PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2402, 15 March 1900, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.)

Though the war is not ended there is — for the moment, at least — an end to our anxieties about it. We no longer dread to open the morning paper, or go about in fear of surprise telegrams posted at the- street corners. If only gallant little Mafeking were succoured we should feel quite at our ease. This is as unreasonable as the opposite mood ; we may lay our account for some stubborn fighting yet, and shall not be permitted to carry things altogether our own way. Nevertheless it is good to have escaped from unworthy fears, and to feel that we should like to hang some of last month's preachers of panic. The English papers lately received are full of the Spion Kop affair. It is a humiliation to read them. You might suppose that "a rot" — as they say in cricketing circles — had set in amongst our generals ; that the Boers had " established a funk," and that hope of rallying against it there was none. There existed indeed a funk, but, fortunately, it was limited to the editors ; we know from what has happened since that it never extended to the British army. The editors, one and all, from the London Times downwards, were in a state of blue funk, very discreditable, very un-British, and seemed bent on reducing the nation to their own degraded condition. I dare say that by this time they are properly ashamed of themselves. When the newspaper panic was about its worst an old army officer,' whose name is Avell known in the Indian service — Lieutcnantcolonel Maude, H.E. —addressed to the Pall Mall Gazette a remonstrance, beginning thus :

Sir, — The Army Act contains a section which I venture to suggest might at the present time foe extended with advantage to embrace all jourrali3ts, coirespondents, and newspaper proprietors generally. I quote from memory : "Any person subject to this act who, going into action or in action, uaoa 7/or.da calculated to

create despondency, etc. . . . shr.ll, on conviction thereof, suffer ' Death,' or such lesser punishment as is in this act mentioned." Under this section, if applied, there would have been, I am afraid, a very serious and sudden mortality amongst London journalists.

The state of funk would now appear to have passed over to the Boers. There has been much presidential running to and fro ; Kruger lias been in the Fiee State, Steyn has gone to Pretoria. I infer that Messrs Kruger and Steyn begin to discern the writing on the wal 1 . The Kruger family jewels, plate, and other valuables have been safely banked in Amsterdam. So says a cable, anyhow, and the story is likely enough. Mr Kruger, who is a multi-millionaire and no simpleton, has always known how to take care of number one, and doubtless will continue so to do, even though the British reign at Pretoria. The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want, &ays lie, and packs off his millions via Delagoa Bay to Amsterdam. The Germans, I observe; moved by the spectacle of a just man in affliction, have offered Mr Kruger a home in Germany. This is kind ; but will he want one? My impression is that German assistance will not be required. The British provided a home for Napoleon in St. Helena, and for Arabi in Ceylon ; I dare say they will be able to afford an island somewhere for Kruger, and eke another for Steyn. It might be well to send them both to New Zealand, there to study liberal institutions, the principles of an equitable franchise, and the condition of Outlanders in a British colony. By and by, on their good behaviour, Mr Seddon might call them to the Upper House. I observe that Mr Steyn, at present a fugitive from his capital, has become blusterous and abusive. Before the capitulation of Pretoria something is to happen that will " astonish Europe." Very likely. Europe was a good deal astonished by the relief of Kimberley, and by the capture of Cronje. Europe did not altogether expe-ct the deliverance of Ladysmith. It is no great credit' to Mr Steyn's sagacity that he foresees other little surprises still in store.. But that his mind should be running on the capitulation of Pretoria is significant. Mr Steyn, I take it, has beheld his Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, and recognises that the game is up.

We have in Diinedin two church steeples more graceful than the " star ypointing pyramid " if less lofty — First Church and Knox ; we have also an aborted stump — St. Paul's. Yet never a peal of bells have we, though steeples imply bell& as the caiisoek implies the priest. The one without the other is an impiety. In Gothic architecture the steeple is ->vh'>.t the campanile is in Italian — a bell tower, neither more nor less. A church steeple that has no bells stands self-condenm<!fl, therefore, as a mere simulacrum, and sacrilegious at that. If is not enough to hang up a utilitarian clmrch-going bell, with lamentable note,

Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,

to call the faithful to praYers. Steeples so sprightly as those of First Church and Knox postulate the melody of a chime. Without a peal of bells how arc we to celebrate fitly a victory, a fashionable wed-

ding, a birth at the manse? On Ladysmith Day our chief instrument wherewith to make a joyful noise was the Town Hall fire-alarm. Along with it jangled in cheerful dissonance half a dozen cacophonous school bells. Their joint effect was the music of an iron foundry ; in dignity it barely surpassed a kerosene tin serenade at a wedding. No community above the level of barbari&m can respect itself on such t-erms as these. I propose, therefore, and demand that we establish

in Dunedin a peal of bells, and that we j have it ready for the approaching capture (of Pretoria. The duty of executing this .great public work I assign with confidence to j the First Church ; partly because the First j Church it is ; partly as a fine on the unI belief of the First Church minister — who j for a time doubted concerning the right- , eousness of the war ; or, if preferred, as a ', privilege awarded in recognition of his , subsequent repentance and faith.

I The Irish grievances set forth by " Irish Citizen " in a distressful letter to the 1 Daily Times are not of a kind to stir much Sassenach sympathy. If I spare him a word or two, it is in charity merely, remembering that to an aggrieved Irishman, trailing the tail of Ms coat, not to tread

on it is a grievance the more. Purely to oblige him, then, I admit ynd will not deny that in our Ladysmith rejoicings we paid no special honour to the Irish. This is the grievance. But neither did we paj r any special honour to the Scotch and ihe Welsh. Ido not hear, however, thai Sandy and Taffy have thought themselves entitled to complain. On questions of national sentiment Sandy and Taffy are not usually reckoned among the poor in spirit, but in genius for grievances they are altogether inferior to Pat. Listen to him for a moment :

In our late rejoicings how they Ltlie English] fbunt their colours, as though they had done all the terrible worlt, and hold back those of the raen who brought them relief. For months the great .British army was held at bay till the master mind of an Irishman, with two other Irish generals, turned the tide. New it is true that Generals Roberts, Kitchener, and White are Irishmen, as a than they, Arthur Wellesley (or Wesley), Duke of Wellington, was an Irishman before them. But they are not Celts. No one of them has descended from Brian Boru. They are Sassenachs, as their very names declare ; they were born in Ireland because their Sassenach forbears migrated ; and they are Irishmen in precisely the same sense that Major Robin is a Maori. I will concede to " Irish Citizen " that the best kind of fighting man is the Englishman — or Scotchman — who has had the luck to be born in Ireland, — so far will I go, but no farther, and British military history will" prove me right. But why perpetuate these silly contentions in the colonies? Here in New Zealand we are not English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh ; . we are New- Zealanders and Imperialists. Another generation or two of intermarriage and " Irish Citizen " with all his tribe will be as extinct as the moa.

,On ths mining exchange, as I hear, sellers are many and buyers are few. That being so, it follows that prices droop, droop, droop, irrespective of the merit or demerit of the stocks they represent. There are two or three notorious exceptions, bub they are mere gamble.?. People are putting their money into so-and-so, and so-and-so — I name no names — as they might put it on a racehorse, or on the red and black at Monte Carlo. Somehow people can generally get money for gambling ; for legitimate mining, it seems to me, there will soon be no money at all. In the monthly Stock Exchange Circular (date, February 6 ; I have not seen the March issue), the mining companies enumerated are about 200 — I have counted them ! — and a score or two more must have come into existence since. I have not had the courage to add up the long columns of figures setting forth the capital of these companies ; but I'll take my 'davy that the " tottel o' the hull " — as Joseph Hume, the once celebrated House of Commons economist, used to say — is over two millions sterling. Not paid up, mark you ; but to be paid up. The paving up is a pleasure and a privilege still in reserve. On another page of the same, circular is a list of the companies that yielded dividends in January. There are 10 of them — jusst 10 ; and that, I tfke it, is a fair average. Now I am no accountant, and statistics I abhor ; it may be that the inference I draw from these figures is unsound. Let me be proved wrong ; I diall be delighted. But to my mind they spell ruin. The brokers and promoters have laden up the public ass till that uns'igacious and muchenduring beast can no longer stagger ; there lacks but the proverbial la»t straw to break his back. Unless a score or two of new companies can presently begin to get gold and pay dividends, it is not brokers that we shall want, but liquidators.

