PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.)

Mr- Paterson — who -for advertising purposes prefers to be known as "Banjo" Paterson — is a young Australian, well-knit, though. nojfc massive, half-bushman, half_i journalist, and about as. smart as they make them. He has a story to tell, and he tells it excellently, with a 1 resonant voice 'and in the Australian dialect. No /trace of self-consciousness about Mr Paterson ; although his experience as a lecturer can date only from the other day he' treads the boards as if to the manner born, talks straight ahead, simply, naturally, and with rarely, a superfluous ,word. -In short, I like Mr Paterson ; his clear-cut pronouncements "ronr 1 men -and things -and events in South Africa are pleasant to hear even when -they fail to convince. About the gallantry of Major Robin, to which Mr Paterson bears testimony, we at least, the Dunedin people, are not hard to convince. It would have taken a good deal to convince us ' the other way. But the less said on this subject the better. The gallantry of a New Zealand volunteer, officer or troopar, may surely be taken for granted. There are other points on which Mr Patersqn speaks without hesitancy, yet leaves his hearers hesitating. Up to the very day that^Lord Roberts took charge in the field there were disasters, he says, but never - » disaster afterward. What, then, about Reddersburg, which cost Gatacre his command ; and what about the ambush at -Koornspruit? -Were not these pretty considerable disasters? Then, about lyddite, ■which Mr Paterson declares "a howling fraud " : — it chances that in the same number of v the Daily Times another war correspondent, Mr Stuart, gives testimony ample and detailed tp the destruction wrought by lyddite as witnessed by himself. "A Boer,' n writing to the editor, "points this out, and remarks oracularly jfehat there are other howling frauds in the world besides lyddite. There are, no doubt ;' but Mr Paterson is not one of them. He is simply the war correspondent unmuzzled, with no fear of the censor Jaefore his eyes, giving his personal impressions for what they are worth.'' " And they are worth much. /He is the man who lias beer there; the man who i&s iu.t -been there may sit at his feet. If there is any need to look for howling frauds !\ve liad" better look in the direction of the

' Boer who lives in a British community and masquerades as a Britisher.

The "missing link," our long-desiderated ancestor, has turned up at last. TLat is to say, part of him has-rthe crown of- his 'head,' three teeth, and a-thigh-bene. These fragments were recently -unearthed in Java, and at the present time two eminent scientists have been despatched from Europe by t\vo rival scientific societies to look ior the rest of him and for other members of his family. The top of a skull, three teeth, and a thigh-bone — it doesn't seem much to go upon ; but 'twill serve, say the '. experts. Did not Cuvier, or^ Owen, or ! some other big-wig in that line of things, • reconstruct an extinct paleontological mon- . ster till then unknown, deducing his whole anatomy frpxn evidence supplied by the last joint of his tail — or 'something of that sort? This is science, remember ; don't confound ' it with the doings of pretenders to the occult, who, for a Small fee, will deduce you a man's character and destiny from the parings of his nails or a leek of his haif/ Our Dunedin Professor of Biolog}', Dr Benham, has an excellent article in the Christchurch Press showing how much may be scientifically inferred from the top of a skull, three teeth, and a thigh-bone. -xHe — Pithecanthropus erectus, our great forefather — was ape-like in face and form, and therefore tailless, and no doubt more fully ' clothed in hair than any man/ He was, hoy/1 ever, ' erect — he had acquired - that supremely i important power of straightening his back, raising his head, and standing upright on his " hind legs " as a normal habit (just as apes can do and do do at times). > His arms were thereby relieved from any share in locomotion, and in this posture he measured sft 6in, and his weight was probabV about 10 or 11 stone. This being was in the habit cf sqrtatiing on his haunches when at rest, lie climbed trees, in which possibly lie made a rude shelter of boughs, as the orang does. His food consisted of fruits and roots, as in the case of the lower races oi man. It is more than probable that he could utter some particles of speech ; but that he used any other weapon of defence than a stick, bioken from a tree, we have no evidence; nor that jhe could make fire. This being must have I lived somewhere about the beginning of the last European glacial epoch, in the late-Plio-J cene times, when peculiar species of beasts — now extinct there — ranged over Java. This period is reckoned as being 270.000 years ago, and there must have been 17,000 generations between Pithecanthropus and the most primitive human beings of the present time. From extreme to extreme— -from Pithecanthropus to a colonial Premier, shall we say? — is 270 millenniums, or 17,000 generations. Looking at the finished product, I am disposed to complain that human development has been slow.

