PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2523, 23 July 1902, Page 5

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.)

By way of valedictory to Lord Salisbury the newspapers, one. and all, say kind things. Party colour ma.ke* little difference. They know a statesman when they have one, and Lord Salisbury is a statesman of the first rank. For that same reason anti-Ministerialist? are mot sorry to see his back and find the less difficulty in contributing to the general chorus of praise. I notice, however, a disposition on both sides to dwell, as if with legret, on the retiring Premier's indifference to appla,use and neglect of stump oratory, his cold dislike of enthusiasm — a trait which recalls Talleyrand's admonition to his colleagues. "Above all, gentlemen, no zeal!" — ins " mental aloofness," whatever that may be ; in a word, his tendency to cynicism. Now cynicism is an ugly word, defined by the dictionaries as meaning " Contempt for everything that other people value, and for the good opinion of mankind " One of them, intent to prove the extreme wickedness of this vice, quotes Robert Louis Stevenson : " I hate cynicism a great deal worse than Ido the devil ; unless perhaps tie two were the same thing "' ; — a confession which merely proves, what indeed we know from other evidence, that Stevenson didn't hate the devil as much as he ought. I admit that nowadays the word " cynicism has uniformly a bad suggestion ; on the other hand it should be remembered that the Cynics, as a school of philosophers in ancient Greece, were originally a very virtuous and admirable set of people. Their aim was "to inculcate a love of virtue and promote simplicity of manners" as f.n antidote to " the moral disorders of luxury, ambition, and avarice." So say the authorities ; and one could wi«h that cynicism in this sense ha.d a better standing amongst ourselves.

Lord Salisbury's cynicism was of another sort, no doubt, but not a bad sort, either. Chiefly it lay, I fancy, iv his contempt for ignorant enthu&iams — for the simpletons who allow themselves to be enthused, for the absurdities they aie enthused about, for the demogogue<3 who enthuse them. This habit of- mind is best explained t>y his personal history. Never befoie ha» a British Premier, retiring at 73 and declining » dukedom, been able to look back on so varied an experience of many-coloured life. He began, as a student at Oxford, ta poverty ; he was a, digger in Australia. (Hid may have humped his swag at Ballarat or Bendigo ; he went back to earn his bread in Fleet street on the staff of the Saturday Review, at a time when that amiable periodical was thought to have taken for its motto, " There is nothing new, and nothing true ; and it's no mattei." With which sentiment, as applied to ignorant enthusiams generated by quacks and impostors, I entirely agree. There is nothing new in them, they are as old as the hills ; there is nothing true — they are based on delusions and lies ; and it's no matter, for things are an they are and you cant mend them. Let a faith-healer come to Dunedin, or a boy-preacher, or a. prohibition lecturer fresh from the American stump — you may spare your breath. It is the saying of ancient experience that the multitude like to be deceived — populus vult decipi ; therefore deceived let them be. If this was Lord Salisbury's cynicism, there is a good deal to be said for it.

Mr Arthur Balfour, who Ptep* into ins uncle's shoes, will fill them not so badly. He, too, is a philosophically-minded man, with only one known enthusiasm — namely, golf, which is not an ignorant enthusiasm by any means, noi consistent with ignoiance. He has also wiitten books, fur an active politician and party leader books of the queerest — " The Foundations of Beli-f.' and the like, hair-splitting dissertaiu <>n &übjeete thai ffiS H»2 »«lWiiV6

property of theologians. I have read Mr Balfour's books, but I do not understand them ; in fact, I wadna preshoom. Spite of his books, however, Mr Balfour is a good leader of the House ; whereas Mr hamberlain, for all his great merits, would probably be unable to lead at all ; reason why, they would never let him — neither the ultra Tories, nor the ultra Rads, and least of all the ne plus ultra Irish. It is a good arrangement that leaves Mr Chamberlain's superb fighting qualities untrammelled by the cares of leadership and the necessity of an occasional resort to tact. Those fighting qualities will be wanted yet. Internal changes seldom make for the stability of a Government. All Governments die in the end. The Seddon Government, I grant, offers itself as an exception. Even were we bereaved of Mr Seddon, there is Joseph, his lineal heir, already in possession, — Sir Joseph and the other appendages, nameless for the most part, that go to make up the " Continuous Administration." So it is all quite regular, everything according to the best Turkish precedent ; and

An Amurath an Amurath succeeds. Nevertheless, spite of discouragements, I cherish the secret belief that not even the Seddon Government is immortal. Nor is the Balfour Government. Now that the war is ended and domestic affairs can again come* to the front its real perils are abovrb to begin.

