THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 41

THE WEEK.

The old adage that one must go from home to heai news of oneself A may be applied to counBeminiscence. tries as well as to individuals, and it is perhaps evidence of the increasing age and the rapid growth of New Zealand that it is now found to occasionally apply to the colony. Sir Edward Stafford, whose death in London we had recently to lecord. was remembered in the colony because he had more than once filled the highest post in public lift — that of Premier — and because he left the colony somewhat under 30 years ago. Another decade and perhaps Sir Edward Stafford's name would have been quite lost m the mists of time. One of the recent issues of the London Times devoted some space — more than would be allotted to o respectable major-general or admiral of the olden time — to the death at Hove, in Sussex, of a certain Eobert Graham, who apparently had resided for nearly 40 years in England, bur wJio?e record came entirely from New Zealand. Fiom The Times lather than from the Otago Daily omes the answer. Mr Graham, to commence with, was pieseafc at the signing of the Treaty of Wai-

tangi in 1840 (he was 88 at his death). He was a member of the fust House of Representatives, and continued to sit for nine sessions. There appears to be a mistake here, as the first session was in 1854, while Mr Graham's record seems to have been from 1856 — 1867, when he disappears from view. His claim to remembrance, however, does not rest on parliamentary service. The Times, in its obituary notice, says: — "It was owing to the influence of Mr Graham with the Maoris that the Waikato war of 1865 was brought to an end. Mr Graham volunteered to go alone into the hostile country and endeavour to get Tamihana, the great Maori war chief (the King-maker), to make peace. His offer was accepted, although no one believed he would be successful, or that going unarmed, his life would be spared. He succeeded, however, in persuading the Maori chiefs to go with him to Tamahere, wheie he arranged a meeting between them and General Carey . . . and then persuaded the Natives to consent to the proposed terms of peace, which peace has continued uninterrupted until the present day." All this is substantially true, although, as is often the case, the facts, as stated, make somewhat more of Mr Graham's service than perhaps it was entitled to. Rusden, in his detestably-written history, says that Mr Graham was "about to proceed to the Waikato," and offered while there to interview the famous Tamihana Te Waharoa, and induce him to agree to the terms of peace offered. He did see Tamihana, and, as stated, brought him anc 1 others in to General Carey. But it did not stop the war exa,ctlv, ' but left it pretty much as Lord Roberts left the Transvaal — subject to a guerilla warfare, during which occurred a good many Hau Hau atrocities. The principal chiefs, too — and Tamihana was always on the side of peace — were utterly sick of the strife, and the Waikatoes were being gradually driven into great stiaits. Mr Graham was no doubt perfectly safe in going to Tamihana — a vast deal safer than he would be in carrying a peace offering to Christian de Wet. He rendered himself all the safer, too, by going unarmed into the enemy's country. The possession of arms would have made his trip very liskv. At that time it had come to be an article of faith with the settlers that they were safer unarmed. It will be remembered that when a cargo of arms was sent to a settlement on the West Coast of Auckland the settlers sent the vessel back with her load, explaining that In the absence of arms lav their safefcv. But after all deductions are made it would seem as if the service rendered by Mr Graham should have preserved his name from the oblivion into 'which it has fallen.

