The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2430, 10 October 1900, Page 37

The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY.

THE WEEK.

(WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10. 1900.)

" Snnquuu aiiud natura, ahud lapientia dixit."— Jotbmal. "Qooo nature and good sense must ever join."— Popi.

The Dog in the Manto •.

The city members (all Government supporters), who undertook to stonewall the Premier's rebate proposals under the Land for Settlements Consolidation Bill, certainly chose a curious occasion for their revolt against party discipline. We can haidly be suspected of a bias in favour of Mr Seddon's general legislation, but his proposal to offer a 'small inducement for the prompt payment of rent by _Crown tenants appears to us both wise and liberal. It is, in fact, in the true sense of the word a liberalising of a system already" in existence — not by any means the institution of a new "one. There are -obviously two plans by which such an inducement can be offered. The first is by adding a penalty to overdue payments ; the second is by deducting a discount from those which are promptly made. There 5s a third plan also, wLich Is to combine both' rhe^ others : this is .the system mostly in use in commerce, where the purchaser is offered a-dis-count for payment within, say, one month, while, he is notified that interest will be charged if his account remains unsettled after, the expiry, / of ,~^ say, three months. Hitherto, the Government plan has been confined 'to the first 6f these methods, and that to a very drastic extent. Thus iv the cases, for instance, of overdue land tax, or overdue pastoral rents, or overdue sheep rates, a penalty of 10 per cent, is enforced if the unfortunate debtor is even a single day late with his payment, and no excuse of any kind is accepted. A tradesman may notify his debtor alter any unreasonable delay that 10 per cent, will be charged after a given date ; but then he always means 10 per cent, per annum — a very different matter. Even then, the charge is seldom enforced if payment shortly follows' the notice. The members who &at up all night to stonewall the relaxation of this unmerciful usury as against at least one class of country settlers, have certainly not gained the gratitude of anybody for such a surly and ill-conditioned idea of land management by the State ; while they have with equal certainty covered themselves with reticule by collapsing when the Premier proceeded, not to withdraw the proposal, but to amplify and extend it. We regard the substitution of a discount on compliance for an almost savage penalty in case of delay as a truly liberal change, effecting the State's object in an infinitely pleasanter way, and leaving no possible ground of complaint to those who, through accident or misfortune, may fail to earn the proffered rebate. The Premier has already made it perfectly, clear that in the deliberate opinion of the Government, formed after years of experience, the Land for Settlements scheme could stand the slight loss. It is « quite certain that all other departments ot territorial revenue, to which apparently Mr Seddon means to extend the principle, can al'o stand it. Indeed, this is hardly the way to put it, for probably there is gain, and not loss, in the new system. Ask ' a tradesman who has one price for ca&h and another, slightly higher,for terms, which class of customer he prefers, and everybody knows that he would promptly reply, "The cash one." There must be good reasons for this ; they are not secret ones and they must obviou&lv apply to Government transactions in some kind of proportion with their application to private ones.

Our Amateur Annexations.

If nothing more harmful than a few sarcastic comments on the "Empire of New Zealand" from oiir Australian friendscomes of the annexation resolutions of the other day, •which his Excellency the Governor is now engaged ii> carrying to a conclusion, no great, harm, at any rate, will have been done. What has to be relied upon in this matter is not tne principle of New Zealand's chieftainship among the Pacific I&lands — which is a principle very much opon to argument — but the evident understanding between the Imperial and New Zealand Governments in the matter. The Biitish Government does not want any i more worlds to conquer, and especially i hates the occasional necessity of annexing ! in the Pacific — Lencc m c lmibl conclude that Lliere was serious reason to expect a foreign