State Fire Insurance, just as much as the million and three-quarters loan, is, it seems, a provision for the present distress. Both have a look to the general election ; each in its own way is devised and designed as an appliance for helping Mr Seddon and his following over that stile. It had never occurred to me that State Fire Insurance would appeal in any special way to the farming 'interest ; but it has occurred to Sir Joseph Ward. The farmers, It is said, believe that their fire risks are less than other people's, consequently that the premiums to cover these risks ought to be less. On the other hand the insuramce companies hold that the risks are the same, and that therefore the premiums must be the same. Hence in the agricultural mind a deep sense of grievance against the insurance companies. Sir Joseph Ward, aware of these facts, awake to the growing political importance of the Farmers' Union, sees his opportunity and whips in first before the elections with State Fire Insurance — premiums no consideration, anything you like to fix 'em. Clever Sir Joseph ! His proposal may never get beyond the stage of proposal ; but that is nothing ; 'twill serve its turn. The loan, considered as an election bait, is a fact and a certainty — a feed of oats already as good as had ; State Fire Insurance is merely a bunch of carrots for dangling in front of the agricultural nose. Apropos of the extension of State functions, the matter here in question. I could name an industry that the State might take up and take over with peculiar advantage ; yet, so far as I know, it has never yet been thought of. We do not all insure ; some of us are not insurable. We are not equally hit through the Customs, the railway rates, the income taoc. So with every other cast of the Government drag-net ; somebody invariably escapes. But we must all die ; further we must all be buried ; at that point the State might catch us every one. The overlooked industry, in short, is the undertaking business. To Sir Joseph, casting about for new worlds to conquer, I present this suggestion with my compliments.

After struggling through a wilderness of magazine a-rticles, newspaper editorials, expert criticisms, on Mr Pierpont Morgan and his audacious grab at British shipping, I find myself incapable of reaching a sane conclusion. It is argued by some that the sale of the White Star and other lines is " good business," since Morgan pays more for them than they are worth and will never get his money back ; meanwhile that our policy is to combine against him and the sooner biing him to ruin, for that purpose gathering into one the Cunard and other fleets not as yet Morganised. Quite wrong, say others ; — Morganising is merely better organising ; co-operation displaces competition ; Morganise our whole Atlantic trade and we shruld be richer all round. There aie other views, a score of them, inconsistent w ith these, equally inconsistent with each other ; but the popular view is shadowed forth iv some verses sent to me by a coi respondent ; they are from a. Canadian newspaper: I came to a mill by the river side, A half-mile long and nearly a^ w:de, \\ ith a foiest of stacks and an army of men Toiling at furnace, and shovel, and pen, " What a most magnificent plant!" I cried; And a man with a smuoge on his face replied,

' It's Morgan's. ' I sailed on a great "hip, trim and tiup From pennon to ksel, and cabin and ( row ; And th' 1 ship was one of a monster flcl, A first-class navy could scarce compels. "What a beautiful craft she is!" I ciifd; And a man with akimbo iegs replied. " I»'s Moigan's." I dwelt in a nation filled with pride, Her people were many, hci lands weie wide, Her record in war, m science and art, Proved greatne=n of muscle and mind and heart " What a. grand old ccuntiy it is'" I cnr-rl; And a man with Ins client in the an railed,

" It's Moi».m's ' I went to heaven The jasper wr>lN Towered high and v-id", and the golden halls Shone bright around. But a strange new mark Was over the portal, " Private Park." " Why, what is the meaning of this'" I cried; And a saint with a hveiy on replied,

" It's Morgan*!." If the conclusion fiad been left to my shaping, I should have given it, I fancy, an opposite turn. Considering the well-know n want of affinity between rich men and the Kingdom of Heaven it would have seemed simpler to assume Morgan's proprietorship over the other place.

Piofessor Black seems to have discovered in the frozen meat trade an unsuspected agency of national destruction. In exporttog sheep and rabbits we necessarily in-

clude the bony structure to which tha edible parts of those animals are attached. Now that bony structure contains phosphorus.