The Hunterian Oration, which was founded for the purpose of illustratOur ' ing and continuing the life Ancestors. work of the celebrated anatomist and surgeon, John Hunter, is generally too technical to be of much interest to the general reader. The present year's oration, however, is rather an exception. The orator was Mr N. C. Macnamara, of the Royal College of Surgeons, who briefly dismissed John Hunter by remarking that the unrivalled collection of human skulls founded by him, and now in the museum of the college, showed that the great anatomist paid much attention to the iramework of the human head. Mr Macn«mara then proceeded to indicate the conclusion which the latest research would warlant the student in reaching m matters connected v ith the origin of our race. It is significant of the accumulation of knowledge and the consequent expansion of the human mind in the time, that a comparatively obscure (as a scientist) surgeon can, m off-hand fashion, and without a word of protect, broadly state as proved facts conclusions which, some 36 years ago, drew down upon the temperate and guarded philosophei, Darwin, the storm of an indignant world. Mr Macnamara says that "from an analysis of the maximum number of anatomical characters common to man ami anthiopoid apes, it is proved that they are derived from the same stock." The tremendous difference which is found between the intellectual qualities of the two (we are aware that there is something ludicrous in this intimacy of association) is due to the smallness of the brain of the ape, which weighs only half that of an average healthy European. This defect is noticeable chiefly in the front cr intellectual portion of the skull, in v Inch portion the nerve centre, which in man controls the power of articulate speech, is located. This nerve centre does not exist in the ape, and being incapable of acquiring the power of speech, its brain remains only partially developed. The essential and organic .difference is curious. "It appears that the defective anterior lobes in the brain of an ape are due to the small capacity of the creature's skull, caused by its ossification or consolidation, during the first year of life, into a rigid closed case within which the brain cannot expand. An ape's brain, therefore, remains always an infantile brain, whereas in man the fore part of the skuH does not consolidate until adult age is reached, and so the anterior lobes of his brain, including the nerve area controlling speech, may continue to develop until he reaches his twentieth year of age." If the matter rested here, but little light would be thrown upon the subject of the origin of man, for the small, rigid and unyielding box which encloses the brain of the ape might still be held to mark an organic and immutable difference from the plastic skull of man to expand for neirly a third part of a natural life. But the striking fact is that this plasticity did not always exist in man. According to the Hunterian lee t urea", a human skull found in a tertiary formation in Java is obviously on the bor<i f r land between man and tlie ape ; while in form and structure the skulls of men living in Europe in the pre-glacial and hner-glacia! peiiod* much more clof-ely approach the skull of the chimpanzee thai) they do that of the living Eurcpean And. as miaht be expected, the rude stone instruments found in the dwellings of this remote i.i-ce mnk a veiv low state of intellectual dtve-lopment. H<re, then, w» Slid that the essential difference between

man and the ape lieu in the form and structure of the skull, the one denying all power of expansion of the brain after the first year, the other specially favouring it for a great portion of a life ; the earliest men resembling the ape in structure of skull more than the man and remaining correspondingly low in development. All this, however, as we shall see, leaves us a good deal in the dark as to the conditions favouring plasticity.

Many people will consider Mr Macnamara more practical, if not more The Story interesting, when he of comes to deal with the The Skulls. sources from which, ac-

cording to the lessons learnt from skulls, the populations of Europe have arisen. In the first glacial period a "short, powerful, long-skulled people" seem to have been the sole inhabitants of our continent. They were Africo-Europeans, or Iberians, with crania of the same inferior type as the pre-glacial men, but more highly developed. Their instruments were of bone and horn, as well as of stone, and correspondingly superior." Their increased mental development, Mr Macnamara tells us, was to be ascribed to an alteration in the climate and fauna of Europe, which "compelled them in the struggle for existence to make greater use of their brains than had been necessary in the case of their predecessors. The power of expansion of their skulls enabled their brains to respond to the call made on them by the more complex conditions of their life. As the later stone age advanced a race of tall men appeared in Western Europe, believed to be the progenitors of the Teutonic race of Northern Europe. They bad " large, long, well-formed skulls," possessed domestic animals of an Asiatic stock, and "used a language which still survives." These intermarried with the pre-existing race. These were in time followed by a "short, small-boned, broadskulled race," of Mongolian origin. They hailed from the south-east of Asia, came in hordes, and brought handsome bronze instruments with them. They had discovered the art of mixing tin and copper in proper proportion to form bronze. They soon discovered tin in Cornwall and Ireland, and inaugurated in Europe what is called the Bronze Age. Of this race were the Lake Dwellers of Switzerland. In Great Britain, as elsewhere, they became absorbed in the pre-existing Iberian race, and thus was formed the ancient stock which the Romans found on our islands. After the Romans came the Teutons, from Northern Europe. In process of turn they also intermarried with the ancient British stock, and formed what is called the AngloSaxon race. Wales, however, together with the south-west o3 England and nearly the whole of Ireland, for some re«i.on — proba-bly because of the inaccessible character of the country — jemained chiefly inhabited by the previous "Iberian-Mongoloid race, which no doubt accounts for the racial differences of the present day — though it seems to us curious that races largely distinguished by the possession of a very excitable temperament should be in large part fourded on a Mongolian strain. The measurement of the heads of some ten millions of people would seem to prove that the people who bordf r the Mediterranean are .of the oiitrn«il Iberian race. North Germany and K^andinavia contain a large proportion of the "tall. fa ; r, lon<j-«ku' i led Teutonic nice " ; whereas " a vast triangle, with its b-isc in Eastern Russia and its apex in Central France, is inhabited by descendant 5 ; of the broad-skulled Mongoloid and Turanian races of Central Asia." We left our own people at the point wheie the Roman and Anglo-Saxon joined ; and being now in the region of ordinary historr everyone knows of the admixture which, by the descents of tl><> Normans on our shores, afterwards look place. Apparently we are a more iu.-s.td race than any other, for Britain was fucenturies the grand objective of nearly every adventurous race in Europe.

