The Otago Witness, with which is incorporated the southern MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, ARCH 27, 1901.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2454, 27 March 1901, Page 41

The Otago Witness, with which is incorporated the southern MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, ARCH 27, 1901.) THE WEEK.

Early Experiences from a New Aspect.

"NnnquUß ftilui nxturs, a.iua saoicmia di\it."—Juti.iil. It is, of course, much to be regretted that j there should be any dispute , (

Trjing It On.

or disagreeable discussion ' over the question of the find- I of the money for the

reception of the Duke and Duchess of York > in New Zealand. But it is a great deal , better that there should be some such dis- ; cussion than that the reception should be meanly conducted, or that the cost should , fall on the wrong shoulders. If Mr Sed- ■ don had his own way, it certainly would fall on the wrong shoulders. It is a little surprising that any one — certainly that any newspaper — should be deceived in the real character of the so-called "rating" the Premier, gave to the deputation from the Wellington City Council which waited upen him the- other day. Nothing could . be more reasonable than the proposal of the j Mayor of Wellington. ' The estimated cost > of the reception, he said, would be £4000. The law limited the expenditure of a Borough on such occasions to £250. But relying on an indemnity the City would j supply £2000 if the Government would sub- j sidise it to an e<|ual amount. Thereupon . came the "rating" to the City of Welling- | ton, which said rating, however, was ob- ' viou&ly directed, not really to Wellington, I but to the other cities and boroughs of the J Colony. It was a shallow attempt to | "bluff' them into paying entirely out of ■ their own pockets the reception expenditure j that beyond doubt ought, in great part at | least, to fall upon the Treasury. With not very well affected scorn Mr Seddon , told the Wellington City Council that '• neither Timaru nor Oamaru, nor any in- 1 land borough would make such a demand j upon the public purse as Wellington was \ now doing. Mr Seddon was not in the j least indignant with Wellington, but was j rather TBeanly bent upon protecting his , forthcoming surplus (estimated by Mr Ward ; at iS400,000) from legitimate demands upon : it, well knowing its political value to himself. He argued to himself that if he praised up Dunedin for its patriotism and liberality, and anticipated similar qualities from other places like Timaru and Oama.ru, i they would thus be cajoled out of making [ a demand upon the public purse for any portion of the reception expenses. The trick has been practised upon Dunedin before, and with some success. Why should the citizens of Wellington be called upon to pay £4000 towards the expenses j of a national reception, or the citizens of | ChriM-chureh or Dunedin £2000, or whatever the amount may be? The Duke and Duchess of York will be the guests of the colony, properly invited to New Zealand by the Governor, on the advice of his Minisiers, and on behalf of the colony. It is for the Government, therefore, as the host, to see that the money is forthcoming j to make the reception worthy of the colony. The chief municipalities doubt- ! less should, and will, contribute their j share, but it should not be forgotten that ( the guests are the guests of the colony, j and not of the municipalities. It is surely j a little cool of the Premier, after inviting j the heir to the throne to the colony, to say. j that the "Government has quite made up ( its mind" not to bear the cost. It is for , members of Parliament to see that the J Government changes its mind. And it is \ high time that Mr Seddon should cease hinting that private individuals should bear the cost of such functions, for no other | reason apparently tham becaiise they are I able to do so. He might as well ask them J for the same reason to pay the Old Age •• Pensions. We are not aware that the people of this colony are slow to come forward with voluntary subscriptions when the occasion requires it. If Mi' Seddon thinks so, let him set a good exa.mple. ife has himself made many heavy .demands upon the public purse, demands "which we ' have always held will yet be the subject > of a scrutiny denied them at the time they j were incurred. But in all New Zealand there is no name that would look more unfamiliar at the head of a subscription list than that lof the man who is so ready to accu&e other people of meanness. We notice that the people of Christchurch have parsed resolutions calling upon the Government to pay their share of the reception expenses. If the other cities allow themselves to be bullied or cajoled into bolstering up the Premier's surplus at their own expense, they cannot wonder if in the future they find themselves the subjects of systematic Seddonian imposition. There was not the smallest necessity for Mr Donald Reid, in his

A Word iii Season.

