THE WEEK. The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1855.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 29

THE WEEK.

The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1855.)

"Gooff nature ami iood icnse must eycr join." — I'oi'H. If the military interest in the Chinese qusstion is abaiiug somewhat the Dead diplomatic interest is rather or increasing than otnerwisp. Sleeping! In is a htile too soon to talk about the " pegging out " of. China, aa an Australian p-iper nob inaptly calls the recent European ro>h to the shores of that couDtry. Th\ question first to be decided is whether China is loally the feeble, utterly degraded countiy she* haa of late years (since the Japanese war) appealed to be, or is she merely a nation with a Lemperamentai objection to fighting, but »vi:h a good deal of latent power — that is, a capacity for

being roused to action under sufficient provocation 1 It seemed but a few weeks &go as if she might be partitioned without a Dlow. 1 There is evidence of a slight change since, partly ia the Ohineae empire itself, and partly in the feeliDg of the outeide world about China. It is clear that China has awakened to a knowledge of the fact that the schemes of Eussia for the control of Manchuria and her action in taking possession of Port Arthur have furnished the incitement to Germany to play a similar part on the Shantung Peninsula, with the town of Kaio-Chau for a base. The distance between the two settlements is only some 200 miles as the crow flies, and the Japanese still retain possession of Wei-hai-wei, which may b8 said to be midway between the two. Southward from the German settlement for perhaps a thousand miles the coast of China lies open to spoliation until we reach the rich province dirsctly opposite Formosa, which the Japanese, now in possession of that island, would in the last reßort, and failing more coveted lands in the north, no .doubt dominate. Further south is the British region commanded by Hongkong, and in the extreme south the land that would fall into the hands of France. It ia even now said that the French have taken possession of the magnificent island of Hainan, which is perhaps as large as Otago. As we have said, the Chinese • Government has at length perceived that coquetting with Russia in the north has precipitated all the danger, and already the tendency is to draw cS both from Russia | and Germany and approach Great Britain. \ What China could not fs.il to perceive is I that whereas the other European nations I want territory, England is seeking only for 1 trade. Of territoiy with alien popula- [ tions our own country has already as much as she can manage. In tardy ■ perception of this important disfcinc- , tion the concessions, recently cffeied fey ' China to England are remarkable, coming from that exclusive country. Sac has offered to place an army of 60,000 men under the command of an English military nominee, to open several inland trading ports on, the Yang-tse-Kiang, and, most important of all, to permit the extension of the railway from Mandalay, tbe ; capital of British Burmab, to Yunnaa, thence t to connect with proposed Chinese railways either to Nankin, the old capital of China, or to Pekin. England already has 80 per cent, of the entire foreign trade of China. ■ Buch railway concessions would secure the ; continuance of the trade on a basis which [ would render all outside competition quite hopeless. The Russian trans-Siberian railway, on which such hopes are built, would be quite out of the running. How Lord Salisbary may accept the overtures of China it is impossible to say, though it is affirmed that