Looking to the sharp distinctions, wlno'i exist between peor>le= of Europe who <mv of the same original race the conclusion arrived at is that the conditions of tlt2ir environment, acting for lone; periods of time, have led not only to fixed hereditary physical characters, but also to "specialised areas of nerve structure, by means of which •these various races have come to possess various characteristic and transnr-siblc mental qualities."' Dr Macnamaia. applying his own principles to the dwellers of large cities, considered that these were jlreadv showme typical indications of change — more excitable nervous systems, for instance — which would in time be more pionounced among their descendant*.

The closer examination of skulls and the systems of measurement now in vogu? have added much to our knowledge, but, as in every other department of scientific stndv. a vast dea l yet remains hidden from human ken.

The South African despatches, which were published in England two South months since, wer" mo=t vola-

African miaous. They foi-n, in faei a Despatches, history of the Boar war from

the end of January, 1900 from the time when Lord Roberts assumed charge of the operations in South Afiica, until the middle of November last, when he relinquished the control to Lord Ki^el-ener. So lengthy are they that the new simpers in Great Britain have had to content themselves with picking out the most interesting portions of them — and those fill not only cc lumns bu<- whole passes of a publication bke The Times. According to the judgment of that paper, the two most vivid impressions conveyed to the mind of the reader arc First, tlie ipa^mficenoe of the achievements of the British army on its fighting side ; second, its deficiencies on its business side. The tributes which are generously rendered in the despatches to the British soldiers of all ranks cannot insriirs any feeling oilier than one of the highest satisfaction. Every branch of the seivice exhibited unflinching coinage, patient determination,

dogged tenacity, r^JKidict fort^de. General Sir Archibald Hunter, in on-* of his despatches, spoke of his officers and men a*' " stout-hearted, cheerful, and full of fight. "] The- services of the mounted infantry, thef' guides and scouts, and the artilleiy were highly eulogised by him. As for the infari";. try, hia comment was that while " everybody; knows how Napoleon apprised British infantry, since then they have not changed except to improve." As warm appreciations of the services rendered ty all branches ancv all ranks of the army is to be found in the! despatches of the other generals. Wo can--not forbear from quoting in particular a r paragraph from the despatch penned by. General Buller from Ladysmith after the relief of that town. "So was accomplished! the relief of Ladysmith," he writes, after describing the operations that succeeded the engagement at Spion Kop. "It was the men, who did it. Danger and hardship were nothing to them, and their courage, their tenacity, and their endurance were beyond 1 all praise." "It was the men who did it." General Buller's despatches contain three or four strikingly graphic passages. Another, which further indicates that the admiration which the men composing his divibion entertained for their commander was fully reciprocated, has reference to the exceptionallysevere fighting that commenced at Ouderbiook on the 22nd February. 1900. '"The men," General Buller says, in a generous acknowledgment of their magnificent work, "had to lie crouched on the hillsides sheltered by hastily-piled stones, with an active, keen-sighted u-nemy within 150 yards of one flank and 500 yards of the other During the day the front line could scarcely lrove,' for anyone who exposed himself was shot. They were under constant fire, both rifle and artillery, both day and night, and they were three times hea\ lly attacked : but for five days and nights they unflinchingly maintained this position. It was wonderful '

The best type of British general is a modest and chivalrous, as well as a Chivalry brave officer, who disclaims any

