THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2417, 12 July 1900, Page 39

THE WEEK.

•j -Snnauani aiiud natura, aiiuci sapientia d«it."— Jotsbai.

Several issues of the Witness have been printed since Parliament A Note met, and hardly once has about anything transpired in the Tfothiiig. Houses of Parliament of

sufficient note to call for comment in these columns. The special correspondents, in fact, are hard put to it to fill their allotted space, and if telegraphists -are at all like ordinary human beings, one wonders how they keep awake during the transmission of the bald and hopeless commonplaces which represent the "extreme essence" of contemporary statesmanship. The number of persons one meets who frankly avow that they "never read the Parliamentary news," (it used to be a kind of reproach to admit an imperfect acquaintance with that department of tho newspapers) is quite surprising ; while as to any interest in the personality of, the new members, or even their powers (or weaknesses) of speech, we are at a loss to suggest where such interest may be found active, for we have failed to detect it in any of the ordinary walks of life. This state of affairs is unprecedented. The public seems even to have taken the appointment of Mr T. Y. Duncan to Ministerial rank — an. appointment we have not 4 seen our way to condemn, having in view the far greater mischief that some suggested substitutes might have done — with a kind of languid guffaw, and then shrugged its shoulders and passed on to the next item. It is fashionable to express a feeble and faraway interest in the truth, whatever that may be, about the Premier's health ; but the tendency, even in that relation, is to seize upon the fact that the Premier himself says he never was better as a good excuse for bothering ourselves no further upon the point. It is not necessary to profess belief in this official optimism — we most sincerely wish it were more possible — b\vt at least we are absolved from having to recognise that there is one subject in connection with politics upon which we must think, and politeness is not violated by discussing it with the others. Mr Ward's preposterous Chambers of Commerce Bill (which is now awaiting the verdict of the Legislative Council) may have been designed as a means of arousing the angry passions of some of us, but if so, it has failed in its object. Whether it be vindictiveness, or cunning, or merely stupidity, which led to its promulgation, it has stirred up no more dangerous feeling than a sluggish contempt. We do not quite know what to suggest to the Government as an incentive to public interest and a motif for further banquets. Elections will hardly dc — witness the dead-and-alive kind of interest in the Waihemo business just now. Blustering at the Opposition — hitherto a trump card in dull moments — has ceased to be effective: there is nobody to foe hurt by it.. Perhaps

f a little real, sound, necessaiy work, devoid of self-advertisement and un defiled by political trickery,' might be as hopeful a departuie as any that could be tried. There is nothing like novelty, after all.

The news from China is very bad, just

.about as bad as it can be. The Turning For the overpowering quesof tion-al present is not "how The Worm. i s the huge spoil to be par-