the Burmah railway is to be extended at once to the Chinese frontier. The danger of complications in China has of course greatly increased within tha past 12 months. , Bub there is also a danger that it China in her 1 extremity is denied assistance from England she may throw herself into the arms of Japan, and thus raise a really formidable ; Asiatic power in the East. The Spsctator has foreseen the danger of this contingency | ever since the Japanese war, and the very latest cablegrams saem to indicate an understanding between Japan and China. j Events in China have of course overshadowed ! the operations in the Soudan. Drawing Tbese, however, have a good The Cordon, deal of interest of their own, and lata events seem to show (hat the re-conquest of the country may not be altogether fiee of European complications. The Khalifa is now being closed in from two directions, the north and east. The main expedition under Sir Herbert Kitchener has within the past two years recovered the province of Dongola and a great portion of Berber, including the town of Berber itself. The advance is now being directed on El Darner, which ia only 175 miles north of Khartoum, the goal of the expedition. Operations from the east are directed from Kassala, which has lately been handed over by the Italians, who had wrested it from the Khalifa's forces in 1893. Since then Asubri, on the Afcbara, 50 miles nearer Khartoum, has also fallen into the hands of an AngloEgyptian garrison. Between Asubri and Khartoum there is nothing but 150 miles of waterless desert. S'.atin Pasha mentions in "Fire and Sword in the Soudan" that the "Khalifa always regarded Ktesala as the stronghold of Lis authority in the Eastern Soudan ; so that now between tbe successful advance of his enemies north and east- he must begin to tremble for Obdurman, the new capital wbich has taken the place of the ruined Khartoum. / The complications we have mentioned appear a» if they might arise out of tha action ot the French. It may be remembered that I early in 1895 it was rumoured that a French expedition was starting from their territory on the Congo with tha view of reaching the Upper Nile Valley, thus entering a which it had been agreed upon between Germany and England was within the j KDglish "sphere of influence" — namely, from Uganda to tbe Egyptian boundary. Referring to the rumour, an Eaglish Underj secretary declared at the firne ia the House of Commons that such an expedition on the part of Fracce would be regarded as " an unfriendly act" — a significant diplomatic term. Sicca then nothing had been heard of the expedition until quite recently, when several letters from a member of it, and which are rather in the nature of a revelation, appeared in French ami Belgian papers. Thp writer, in his last letter, dated August 1597, states that in a few days the expedition — which is under tbe command of Captain Murchand, and consists of 23 Frenchmen and 500 black tirailleurs, with some I hundreds of porters — would be in tha valley ( of the Upper Nile, and hoped shortly to re&cn | Fashoda on therivar. FjsshorJa, which ia perj baps some 350 miles south of Kuartoum, is the i country of tlrs Shillonk?, the bravest and most, warlike of the black tribes of the Soudan. j They resisted the v*c f criou.° Khalifa, for a long I time, but had finally to succumb to his 1 superior Brms and vare scattered. The 1 Frenca expedition must have traversed either by larjd or water at least a couple of thousand miles to reach Fashon'?. They have two small steamers with them, which, t ILe Icte.. wiilsr eayr, they dragged 600 miles ' over land. They have left Bma'l garrisons on

