The Otago Witness, THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 43

The Otago Witness,

THE WEEK.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN

MERCURY.

(THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1900.)

" Nnnqnam iliud natura, aiiud sapientia dixit."— Joysn.ii,. "■Qoo'd nature and good sense must ever join."— Porx,

The worst that can be said of the Auck- - - - land election, and it is a - What Does it significant commentary Matter? upon the present political position, is that outside' the constituency no one cared a straw who won or who Jost. It was, felt to be a matter of perfect indifference. The Opposition is in point of numbers wholly vi*-' equal to its constitutional ta&k of placing an' effective check upon the administration of the Government, and of course in such circumstances it matters nothing whether it remains stationary or is increased by one. In a House of 74 members an Opposition of 16 -people, is as good as 17, or 17 as' 18 — we really do not know the 1 precise » number. . What keeps a Government in. order is the capacity of the Opposition N to come to an occasional close division, and if it cannot do that, it can do very little "that is useful to the colom\ Criticism is excellent" in its way if the criticism could be !- supposed to produce- any effect upon the I members : but when it* is immediately fol- ! lowed by crushing -divisions it might.be as | well' unspoken. Criticism is lost upon the [ Government following, 1 and the sort of j 'argument the mass of people in the colony ! best understand is the division list. Under ordinary circumstances the" Government following might expect from its | sheer unwieldiness to break up and somej what re-arrange parties. But the circum|,stances are not ordinary — they are, indeed, ! abnormal. The supporters of the Govern- | ment know perfectly well that they o.we | their position to the Government, and that ! any signs of independence would jeopardise their positions at the next election. Ihe atmosphere of a Parliament so situated must be very unwholesome, and the probability is that small interest will be taken in its proceedings. Whether as regards his own colleagues, or the House generally, Mr Seddon can do as he chooses, and he will do so. The arrangement will probably last" his time, and the inquiry which we have always predicted would follow his long term of office (for concealment, even daring concealment, has been the rule) will' be of small interest .to him, and but of little benefit to the colony. Some newspapers profess to think that the election of Mr 'Witheford as against Mr Holland, who was the Government nominee," is a slap in the face for the Premier. The slap which gives him one supporter instead or another is hot one which will trouble him much. He' looks to the- main chance, arid that is on the right side for him ;' the humiliation which does not cost a vote is easily borne. As for the colony, it may bs content with its Holland or its Witheford. The *former was in public life _an amiable nonentity, and the latter is a someVhafc pretentious one. Mr Witheford has been a successful man, and had a certain character "for some knowledge and shrewdness in Auckland, until during last session lie came to Wellington to give evidence before a Parliamentary Committee on (if we remember) the San Francisco Mail Service, whereupon his reputation went by the board at once. He had no information, no argument, and no ideas. He is not, of course, the first Parliamentary witness who has been in a like predicament ; but equally, of ! course, not much is to be expected of him as a member.

A gentleman, name not given, ■who though ' not a medical man has

Plague l10(il 10( i much experience of or the plague in India, has No Plague J expressed his opinion very strongly to the Age newspaper that the plague in Sydney (where he has been through out the scare) is not really plague ; but an " aggravated form of typhus." He also declared thatf that is ths opinion of a number of medical men in Sydney. The individual 'in question is evidently exceedingly well informed — too well informed to wan-ant his opinion, based as it is upon a ' good deal of experience in a plague-stricken Indian city, bein-,- altogether ignored. The fact that he is not a medical man is against him, but not to the extent it would be in the case of other diseases ; for medical men know little if anything of the plague. But in any case there is small comfort to be derived ,from the opinions of this gentleman, even if Uiov are well founded, for an " aggravated ' form of typhus, by which would probably ba meant malignant typhus, is every whit as bad as the plague. It is another form of plague. If an epidemic disease very dangerous to human lifejs. about, it doesn't matter very much what] the doctors call it, provided they can help to preserve us from it, or treat us properly for it after infection. The reasons for {-he opinion given by this gentleman to the Age are not, however, very conclusive. The. main one is that the bubonic plague as it appeared in India was very swift- in its course, and very deadly in its effect, whereas in Sydney the affection is quite mild. In India, he says, the deaths were over 90 per cent., arid occurred within two or three hoiu-s after removal to quarantine ground. In Sydney, on 'the other Jiand, ho seems to have been

rather scandalised that one man who had 'the plague was "fairly cheerful and able to "walk "about," wliich, he adds, is an " abj burdity." In the real plague we are told j there is a very High temperature, aad then j a " swelling of the gland's until they burst, the patients dying in three or four clays." Tho natural answer to all tlrs is that if | the Sydney type of di&eas-e is so vtry mild it can be no more a malignant or even a severe form of typhus than it can be true plague. Then it must be remembered that

