The Otago Witness.

Otago Witness, Issue 2413, 7 June 1900, Page 35

The Otago Witness.

■WITH WHICH IS INCOKPOHATED THE SOUTHERN

MERCURY.

(THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1900.)

THE WEEK.

•■ Nunqnam aliud natura, aiiud s&pientia dixit."— Juvxmil. "Good nature and good sense mu3t ever join. l1 — Pop*.

The people of Dunedin were, no doubt, a little premature in their Fearing 1 celebrations on Friday, but . The End. they were on Mire ground

nevertheless. The British army was not at the moment in the enemy's capital, but it was going straight there. The impediment was not the enemy, but just so many miles of road to get over. Moreover, in every sense except the formal sense the war is over. A good many weeks have passed now since we pointed out to our readers that all that hindered our perception of the steady process of collapse of the Boer organisation was our inability to see behind their lines as we could see behind our own. What was trying to our army was inevitably ruinous to i heirs. When Lord Roberts had to pause 'or seven long weeks in order to get boots, clothing, and comforts for his men we night be sure there was equal wear and tear — except in the matter of boots, \\-i!io,ps — in the Boor army, with a reserve supply that, though more easily available, was more strictly limited. We might have been pretfy sure that while our best horses were dying and knocking up in thousands the breedless Basuto ponies of the Boer, depending largely upon the grass of the veldt for sustenance, were not in the beso of trim. Then there were no Boer reinforcements : every man killed or captured was lost irretrievably. Then the Boer was not a soldier, but a farmer, and had been subject to no discipline sufficient to make him forget the fact. Finally, the game was lost to him, and he could not but know it. For the past three months the Boers have obviously been tumbling to piece*. As we pointed out. at the time, the raids of March and April south of B.ocmfontein were merely despairing efforts to make the world believe that the i*ame was not up, in the hope of intervention. Before tne war -Mr Chamberlain did a little bluff - Trig. Ex-President Kruger has been doing little else ever since. The " staggering of humanity " was all bluff ; so was the threats of the blowing up of the mines.

As we have said, we believe the war to be practically over. We have no fear of an organised stand anywhere, for, besides the hopeless demoralisation, the unfortunate Boers must be trembling in their boots for the safety of their properties. If there is a stand in some out-of-the-way position it will be of the Hereward the Wake order. I<k will not be a stand of the Boer army, but that of a few desperate men who have nothing to lose — landless Boers, fanatics, disloyalists who fear- the era of peace, and foreigners. By holding oiit, some of these may gratify their vanity, and others may hope to make terms. If we wanted convincing proof of hopeless collapse vre have it in the nerveless abandonment of lha British prisoners. While these were m his clutches Mr Kruger had. an undoubted pull on us. When he abandoned them he declared the game to be up more emphatically than by his own flight.

We must confess to having held — and

uttered — the poorest opinion An American of the value of American Mud Storm, "sympathy" with us

through the period of our trouble with the Transvaal. Americans appear to us to be every -whit as hostile to Great Britain as Germany or Austria, and almost as hostile as France or Riissia. We have had a large section of Americans with us, no doubt, but then so we have of Germans and Atistrians. The American Government is prudently favourable, but so are the Governments of France, Germany, Austria, and Russia, and, in fact, it may be said with perfect confidence that President M'Kinley is nothing like the staunch and powerful friend to Great Britain that Emperor William is, or Francis Joseph, or of Russia. But from all quarters comes the warning that the British people must possess their souls with their wonted patience for the next month or two until the Presidential election is over. The Americans do not care a penny piece for the Boers or their independence, any more than do the Germans or the French. But an immense body of public opinion in America is intensely hostile to Gi'eat Britain, and to this body both sides are truckling. That we have not overstated the case in the matter of American hostility may he judged from a quotation from the " Chronique of the Month in America," which Mr A. M. Lowe contributes to the National Review. '" There is no evidence," •writes Mr Lowe, " that the mass of the American people entertain any more friendly feelings towards England tiban they did several" months ago ; in mcC, to be honest, the feeling is more bitter, and seeks more malignant expression day by day, and it is now thoroughly recognised on both sides that England is to be one of the great, perhaps the greatest, issues of the campaign. . . . For the opposition a savage onslaught on a friendly Power is a perfectly safe card ; for the party in power it is so dangerous that only a reckless man would use it." It isn't pleasant to reflect that we are to be the football to be kicked between contending American parties, but there is no help for it. But it is just as well that we should dispossess our minds of the illusion that America is distinguished from the other great Powers by its friendliness towards us. Most sen.sible people everywhere who have taken the trouble to inform themselves thoroughly of the merits of the dispute which led tip to the war are with us. There may be more of such people in America than elsewhere, for our language is theirs, and the facts are more easily available. But that is &U that caa, be fiaid. There is certainly