celled out? " but rather " what has been the fate of the Europeans who trusted their lives to the hospitality of that wretched country?" To this question the answer, we fear, is a sad one, anotlfer ugly blood stain upon the map of the world's history. The distrer-sing- reflection is that whatever amount pi blood could be slied has -almost certainly been already shed. There were so many thousands of Europeans in the country, and there is but'-too much reason to fear they have been all massacred. For the rising ia without shadow of doubt a rising of the Chinese against the hated 'foreigner. 2STer is the rising against one particular rp.ee of foreigners, but against all. Those ridiculous persons Avho can see the nefarious hand of Russia in the movement, wilfully stirring up strife for the furtherance of her own ends, may as well hold their peace. The 'few elementary facts as they have alreadyoccurred suffice to show the &hallowness of the idea. The Chinese are as bitter j agaiasl the Russians as they a^e against j any other nation, — indeed, they probably > "nourish a greater hatred against them than i against any of the others. A few years j ago Li Hung Chang thought thai if China j were compslled to make concessions at all | her inteiesfc lay in making them to Russia, | but tha idea never took hold of the Chinese , people, and there is reason to believe it has j been dispelled even from the minds of the few. The Russians bid fair to ba among tlie heaviest losers by the rising, for in addition to the troops and diplomats they j have already lost, the Chinese arc now | sacking, pillaging, and murdering in Man- , churia. On the other hand, Russia was J c aright by the trouble very nearly as un- j jn-epared ps England. The truth is that ! China, has been seething in the deepest na- ; tional humiliation for year? back. China i thinks she is the most enlightened and most j dignified nation under the sun, and yet she \ sees herself kicked, insulted, and buffeted | about as no negro slave was ever knocked about ou an American plantation. She wants to keep herself to herself, and has her ports -Opened to, the trade of the world in spite of her. The English and French have a quarrel with her, and they march straight to her capital and make her subscribe to any terms they choose. Her much despised Asiatic neighbours, the Japs, indict crushing defeats upon her, take from her one of the most beautiful islands of the I earth, and make her disgorge millions of *j money as well. l The Germans have a compatriot murdered, and they immediately carve a fine province out of her side for a German possession. The Russians "lease"' — that is to say, seize — the oldest of her j provinces, the very seat of her kings. The j French have a missionary killed, and they I therefore demand a "sphere of influence," a, mandarin's head, ar.d a money indemnity, or something of that sort. The huge beasl was paying out her very bovrels to the nations, until the Italians come upon the scene and make demand upon her territory. That r-eems to have been the limit of the beorable. China declines, and begins to turn over in her mind whether she could not bear arms, like other nations. Then there is an internal change, an overthrow of a puppet Emperor and a more daring hand at the helm of Stale. Finally an order is sent round to tho Governors of provinces instructing them that no more concessions are to be made. From this time out the universal but smouldering hate against the foreigner is fanned until it breaks out into a blaze, and the end is a massacre. All this has b°en foreseen and feared, though few people belLved that the time was so close at hand. j

The above seems but a history of greedy

rapacity on the one hand The Survival and of helpless submission

of on the other. Yet it is not the Fittest, at all that ; but something

quite different. The throes of China are but the throes of a new birth, the first heavings of the transitional state from the uncivilised to the civilised. In these days of electric wires and quick steam .communication, no nation is permitted to live a life to itself ; it can no more do so than a man can order his life without regard of any kind to his neighbour. The Khalifa and his horde in the Soudan had to go because it was found impossible to leave so much barbarity to itself any longer. It suited the French and some others at the time to say that it was a case of typical British aggression, but it mattered little, for the process went on uninterruptedly. Likewise had the Boers to go because their civilisation was 250 to 300 years old, and a source of unrest to all their neighbours. All the nations cried out that here again was a case of English rapacity and greed ; but the xjrocess goes on inexorably. Now China's turn has come, but as all the nations are involved, we shall hear nothing of aggression, and nothing of the sanctity of a nation's independence. The picture presented looks uncommonly like that of the eagles and the carcase, but if the carcase were alive and healthy, if it were not a carcase at all, but a vigorous organism, the eagles would not be there. It may be doubted whether, in these days of close international communication, any nation is in danger of absorption by a more powerful nation unless in addition to being small the nation is also effete, or uncivilised. There is no safer nation we should say on earth than the small Swiss Republic. It is when a nation shows signs of falling a victim to internal troubles, or has- become a source of danger to her neighbours, or in some way a burden to the conscience of the civilised world, that the eagles begin to gather around her. China has reached that stagfe She cannot man-

age her own affairs, and she cannot defend them except by the old-time method of massacre. That, then, is the first long step in the downward direction, and it has unfortunately been taken. Then there will be an advance of the allies, Pekin will be taken possession of, the Manclm dynasty will be overthrown, and from out- more promising material a new ruler will be selected, and a plan of reform laid down for him to pursue — with tho assistance of an international army of occupation. The new ruler may or may not succeed — generally he doesn't, but Abdur Rhaman. is a good instance of smcce&s. But at all events a new dynasty can generally be propped up for a time, and so the process will go on until the day of partition comes. We may be thankful the time for that has not come yet, for the longer it is delayed the more likely it is to be bloodless. In the closing year of the next century we may have bundles of attractive statistics showing the multiplication of British schools and the increase of British commerce in the mighty valley, of Yang-Tse.

