation. But it is in no spirit of national vanity that we are forced to the conclusion that the sense of justice, of reverence for the courts, and a spirit of jsaloua watchfulness of their methods of administration are sentiments much more deeply, implanted in the Briton than in bis Continental neighbour. The public mind in Britain would not tolerate for an instant the conviction of any man, no matter what the nature of his crime, which was not based on positive proof qE his guilt. It is almost impossible

1 to conceive a case in which an accopeS person would in any quarter of the Ernphs be condemned on the evidence of experts as to his handwriting alone. For years past such evidence has been regarded with, great suspicion, even when it is bu* an element in the mass of proof ; standing alone it would be treated with more or less contempt. We que&tion, too, whether on any p!ea whatever the English public mind would rest satisfied with a secret trial, or one conducted by persons other than such as have been speciaily trained for the important function. Even under military law courts-martial must be strictly conducted on the lines of a civil trial, all the rules of evidence of which must be imported into it. The consequences are not only vital to the individual,, but largely to the national well-being. Once a sentence has been pronounced the nation may be satisfied as to the substantial justice of it. If cranks and fussy persons — and there are always scich — take up the cause of a con?icfc the general public can afford to disregard the agitation. It would require a quite unusually weak Government to "give heed to ifc. The case is very different, however, where trials are conducted out of the usual course, where the ordinary safeguards are dispensed with, and unfairness of any kind has been allowed to enter. Where this last has been tha case, and the fact has been revealed, it is quite vain to expect the public to remain content with the verdict. Friends and partisans are called into existence for the convict; who would never under other circumstances give him a thonght. It is in vain in France to point to tha fact that Captain Dreyfus is a Jew, and that the Jews are detested in that country. The bond of humanity is, after all, too strong for national antipathies. The love of justice will assert itself over overy form of political expediency. Thus it will coma about before very long that Oapfcaict Dreyfus, innocent or guilty, will have to be set free, the probability being that no form of second trial would satiify those who hare been horrified at !>he in justice and insufficiency of the first. The one satisfactory part of the business is that the cause of j u&tice in France will gaia by it. We may be sure that no such trial as that of Captain Dreyfus will ever be parmitted again. Somebody writes to the Daily Times impatiently denouccisg —wo Events of should say with coasiderNational Import- able justica — the want of ance. eensa of proportion which csrtain receat prees correspondence evinces on the part of tha writers. In the midst of events of grava national importance, quite a number of peopla ara ecgaged every day upon what to them is doubtless a highly momentous discussion upon the technical details of a particular priestly csremony in one of the city churches. The general pnblio^cares nothing for those details one way or the other, and doss not read the letters, but what the writer of the complaint does not realise is that quite as little attention will probably be bestowed upon the particular matter (namely, the beetroot sugar proposals) which, according to hira, ought to absorb the public gaze instead. It 5s never possible to predict what will or will not become a really live public question. An adroit advertising discussion upon a somewhat ordinal y kind of play seemed likely a short time since to ceropete for first place ia the public mind with such subjects as the murder at the Hutt and the no-bailing of Jooes ; while to-day, according to this correspondent, it vi the official manipulation of fche '■ E'jcbariafc " that is filling the public eyes?. j The o»e thing that is difficult to elevate into | a live question, it appears, is the danger oii war — of lighting with a foreign enemy in our ! ownroa/istesds and in our own streets ; yet the one thing certain is that that will come some day, and it may come before tho month is j our, though, as we have said elsewhere, we do not think so. Sir Kob«rt Stout certainly will not help us to realise it. He paints in 3urid colours the perils which threaten New Zea- | land from the fact of Mr Hall-Jones being at Timaru (or wherever o!»a that gentleman is) and Mr T. Thompson (who, we bslieve is Minister for Defence) at Auckland ; but a gtabborn and "stoOgy" public, it seems, utterly r*»hues to be frightened out of sta wits by tha fact' that i'or the moment tha protecting isgis of a Kail-Jones, cr even oi a T. T'".oiii£.voss, 'a withheld from ic. Those wbn ara disposed to watch the course cf events in the reconquest An Opportune of the Soudan, will tied their Book. interest in the campaign very greatly increased by readiug Slalin Pacha's book upon that unhappy country. The book itself is of enthralling iulereut, and it tella the existing generation as much about the Sondt.n, tha nataie of the country, tha character of the xi>babi taste, and the Goverfcment of the Khalifa, as <hey ara ever likely t:> know. Slatia Pasha was a lieutenant iv the Ausirxac sex vice, aud being of a" adventurous turn set cv'<. on a, travelling expedition to the Soudan when quite a lad and befoie he had finished his term o? military service. At Khartoum he \aet Dr Emm, afterwards Emm Pasha, thea also a young msn looking fcx" a career iv Central Africa. The country wan then tolerably well governed under Egyptian rule, its commerce expanding, and perfectly safe to travel in. At this time (1874) the ' ill-fated Gordon was Governor of tbo Equatoiial Provinces, and Ecdn had been iuviled to taks service with him there. As Smia was departing, Slatin, wbo had to reuira to Au»tria, begged toberecommendsd to Gordon, in consequence o? v/bich he received three years later an invitation from Goidon himself to take service under him. At 22 years of Bge he sgain set out for the Soudan, was appointed to the Province of Darfur, and ultimately i became Governor of ir, with the title first of j Bej aad then of Pasha. He had not been lose j Governor before he hsd to contend with the rising tide of religJcuu fanaticism evoked by the Mahdi— th«a c?.lied the Falsa Pix-pLep. Finally the wave overwhelmed him, ncu ?oe had to capitulate. He was made a servant o£ the Khalifa, who was then a chief lieuto&aac of the Mahdi, and for 12 long years, until he oonferived to escape, had to eerve Mm as one of his bodyguard, closely watched, subject to constant suspicions, and iv daily danger of hia life throughout the whol« period. Sometimes he was thrown juatc