■something very odd and rather repulsive to a British mind in a position which demands that a great nation like America should shriek denunciations of a Hendly nation of kindred blood in order that a particular man of very second-rate order should get the coveted post of President. It is difficult to conceive a great British Minister like the Marquis of Salisbury trying to push his way to a high post by pouring abuse even upon France or Russia, who do not love us ! Curiously, too, at the very moment Mr Lowe was chronicling in the National Review the bitterness of can hostility to England, Mr Olney, American statesman, with certainly no leaning to our country, was explaining in the Atlantic Monthly that without the countenance of Great Britain America could never have secured the Philippines.

When a public holiday has once been proclaimed, and especially when Overdoing it has been proclaimed in It consequence of the attainment of something of great national importance, we like to see the day kept up with spirit and enthusiasm. But it is always possible to have too much of a good thing, and we think that there are already discernible indications that we are now having too many holidays in connection with the war. The day of embarkation of the contingents was rightly declared a public holiday. It was a new thing for us to send troops to a foreign war. Tiie men themselves were excited at the .prospect before them ; many of them we then knew were destined never to see New Zealand shores again ; a considerable section of the public were agitated over their' departure, and the entire community was deeply interested. There was both novelty and pathos in the circumstances, and routine work would have been intolerable. Ladypmith Day was unique, in so far as it was a spontaneous outbreak of joyfulnes?. There was more than that in it, toe — there was relief from great tension of feeling. The nation had escaped what was felt to be a real danger. The public did not wait for a holiday to be jiroclaimed — they took it. They could do no less. Mafeking Day, too, was inevitable. The siege had been so long and so cruel, and the men had been so gallant, there was no escape from the holiday. So far, ail was right ; the people were genuinely glsd, and seized the occasion to make known their gladness.

But, as we have said, we are just a little overdoing it now. Although the meeting on Friday night in the Agricultural Hall was a splendid meeting, a record meeting, the holiday itself was marked by signs of deterioration. Genuine gladness there was no doubt, but there was also an element of mere rowdiness mixed up with it. Gladness was watered down with idleness, and in consequence the spirit of mischief was soon abroad. The Otago Daily Times alluded to one phase of mischievous larrikinism at the Agricultural Hall. Some business premises were broken into, in some instances by mere lads, and work compulsorily stopped. Clearly that sort of thing won't do. Up to the present time the entire community has been intensely patriotic, and very generous and self-sacri-ficing. It is a bad move to crush out the spontaneity of it all, and introduce irritation and ill-feeling instead. The fact is there have been too many holidays, and each successive one is getting less spontaneous and more artificial. If the mayor of Dunedin is a wise man. as well as an impulsive one, he will stop the ringing of the bells in the early morning. At first, it was all very well Avhen our reverses had been the rule and victory the exception. We have outgrown that stage, and the bells in the morning rather demoralise. They send people out into the street, and work is no more thought of that day. We must not have our business people, tradesmen^ and artisans cursing our victories.

So much attention is directed outside the colony just now that affairs Railway of much local importance Reform. are a little apt to be over-

looked — as matters of comment, we mean. The speech delivered by Mr Ward at Riverton, in which he unfolded his railway policy in respect of passenger fares and other minor reforms, was a most important one. We have often had occasion to adversely criticise Mr Ward, as we have other members of the Government. But his activity and business energy are worthy of all praise, and it seems to us that the railways under him are in very competent hands indeed. His speech at Riverton was concise and businesslike, and most commend ably free from the claptrap and appeals to ignorance which oecasianally disfigure his utterances.

