PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.) One crumb of comfort, and something more than a crumb, is yielded by the record of our Transvaal fighting so far, little headway though we seem to have made in our main emprise. And this is the crumb, that, although weapons have changed and methods of fighting, the British soldier remains what he was. Machine guns and magazine rifles have made no difference in ■him. He is just the same dogged, indomitable fighting animal as heretofore, in -true succession to the " Die-hards " of Albuera and the forlorn hope that stormed the breach at Badajos. In the celebrated indictment_of jnodern -war by the" Russian, author, M. Bloch — the book which so wrought on the Czar's sensibilities tha*- it moved him to convoke a Peace Conference — it is argued that modern weapons make the actual contact of armies impossible. The space between their opposing fronts would be a zone of fire across which no living thing could pass. Troops, if pushed forward, demoralised by the knowledge that their destruction was certain, would bolt from the field. Now. in each and all of our Transvaal fights — Glencoe, Elandslaagte, Belrnont, Grass Pan, Modder River — British troops actually crossed such a zone of fire. At the Modder all the conditions favoured the new weapons. Hidden behind earthworks the Boer Mausers and machine guns swept and scourged 800 yards of treeless plain, acrosa which our men crawled or rushed till they reached the enemy's entrenchments and drove him out with the bayonet. The men who did this have in no* point degenerated from the valour of their fathers who, with bayonet and the old Brown Hess, on many a stricken field, have argued out matters successfully with the -best soldiers of France. Physical courage is very little at" command of the •will ; it is an affair of blood and breeding. At Waterloo, early in the day, a cavalry regiment, Hanoverian or Dutch, bolted clean off the field, never stopping till they galloped into Brussels announcing Wellington's • defeat. And even Frederick's veterans sometimes needed to be driven back into the battle by strokes of Frederick's rattan and the remonstrance, " Rascals, would you live for ever ! " Things can't go very wrong with us in the Transvaal if our rank and file retain the qualities "they showed at Modder River. The electors have decided at the polls to give Mr Seddon more rope. That is not tow, they understand it, X admit.], but that

is really what it amounts to. The catas- < trophe is made the surer ; its date, appa- ; ] rently, is delayed. We shall have to wait " . a little longer. I am somewhat disgusted . at this result, and, withal, somewhat sur- i prised ; but I am not «ure that I have the ■ right to be either. Am not I a citizen j 1 in a democracy? Isn't one man's vote as : good as another's? Have I anybetter right to an opinion in politics than the expectorating larrikin at the street corner, provided ■ only he is of age? Does the merchant, the j farmer, the man of the learned professions, j know better what is good for the country j than the improvident or ignorant voter who knows nothing and cares less for the important political questions of the - day? These, as the Tablet would say, ' are " rhetorical questions " and need no answer. They answer themselves. The Dunedin electors who will be -happy with Mr Barclay as their representative are more than they who would be happy with Mr Scobie Mackenzie. The difference between them on tlie poll is, I think, some 600 odd — in favour of Mr Barcla}'. Really looking at all the facts, I am astonished that the difference isn't bigger^ And who am I that should object to the greatest happiness of the greatest number? In Wellington there are 6502 electors who find their ideal of a -representative in Mr George Fisher. The same principles are applicable ±o.ere. What Mr Seddon would explain as political affinity a theologian might perhaps denominate original sin and acquired depravity ; •but it is not necessary to go so deep as that. The Fisher case is sufficiently intelligible on the principle of like to like ; there can be no doubt that Mr Fisher and his 6500 are well suited. Here in Dunedin we must learn to look upon the Government trio as the representatives not merely of their political affinities, who elected them, but also of their political antipathies who voted against them. When the results of the Dunedin poll were communicated to her, Mrs Oivis, overwhelmed, announced her readiness to " sink through the floor." For her own part, she had voted the straight ticket early in the day, and had subsequently converted two domestic servants, one charwoman, a gardener, and several small shopkeepers. These things done, she had retired into the bosom of her family with the feeling that the election was safe. Hence the severity of the shock. "Millar, Arnold, and Barclay! " she gasped — "What is to become of the country?" "Don't be alarmed," said I ; " the country's all right ; it will take more than Mr Seddon and his satellites to ruin New Zealand." But this philosophy was thrown away ; on she went, unheeding : " And Millar 9000 votes !