of the credit for himself in ihe tucGenerals. cess of the operations he

directs, but is prepared to accept any blame or censure for a mi chap which may occur to the forces under him. There are several instances in the South African despatches now in question in which commanding officers assume all the responsibility for reverses. One that may be mentioned is the case in which Sir Archibald Hunter describes the surrounding of tho Boers in the Brandwater Basin. In two points tho gallant general sa,ys he is sensible that he failed to carry out his orders— in the first place, in that Da Wet and Steyn, w:th a force of guns and men, escaped on t'>y 25tii July from Brandwater Basin; and m tbo second in that Olivier escaped on the 30th July from outside Golden Gate towards Vrede. It is true that Geueval Hunter regards the lalter incident as a disJ-onciirpble breach of faith on Olivier's part, i" i<- that commander knew that Cumn . iiu.m l-trrcral Prmsloo included him in his u^o*. d't.o surrender, and somo of the dirri wltu ; by wrichthe British operation were surioui'.'bd are mentioned, bu l " Sir Archibald Ijnner does not claim, he adds, t^at '" tl-oy furnish a sufficient excuse for tho umuie to hlcck tho whole hostile force inside the \\ iftebergen." Then there is the (a>°, _o r n.ko an example from another portion of Imp of operations, in which General U denPowell describes his unsuccessful engagement at Gamp Tree .Fort, Mafeking, on Boxing Day, 1599. "If blame lor this :ever«e falls on anyone," he says, "it should fail on myself, as everyl-ody concern jd did their part of the work thoroughly well ai.t! exactly in accordance with thy orders I haJ. i^v."d " No general is infallible. He '= tie greatest, Napoleon u-ed lo hold, who m; lc - the fo\" e^t mistake^ ; but the possibility t!\ii mistakes may be wholly avoided eouli! no\er be contemplated. And Lord Roberta C'^r- l.ot 3seig;i blame to either Sir Arohil>al<{ H-nitor or General Boden-Powcll ir> rc c pa..t a* the n.cdcnts for which they ascube b]aoic to themselves. General Baden-Powell's dcbpaU v describing tho ,-uege of Mafeking rep.'N rathtr oi'd'y in places. He frequently e.npioys phrases w'uc'i it is somewh.it s arihng to li;id embalmed m ohlrj.il Blue Books. The -.c: c.es which In- so effectively directed frori tue little gam^o'i ace described as " kicks " ; me lehnquisbment cf the command of the besiegers by Cronje into the hands oi" Hn\ r-ifn U quaintly spoken of in a paragraph which begins with the statement fiat '" Cronje, having lost a ironfh of \aluable time fit Mafcking, nov <?a\c up the idea of takuig the place by rtoim"; and the de D patcliecontain recipe? for the manufacture of f'Avens (a form of porridge made from the feimented bran of oats) and horse sausage=

The rex erf c and unsatisfactory side of ti e

shield may now be examiner!

The Lord Roberts found himself War Office handicapped straight away upAt Fault. on his arrival in Sout' 1 Africa

by the absence of any orgi.nibed transport corps. f?ome thousand 5 o mules and a number of waggons had been purcha-ed, but the system that had been adopted — the regimental system, under whicn each unit is provided witii sufficipnt transport for itb ammunition, baggage, aud tw > or three days' supplies — was "quite unsuitable for extensive operations in a dittnc . where no food and scarcely any forage car be procured, where ad\'ance depots cannc bo formed, and where all the necessaries re quired by an army in the field have to be carried for a considerable distance." Lore Kitchener agreed with Lord Roberts that t!<e first thing to be done was to form -\ properly organised transport departmen . But the seriousness of the situation in Nata . where the second attempt to relieve Lady smith had failed, rendered it imperative tha. a hea\y blow should be promptly struck a.

Ihe enemy in Cape Colony and the Free State. The great flank march which relieved Kimberley and ended in the capture of Cronje was commenced, and from Paardeberg the army pushed on without delay to ißloemfojitein. But there Lord Roberts had to make an enforced halt. Had he been able to pursue the enemy the task of bringing the Free State to terms would, he considers, (have been comparatively easy. He could not 'move, however His line of communication .•was cut behind him; the country in which Jhe was situated gave "him little in the shape of food, except meat; and every mile he advanced would have taken him further away "ifrom the only plaoe where a sufficiency of supplies was obtainable. Even if the rail.■way from Capetown had been running unlnterruptedly*and provided Lord Roberts with all the supplies that were required for the sustenance of the atmy, still the state of his (mounted troops would have prevented him from " attempting any operation which demanded rapidity of movement." And upon this the apt comment is that Lord Kitchener might to-day, with has-dly less justice, drake a somewhat similar observation. Lord Roberts effectively explains the extreme difficulties with which the conduct of operations over an area of 458,030 square miles (exolueive of Rhodesia) was involved — an area greater than the whole of France and Germany, and consisting in large part of a network of mountains and precipices. Some of the minor embarrassing circumstances by .which they were hampered are set out in the despatches of the generals. " Our maps are worse thai useless," Sir Archibald 'Hunter despairingly wrote; "they are a (positive danger and delusion." The deficiencies of the British artillery in the Boer war have bean a frequent subject of comment. The despatches that deal with the operations in Cape Colony, the Free State, and the Transvaal do not, however, contain a word of complaint on that score. It is an old story, on the other* hand, that, with the exception of the naval guns, the artillery at Ijadysinith was outranked by that possessed fey the enemy, while the naval guns were " hampered," to use Sir George White's ■words, " by a most serious want of sufficient ammunition."