pleasant and instructive j speech at the 1851 Jubi-

lee meeting of the Otago j Early Settlers' Association, to apologise for : introducing the subject of federation with the Australian Commonwealth. His remarks on that head were at once timely and judicious, and are well worthy of any emphasis we caai give them. After wishing every success to the new Commonwealth, Mr Reid continued : " But while he said that, as one of the old identities of this beautiful land of ours, with our sea-girt isle, with our grand climate, with ( our numerous harbours, our clear skies, And our pure rivers — with everything that could go to make a people happy and comfortable — he hoped the day was far distant v/Ken we should think of parting with the great privilege which the founders of the colony — and especially the foundeVs of J Otago— fought for when' they left their i native land.- We should have control of our own affairs. In his estimation nothing could compensate us if we parted with the invaluable privilege of shaping our own future as we thought best in our <owa interest. We should tbiDk. well before

we decided to throw in our lot where we would be, as it were, a mere drop in the bucket. We had a noble inheritance in our beautiful isle, and we should not lose the control of it." A great deal more than this could, of course, be urged against federation, but the crucial point in the whole matter is contained in these few sentences of Mr Reid. Our country is a beautiful island, widely separated from Australia. It has an individuality of its own. By our own government and our own effoits vre have made it what it is. No one would venture- to deny that it is destined in time to be a populous and important State. Why on earth should we deliberately throw away that autonomy which is. above all things, dear to nations, and for the attainment or recovery of which thejr are always ready to make such deadly sacrifices? The curious thing is that to these questions there is positively no answer. Some persons have vaguely talked about federation being " necessaiy to our expansion," to the "fulnlm°nt of our destiny," a.nd so forth. If such persons were asked to leave these safe generalities and explain why, they would a,t once be landed in hopeless difficulties. They might, with every whit as much reason, urge that we never could fulfil our destiny until we were absorbed' into the Canadian- Dominion, or a looming South African Confederation. If distance counts, the difference is merely one of degree ; if distance does not count," as some enthusiasts would seem to maintain, then there is nothing to choose as between union with either of these countries and Australia. TRere are others who quite as vaguely talk about the " large market that would be opened up for our produce."' Such persons obviously do not know what the market really is. or they would not so glibly acquiesce in the loss of the control of our own affairs for such » marilent return. The meaning practically is that w« have been able to sell to Australia oats, representing less than 2 per cent, of our present export. Australia does not and never will provide us a large market. The countries are too much alike in the character of their produce — wool, gold, meat, and grain. Nor is there anything surer than that if the Australians require our oats they will, have them whether we fed^a-te or remain apart. It would seem that Australian leading men, since they have had time to think over the matter, are by no means as anxious as they were that New Zealand should join. They begin to see that they will form a much stronger and more compact dominion without a State separated from them by 1200 miles of sea. Our Federation Commission is attracting no attention in Australia, and Trill evidently have to rely on New Zealand evidence in compiling its report. What that report may happen to be doe&n't really matter much It is pretty certain New Zeilanders do not intend to abandon their autonomy in a hurry.

While vre get pleasant reminiscences of the times from the. meet-

early ings of the Early Settlers' Association, we- ?lso get an occasional glimpse of early history from quite