He computed that on sheep alone we exported no less than 1600 tons of phosphorus, derived from 3,000,000 sheep, each of which, contained something like 12;b of bone. He considered it too huge a diain on the colony's phosphorus resources. Thus the Professor, in a lecture on the subject. "It would be all right, " he went on to say, "if we could export the sheep without their bones, for there was material in their carcases to make a million men." Pondering these dark utterances I make out that unless we get back those sheep and rabbit bones there will not be sufficient phosphorus — or phosphate of lime, or whatever it is — to furnish -out the bones of cur own babies ; and that thus, in the course of a generation or two, the human organism in New Zealand will have sunk into limpness and inefficiency, — mere jelly and cartilage. It would be something if we were dedicating our own bones to iJie uses of posterity ; but we are not. We are burying them in cemeteries, where they are unavailable ; whilst the bones of sheep and rabbits we are sending out of the country. Nineveh and Babylon, the lecturer said, were now in ruins ; and why? It all turned on the bone question. True, they had no frozen mutton trade ; nevertheless they " neglected the importance of phosphorus."' On the other hand, look at China.

China had retained her fertility and .-reatnesa by the fact that her j eople had saved all the phosphorus material in the way of sewage. Had consumed their own sewage, in. fact; " a system," he added, " which they brought to the colonies."' His reference w,as, I presume, to the mysteries of Chinese market-gardening, of which the less said the better. Let us get back to our bones! In default of return cargoes of sheep and rabbit bones from Europe, and failing any plan for extracting the bones before shipment, there remains as our only salvation " the magnificent discovery of phosphate rock at Horseshoe Bush." This, you see, is what we were coming to ; this relieves everything and explains everything. I can. only hope that for so magnificent an advertisement the proprietors of this magnificent discovery are duly grateful. ' Civis.

In rpference to the case of tho unfortunate man Chainey, the Chrislchurch Press finds on inquiry that he rented eovon acres of land from the Church Property Trust, paying £28 per year rental. His rates for 1901-2 (under the old system) amounted to £7 6s Id. This year, under the rating upon unimproved values, the demand made- upon, him was for £13 3s 6d. In other words, his rates were very nearly doubled, the sum to which they were increased amounting to close upon 50 per cent, of his rental. It is needless to say that this imposed a serious burden on a man in mch a struggling position, and it is evident from statements v/bich he made to several of his neighbours that the matter had been weighing heavily ou hi 3 mind. A rate equal to ono-haH the yearly rental of seven acres of land is a heavy load.

Mr Prydc, secretary of the Education Board, has received a letter from the teachers who left for South Africa some time ago 1 , reporting their safe arrival at Durban oa Juno 7, and stating that they had lieon appointed to the following centres: — Misses Webb and Parker go to Volksrust; Missos Rces, Don, and Ralston go to Pinetown m Misses Orr, Preston, Gui.se, and Popple to Jacobs; Mi.-ses Ferguson, Jlrvia, and Devon to Wennv.ith; Misses M'Leod (2) and Taylor (the Otago tcaobvrs) mid fi\e others go to Mcrebank. All the tfacher3 speak hopefully, and look forward to their new work tsith pleasure.

As a result of resolution* carried on Saturday at a meoting of teacher^ to consider the question o[ a superannuation eoh-eme, Messrs Davidson and Hodge resigned their positions on the Superannuation Committee ••et up by the Otago Educational Institute at its annual meeting to formulate a scheme.

WJiile an appreciiblc cutting-down of rl.o time-table*- of tiams on the Oamaru Dn.iedin section has taken place, that of tiio ordinary passengrr tram miglit still be cub down witli advantage, a« the down-train is frequently obliged to "mark-time" at wayside stations in order to atoid arriving on the Port Chalmei- section before it is due, while the time, spent by both trains at a numbrr of stations is double what is necc'-ary — at anyrate. during the present fca-on The down tiain in the evening stops at all stations on the Poit Chalmers section, and these might surely bo srrted by the Lower Port sen ice.

The Dunedin f'nareLrokov who recently left the ro'ony in oider to )ook about him, and. if the prospects were of a favourable character, to «ottl© at Johannesburg, communicated la't week by cable « ith his friends in this city recommending an investment in a certain South African »toek. The advice was promptly acted upon, and steps have been taken to secure what may possibly be rpgardpd as the fir-t investment of Dunedin capital in Rand mines.

The Hospital authorities supply the following returns for the" past week: — Patients remaining over from the previous week, 105; admitted during the week, 25: discharged, 18; deaths (John M'Lennau, >f%mes Williamson, and Edward Bracegirdlc), 3;' total remaining in the r institution, 109.

The .Chpstehurch Charjtable .Aid Board has decided to light its newly-erect^t Old Men's Home at Ashburton with acetylene gas. The contract has been entrus+cd to the New Zealand Acetylene Gas Sighting Company, of Dunedin, whose installation to data have been very surcessfuli