I have received a pamphlet in praise oi Vegetarianism — the author a resident at Akarpa, which should be not a bad- place to vegetate in. He warns us that unless, as he recommends, we limit ourselves to a diet of " fruit, vegetables, and grains '' ■we may look out for " disaster to our race^" On the other hand it is obvious that if we adopt his; recommendation we may look out for disaster to our frozen-mutton trade. Provisionally I shall stand by the pastoral interest and frozen-mutton. There are the usual vegetarian arguments in this pamphlet, and some that 'arc unusual. Thus a Dr Milner Fother.gill is quoted for .the statement that " All the bloodshed caused by- the warlike disposition of Napoleon is as nothing compared- to the myriads of persons who have sunk into their graves through a misplaced confidence in the value of beef-tea." Gracious ! — it would be well, one would think, to substitute muttonbroth. But, to proceed, " Have animals a future existence?" — asks the author, impressively. " The commonest excuse for taking the life of an animal is that it has no soul. Is this true?" Not in my experience. I should say that the commonest excuse for taking the life of an animal is that we want to eat it. The vegetarian view, as I gather, is 'that an animal has an immortal soul, and for that reason ought ,not to be eaten. The inference seems weak, "but let that pass ; for the theory itself, conferring as it does immortality on the beasts that perish, I have nothing but admiration. It is the theory of the " poor Indian," "Who thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall beai him company. And if his faithful dog, why not also his harmless necessary cat? I mention the cat, because a London evening paper has recently had a lively discussion on, the possibility of "cats in heaven."- In the course of it the following authentic epitaph from the cemetery at Woburn Abbey has turned up: — HERE LIES THOMAS PUSS. *\ Born May, 1888.' Died Feb, 1895. Foe six and a-half years the faithful friend and companion of Herbrand Duke of Bedford and" Mary his wife. ' There are men both wise and good, who hold I that in a future state I Dumb creatures we have cherished here below Shall give us joyous greeting as we pass the golden gate. Is it folly that I hope it may be so?

This is affecting, but it is not evidence. There are some of us, no doubt, who would welcome our own cats in another world ; but what about ofher people's, cats? Altogether the doctrine of animal immortality bristles with difficulties, and I shall postpone adli&iion" to it until 'I can become a conscientious Vegetarian.

At Alexandra and thereby the slack season is establishing itself ; the river keeps high ; dredging returns are low ; the spirit of the inhabitants may be expressed in the drowsy chant "We're a' nodding, nid, nid, nodding, And dropping off to sleep. Up and down the river a number of dredges are ostensibly in building ; but the unanimous belief of distant shareholders is that contractors, directors, and all concerned nt>t uncommonly go to sleep for weeks at a time. A Dunedin mala who has been up to see for himself informs me that "one night at an hotel in Alexandra the conversation turned on the sleeping powers ot different individuals, and among them a well-conditioned resident of St. Bathans was credited with the ability to sleep an inordinate length of time, and to drop off to sleep anywhere and at any time without the least trouble. The landlord of the hotel related that he had been enjoying a rest on one of the lounges in his house when some visitors came in, and remarking that he was asleep and that they would not disturb him, as he was known to require a lot of sleep, proceeded to discuss the curious capacity for sleep "which some people 'possess, and instanced the St. Bathans man, remarking that they would back him against anybody in New Zealand in this special faculty. The landlord, who was not asleep and had heard the 'conversation, promptly arose and said he was prepared to accept the challenge. In due course there reached him the cartel of the St. Bathans man offering "to sleep him for a £5-note," ' and to it Boniface made answer as follows : Dear Sir,— ln reply to your somewhat oversanguine challenge re sleeping match for a 'wager at the White Horse Hotel, I wish to thank you for affording me the opportunity ot convincing you that at the conclusion of the contest you will be a sadder and very much wiser man. At the word "Go!" the two competitors are to fall asleep simultaneously ; neither to be drunk ; the previous u&e of opium pills, the New Zealand Hansard, or other narcotics, strictly forbidden by the terms of the wager. My informant did not supply these particulars; they are obviously necessary, and I have added them out of mv own head. For anything I know the contest may now be in progress, and all Alexandra going about on tip-toe — church bells and steam whistles silenced — pending the result. Such are the intellectual recreations of a dredging township in the slack season. Civis.