descent upon the islands in question, thus making their occupation a case of now or never. So far, the hustling of sundry islets into a bag Avith the label "N.Z." may be said to be Imperial and not New Zealand policy. It is otherwise with the proposed peaceful capture of Fiji. That is an aspiration of Mr Seddon's, and whatever may be the rights and Avrongs of the matter upon due examination, it is certain that the people of this colony at the present stage have, to say the least, no enthusiasm about it ; they Avould. moreover, like to knoAV whether the Fijian settlers themselves have. It must be remembered that Fiji, at any rate, is in no danger of annexation by a foreign PoAver. Though a Crown colony, it is as much British territory as New Zealand itself. Sc far, the principal evidence available of Fijian feeling is contained in a local report of a public meeting on the subject, which has been laid before our Legislature in the form of a Parliamentary Paper. We have read this report carefully, and we cannot say that H has impressed up. The chairman urged as the principal reason for federation Avith NeAv Zealand that "an increase of capital Avould pour into Fiji, and the country be taken up, with the establishment and groAvth of industries.." We are open to conviction on the point, but that is all. Other reasons given at the meeting were freetrade, a cable, reduced taxation, etc. — all, however, more or less vaguely, and with much discursiveness and irrelevancy — and, of course, the exchange of products, which is a good concrete reason, (supposing it to be clear that federation Avith us would promote it, and Aye think such would in practice be the case. We gather also that the present Governor is not altogether beloved, but in general the effect of the discussion was that things could not very well be worse than they are in Fiji, and theiefore that federation could do no harm if it did no good. That may be a good reason for Fiji federating with NeAV Zealand, but we confess we should like a better one for NeAV Zealand federating Avith Fiji. The question, is, Do Mr Seddon's arguments supply it?

For Home Consumption.

" Arpiihisimrt Redwood's Sermon " has been a flaming heading in the newspapers for some time now. but the peculiar points at issue have hardly yet ranged themselves finally in men's minds. Our readers are of course familiar with the main points in the controversey. The New Zealand archbishop preached a sermon in Sydney before high official personages in j which' they detected at the time nothing objectionable, but when the report of the discourse appearec^yn the papers next morn- , ing it was noticed that the division of Christianity, to which the State .Church of England belongs had come in for a " slangwhanging " of so ferocious a kind that evangelistic Sydney sat up far into the night with wet towel's round its -head writing letters to, the papers to demand the orator's head on a charger^ _ The- leaders arid founders of Protestantism had been, it appears, notorious for their vices ; Protestantism .had obstructed civilisation, covered .Europe with blood and ruins, helped the worst foes of Christianity, devastated, low-" ered, desecrated, . and polluted things generally, and, in -short, had been the agent of the devil from "first to last. "And they have never," 'added the archbishop triumphantly in conclusion, "been able to obtain the sanction of a miracle for their work and doctrine," which is just the kind of religious controversy that took place between Pharaoh's^magicians and Moses, when their relative success ' was measured by the respective sizes of the snakes they turned out. The point about all this, however, was, that the preacher (as it happened) did not say it.. He wrote it, and an obliging Catholic newspaper typed it for his convenience ; but when the great occasion came time was short, and the archbishop cut it out— handing his unmutilated script, notwithstanding, to the reporters, 'without any suggestion that they should omit th.c offending passage: His contention is that the Governor did not hear the words, and hence could not be offended, while as the sermon was for Catholics, and not Protestants, nobody could complain when the un-Bowdlerised edition appeared in print. There seems to be some force in this view ; but anyhow, what seems somewhat curious is that good Protestants should object to have been presented with this BAitlioritative avowal of the strong meat upon which Catholic audiences are officially fed. People who have read the "Lives of the Popes," for instance, and people who have heard of one Galileo, might be expected to become quite beaming, instead of ungovernably angry, over the announcement that Protestantism was synonymous with unholy sexual alliances, and had " stopped the progress of science." To these and the 'other pleasantries of Archbishop Redwood history supplies . such a torrent of effective replies that those who enjoy such controversies ought to be unfeignedly glad tha.b the style of the attack leaves then? under no obligation to extend a merciful moderation to their assailant. The question is whether, after all, Archbishop Redwood's charges were so much more virulent than those which some Protestants habitually make against the Catholic faith. We y.re not at all sure that such is the cape ; and the moral appears to be that when the representatives of the sects experience periodical desires to scratch each other's eyes out, they should do it strictly for church or chapel consumption, and not scheme Lo get unspoken addenda into the public prints by any pretence or subterfuge whatever.