Mr Arkle appears to have dropped out of the Waihemo contest, or Take your rather he never came into it,

* Choice, the "Liberal"' sids being re- - _ "' presented by Mr Wm. Guffie, of Naseby, who is fairly on the warpath. In no other respect is the position changed, nor does Mr Gufiie's entrance add any new interest to die election, though we imagine he should command a much wider area of support than Mr Arkle would. Mr GuSie, wo understand, is a very old resident of Naseby, raid thiwighout his life there has closely identified himself with the various interests of the district. He is both miner and farmer, and has several times been chairman of the county — a tolerably fair record for a seal in the House of Representatives. Our opinion of Mr Thos. Mackenzie as local representative we gave last week. For energy, activity, industiy, and a certain tenacity in running the business of constituents, he leaves nothing to bo desired, and of course he knows tho run of the ropes. From the first, too, lie shotild take up a good rank in the House. But when we have enumerated the respective qualities of „ can dictates as local representatives, there is little more to be Paid. No interest- can", attach to an election which can bub add ' one member to a House already so- lopsided as to be scarcely recognisable as a parliamentary body. Even the Government following in the House could' scarcely get' enthusiastic * Over the addition of one more in the person of Mr Qufße to their ranks. If Mr Thos. Mackenzie were to add a certain v,ote to the Opposition, the Government following would still be left inflated and unwieldy to a most disastrous degree. But Mr Mackenzie, though we imagine from his past that he would lc«-.«i more to the Opposition than to the Government, is nevertheless not ai^ Oppositionist. We don't know what he is, and doubt rather whether he knows himself. But under present circumstances that does not matter ; — indeed, the sad part of it is that nothing the Waihemo electors may do matters anything. Therefore must we leave them to their devices, unencumbered by advice from us. If they think fit to return Mr Thomas Mackenzie, they secure the services of an extremely active and capable representative, and they will add to the House a first-rale business man as well ; one who "upon occasion, may be able to infuse life into both the House and the district. If their choice falls upon Mr Guffie. they will have a sensible, steody-eoing local representative, and they will add another member to the " Great Liberal Party " of ]y T ew Zealand.

South African affairs appear to move slowly, and doubtless a good Slonly Dying . deal of impatience exists in Fires. consequence of the fact. The • majority -of people probably don't see that the reason the wai moves so slowly is because it is praclicalhr over. Only when first-class Powers go to v. nr does the end come suddenly,, drama r. ,>lly, and by satisfaction -of an agreement. War with the -Boers, -and in such a 'country as the Transvaal, does not close, it simply dies out as a" 'fire does. It is the same with Americans in the Philippines. The war there may be ended now, or it may not ; but the reason we are not sure is because it is no longer really war, but merely a condition of disaffection. So it is in the Transvaal. We are in possession of and have annexed- the Fxee State, which is now the Orange River Colony. We are in possession of the largest South African city in Johannesburg. We- have taken possession of the capital of the Transvaal, while the President of thai country is making himself as comfortable as possible in a railway car, — giving us another instance of the Boer love of, and capacity for, mobility. The Boer armies are all broken up, while ours have just converged from five or six different quarters upon Pretoria. Where there is no cohesion on the part of the Boer there can be no dramatic strokes on the part of the British Commander-m-Ohief. A few guerilla bodies are harassing his lines of communication, and there vhe. active warfare of the Boer ends. A little time and patience and these will soon be dealt with, but masses of men cannot be hurled, and combined movements are of no avail, against them. We do not doubt that Lord Roberts is every day reducing the country to order, and it is highly probable that six months hence the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies will have settled down to industry as peacefully as ever they have done in the past.