I the plague, like almost every other disr ease, departs from the normal type according to the conditions aad circum&tances in

which it finds itself. What would be a deadly form of plague in Calcutta might easily be of a mild tj^pe in Sydney. The | latter city may be bad enough in places, j •but it is at least -far" from being' as bad as ' an Indian city, which, with 'its dense, over- ! crowded native • population, cherishing a dislike to sanitation, is a favourable home ox the pestilence. After all, the doctors, if they know little of plague, ought to know 1 something of typhus, so that the probability is that their diagnosis is right. The ! fact that ther,e is much fever- also in Syd--ney has little importance, for the same insanitary conditions which attract fever germs are also' favourable to the plague. In any' case it is well"_af this, juncture not to trouble* about names,, but to recognise , that an unusual disease ' of deadly charac- \ tor is about, -and then proceed-vigorously j with" cleansing and sanitation.

The -Councillor of the Exchequer took a 1 somewhat unusual course Tli'e Sinews last month in connection of War. with .the raising of the war loan of thirty -five millions which had just previously been voted by the Imperial Parliament. The course is one which has much to recommend it for simplicity and directness, and for enlarging what may be called the, investing .area of. the nation, although it is not every Government or borrowing body that could afford to adopt the -' same coime. - Sir M. Hicks-Beach invited a meeting of banking and other financial representative' men at the' Bank of England, at which" the governor of that .body presided. " Addressing the meeting, the Chancellor of • the Exchequer explained that thirty, -millions would be raised at once, not by an increase of consols, but at the option of subscribers, by bonds' or inscribed stock, redeemable in ten -years. In former years large Imperial loans had bsen issued by contract, and in recent times by tender, as we do our colonial loans. The result of this is of cour=e to practically confine the subscription to -large lenders, excltfding the mass of the investing public, who would not understand the complexities of the operation sufficiently to enable them vo decide on the sort of tender likely to be accepted. Whatever advantages might attach to the investment the Chancellor was desirous of spreading over as large a surface as possible, looking to the splendid manner in which all classes had rendered material assistance to the prosecution -of the war. It was a national war loan. Sir Michael Hick«-Beach had therefore tak^n upon himself the' responsibility of issuing the loan at a fixed price of 98£ per cent., and proposed to i&sue a prospectus not mily through the Ignited Kingdom, but the " lonies and India. Thirty millions would ry on the war, at the present rate of expenditure, to the end , of September, -at which date the Chancellor was sangnuie enough to expect that the war (this was after the cap-" ture of Croivje and its attendant successes) might be brouht to a clo&e. Five, millions out of the thirty-five authorised woiild be reserved- for- future possible issue' in the shape of Treasury Bills, sp that' if these' were required there -would be no '•occasion to appeal to the money market until /the. end of the year. In order to disturb2'the market as little as possible, only 3 per cent, deposit was required upon .-application, the remainder to be payable in" ninemonthly instalments. The minimum application was £100, and the rate of' interest would be 2| per cent. Not only would no favouritism be shown, but there would be a leaning towards small investors- so long as the Excheqiier was satisfied of their bona fides.

The Spectator made suggestions of a more radical character for* the downward expansion of "the lending area, and for giving the bonds a ready and easy, currency among small holders. It proposed that the loan should be raised in bonds or sections of £2 each at 2^ ppi-'cent. — each bond thus producing one shilling a yeai — to be sold over the counter of the various post offices, thus obviating for small people ail the expense and complexities of employing brokers and executing transfers. Whether or no the Exchequer msy succeed in the praiseworthy desire to favour the small investor, the most satisfactory features — those which will impress themselves on foreigners — are the vast home reservoir wliich the British Government can at any time tap and the' els^ with which an immense sum can be proyided for taxation — not new and burdensome " imposts, but" comparatively small extensions of taxes already existing. After all, money is the grand factor in carrying a war to a successful conclusion. The verr great riches of a small land-locked country like v the Transvaal accounts for no small part of such success as the Boers have had.