Pomaiipltn Once More.

We are quite sure that there is an unea&y i'eeling abroad — as honourable, too, as ib lf= uneasy — to the effect that the case of the Pomahaka .settlers is not one that ought to be disposed of as the Minister for Londs has already disposed of it in advance. TLe petition we print in smother coltima might possibly be passed by as a mere "try on," as to many (probably most) parliamentary petitions are. if Ihe truth, of the representations made had not

been, already proved before tlie "highest court in the land,"' and if the unfortunate circumstances of which it is the outcome were not already notorious. It is really very odd that such a petition as this should be about to be presented to, and (as he Las already told the petitioners in terms of unfeeling directness) about to be contemptuously rejected toy, the Minister who has just become responsible for the circulation of what he calls a Fair Rent Bill. We are no .advocates om selves for crude vote-catching measures of unlimited application designed to unsettle settlement, and we are convinced that the Bulk of farmers, as well as most freeholders and leaseholders on other than farming lands, are averse to their contracts being made worthless, and , their financial backers rendered uneasy and pressing by the removal of all substantiality from every agreement tiiey Lave made in which the occupation of land is an item. But supposing we were enthusiastic advocates of the so-called Fail- Rent Bill, as Mr Duncan is, what Aye cannot conceive at all is that while holding those principles we should coldly reject the renewed prayer of the Pomahaka settlers for relief from what their petition truly calls "the utter hopelessness of their position." Let us have" -fair rent,' says tt I.^1 .^ new Minister for Lands, "for everybody — except the Pomahaka settlers." The reason for this apparently anomalous attitude is, 1 of course, a matter of Avide notoriety. Pomahaka -was a terrible Ministerial blunder ; worse, it was a blunder sharply detected and exposed by the Minister's political opponents. But the unfortunate settlers, to whom Pomahaka, Avas no debating ground, but an abiding horne — one to which they had been lured by representations they still remember Avith deep indignation and resentment — were caugnt- in the toils where they stood. The tide of' political battle rolled on and figured in oiJer tempests afar off; but they were fa&t locked^to the soil, hectored by an insatiable landlord -for rent that that soil could never have been made to yield, and finally driven literally to their knees upon their own cold and grudging clay, to "beg for immunity from threatened eviction. It is surely about time that, ruined and punished for the crime of discovering po- • verty in land officially declared , to bo rich (and paid for accordingly), the "utter hopelessness of their position"' shoiild arouse even official clemency.

Two Culprits.