— Where did he get them from?— tell me that ! " " Well, you don't suppose that Mi 1 Seddon stamps his foot and voters 'spring out of the ground," .said I ; "the 9000 are on the roll all right." "But who are they?'' — she demanded — "I don't know one of them. 1 ' "Very likely," said I, "but they exi&t all the same. They are the labour unions, and the wharf lumpers, and the factory worker.'; " " Gracious goodness !" — „ she interrupted — " and are we to be ruled by these people?" "For pity's i sake, Maria, moderate your transports! — ; said I, in alarm—" the 'girl in the kitchen might hear you. This is a democracy, remember, and Jack's as good as his master."' " Democracy ! " — she echoed, with .scorn — j " and here is a specimen of it — Millar, who got up the strike ; and Arnold— who is Arnold? . Nobody ever heard of him before. And, to cap all, Barclay !" But here I drop a veil ; on this point the rest must be silence. Resuming, in calmer tones, she bewailed the rejection of Scobie Mackenzie, who everybody said was a certainty ; of Sligo , who won the election two years ago and was ! a most respectable man ; of Haynes, who had faithfully served as mayor and councillor for years and years. " All very true," said I; "but yo\i see the democracy would have none of them." "Very well!" — she snapped in, with decision — " then I'll have , none of the democracy. From this moment I relinquish politics and shall devote my attention to dredging shares!" Sagacious woman !» Something similar was the choice of the Romans under the Caesars, and of the French under the Second Empire. They chucked politics, and made money. In each, case there followed, if I don't mistake, a national catastrophe. And possibly that is the only way left to us of getting rid of the Seddon Government. Our deal with Germany, does anybody know exactly what it is ? What we get is plain enough ; the doubtful question is the

quid pro quo. What we get is Kaiser William's leave and license to discipline Mr Kruger at our leisure and rearrange South African affairs to our liking. Whilst we are thus occupied, Germany is to assume what is known amongst diplomatists as an atti- ' tude of benevolent neutrality. The Kaiser, ' in short, has been squared. For how much this counts at such a juncture no man can say. Imagine the Kaiser in his mood of three years back, at the time of the Jameson ' raid. Imagine him backing up Kruger by i telegrams of sympathy and encouragement. ' If that were his temper to-day, we should have all Europe jumping on us. The Powers would either not allow the fight with Kruger to go on ; or, allowing it to go on, they would come between us and the fruits of victory. They would claim a voice in arranging the terms of settlement and would persist in setting the two Republics on their legs again to spite us. As things are, this pretty programme vanishes into thin air. The Kaiser has arranged a friendly deal with us about Samoa ; better still, he has made an ostentatiously affectionate -visit to Grandmamma — a proper family visit, taking j with him his wife and youngsters. -On the Continent the significance of these things j is perfectly well understood ; for which rea- \ son they are gall and wormwood to France. \ and an unwelcome brake on the wheels of Russia] '-They mean that the Transvaal fight is not to be interrupted ; the Kaiser — with America tipping a wink of moral support — will make and keep a ring. Now what does the Kaiser get for all this? If we have purchased his goodwill by the mere surrendering of Samoa, I should say that it was dirt cheap at the price. There must be .something else. Not improbably it is arranged that Germany is to be our neighbour in East Africa in succession to the Portuguese, who, it is supposed, are willing to sell out. Look on the map and see how big a thing that ■would be for Germany, and how disgusting for France — with Madagascar just opposite. From our side there would be nothing to obj«ct to — always provided that we keep Delagoa Bay, and Lord Salisbury is too old a hand to be jockeyed out of that. I had already written the above note when there came to hand the letter of the Daily Times's London correspondent, dated October 27, in which, dealing with the same subject, he plagiarises my ideas and even some of my expressions — as Germany's " benevolent neutrality " and the " squaring " of the Kaiser. However, no offence. If he doesn't mind, I don't. Great wits jump. As for his remark that the German papers will now get an official hint to change their tone, that is likely enough. What their tone has been few people her t e understand. Take as a fair specimen a sentence or two from the Deutsche Zeitung, Berlin : — In case of defeat, England receives her deathstrcke in Africa.' What a prospect for Germany! "The United States of South Africa," founded upon the broken up British Empire, will be England's arch-enemy and Germany's natural ally. Then at last the German race, too, will occupy one of the foreign continents. It is a very uncomfortable, reflection for a Britisher that wishes and anticipations similarly kind, though varying in terms, are