unexpected quarters. No one would think of going to the " New Zealand Medical Journal 1' for reminiscences of the old days, but in the November number of that (to the layman) not very attractive publication will be found some of the experiences of an old-time doctoi' (we use the term with respect), set briefly, but pleasantly, forth. Many of our readers will doubtless jump to the conclusion that that enthusiastic antiquarian Dr Hocken has been uner.Ttliing medical experiences, but they wilL be mistaken. The writer is Dr F. A. Moncton, of Feilding, who in the early days was settled in Invercargill. There was at that time no regular communication between Dunedin and Invercargill; in the south there were no bridges and no special ros.ds, but a number of more or less defined tracks, out of which the traveller Jiad to choose such as seemed to suii: him best. Dr Moncton has had to ride from Invercargill to Dunedin to purchase a stock of medicines, and buy another horse on which to pack them back. On one such occasion he met a brother medico, who offered him, for the medicines four times the cost, but they were too precious to part "with at any price. It was a. common experience amid the complexity of the various tracks to be benighted, in which case there was nothing for it but to pass the night under such shelter as Nature provided. Dr Moneton draws a striking contrast between the surgical operation of the early days and that of the present day. " See the surgeon of the present time," he writes, "in decorous black clothes, spotless linen, effeminate hands, and a grave, thoughtful countenance, proceeding to perform an operation in a, commodious room, with trained nurses and an armamentarium (the word, except it be a specially m^d'cal one, seems to have been coined by the resourceful doctor) of asepticised instruments." Then he proceeds to give an experience of his own. At Invercargill he received a verbal message that someone "up Wmton way" had broken his leg, and required the doctor's services. Packing his medical appliances on his horse, the doctor started for Winton. There he was told the case must be at Castle Rock station, at which place he was told the word had come from Blackmount. There he was told a tree had fallen on a man at Te Aneni Lake (100 miles from his starting point), but when he arrived there he found he had to go to Eglkiton, 20 miles further. Captain Hankinson, however, whose name will be remembered by fhe older settlers, provided him with a fresh horse, and accompanied him to his destination. His uatient wr.s found with a " hopelessly-smashed" leg. requiring instant amputation above the knee. The doctor's account of his technical work is too concise to be told in any other words than his own:—"With Ha#kinson's 'help I ground down three whitehandled table knives to narrow blades and fine edges, improvised a tourniquet by three folde of calico with a wine-cork stitched, ia one place and a loop for a

twitching slick in pnother, gave my vojhii teer assistants their instructions, and. Wit*' whisky, taken in the absence of chloroform, we achieved the removal of tin 1" limb, I think, in workman-like manner." Dr ISMncton appears to have taken tip hi:» abode with his patient, for he tells us iha-i though his progress was rapid for a time, on the twelfth day the poor fellow died of tetanus. The doctors of the early days had muol to contend with, and there were doubttasa heroes nmoag them. But we laymen may be thankful, amid much else, for the "com modious rooms, the trained nurses, and the 1 armamentarium' of asepticised instrui ments." But of course we don't want to see the inside of the room if we can avoid itIt was a thoroughly American idea, thali of the New York World, to-

Lions in the Path.

send a circular to various well-known persons asking

them their opinion as to tho chief social and political dangers confronting the twentieth century. The answers are interesting enough, as showing the direction of the thought of the individual minds; but the sifre thing is that no one of the answers indicates the real sources of the dangers of the century. There are very few thinking and observing people who have not had occasion to realise in their own or their neighbours lives the biblica) truth that we know not what a day may bring forth; but when the time is extended to a. century, nothing is surer than that it is the unexpected and unforeseen that will happen. Time has a special faculty for dissolving threatening dangers and solving complex problems, and the human mind has no faculty whatever for looking into the future. The possible dangers of the nineteenth century, as we recall them, lay hidden in the genius and mad ambition of Napoleon (at the beginning of the century only Consul, however) ; the Reform riots; the European revolutions of 1848 ; ithe Crimean war; the Indian Mutiny ; ths American. Civil war ; the Prusso-Austrian and Franco-Prussian wars ; Irish Agrarian riots and Home Rule agitations ; the Egyptian war (Arabi Pasha) ; and the now flickering Transvaal war. Of all these potential causes of trouble only the dagger from Napoleon could have been foreseen at the beginning of last century, and that only because^ it was already in baneful operation. Had George 111 one ' hundred years a?o been asked where the danger of the then coming century lay, he v/ould probably have answered, "in the proposed Catholic Emancipation " —a me^ sure which 29 years afterwards was passed as a be.re act of justice. Tens of thousands of sensible people foresaw the absolute ruin of. their country in the Reform Bill and tho Repeal of the Corn laws. The individual lo.oks back in amazement at. what he thought at the time were dsngeis threatening ruin to his career, fo that is is not odd that the nation, which is bu-> a bundle of. individuals, should do the same. i What to us seems a. notable feahue oZ ths p.nswers given to the quest'mi put b/ the New York World is the numboi of pfisons who think that the great danger o? the twentieth century will be found in the press—ln what h-is hitherto been considered an e^rati-. of the realm, and one of the greab guarantees of liberty. Dr Conan Doyle, Mt Stanley Weyman, Mas O'Rell, and Mr T. M. Healy, all men connected with literature or the press, are of the same opinion. The idea is a birth of these later years, when the newspapers began rapidly to increase, the competition between them becpjme acute, and they in consequence began pandering for popular favour. The bad relations existing between France and England is recognised to be largely due to the truculence and mischievous apgiessiveness of a number of Parisian newspapers, which, however inferior in matter and tone, have enormous circulations and prodigious influence over the half educated and the. ignorant. The decadence in Britain is noticeable enough, but so far it has not, at all events to anything like the same degree, lent its-eh' to the promotion of international mischief. It is a significant fact that the relations between the Government's of Great Britain t".nd all the Continental nations is mobt amicable, while these latter nations themselves regard us with a very genuine and whole-souled hatred. Beyond a doubt the explanation in great part is that the newspapers exercise great influence over the mass of the population, and very little over the statesmen of the various countries. The danger arising from the influence .of a press which has no idea of restraint is undoubted, but we do not believe it is destined to be the danger of a century. The individual whose conduct lacks restraint seldom carries weight with his fellow men. In time it will doubtless be the same with newspapers. At present only the few perceive the dangers they may work, the prevailing feeling being an ignorant legard for, and acceptance of, all that rppears in print. When the many perceive what is now obvious onb- to the few. we may expect a corresponding change in the character and tone of newspapers. It is somewhat comforting, too, to observe that, although considerable numbers of human beings, in all countries, prefer inferior public men to those of a better stamp, the ideas which govern the world are still mainly the ideas of the intelligent and the responsible. In our last issue our readers may have noticed the programme of