It is high time that radical reforms were introduced in the matter of railway fares. The rates have been a crying evil for years. We have alwa7/s been told that they compared favourably with rates in other colonies and countries, and this may be the case. But it always seemed to us that in New Zealand they might easily be reduced, not only to the advantage of the travelling public, but also ultimately to the revenue. At no period in the history of the colony have the State railways been regarded as mere revenue producing machines. The development of the colony has always been kept in view, otherwise a good many branch lines would never have been commenced at the time they were. Many people have been in the habit — in political speeches mostly — of talking of " political railways," but such people invariably get into difficulties when you ask them to specify those which should be branded as political railways. But there are times when a forward policy in the matter of railways is a perfectly safe one, and the present certainly is such a time. A period of prosperity, of great commercial expansion, has set in pretty nearly all over the world. We are now feeling the full effects of it here in New Zealand, and the railways are benefiting enormously by it, and it would have been a scandal if the public were debarred the benefit of it in the way of railway concessions. Mr Ward has taken the occasion by the hand, and so far as we can judge lie has made the most of it.

Certainly he has given the matter great care. The reductions all through are sub"stantial, and, we believe with Mr Ward, are of a character to recoup the revenue in no very distant time. Indeed, it is highly probable that the increasing traffic will remove even from the returns of, March 31 next the effect of the present concessions. The reduction of workmen's tickets is especially commendable, and we hops that before very long a still further reduction in this direction may be possible. Nominal fares mean to the workman pure air, cheap land, and general reduction in the cost of living. The commercial classes, the holiday makers, and the press all benefit substantially. The provision to be made for the i&bue of railway tickets other than at the railway station itself will be a genuine boon. The worry of having to crush through a narrow gangway while your train is showing every indication of going off in a violent hurry constitutes to the traveller one of the evils of life. We have no doubt that Mr Ward's reforms will prove a success, and that their success will herald in others for which there is still plenty room.

The May number of the Review of Reviews rcpublishes a character A Pair sketch of Messrs Kruger and of Steyn, which Mr Poultney Beauties. Bigelow. a very competent

American critic who knows both men intimately, originally contributed to the New York Independent. Curiously enough, Mr Bige^w has a good opinion of Steyn and raxher a poor one of Kruger. We say this is curious, because there ca-n be no doubt that the brains are in Kruger, while Steyn stamps himself by all his utterances as a quite commonplace, if not rather a pulpy-minded, sort of individual. Jt was Steyn's own brother, if we remember, who called the ex-Pre?>ident a "nonentity " — which does not settle the question, however, for in affairs of State, r party polities, blood is probably not one whit thicker than watei\ Bigelow first mad*_ the acquaintance of Ivruger in the year of the Jameson Raid. He had some difficulty in doing so, and would probably not hav^succeeded but that several German friends vouched for the American as a man who could be trusted. The hesitation of the then President was due to the fear that Bigelow might ridicule him. It appears that some previous interviewer had mentioned the fact that Mr Kruger's waistcoat was ornamented with " drippings resulting from the careless use of the spoon at table." Bigelow found Kruger an extremely ignorant man, with extremely slovenly, if not positively dirty, surroundings. He does not talk English, and can hardly write his name. It was his ignorance and the ignorance of his Dutch compatriots that impelled him to place himself under the tuition of young Dr Leyds and the other Hollanders who have urged him on to so disastrous a policy. Like all very ignorant men, too, Kruger is extremely suspicious. Dread of English domination, says Bigelow, " has been Kruger's bugaboo for many_ years, and in this lie shows his incapacity to understand the character of the English constitution as it operates in our time. He sits in Pretoria, and talks of his precious liberties, while next door to him is a British colony where the Boers can have more liberty than in the Transvaal." This is very neatly put, and tolerably well sums up Mr "Kruger and his opinions. Mr Bigolow pronounces Mr Steyn to be " one of the best all-round types of manhood it has been his fortune to meet." With Kruger he felt as if he were talking with a shepherd cut of the seventeenth century. With Steyn he was talking as with a fellow countryman on questions of ways and means. Steyn i& a " politically clean man at the head of a clean community."' Kruger, with the Bible never out of his mouth, is seated amidst corruption — in connection with which his own name is by no means spared. The last 20 years have seen him amass many millions, no one exactly knows how. " Everything about Steyn and his house," says Mr Bigelow, " spoke of cleanliness, tidiness, good taste." It seems rather significant of Afrikanderdom that mere personal cleanliness 'should become so exalted a virtue. The fact that Steyn is an English barrister probably accounts for a good deal. There are many witnesses to endorse all that Mr Bigelow says of these two men who between them have so easily succeeded in bringing down their respect-ve States with a crash. But, all the same, all the force of character is with Kruger. while Steyn, cleanly as he may be in mind and body", is bub one shade removed f'-< m the colourless. With Scripture forever in his mouth, Kruger's phrases, come out wlih real force ; he is a power in the land : Steyn is a mere echo of him. As HallJones is to Seddon, so is Steyn to Kiugcr.