common to the whole Continental press. According to the Spectator, a European statesman was recently asked why the British are universally hated. "Well, if you must know,'' was the j^iswer, "you English are too dam happy." The bad word is essential to the sentiment, and, since I take it from the columns of the austere Spectator, I may venture to admit it to these moral Passing Notes. •So we are hated neither for our vices nor our virtues, it seems, but for our prosperity. We are " too dam happy. " Doubtless this condemned happiness of ours must be, to outsiders, .sufi.ciently exasperating. We have no revolutions, nor dread of any ; no dynastic troubles, the monarchy is popular ; no Socialists or Anarchists rob us of sleep o' nights. We are free, with a freedom unknown to the^ police-ridden communities of the Continent. "We are rich ; our national debt is merely a form of national savings bank. We have great colonies and dependencies ; yet bear the burden of Empire lightly ; compared with the armahmenls of our neighbours the British standing army is ludicrously small ; no conscrip- | tion ; nobody required to fight who doesn't volunteer. Really, when one thinks it out, there seems reason enough why we should be hated, but at that I draw the line. The fact tint we are prosperous is an inadequate reason for cutting our throats. i The Tablet's genius for mixed metaphor, a subject to which I .cave some attention last

week, has revive^ my interest in this curiosity of rhetoric and must have sharpened my eye for detecting it, or the following gem would probably have escaped me : — ' These different categories are loud-mouthed in the profession of the most Liberal Democratic sentiments, and they aro seeking to get into office by taking advantage of their op- | ponents' slips and mistakes, or by that swing of I the pendulum which is the sheet anchor of all ■ wire-pullers. I This is culled from tfie wild and whirling 1 words wherewith' Mr Jellicoe, a Wellington candidate for Parliament, addressed the electors. ■ As »Mr Jellicoe came down at the polling he will not be among the loudmouthed categories that are to compose the ■ new -Parliament. That seems a pity. ' Whilst rejecting Mr Jellicoe the Wellington electors have chosen Mr George Fisher, who is a category indeed, — loud-mouthed, and something beside. But the chief interest of the extract I reprint is in the conglomerated metaphor at the end : " the swing of the pendulum which is the. sheet anchor i of a-11 wire pullers." This is too good to be an j impromptu. The' author must .have •elaborated it beforehand, privately, perhaps spending over it the midnight oil and' the silent -watches. Let us exhibit, it in its limbs -and members :: — • The swing of the pendulum "Which is the sheet anchor Of all. wire-pullers. For terseness, simplicity, unexpectedness, and general ingenuity the Tablet will find this example hard to beat. Civis. For the information of readers who do not follow the shipping notices very closely, wo may mention' that there is now a daily weekday service between Lyttelton and Wellington. On each day of the week, except Friday, the express from Dunedin connects with the steamer leaving Lyttelton the same night for Wellington, and every day a steamer arrives at Lyttelton from Wellington in time to connect with the express train leaving for the south. There is, therefore, a daily mail from Dunedin to Wellington, except that on Friday the train does not connect with the steamer, the latter having to leave Lyttelton before the trains arive, in order to enable her to pass through Wellington next day en route to Sydney. A contribution of £50 to the Armit fund has been received from Taranaki, whence it was forwarded by Mr A. Bayly to. Mr F. H. Campbell, of the Otago Rugby Union. The addition of this amount brings the fund up to £587 12s 10d.A story of a mutiny and murder at sea comes by -the Moana. The brig Juliana Schlosser recently arrived at Santa Cruz On her way to Brazil, and reported that, on the voyage the helmsman murdered the captain, the mate, and the captain's wife. The Brazilian consul asked for assistance, and the Spanish cruiser Infanta Isabella was sent after the brig. A boat's crew from the cruiser were fired on by the brig's crew; but finally they succeeded in boarding the brig. The i helmsman committed suicide, and 11 seamen, , who jumped overboard, were afterwards taken prisoners. ' The declaration of the result of the poll for the City election was made at the Garrison Hall on the 6th at half-past 10 o'clock*— an > hour which reflects credit on all those concerned with the details of the election. The announcement was made to one of the largest crowds that has ever assembled in Dunedin on a like occasion, and the t' Iv ee successful , candidates — Messra Millar, Arnold, :;'~d.Barj clay — were the recipients of an enthusiastic demonstration. The reception given to those of the defeated candidates, who addressed the I crowd at the same time, was the reverse of creditable to the citizens o - ' Dunedin. j The statutory meeting of* the Charitable? Aid Board was held on the 6th ; present — Me&hrs , Swan, Hazlett, J. Smirh, Baxter, ard Fiddis. Mr J. Hazlelt was in the chair. The roll of newly-elected members was read by the secretary. Mr R. Chisholm was elected chairman, and also treasurer for the ensuing year. The benevolent claim for the month (£500) was passed for payment. Several matters of j detail were dealt with, and the meeting terminated. Two Hungarian engineers, Anton Pollak and Joseph Virag, have made a discovery which bids fair to revolutionise telegraphy. The messages are first perforated on a slip of paper by a kind of typewriting machine. I These signs arc thfift transmitted at lightning