The Hon. T. Y. Duncan inspected the Otaio station, South Canterbury, on the 19th inst., and expressed himself favourable to its acquirement by the Government for closer settlement purposes. The Land Purchase Board had already reported favourably to the Government re taking the estate over. With reference to the mishap at Evansdale on the 17th inst., whereby Mr F. Rogen lost by drowning a horse which he had lent to three ymmg men to enable them to cross the swollen creek, it should be stated, in justice to these gentlemen, that they intend to pay ilr Rogen the market value of his horse. As the unfortunate campers are likely to lose all, or nearly all, of the effects they had with them in the j cart, their accident was not only physically unpleasant but also somewhat, costly to them. At a meeting of the congregation of the Ravens'bourne Presbyterian Church on the I 19 bh inst. (the Rev. Mr Tennent, moderator, presiding), it *\vas unanimously agreed to petition the presbytery to grant moderation m 'a call, and Messrs Wise, Ross, and Jamieson were appointed to represent the congregation before the presbytery in support of the peti- ! tion. At a convention to consider methods of { pastoral visitation, which was held at Trinity Church on the 20tb inst., and attended -by the ministers of the Otago Wesleyan District Synod, the following resolution was carried on the motion of the Rev. J. J. Lewis: — "The members of the Otago District Synod express their deep sympathy with the family of the Rev. Edward Best in their sudden bereavement, and pray that the Divine consolation may abound towards them in their hour^ of need. The brethren now assembled in a convention to consider the best methods iov pastoral work gratefully remember how our 'departed brother endeared himself to the flock I of which he was overseer by his faithful minisI Iraticns in their homc-s, while as a preacher lie ever esallcd Clirisl, and won many soub

to God by his evangelistic earnestness. "We ■ rejoice that lie was spared a long illness, and died as a good soldier, bearing aloft the stan- ' dard of the Cross. We pray -that his mantle may fall upon us-, and that we may have grace to follow him as far as he followed Christ." j A convention held in the' evening passed the ! following resolution: — "That this meeting of Methodists in the church to which the late Rev. E. Best was fjrst appointed in this \ colony, 21 years ago, desires to express to Mrs j Beit and her family its deep sympathy with them in their bereavement, and assures them that many in this city remember his faithful , ministry with affection and gratitude." We have to acknowledge a subscription to the Mrs Thos. East fund of £2 2s from Mr Thos. 'Mackenzie. At Wellington on the 20tb inst. the stipen- | diary magistrate gave judgment in a case in which a firm of mine- ■ ral water manufacturers claimed a return of some bottles which had come into the possession of a marine storekeeper. The \ court held that the bottles were the property of the issuers, end could not honestly be acquired by other persons except with their consent. Judgment was given accordingly. Under the Manual and Technical Instruction Act of last session the Government intend to appoint two technical instructors at £350 a year each. About half a dozen deaths have occurred at the various Maori settlements in Waikato during the last month (says the Hamilton correspondent of the Auckland Star) from a complaint resembling a severe form of influenza, which is supposed to have been brought from the Taupo district. In one instance a man buried his wife, and a couple of days afterwards was seized with the complaint, which carried him off on Sunday. Little or no inquiry is made into the onatter, and the sufferers receive next to no attention, no one seeming to care whether they live or die. Seventy-five thousand pounds for t\e OberAmmergau Passion Play! This season sixteen extra performances have been given, and the amount thus realised reaches the enormous ' sum of £75,000, without counting the extensive trade done in photographs, wood carvings, rosaries, and " holy " images. - For pic- . ture postcards alone no less" than £7500 has been taken, and it is said that the woodcarvers of Ober-Ammergau have not a single I article left! On the eastern section of the Siberian railway the water supply is a difficult problem, j Of the 15 water stations there is only one i which can calculate upon continuous supply i from a river (the Onon) ; all the other rivers the line 'passes freeze to the bottom during the winter. Long pipes in the ground are virtu- j ally, no good, on account of the ground being j always frozen ; also most of the lakes freeze 1 to the bottom, and their water is also too saH. The few fresh-water springs would likewise necessitate long pipes ; consequently it has been necessary to sink wells as close to the water towers as their safety will allow. The pipes from the wells to the towers are so cased in that they can be heated from th--» engine house; also the wells can be heated either by steam or by special stoves. Tlv water which these wells supply is, however, also frequently salt; and, even apart from this drawback, the system, as so far constructed, seems inefficient, and calls for considerable improvement. It has also been suggested to store and melt ice, but this has not been tried. — Engineering. * ' A gentleman who arrived by the south express on Wednesday evening informs us that although it great quantity of water was still , to be seen in the Taieri and other districts the damage sustained by the farmers is not likelyv to be so extensive as was- anticipated. Not a small proportion of the stock that it was thought had perished are now turning up. Yours Truly is the name of the new steam- : ship (says the Daily Mail) which is going to cross the Atlantic in two days. The name of its inventor is Mr- John Richard Hudson, of Sheffield. The" difference between Yours Truly and the/ ordinary, obsolete steamers like the Oceanic and Deutschland is that, whereas these have but a couple of propellers apiece, Yours Truly has 14-, which she carries half on one side, half on the other, with about 60ft between each. Also, whereas the old-fash-ioned, discredited plan was to have the shaft horizontal, hers enter the side at a long slant, forward, inward, and upward, at an angle of about 30deg. They are worked by electricity. The advantages are obvious to the meanest intellect. Whereas, under the bad old system, the vessel had to dig a great hole in the water, like a deep railway cutting-, which was filled ! up again by water the moment the ship had j passed, Yours Truly is compelled by the set { of her propellers to rise in the water some 10ft or 15ft, according to speed. The necessary