And yet, all the same, this is an excellent time for investors, if investors still there be. Already there are good things to be picked up below their value. Then also people who buy and hold will profit by the forfeitures of people avlio buy and can't hold. But in order that one may pick up good things it is necessary to discriminate. Amongst our 200 and odd paper companies there are doubtless some wild cats. Not many, but there are certainly some. If only it were a distant public, and not a public near at hand, that the astute promoter were exploiting, how much greater his opportunities ! Take, by way of illustration, the following veracious story of Australian mining in London company-promoting :

A vory rich patch or " blow " of reef was found hs. a prospector near the surface. OS. went the

promoter who had obtained a share to London to float a company, taking the quartz with him, which was thickly studded with gold. The shares were eagerly subscribed for and a board of directors appointed, who sent out orders to work the mine at once and get a crushing. Months elaspscd and there was no letum from tho rich property ; and then a telegram was despatched: — " C:ush at once and wire result. Surprised at unexplained delay." This elicited a prompt response as follows: — " Cannot crush till you send back the reef." The only quartz which the mine yielded had been taken to London to float the company. This sort of chance. I suppose, can only occur in quartz, and even with quartz it is desirable that the public selected should be on the other side of the world.

On the 6th, as the express from Ohristchuroh to Dunedin was entering the station at Studholme Junction the engine and the leading carriage ran off the rails. The passengers, luggage, and mails were transferred to the express train going north, which caused a delay of about three hours. This delay was added to by about an hour by the engine coming on to Dunedin having to push the tender along in front of it, and town was not reached till a quarter to 1 o'clock in the morning. The cause of the engine becoming derailed is not clear, but little damage resulted from the misadventure, though doubtless the inconvenience to passengers was considerable. The Ohristchurch passengers were taken on by a train going north.

A very important meeting in connection with the Druids of New Zealand has just concluded at Gisborne. The subjects of the assimilation of the laws referring to contributions and affiliation and the formation of a Grand Lodge for New Zealand were amongst those discussed. The conference included representatives from Canterbury, Otago, and the North Island. It was vesoh ed to assimilate the laws relative to contributions, etc., so* that members can go right through New Zealand. On the subject of a Grand Lodge for New Zealand, it was resolved by Otago and the North Island to join a Grand Executive, Canterbury not seeing ho* way to join in at present.

The following numbers are interesting as showing the proportion of different phases of religion among the soldiers of the British army. These statistics are from the close oi last year:— Church of England, 14T,98G : Presbyterians, 15,773; "Wesleyans, 11,78*; other Protestants, 2266; Roman Catholic-; 39,860. This will give the ratio nearly tlui* : Church of England, 63 per cent. ; Presbyterians, 7 per cent. ; "Wesleyans, 5 per cent : other Protestants, 1 per cent.; Roman Catholics, 18 per cent.

At the meeting of the City Council on the Sth his Worship the Mayor announced that during the afternoon he had received a telegram staling that his Excellency, accompanied by Lady Ranfurly, would arrive in Dunedin on Tuesday, the 20i.1i, and would stay with the Hon. George ll 'Lean for a few days.

The Union Company are advised by their Sydney office that every precaution is being taken by the health authorities to prevent the bubonic plague from spreading. The company themselves are taking most stringent measures for the destruction of rats, on the wharf premises, and are also using the strongest disinfectants. The wharves are being whitewashed with a strong solution of limewash, and the mooring lines to the steamers are being sheeted with zinc to prevent rats making their, way on board ship, while watchmen are stationed at the gangways all night for the same object.

Last week Dr Gordon Macdonald received a letter from Lord Provost Fleming, of Aberdeen, thanking him for the timely contributions to Gordon Highlanders' fund raised by Highlanders in Otago. The Provost states in his letter that he has several relatives amongst the early settlers in the Tokomairiro district, and that some day he may visit New Zealand.