Mixing Things Up.

subjects to be rli'-cussed by the National Council of Women at their forthcom-

ing meeting, which is to be held at Wan ganui. It is a rather portentous document. Here is one item: — 2. Elective Executive.—That this council ■views with dissatisfaction the manifest inefficiency of the New Zealand Parliament as an instrument for obtaining beneficial legislation or administration. The council is of opinion that in order to effect any real impro\ rnreiit in parliamentary methods the House of Representatives should elect the members of the Cabinet, who shall thus be made ias-

ridually directly responsible and . removable by the House. The council is further of j opinion that each member of the House j ihould be free to act according to the wishes ; pf his constituents or the dictates of his con- j science, and not to be the mere slave of putty. ! The National Council of Women do not lack courage in politics ; they are prepared to plunge into any sea, however dark and unknown. When the Prince Consort once ingenuously remarked that parliamentary institutions were on their trial, he brought down upon himself a howl of disapproval, the echoes of which we even now hear. /The women of our National Council seem to have come to the conclusion that no good of any kind can come at all events out of th? Parliament of New Zealand. It is "manifestly inefficient" as an instrument for "obtaining beneficial legislation pr administration. Of course the council lias not come to this sweeping conclusion yet, but, as a rule, all its resolutions are carried. It seems odd that a. colony so advanced as New Zealand undoubtedly is jghould have emerged from barbarism in the short space of 5Q years with an institution so hopelessly inefficient, either for '•'legislation or administration'," as its Parliament hanging on to it. There must . i>s .something very wrong, some? great confusion of ideas somewhere, but whether it is in- Parliament or in the National Council of Women is a point which it •would be rash to decide until after the 'debate upon our hapless institution " takes pince. . Strange, too, that ,the> only cure for the inefficiency of Parliament should, in the opinion of the National Council, be th<> election of the Cabinet by the House. The change is a surprisingly simple and easy one to produce such a tremendous result as an organic change in the character, status, and work of a Parliament — a change irom hopeless inefficiency, both in " legislation and administration," to perfection, or something near it, in both. We have no space to deal further with the question at present. But we would suggest to the National Council of Women, in good - *jme for, their debate, that another simple jiud far more reliable method of increasing the efficiency of Parliament, alike in legislation and administration, is to return a better, stamp of representative. If the IJjtfcional Council could induce all women .voters to take that view, they would do infinitely more good than by picking up the idle talk of so-called male reformers and j funning it as their own mature opinions. ]