Under all ordinary circumstances it is not a pleasant sight to see A Lesson men in any way puniflied in for the opinions they LoynUy. honestly hold, whether political or any other. But we must confess to deriving extreme satisfaction in noting the delennined hostility of the j)eople of England, and especially o£ the working men, to a select knot of "representative pro-Boers who have b?/ j n for months most mischievously carrying on a crusade against the war, and who seem to gioiy in the efforts they make , \o humiliate their country "nnd again leave South Africa in a position dangerously subordinate to the hostile -and disloyal Dutch element there. The feeling of satisfaction at the utter discomfiture of tne.se people is far from a narrow or malicious one, and the instinct which drives rLe populace to angry intolerance of the public utterance of pro-Boer opinion is tlior jo^'ily sound and salutary. Mr Leonerd Courtney — Avho, by the way, is a brother-in-Uw f >f ' the Hon." Richard Oliver — has represented the Bodmin divi&ion of Cornwall since 1885, but is now pretty _ well ,as severely al war with hi.s conslitutents as his countrymen arc with the Boers. His strongest supporters of old are up in anass against him, and recently a meeting of -working men passed a resolution calling upon, him to resign, on the ground thai hi' conduct in and out of the House has Lad the effect

of " encouraging the resistance of the Queen's enemies and rebels in South Africa J to undermine the integrity of the British j Empire." Mr Labouchere has represented Northampton ' for "20 years, " holding, in ! point of popularity, -a curiously unique position there ; but he cannot now' get' a" hearing in , his, constituency. ' Sir Edward " Clarke has represented Plymouth - also . for 20 years, arid, eminent lawyer as he.. is, he retired rather than face the "hostility :of f his constituency. Dr Clark, who"represents" Caithness, and was until lately Con-sul-general -in London for the Transvaal, was recently to have delivered a lecture on the war at" a Liberal Club in England, but his committee, in view of some ominous ' ; gatherings about the building, advised him | fo " " postpone " it. alt is the same with leading'"- men "outside Parliament. Mr Stead can nowhere get a hearing. Mr Cronwright-Schreiner, whose claim to prominence is that he is the husband of Olive ■ Schreiner (" Story of an African Farm "), 1 was all but mobbed at Edinburgh, at Sheffield, at York, at Gateshead, Dundee, [ and various other places. At Dundee he ' was supported by Mr Keir Hardie (Queer I Cardie, some wag has aptly dubbed him), who was supposed to have some .influence , over the working men, but the platform ' was stormed, and the lecturer and his friends bundled unceremoniously out 'of ihe hall. And so on everywhere. Now ; *all ■ this seems, at 'first Fight, very intolerant and very narrow, but, • as w.g* have said, \\ has its root in a very wholesome soil. The all, but universality of the instinct might well give ais pause before we apply* opprobrious epithets to it. The pro -Boers may be divided into two classes : there are those who were pro-Boers before the . war, and those who continue to be pro- . Boers. _ The former were clearly entitled to their opinion ; but the Briton who con-" 1 tinues to sympathise with the Boers whi'e ' his ~ countrymen are carrying "on a death struggle Avith them is either a hopelessly wrongrheaded man or a, traitor. It is no doubt a very harsh word to use, but the fact is that there are traitors in every countiy. Let the pro-Boers, therefore, sympathise with the enemies of their country as much as they choose, but it is just as well that they should be compelled, if compulsion is needed, to keep their sympathy to themselves.

Mr John Redmond, the leader of tine lately re-united Irish party in the - The Troubles House of Commons, is in of trouble of a much more Leadership, honourable' kind. When the Queen proposed her visit to Ireland, Mr Redmond, in extremely judicious terms, defined what would be the attitude of the ' Irish Nationalists towards her Ma jest j'. Briefly," the substance was that while it w ( as understood that no political significance attached to the Royal visit, the Irish Nationalists would extend a

cordial welcome to ' and offer the warmest

hospitality of' the country to tha aged - sovereign.- The leading Nationalist papers

endorsed the statement of their leader, and the Queen "almost everywhere has been received, not' only with cordiality, but with great enthusiasm. -There" was a section of irreconcilables, - however, who could recognise neither/ a compliment nor a pleasant episode in the visit of the Queen, nor yet " the gentlemanly courtesy of their own leader. Among that section is an organisation wftich calls itself the Irish Trans-

vaal Committee," who sent Mr Redmond j

the following telegram :" — "To Mr John Redmond, House of Com-

mons, London. — We challenge you to come I to Dublin and repeat in public the statement you made to-night in the name of the Irish people." Mr Redmond wisely declined to answer the telegram or make any comment upon it. As regards the attitude of those who thus fiercely turned upon their own leader for an act of bare courtesy to a sovereign 80 years of age, who had never identified Herself with any special policy of her Ministers, whose .long life has been an unexampled spectacle of devotion to duty, I and who felt herself impelled in her closing years to acknowledge by a visit across the Channel ' the splendid bearing of the Irish troops in South Africa, it may well be said that the extent to which political rancour will warp the natures of men' otherwise no doubt kindly -and exemplary • enough in their- social relations, was never , mpre conspicuously or disagreenbly shown.