Last week's weekly meeting of the Benevolent Institution Trustees was attended by Messrs Haynes (acting' chair mar [, Ziele, Wilson, Treseder, Hazlett, Gourley, and Green. The accounts passed for payment amounted to £459 12s 6d. It was reported that George White, aged 62, had died in the institution. The outdoor relief book showed that for last month the number of cases was 312, repre* senting; 115 men A 232 women, and 582 rkUd-

ren; cosi per week, £97 17s 6d. For the cor« responding month of last year the cuses numbered 432, representing 193 men, 303 women, and 595 children; cost, £120 16s 6d. The Chairman mentioned that the usual time for calling for tenders for supplies had arrived, and suggested that they be advertised for. It was ucc-ded to adopt the usual practice with regard to them. Fifteen relief cases were dealt with.

The monthly meeting of the Queen's Jubilee convalescent fund was attended by Mrs Borrows (in the chair), Mesdames Adam, Callan, Colquhoun, Johnston Brown, Ramsay, Martin, Israel, Fergus, and the secretary. Four cases were dealt with. Mrs Colquhoun. and Mrs Theomin reported having been at Waitati, where they found the accommodation at Mrs Drysdale's very comfortable and the house beautifully situated. Some lounge chairs were required there, and the committee gave permission to the treasurer and secretary to purchase &ix. The following subscrijjtions were handed in: — Me3dames Colquhoun, Clark, W. Mason, Adam, and Theomin, £1 1& each; Mrs Callan, 10s 6d; Mrs T., Chalmer, 10s; and Mrs Bathgate, ss.

The "Gold Brick" subscribed for by the; inhabitants of Greymouih, to be sent to Sir George White, the defender of Lady smithy has been manufactured. It is two inches long by one inch broad by half an inch thick, and contains 3oz of West Coast gold. On the face are engraved the words: — " Ta General Sir G. S. White, V.C., G.C.8., G.C.5.1., G.C.1.E., Defender of Ladysmith." The reverse side has the words : — ' ' From Greymouth, N.Z., March, 1900." On. one side are written the words, '' This is a brick," on the other, "You're another."

There are some interesting calculations in the Home Magazine as to the cost_ of war. A careful estimate, we are told, places the amount spent by Great Britain during tha Queen's reign on war and preparations for war at the almost incredible sum of £2,500,000,000. That this is not an overestimate becomes clear when we reflect that the Crimean war alone drained £116,000,005 from the Exchequer, and that Britain is spending every year more than £42,000,000 in maintaining the army and navy. If tha United Kingdom were called upon to pay the Victorian war bill to-day, it would absorb four shillings out of every sovereign of its entire wealth, and would be called upon to raise a sum which woxild extinguish the gross national debt four times ever. Even the interest of the war-gold is colossal. If it were invested at 5 per cent, (ignoring altogether the accumulated interest of over 62 year?) it would yield a revenue oi £125.000,000 a year, a sum which would ba sufficient to meet all the national expenditure, and leave a yearly balance which would go far toward* solving the question of oldage ijer.fdons, or to replace all the sums raised yearly for charitable purposes and missions. The interest, which would pour into out Exchequer at the rate of nearly £238 a minute, or. roughly. £4 every second, night and day, would allow an annual income of £70 to every family in Scotland and Ireland ; or it might be used for educating every child now living throughout the entire world.

The Postmaster-general of Victoria has received 120 designs for the special war stamps which it is proposed to issue, and accepted designs for twopenny and penny stamps, oi which 20,000 of the former and 4-0,000 of tin latter are to be issued. On the twopenny stamp is depicted a picket and scouts scanning the horizon, and in the distance a faint outline of hills which the British have t« scale. The penny stamp bears the Victoria Cross, and across it the words. " South Africa, for valour, 1900. ' If the stamps ar« all sold the patriotic fund should benefit to the extent of £3600.

The Times, of Los Angelos, U.S.A.. oi January 17, says:— "The New Zealanderi are giving the Boers some of their own medicine by proceeding against them with a flexible force, that is as shifty as a drove ol jack rabbits. Soon the art of bushwhacking will be acquired in England by the British, and then there will be something doing along all the kopjes from Modeler River to Pretoria."

The Auckland Herald demands as a right that the final departure of the fifth contingent should take place from Auckland. Our contemporary complains that all the commands hare cone to South Island men.