Shams without exactly knowing why. He was in that position when Khartoum ■was sacked, and the head of Gordon was exhibited to his sickening sight in a clobh. His esc&go after 12 years' captivity, told with the rnosb raodest simplicity, would not seem out of place in any woik of imagination.

JChe lise of the Mahdi (who died shortly after the sacking of KtmrA Strar.ge tonm) was curious for the History. veiy simplicity of the story.

He was iho son of a poor, a very humble religious teacher. He became fanatically religious himself, and joined a certain Sheikh, to whom he became devoted. The Mabdi at this time lived in a cave, and did much fasting and praying. The Sheikh, having a domestic celebration going on in his house, gave permission to his followers to amuse themselves by singing, tiasciog, and playing, undertakicg for the occa&ion co pardon such heinous sins against the law of God. The Mahdi protested against tha dancing and singing, and ventured to declare that the Sbeikh bad no power to pardon sins. The Sbeikh contemptuously turned on hia follower, called h'm a " dog of a Dongolahi " (native of Dongola), and turned him adrift. Twice the Maurii humbled himself on his knees, with ashes on his head, and begged for forgivene^?, but ■was refused. He then left to join a neighbouring and somewhat hostile Sneikb, which had the effect of inducing his old master to invite him back. The Mahdi angrily refused. His courage in thus flouting a powerful Sheikh got wind, and brought him much credit, of which he knew how to take advantage. He proclaimed birn?elf the Mahdi (prophet), cuiiosity was aroused about him, persons came to see him, and ultimately many joined him. His first small encounters with the authorities were successful, and so the fanatical movement grew, until by the ignorant mass at least he was quite bsJieved to be the true prophet. Araoug his early followers was the present Khalifa, who waa then a poor wanderer, travelling ou a donkey and all but starving. He attached himself to the Mahdi, grew with his growth, and

became his fighting lieutenant. Their career

together is too well known to history to be > repeated. The Mahdi, alter the fall of Kfcartoum, became sovereign of the entire Soudan. To all outward appearance he kept up his religious fervour to the last, but in secret would indulge in every form of debauchery. Oa his death the Khalifa succeeded him by his dying request, and then matters in the Soudan, bad enough

before, became infinitely worse.

The new

ruler (who is grossly ignorant and can neither read nor write) practised the most frightful cruelties. A word uttered againsb himself (Or his Goverrsmsot would be punished with ■the loss of a right hand and a left leg. [The original Arab owners of the soil were dispossessed in favour of hia own special !favourites., f All male enemies were ruthlessly [butchered, and all women and children driven into slavery, the youag and handsome girls '.eelected for his own barem, and the others distributed among his followers. Twotbirds of the comparatively dense population of the Soudan have since his rule perished by sword, pestilence, or famine. Such is the story told by Siatin Pasbs, and such is the country which England, on behalf of Egypt and in the interests of civilisation, has somewhat tardily get itself: to recover. No religious fanaticism is ttow to he feared. The first outburst has baen too dearly paid for. But whether Egyptian troops alone are fit for the re-conquest of the Soudan is another aspect. The beginnings of the present campaign are not so hopef al.