mv Havw T.^bouchere, M.P:— still M.P., for the eccentric constituency of Northampton has not seen its way to punish him any further than by reducing his political rank — has only one kind of answer when convicted of the conduct his paper is always professing to expose in others. ELe takes refuge in rampant vulgarity and in paltry impertinences of the "you're another order. A few years ago he suffered a, fearful exposure at the hands of a South African journalist, who laid ,bare certain Stock Exchange dealings of Mr Labouchere's with a completeness of detail which convinced every "responsible politician and newspaper' in England that the member for JSTortJiampton ' miist either irfstanUy . disprove th^ accusations, or disappear entirely from public life. Mr Labouchere was apparently at first of the same opinion, for he sought to make light of the possibility of these damning, allegations being true. His assailant replied by publishing photographic reproductions of Mr Labouchere's letters to his Stock Exchange accomplices, and there being no longer any possible doubt the editor of Truth devoted himself to an elaborate examination and condemnation of the accuser's private life and character, in order to draw away public attention from himself. A challenge to Mr Labouchere to bring a libel suit only produced the reply that the latter (who is very rich) could not afford it ; but the accuser instantly replied by a deliberate reaffirmation of all his charges, accentuated by frightful adjectives, and by daring the editor of Truth to hand him over for prosecution under the criminal libel law, any costs of .such proceedings being prepaid' by the "libeller"' himself. That finished it, and Mr Labouchere from that moment -simply brazened it out, maintaining an obstinate and (by virtue of his wealth and position) ultimately successful silence. Now, detected in writing letters to Boer agents' in London before the war instructing them how best to defeat the objects of his own country, he once more takes refuge in childish impudence. To a perfectly courteous note from Mr Chamberlain, enclosing the incriminating letters and inquiring if he desired to offer any remarks upon them before their publication, the member for Northampton replies with a mass of incoherent and irrelevant charges against the Colonial Secretary, concluding with the intimation that if he (Mr Chamberlain) desires to offer any explanation of his South African policy, it will receive consideration. Brazen impertinence of this kind in tihe face of an exposure that .should stun any honest man convinces nobody. It is as though a prisoner, asked if he has anything to say why fcutence should not be passed upon him, should deem it impressive to "cheek " the judge, and offer to let him off if he (the judge) behaved himself for the future. Mr Labouchere has certainly an odd idea of what might be an effective reply from a person who finds himself, by the accidental discovery of his correspondence 10,000 miles away, threatened with eternal disgrace. As for Dr Clark, who, just before the war, advised Kruger to "seize all the passes," it is not on record that he has yet attempted any real defence at all.

The Tables Turned.

"Thn time, lias coins when Paris can no longer conceal from the world the failure of her great Exhibition," says the London Daily Mail ; and the time has alsc come when Englishmen need not by any means conceal from themselves — or, indeed, for that matter, from Paris, — that they are unaffectedly glad of the fact. " Quorum pars magna fui,"' said iEneas, sorrowfully but proudly, when telling how the Greeks had overwhelmed his fair city of Troy, and of the dreadful scenes he had witnessed there. The Englishman

who has stayed away fcotai Fam chuckle over some such expression, AjfKefif reading the latest outburst of caluinny^andl hatred against his country, as served uri daily in the Parisian press. Unlike JEneas;] however, the Englishman's "great part" v} the humiliation of the French capital H^ consisted in his not being there. It is af curious method of attack— -not at all like? our way in South Africa — but, in the ex 4 pressive American phrase, we have gbit there all the same. Lyijley LambournaJ foreshadoAved the noAV avowed truth fay af cartoon in Punch, representing Krugerj portmanteau and money-bags in hand, de.-* bating for what place to take his single ticket. "I think," he says at last, with;' the Krugerian leer, "I'll go to the Paris' Exhibition ; they tell me there are lio English there!" The Parisian, it seems, deeply feels the fact that not only has he failed to plunder the Englishman, as he expected;' — an expectation Avhich, according to some authorities, accounted for F^shoda, and caused the street Avhich bore that name in Paris to be meekly re-christened — but thai, in failing, he has come to dismal grief himself before the whole Avorld. The' one franc tickets to the Exhibition are selling at 21fr a hundred— a bigger discount for the gay city's paper than if it Avere Turkish bonds, or Columbian Republic greenbacks, or — Tve might also Avickedly suggest — the .paper issues of their beloved Kruger. Paris, Avhich so frantically rejoiced at our early defeats in Cape Colony and Natal, has not been having it all her own Avay since. Nor; only has the Exhibition proved a Dead Sea apple, but one of their crack battleships Las just sunk the best French tor-pedo-boat ; a widely-known French writev has called the Russian alliance "that g;gantic fraud and farce" ; and, worst of all, French officers in the Far East have actually been ordered, under compulsion of Russia" te fight under the hated C4erman flag tnid to obey the orders of a German, gene-" ralissimo. Tfre Parisian newspapers reflect I .the bitter national grief Avith which this lafcfc indignity has been endured ; and for once, furious* and infamous as has been and' is the French hatred of our race, and vile" as has been the method of its expression, ! we can, afford to extend aj?ilent sympathy, to a nation Avhose pride nas, in such an" j incident as this, been" so bitterly loAvered.