We hear on the best authority that a valuable coal deposit has been discovered in the Waipori district, close to the Broad Creek Gold Dredging Company's claim. A Dunedin syndicate has secured an area of 20 acres, and purposes commencing operations to test the extent of the seam without deloy. As the distance of cartage has hitherto been a heavy factor, this discovery will add greatly to the prosperity of the dredging industry in this locality. Since the discovery has been made, several fresh claims have been pegged out at Broad Cieek by Messrs Bolton and others.

Mr Henry Thomas, Murcotl, one of Hampden's early settlers, died on Monday at the age of 65 years. A native of Warwickshire, England, Mr Mtircott came to the colony in 1862. He went to the West Coast during the rush there, but returned to Hampden shortly afterwards, and started a butchery business, which he relinquished a few j'ears ago. The deceased gentleman was an enlhufciastic volunteer, and was also a member of the local Borough Council and school committee for some time. He died of an internal complaint. Mr Murcott, who was twice married* leaves a wife smd four daughters, two of

whom are married, and six sons, one of whom

is married.

Referring to the death of Mr John Smith, proprietor of the Waimea coalpits, who committed suicide on Saturday morning by cutting his throat, the Gore Standard says he was discovered about 6 o'clock, with" two holes cut in his throat. None of the arteries were severed, and the unf or Lunate man lingered on, but expired at 12 o'clock. Dr Donaldson was sent for, but was unable to render any, assistance. The relatives of deceased cannot assign any reason for the rash act. He was a native of the North of Ireland, and was 51 years of age. An inques; was held on Monday at Waimea, before Mr Stewart, acting coroner, when a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was recorded.

On Wednesday afternoon Mr R. Chisholm (chairman of the Taieri Coanty Council), accompanied by Councillors Samson, Robinson, Pear, Todd, and Gibson, made an inspection of the n ew digester to be erected by the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Burnside, with a to ascertaining whether the refuse from the works will pollute the Kaikorai stream. A thorough and interestingexamination was made, and the visitors were quite satisfied that, with the machinery erected there for the purpose of minimising all c\ il odours, there would be no danger of the stream being polluted from that source. — Advocate.

While threshing- operations were in pi-o-gress last week on a ridge at Canada Reef, oivned by Mr M'Leod, no less than 700 rat* were caught in four blacks of wheat. Out of one ataek alone 497 -,vere caught. The stacks were built on a high ridge, and were standing since last year, the sheaves were considerably cut up, but the grain was. in foir condition. Bruce evidently wants a Pied Piper to charm away its vast army of rat?. — Bruce Herald.

In connection with the recem annual meeting of the ' North Otago Mounted Rifles, Captain Nichols despatched a cablegram to Major Robin, as an indication to the men at the front who came from the corps that, though absent, they were not forgotten. The text of the cable was as follows: — "Major Robin, First New Zealand Contingent, South Africa. B Company's annual meeting. — With boys at front in spirit. Congratulations. — Nichols."

As evidence of the appreciation %iven to the cheap lime policy of the present Government, the Wyndham Farmer mentions that during the past 12 months, when free railway carriage of lime ha/3 been in vogue, close on 600 trucks of this soil stimulant have been consigned to Edendale railway station alone.

After taking in about 20.000 sacks of oats for South Africa, the Lincolnshire lefL Oamaru on Monday night for Lyttelton, where she goes into dock for scraping. The Lincolnshire will be followed by the Kilburn, which ;\l&o takes oats for South Africa.

The Mayor of Gore has been informed (bays the .Standard) by the Commissioner of Police that in leference to the memorial -signed by 96 residents of Gore, ssking for additional police protection, -a second constable would be stationed in Gore within a few ■clays.