Afc the Gore Farmers' Club dinner last night, Mr J. R. Mackenzie mentioned the fact that a valuable lime deposit had been found "in MiAngus Macdonald's property at Reaby. An analysis by Professor Black showed that the deposit contained 50 per cent, of pure Jime — the rest bird droppinga and sand. A number of farmers had tried the stuff and expressed the opinion that ie was equal to Maiden Island guano. Professor Black advised thab the material should not be burnt in kilns in the usual way, but should be ground up and used in its natural state. Mr Mackenzie mentioned tbat there was a face of from 200 ft to 300 ft of the lime exposed, and thab the material could be supplied at 10s a ton at the ridge. He invited farmprs to send out their teams and get some of it to try. They could get ib for nothing this year, but would have to pay for it after that. — Mataura Ensign. We have at this office (says the Mount Ida Chronicle) a couple of samples of the oil extracted by Mr Watt from the shale samples sent from Mr O. Hughes's Cambrian pit. We shall be gl ft d to sho?/ them to anyone tak ng 1 an interest in the matter. The samples are black in colour, slightly resembling tar in appearance, though not so shiny or so thick.

As showing the difficulties prospectors have to put up with (sajs th*i Western Star) we may mention that a party of thrte have been wailing in Riverton ever since before Christ m*3 for a>i easterly wind to take them round P/tscrvadon Way in a cutter. The steamer will not lac;d tut m at the spot at which they wish to disembark ; hence they have made a virlue of necessity, end, like Job, exercise patience. Tasre are no signs of their waitiug coming to an cad, and they may have to prolong their stay until the regular easterlies «et it), which ia not before March at the earliei-t. The case of these prospectors emphasises the need of proper means of communication with the great tract of country to the westward, and if the track alleged to have been cut is fib for traffic, why on earth is not some notification of the tact given by the Government so that the public may kuow what has beeu done ?

Miss Hilda Weber, who has beeu in charge of tbe post effice at JVJiller's F-at for the past two years, was presents d on Saturday evening with a purse of sovereigns prior to her leaving for Porangahau, near Napier, where she will occupy a similar position. The presentation v/as made by Mr Pilling, who spoke of the able and attentive manner in which she had discharged her duties, and the sincere regret which her many friends felt at bar departure. Mr Wasseubreuner suitably responded on behalf of Miss Weber, thanking the people for their kindness, and alto took the opportunity of introducing fcer successor, Mi?s L. Townsend, of the Bluff, who has taken charge of tLe post ofSce,

Our Palmerston correspondent writes : — " Mensrs Wright, Stpphenson, and Co.'s promised trial of the "Bonnie" binder came off at Mount Royal estate this (Tuesday) afternoon after the stock sale at Palmerfiton. The bpii-terous wind and rain tended to restrict visitor?, besides making the test much more

severe. The machine, however, worked excellently until the r?,in made further progress inadvisable. The features of this machine were considered to be light draught, simplicity in construction combined with strength, and effectiveness of the work done. Ths machine under trial was approved and purehisr d by Mr Dougla.s on the spot, and he has agreed, as the bidder is ntw to the district, to afford opportunities to farmers of seeing it at woik on the property."

The employees of Messrs Cohens and Black held their annual picnic on Hotuiday at Waihola, in a paddock kind'y pUced at their disposal by Mr Patterson. The pirly numbered about 300, and a good programme of spurts was carried through, while toys wdre provided for the children, and generally aa eniuyaole day w&s spent.

At ft meeting of the Executive Committee of the Otago Sunday School Union Industrial Exhibinon (Me A. Burn presid-Kg) the secretaries reporled tha 1 ; the Agsicdiuiv,l Hall had b<"-u engaged fo<* chow week iv Naviraber, 1893, a -id 'that 10,000 copies of tin schedule of (x'aibils, for cauQptliiio'i is ii.vited, had been printed for free dutnb'i'ioa, Ib was decided to hold a choral aud floral iesHval in canneetion with the exhibition. Varir us sub committees were appointed! and th-3 action of "the secretaries in inviting his Excellency i\ c Governor to brcorae pitron of the exhibition was endorsed. It, was Ees> lved to ask the Ministers' Association to give the movement their hearty sjmpathy and support and to u?ge tha superintendents and teachers of the S;m iay schools to u=e all their inn lenea with their scholars in order to ensure the success of the undertaking.

There is every reason to believa thab the information published else-There of the <2eithof Libutmant J-imes W.videll, whose parents reside ia tha C'Ooiwell di^briefe, is incorrect. Oar Cromwell correspondent telegraphs that Lieutenant Wdddell lefb N »tjil for India in D.-eember and waa ordered to Bingalorp, ■where he will spend some time stu the vernacular of India. The Lieutenant Waddell k'l'ed iv Ciiitral v?as a nabive of Forfar, Scotland.