The sale of the library of the late Mr Larnach was in a sense a Books noteworthy event, because a - vthieli are large proportion of the books Xo Books. was of a very good claps.

and there are few people in the colonj- who have as large a collection as he had. The &ale, too, was to some extent notable because the prices bid for the books generally betokened the improved circumstances of the colony. There are a few. a very few, people who in times or depression will make sacrifices to buy books, but it is not, the rule in the colony. The booksellers are among the first to sulfer in bad times. There was, however, a feature which this sale had in common with many others — though by no means .in as marked a degiec — '•vhich have taken place in Dunedin for years past. We allude to the tendency to give high prices for volumes which come under the category of Charles Lamb's " books which are no book^," and comparatively low prices for some of the masterpieces of iiterulure — the sort *>f books which, like things of beauty, would be a joy for ever. This tendency was not. as we have said, quite so marked the other day as on the occasion of former sales, but that was because people generally are more prosperous. We have known Froude's " History of Enggland," in 12 volumes, a noble work, fall under the hammer for seven and sixpence, and a magnificently-bound edition of Clarendon, which gives deathless pen portraits of all the great figures "of his dayj for much less than the cost of the binding. At the same time, many pounds would be offered for some early gazette, book, or pamphlet concerning Australia and New Zealand. Doubtless t these latter are very interesting, and have a value of th&iv

own. But the great bulk of them ht not really literature in the best sense ofi the term, and the young man or woman? ambitious to gather a few books around 1 hinr would make a great mistake if he! judged the mental value' of' the book bjf the price for which it was sold.' Stamps ' may be worth a great deal of, money, ahdj. yet intrinsically worthless. The" purchase " of them is a craze..- Book-buying is often'a craze, too., A man may. be, a lover 'of books without' in the least being a" lover; of the content's of them. * Books ~ about 'the) Maoris and aboutjsome..early explorations are excellent in their way, and copies* of them ought- to be* procured' for pnblici libraries, where the future • historian;- -the dent, and the curious reader could havd access to them ; T5uT; the man of" small means who wants, to feed his mind witMideas • would make a ' great "mistake in lightening his pocket and- lumbering his shelves with" them. He" would get more for his money o.ut_.of a single volume of Ruskin than from a shelf of the class of books that are ' eagerly competed -for. A. rare book is not necessarily a good book, though it be ever -so~dear. •

.Our" Anwytown I correspondent wires" thai the rough and wet weather of last week ceaffeil on. Saturday, -last, and -turned to .'mild and even warm. All "the low-lyiug 'enow disappeared gradually."- At present more rain .',3 threatening-. '" " - i ,

Five candidates have been .nominated - f ot the vacaut fceat on the Education' Board— its J. C. .Arbuclde, Mr.J. M. E." Garrow, 'Mr R. W. Glendinning. Mr' F. W. Knight; and, Mr W. Nicolson. The voting by 'school com* mittees will take place in "the next fortnight.

According to the Southern Standard,- -the railway department narrowly, escaped- having a portion of their rolling stock damaged' 1 owing to the sudden rise oi the llataura Riyer "last week. The ballast "tram had been engaged gravelling the permanent way, and on "Wednesday night the train was run down a branch line mto t the river in order to allow the trucks to be filled in the morning before the engine was attached, this being the usual custom. During the night the river rose, and the line for a considerable distance was covered with water, the current being so strong that several of the trucks were lifted bodily off the line. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning attempts were mado with the' small shunting engine to shift the trucks, but to no avail, and on Sunday after- ■ noon a large Baldwin engine arrived on the scene. After a great deal of work the truck? were shifted so that the shunting engine coiiM pull them out. Very little, damage was ...one, although the risk of a number of the trucks being swept away was great. , , 'At a meeting at Balclutha on Friday nigh*. Mr John -M'Neil mentioned that the Clujtlin. patriotic fund now amounted to fully ,£4-00, and that some small sums were still coming ' in. It was. decided to fall in with, the" proposal of the Punedin committee, io retain the balance of the fund in hand in the mean.- , ■ ■ - ■?

Mr J. E. Coney, poi-ftrhaster at the Thames, has declined the position of "chief postmasterat Wellington, and Ihe position has how been' offered to Mr J. W. Wilkin, the postmaster at Invercoreill. • .

Mr C. L." Russell, Government railwaj auditing inspector for Canterbury^ has, owing ; to ill-health, resigned his position in the sera ice. He has been 25 years in the\ Government employ, and /for a portion of the tuna was stationmaster at Palmerston.