speed ov,er the wires, and received as a photogram at the other end, where they can be read and prepared for delivery with the utmost ease and celerity. In the course of a recent trial of the new apparatus on the wirff from Budapest to Berlin, it was found that the average rate of telegraphing was 22 worda per second, or nearly 80,000 per hour. Anything like a general adoption of this appttratus would greatly reduce the cost of telegraphy, for one .wire would then suffice where; several have to be maintained under present conditions. A Tasmanian paper reports that a little daughter of Mr E, Burgess, skipper of the ketch Welcome Home, had a rather strange experience with a' needle. A month ago the child was playing about, and, tearing the hem of her dress, pinned it together with a darning needle. .Shortly afterwards, however, the child fell on the needle, which .ran into her leg.-just' below the knee, to a depth of l£in. In trying to draw the needle ife snapped off close to the. skin, and' the child ' was: taken •to the doctdr to ,have the • foreign substance' removed' surgically. The doctor ' did not care to cut the 'flesh at the time in search of the needle, "fearing that the probable seyerancejof the -sinew of the leg mighfc cripple .■the'rrchild I for life. The littlft; s ßsEi ' ferer ,wjis taken,- to'.tt'Launceston surgeon, and his opinion 'regarding an' operation coincided with that expressed by his brother medico, and the father was advised to wait' a little till the whereabouts of the-rieedW became more apparent. The needle fortunately worked down the leg gradually till the point appeared just above the boot-top, whence it was extracted by the father with a pair of pliers, exactly a month after the mishap. The steel, when removed, was densely black, but there was not the slightest sign of rust, and there is now hardly a trace of the wound on the child's leg. -' , Mr H.. T. Rawnsley, curate of St. Matthew s Church, has received intimation that he has passed the examination of the Australian College of Theology, and is now entitled to the Th. L. degree (Lioentiafe of Theology). Mr " Rawnsley recently took honours inAhe examination of the Now Zealand Board of Theological Studies, known as the third grade theological. He sat for the Australian examina- ' tion in Sydney last October. The Hon. John M'Kenzie "left Dunedin for jiis home at Shag Pomt 1 by the express train on Thursday morning, and intends taking a few days' rest., A considerable number of departmental matters require the attention of the Minister, but he can, and will, deal with these at-his hqme^Heathfield., MrM'Kehzie,, declined to be intervie\ye'd 'regarding the elec-, " tions. He did not want to say anything about them, as. he remarked he had •no desire to "rub it in." The defeated candidates" had taken their defeat in- a very good manner, and, though he was not, he said, 1 often credited with generosity, he did not want to say anything likely to exei£> ill-feeling. It is nofc improbable that Mr M'Kenzie will visit Diir edin again in the course of a week. An important announcement was made by the Hon. J. G. Ward in the course of his address in the Theatre Royal on Tuesday evening (says the Southland' News). After enumerating the substantial reductions in railway rates made by' the present Government, ho stated that it was ;; u tended at an early dats to reduce passenger fare* to lid par mile first class 'and Id second class ordinary single. Under 'his scale, it would cost only 17s 4rt • first clase to go to Dunedin, as against 29s under the existing rate, and 11s 7d, as against 19s 4d second class. A first class ordinary ticket to the Bluff would cost only 2s 2d, and second class Is &d. The<:e liberal concessions', he remarked, were to be granted irrespective of low faras for special purposes, such as school excursions and holiday trips, which would, of course, still remain in operation. The intimation was received with cheers -by the crowded meeting. I ■ The Madrid- correspondent of. the San-Fran-cisco Chronicle wired on October 31: — "A sensation was ■ caused in the Senate today by the declaration, of Count d'Almenas I that, owing to the ignorance of the Spanish1 American Peace Treaty Commissioners, three' ! islands of the Philippine group, the two-Ba-i lanes and Calayan Islands, both north of Lus| ! zon, were n6t included in the scope of thd treaty. These islands, ■he asserted, ought toi be made the basis of negotiations fw.fchc lib§Sl('* " tion of the Spanish, jyrißon.enk'' ~~ / .