The probability is that from out his railway car President Kruger has his eye acutely fixed on the war in China. That he knows his country is hopelessly gone from him is pretty sure, but he desires to make terms of some sort, and hopes that by raiding the railways and prolonging a guerilla warfare while the storm clouds are gathering in the East, we may soon be driven to some sort of terms with him. It is now believed that his terms would be the

preservation to Boor independence of thfS mountainous, country to the. north-east— » the Lydenburg district. The idea, both ia South Africa 'arid "in England 7 has renewed the fear of- British "magnanimity." - On/ this subject the Spectator gives an 'emphatic; word of warning. It says: — .

Suppose £ remnant of the Boers really do tre&f into tha Lydenberg -district, and there appeal to us to be allowed to form a new and insignificant "State out of a few thousand families ?~» No doubt the temptation to be magnanimous' wilt be very great, and we shall have very strongly pressed upon us, even "By non-Boer sympathisers, how terribly cruel it would be "to. hunt down_ this pitiable band of farmers and tear the last rag of independence from their "limbs. But in spite- of such appeals, we must do the disagreeable work. If that fateful symbol of discord -and _ racial illfeeling— the Boer flag— i•• left flying anywhere, the prospect of a imiki. and peaceful South Africa must be gravely compromised. President Kruger talked of freedom reigning '.'from the Zambesi to Simon.'s Bay," and so it shall reign, but not his kind of freedom, supported by Press laws, agents-provo-cateurs, a dependent Judicature, and a corrupt bureaucracy, but the freedom which men knovf in Canada, in New. Zealand, and in Australia. -

To leave a corner of Boer independence in the Transvaal in order to suddenly extinguish an inexorably dying fire would, be madness indeed ; and even if, English, public opinion -would agr.es to such a Ihing(which we do not for an instant believe), wo may be sure the colonial wouldn't. . ,

Mr Thomas ' Mackenzie addressed the elec» tors at Naseby on Monday evening, and met with a cordial reception. The Mayor (Mr Herdman) presided, and introduced the- candidate in complimentary terms. Mr Mackenzie spoke for an hour and a-half, and was followed attentively by the audience. Ha dealt with imperial and trade questions, the land laws, and matters of colonial and local importance. Incidentally he referred to tha part the clan Mackenzio had played in the politics of the upper part of Waihemo. Tho electors first had Seobie the orator, then John, the land administrator, and now Thomas was offering his services as an advocate for finding profitable markets for tho settlers tho land administrator arxl his predecessors had placed on tho land. On the motion of Mr J. K-irby, seconded Mr Thomas Fargie, who both referred in complimentary terms to tho candidate, a vote of thanks vras accorded to Mr Mackenzie. A correspondent writes that Mr Mackenzie's chances at Naseby are considered to be very good.

Our Waikouaiti correspondent wrote on, Tuesday as follows: — "I have just been shown a telegra,m received from the Rev. Mr Fraer, of Christen ureh, in which he snys :" ' Conclusion rather hasty. Am coming to Waikouaiti.' My previous paragraph was written on the authority, of Canon Lucas, who held a letter from,. Mr Fraer m. his hand afr the time of spealfing. Evidently Mr Fraerhas reconsidered his decision." At a meeting of the Organising Committee,' held at tho chairman's offices ou Tuesday, sundry letters from the nurses at the front were read. The committea decided to cable sufficient funds to Mr Pileher to enable him to provide saloon passages bock to the cofbny -for such of the nurses as may have to return, aird also to make provision for their comforfc at Capetown if invalided. Mr Pileher, who is the local agent for the South British Insurance Company, has taken the keenest interest in the' nurses, and has shown them every possible attention and kindness, and tho committee feel that the nurses will be carefully looked after by him. It was evident from the correspondence that the nurs&s were v/orking at tho full limit of their power 3, andthe committee were impressed with the necessity for making full and careful provision for all contingencies.