the road. Their ultimate destination is Obok, on the gulf of Aden, a small French settlement, to which place they must have nearly another 1000 miles to travel from Fashoda. For this portion of their journey they rely apparently on the good offices of tte Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia. According to tha letter writer the main object of the expedition is astounding in its scope, being no less than to dispute the Upper Nile Valley with England and connect the French possessions of Congo and Senegambia on the west coast of Africa with Obok on the east— in other words, to establish as French territory a band across the entire African continent. The expedition deserves a success we may be quite Bure it will never attain. Meanwhile they add a third enemy to the Khalifat in his southern dominions.

The " Progressive Liberal Association " in Christchurch recently passed Bills a series of resolutions, one of for which complacently expressed Bills' Sake, the opinion of the association that it was highly desirable to " placa an Old Age Pensions Bill upon the Statute Book." We draw attention to the phrase because, though we ara perfectly well aware it is an allowable though roundabout way of expressing approval of a particular bill, or perhaps principle contained in a bill, there is still reason to believe it is nowadays used in a much narrower sense — in its literal sense in fact. In former years any legislative proposal was considered, discussed, weighed, and judged according to what was likely to prove its value in operation. A curious idea is now prevalent that labour legislation was initiated by the present Government, and that its initiation marks, as it were, a new political era in our history. There never was a grosser or more ridiculous mistake. Labour legislation has been going on in New Zealand from the initiation of Parliament itself. Anyone who should take the trouble to go carefully over the history of rhe past would be astonished to find how much of it there was. The real difference is that we now make a prodigious fuss over some measure that in other days would have been introduced, discussed, amended, and passed in quite the ordinary course, and without being specially labelled as belonging t,o a particular class of its own. Ifc ia quite easy to see how the chango has come about. The present Government, happening to come into office during or immediately after an unhappy period of labour strife, set up to be the special Government of the working man. It had to establish its claim to the di&tinction, and not knowing exactly how to doit, ifc fell npon the cheap and easy device of passing bills which got the special appellation of Labour Bills. At first the working men of the colony did not clearly see how they were benefited by these labour bills, but the bills themselves were heralded in with so much fuss that the men began to think they had been mistaken, that a quite unsuspected virtue lay hidden somewhere in the bills, and that ths grand thing was to get aa many of them as possible. About the time Mr Reeves left the colony people were getting too many labour bills; they were becoming a drug in the market and rather ridiculous. When Mr Reeves left they slacked off a good deal, and +hen the illusion about thorn began to rise again. Slowly the impression was created in the minds of the thoughtless that the bills were the things — tbe character of them was a secondary matter. Bulk was what was wanted ; quality did not so much matter. The grand thine was to get a bill "on the Statute Book," as our friends of Christchurch put ifc, after which the work was done, and then they could cast about for a fresh bill. Sd that the phrasa " to put a bill on Lhe Statute Book " is now to be construed literally ; it doesn't matter what the bill is about — thetbing is to get ifc therp. Hence we find a Wellington labour candidate — a solicitor, too — "bringing down the House" by producing four statute books and pointing jeeriDgly to their yearly diminishing bulk to show how Mr Seddon was neglecting the cause of labour. Mr Seddon, it Inust be admitted, deserved the scathiDg satire of the orator, for he has done more than any other man to foster the stupid belief that you can manufacture happiness by manufacturing bills. Mr R. C. Kirk has been selected as the Liberal (so called) candidate for the Political Wellington vacancy, and haa Garbage. just given the electors a taste of his quality. It is clear from tbe summary of his speech that nothing is to be expected of him. He has no ideas of his owo, and delights in raking about the Liberal garbage after the recognised scavenger fashion. Mr Kirk regrets that Sir Robert Stout "had driftedaway from the Liberal party." There were, he said, two parties. " One was on progressive lines, and to that he belonged ; the other wa9 the party which obstructed progressive legislation," and to it, it is neesUess to say, Mr Kirk did not belong. Then followed all tha canfc about labour, although Me Kirk himself has no more*to do with labour than the man in the mooo. Poor, thready, and hypocritical as Mr Kirk's speech was, however, it was intelligence and honesty itself compared to that delivered by Mr Seddon in favour of his nominee a few days previously. In the Premier's speech on that occasion the "Liberal cause" and the "good of the people " figured largely, as usual. He contrasted the " miserable state of the city prior to the advent of the Liberal party " with the state of things existing at praaent — which is audacious enough considering he was addressing an audience which had seen the steady uninterrupted progress made by the city during the paafc 20 years. " Houses," he said, " had been erected in all directions, and the value of property had gone up, clearly proviDg that Government by the people for the people had been for the public good." He even mentioned particular buildings, such as the Government Insurance Offices, which had been erected* of lateyearc, and declared that " during the preseut regime £5 had been spent in the city for every £1 spent during the term of the preceding Government." This ia even worse than the degraded fustian to which the Premier gave utterance in Dunedin just before the general election, and by which he utterly ruined his own cause. It is bard to believe that the people of Wellington are less intelligent than those of Dtmedinj and tbe