" and obvious result is that (in the words oE her inventor) "slid skims and shells forward ' as fast as she likes, the great powur h* : . g converted- into speed, and not waited in churning and driving .tho,ir-ands ,of tons of j water away for miles." Yours Truly ! wants to stop, her propellers, being reversed, { drag her back into deep water. On the other hand, she caret nothing for waves, and can , neither capsize r.or roll. | His Excellency the Governor left Invercargill on Wednesday morning by the express train in his ' own special" carriage, j and changed * at Waipahi to ' the* j fapanuJ line. . He 'was met on arrival at Tapanui by the mayor and members of the Borough ..Council and Mr J. W. ; Thomson, M.H.R., when an address wae pre- ( sented and suitably acknowledged. His Excellency remains in the 'district for several , days. The bresich-of-proini'se case Jane H. Thorn, son v. William Murcott was concluded at th. . , Supreme Court on Wednesday, having oc^ cupied three clays. The jury, after , a retirement of six hours, brought in a verdict- for the plaintiff for £275 and costs. The ' amount claimed was £1000." The nonsuit point raised by Mr Eraser, counsel for the defendant, has yet to be argued, but no date has been fixed for its hearing. ' " ' At last Wednesday's meeting of the Education Board a copy of a circular letter was received' from the Education department' inviting inspectors of schools- to • hold -■ a conference #next January for the consideration of subjects in connection with the public school system of education. Three, or.,, four members took exception to the department^sending "the in- " vitafcion »to the inspectors without ' first consulting the board, and a resolution was passed expressing the board's strong 'disapproval of the action of the department in regard to the matter. ' The weekly meeting of the Benevolent Institution trustees was held on Wedj nesday-, and was attended by Messrs I Bayiies (chairman), Wilson, Treseder, Ziele, Hazlett, and Gourley. Accounts amounting tc ' £4-3 13s Bd. were passed for payment. It was reported that the cost of maintenance of inmates in. j the institution for October was £253 lls 3d. The number of inmates was 259, and the cosfc per head per week 4-s sd. John Lyndhurst, j no.cd 45 years, died, in the institution on Frii day last. Twenty-four relief cases wera i dealt with. On the 16th inst. James M'Leod, aged 65 years, and Frederick Laloli left Mil- ! ler's Flat on horseback for Canadian. ! Flat, Upper Taieri River, a disj tanco of 35 miles. Getting benighted -two miles from Canadian Flat, ihey camped on the tussocks. Next morning they o departed to search for their horses, which had strayed away during the night. Laloli returned to Miller's Flat, but left M'Leod, who, although search was made for him, had not been seen or heard of since. * In the Supreme Court on Wednesday tli3 case of Margaret Ami'M'Kenzie v. the Rpslyn. ' Tramway Company, a claim; for- £1000 damages "for injuries sustained by -plain tiff .while travelling on the" tram to Roslyn last December, was commenced. The plaintiff herself gave evidence, being' wheeled into' court in an invalid's «chair for the purpose. She was 1 seized -wjifch a fainting fit twice during tii& hearing. ' The Government steamer Hinemoa re.turned_.to Auckland from her visit to the Kermadecs last week. The depots on Curtis and Macaulay Islands, placed there for ths relief of shipwrecked mariners, -were .found to be intact. Wolverj-a Rockj in Denham. Bay, Sunday Island, vas charted, N and the longitude of Macaulay Island was fixed. This was formerly given as 178.32 W., but Captain. i Bollens places it at -178:24-: W. -i*.- - # --- ThY .scheme for establishing -an .industrial home for ' boys -at_.L'eyin, on the Manawatu. railway line,' has .been approved by Cabinet. £1500 is to be expended", in -the erection of a building and its equipment. 1 The site is not yet selected, but it will probably be the present State farm.' The- home-is to accommodate about 100 boyss, who will be taught trades. ' We have received a subscription of 10s from C. L. F. towards' the Mrs Thomas East Fund. During the crush at' the Palmerston railway station on -show day (reports the Woodville Examiner), Mr Palmer, the Government pomologist, was relieved of -his pocket-book, I which contained about £14. "Various other j instances of pocket-picking are reported. The Railway department announce the > running of extra trains on the Palmerston-— < Dunback line on "Wednesdays, commencing Decembei 5.