probability is he will receive the sam answer there — the triumphant return of IS Dathie. So much has been written "in New Zealand on the subject of frozen meatr Following that, vastty important aa tha The Track, trade is to the colony — ifi came in time to fill the gap made by the decline in value of wool and grain — people by this time can hardly fail to be thoroughly tired of ifc. Perhaps, theD, an apology is due from us if we devote a note to it. Every colonist who goes Home conceives it to be his bonnden duty to inquire Into the condition of the frozen meat trade. The last to do so is Mr J. G. Wilson, ex-member for Otaki, who contributes a lengthy bnt interesting account of his observations and inquiries on the subject to ths Rangitikei Advocate. Mr Wilson was a member of the Parliamentary Committee that sas in 1896 to inquire into the condition of the trade. Mr Wilson writes from tha standpoint of. the farmer. He notices that the colonial meat companies are nearly all successful ; that the shipping companies either fill up their vessels at remunerative freights or through their agents buy direcb from the farmer at low rates ; that the Smithfield buyers, if they do not realiso iarge profits, at least make large incomas ; — and " yet the farmer, the original producer, who gives the traders the opportunity of making all this profit, gets a bare living at it." Mr Wilson, however, does not jump to the conclusion that this anomalous state of affairs ia to be accounted for by the existence of fraud in the trade. He acutely points out that it is the large number of carcases handled that makes the profit. The farmer is the foundation of the whole business, but he only sells a few sheep and just makes a living by ifc. If he could increase his output he would make a proportionate i increase in bis profits. Salesmen only make j a email profit;, bus they sell hundreds of i thousands of carcases and thus make a large I income. j Mr Wilson acknowledges, what is well I known, that the meat is very frequently damaged on the road Home even when | apparently all due precaution is taken in the | 'iieezivg chamber :—: — I IE by mischance ot imperfect lowering of the i temperature of the chambers on board ship any j of the carcases become soft, those on the lower < tiers, waieh carry ail the weight, become squeezed out ot shape and form squares of mutton. fittiDg closely together. The circula- [ (ion of the cold air through the chamber is thus j impeded and the mutton comes out in a bad con- ! rtition. Yet the engineers in charge have pro- ! bably kept a log showing that the chambers were j kept at the r?quis'te temperature. The tern; perature is taken near the point the cold air I goes into the chamber, yet ab the bottom the temperature may be several degrees higher. This is where the cold-air process is used. In the Gothic, in which Mr Wilson went i Home, brine was used instead o£ cold air, | v^hich produces better results, though it is a more expensive process :— The brine is called carbonic anhydride (CO2), and circulates in miles of pipes all round the chamber. Ifc has one greab advaiti tage. After the chambers are oace cooled j down and the moisture in them frozen and dei posited on the floor as snow (which is of course ; swepb out) no further moisture is possible ia the chamber while it is closed. Mr Wilson acknowledges, as so many others have done before him, that the arrangements at Home for delivery over the vessel's Bide are very imperfect. Legs are often broken in transhipment, and the damaged carcass sells for so much less. The matron is not, of coursß, all one consigament, #nd the osri cases get flabby in the hauling about. The i meat also baa too far to travel to its destination, whether by train or barge. Sufficient coo\, storage at the docks is the remedy. There are, however, difficulties in lhe way, partly because, as Mr Wilson says, the j steamers unload at different dock*, and partly i because the dock commissioners are not easily moved to make extensive improvements. Oa the subject of defrosting and retailing I Mr Wilson has much to say that is instructive. The starting of retail shops he admits to be a much bigger problem than most colonial people believe it to be. The oompetition is tremendously keen, and to successfully establish a trade it is necessary to drive others out, either by lowering prices, and consequently profits, or by bestowing close personal attention to the business. Perhaps the man of all the human family who at this mcmenfc most A Real Hero, commands the sympathy and admiration of the world Is Zola, the French novelist. The genina of Zola has long been acknowledged ; be is in the very front rank of the great imaginative writers of the day. But there has always | been a quality in his genius which has repelled these who otherwise would have been among the foremost of his admirers. All that is objectionable in him will now and henceforth be forgotten in the splendid display of moral courage he is now making before the world. It does not in the least matter whether Dreyfus proves to be innocent or g«ilty; the magnificent moral qualities of Zola would be unimpaired whichever way the ultimate verdict goes. Zola believes him to be innocent, and ifc is at least beyond all cavil that the unhappy man was condemned without being really tried. Fighting t v e wild beasts at Ephesus is nothing to the heroic work the French novelist has j taken upon himself, and which he is pur* j suing with unexampled courage end capacity for euduraace. The nmfortuHe is that evert the world of letters, great as is the scope ift presents to ambition, should monopolism qualities of greatness that would be invaluable to a nation that seems to have lost; thg capacity for attracting great men to the: public arena. Major Haddocks, of the Defenca depart* menfc, is in Auckland on business in connection with the proposed erection of a big gun on Mount Victoria, North Shore. Prior to her departure for Dunedin, Miss M. Morrison, well known in musical circles, was presented by the Inveroargill Operatic Society with an address and gold baDgle *nd by the Catholic congregation with a substantial puree o£ sovereigns. Both these presentations were made to Miss Morrison in recognition of the many valuable services rendered by Uesto the muiio^ organisations of InverciygiU.