PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 5

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.)

Mr T. E. Taylor, or some other member of the Taylor-Fisher-Bedford-Laurenson quadrilateral, has expressed a de6ire to know who will pay for the 50,000 copies of the Sneddon voucher photographic reproductions, which, as report goes, aie to be scattered .through the electorates. Who will pay? — it seems an artless sort of question. Surely the country will pay. Is it not for the good of the country that the Seddon Ministry should be bolstered up? Can we conceive of any higher good? To Mr Seddon himself I confidently commend this view of things, and trust that he will charge his 50,000 triumphant reproductions where he "charged his three private secretaries -and personal attendants-^ whilst electioneering in Otago, and his 30s a day travelling expenses for 45 days whilst the guest of the colony :>n the Hinemoa, and where his colleague the Hon. Mills charged a similar claim for taking a month's holiday on the Mapourika — namely, to the public account. These are just the kind of little bills which Mr Seddon should feel himself privileged to pay by putting his hand into other people's pockete — yours and mine. As for the Sneddon voucher, considering that it is one of the most remarkable documents known to history, I doubt whether 50,000 reproductions are enough. Mr Fisher gave the number of a voucher, 15819 ; the date June 9; the amount £76 4s 9d — payment to Richard Seddon. Whereupon the Premier brings forth a voucher, number 15819, date June 9, amount £76 4s 9d,-~ payment to Richard Sneddon. After this in vain may the Higher Critics deny the possibility of miracles. There remains the related phenomenon of . three post office clerks proceeding to Wellington with sworn affidavits maintaining a voucher that is" Seddon, not Sneddon. But as this whole series of mysteries is sub judice, that is, sub the Auditor-general, everybody is required in decency to forbear comment and keep an open mind. Which accordingly we will try to do — till next week.

Already has Mr Seddon got the Sneddon voucher into Hansard. But what will he not get into Hansard ! Read the item " A Question of Privilege" in Friday's Daily Times. Mr Herdman complained to the House that into the midst of his speech on the Imprest Supply Bill, as reported in Hansard, had been thrust ten lines attributed to the Premier, which ten lines the Premier had never spoken. It turned out, however, that the Premier had made "an interjection," which interjection the Hansard reporter had set down as " inaudible." But, the proof coming under the Premier's eye and hand, his inaudible interjection, like Lord Burleigh's shake oi the head, is made to speak volumes :

The Eight Hon. Mr Seddom-. Would you dare ask me that question outsids) the chamber, or state it unless protected by privilege? I have never authorised spending public money to keep myself in office, and in respect to public expenditure I have been guided, by what was in the public interest, irrespective of personal or political consequences, *nd have had to veto importunities for moneys put forward to keep you in your position. This amazing development Mr Seddon justified to the House as " conveying the spirit of his interjection." "As a rule," he added, " he did not wish to put more into Hansard than what he said." As a rule, observe ; — moderate . man ! For my own part I marvel less at what lion, members put into Hansard than at what they neglect to take out. For example, Mr Lawry on Mr Bedford : "It was the greatest piece of infantile political presumption that I have even known in my life for an honourable member, pregnant with political limejuice . ." This, perhaps, is the most remarkable instance of pregnancy in the history of obstetrics. It is an interesting consideration that Mr Lawry must have corrected his own Hansard JDXQQJU

The Times History of the War in South T Africa is being published by instalments, volume 111, just issued, following volume II after an interval of three years — no less. But subscribers, hitherto impatient, are noAV consoled. For in so great a book, ' destined to be an English classic as long j as there remains an English language, the I delay is nothing. Speaking for myself, I i find it the kind of book that one reads j •' with weeping and with laughter," a.i | Macaulay says. There is a chapter, " The j Colonies and the Empire," a chapter with no fighting in it, which might serve as the test of a man's citizenship. Could he read it with dry eyes? The pro^Boer might, — the " anti-Imperial, cosmopolitanparochialist," as he is here euphemistically named,— he might; but I doubt of anybody else. In December, 1899, " came the week of reverses, and with it a storm of emotion swept through the colonies." • For the first time in its history the Empire was thrilled by one overmastering emotion, oncl the response it gave showed that the living spirit was in it. In Canada, Australia, Xew Zealand, South Africa, men sprang forward to be allowed tft serve, exactly as they were doing at the same moment in England, and for tlie same cause — for the defence of tha>t ideal whose preciousnees they hardly knew till its realisation was thus suddenly imperilled. The suddenness and intensity of ■!he change wrought in a few days was as surprising to tha most sanguine preachers of the Imperial idea as it was to the most sceptical and captious of the high priests of parochialism. In this uprising of the colonies " there came to the surface, as strongly as ever in our past history, the deep-seated idealism which is no less characteristic of the British than the matter-of-fact and unsentimental cloak with which they 'n ordinary times conceal their feelings . from each other, and even from themselves." Certain it is that the impulse which sent to the front 30,000 colonial volunteers was not mercenary. These men and the communities that sent them went to war"- for' an idea. And, adds the writer, " from that sudden and passionate revelation the sentiment of Imperial unity gained a depth and intensity wnich will manifest»itself again if another hour of need should come." So will we hope. Meanwhile, here and there, the cosmopolitan - parochia'ist, - spinner-out of the war, friend of every country but his own, is again lifting up Us head. As though, perchance, we had forgotten ! It will be foand in- the sequel, 1 fancy, that there are things we do not forget. In its judgments pronounced on men, our military captains and political 1 - chiefs, their character and actions, what they did and what they failed to do, the Times History may be right or wrong, — -I do not say. Its judgments are certainly unsparing,- uninfluenced by fear or favour, Rhadamanthine in their look of severity and finality. For that reason I find some of them appalling; they are such as will make the ears of him that heareth to tingle. All the more value for us is there in the judgment I am about to quote: In all, New Zealand sent to th« field in the course of the wax 6343 volunteers, out of a total population of 772,719 (excluding the Maoris). On the' some basis, Australia would have had to send 30,984, Canada 44,152, and the United Kingdom 340,284. The total expenditure of the New Zealand Government on the " earlier contingents was JE194.189, while £113,256 was raised by private subscription in tthe colony. Of the services of the. New Zealanders in the &eftd it is unnecessary to spe>at ai this point, but it would be hardly an exaggeration to say that aiter they had a little experience they were by general consent regai-ded as on the average the best mounted troops in South Africa. A chapter describing the operations of General French around Colesberg affords a glimpse of the New Zealanders in their early campaigning. On December 2, 1899, reinforcements reaching French included "the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, under Major Robin." On the 18th, m a reconnaissance against the enemy's left flank, "the New Zealanders had the first opportunity of showing their sterling qualities." On January 15 the Boers made " a determined attempt to capture the high, steep hill afterwards known as New Zealand j Hill, immediately to the north-wee 1 , of the j camp." There were on the hill "a weak half-company of Yorkshires under Gaptain Orr," and " some 60 New Zealanders under Captain W. N. Madocks (Lieut. R.F.A.)." The Boers, repeating Majuba, had surprised the Yorkshires at their end of the hill, wounding Captain Orr, killing the colour-sergeant, and~driving out the men. Madocks, hearing the uproar, ran across to the Yorkshire, sangars. The Boers were already swarming up on every side, but with rare pres&nce of mind Madocks took command of the wavering Yorks, and giving the word, " Fix bayonets — charge!" rushed forward at their head. Tho secondary work was captured, but t'b* Boers, taking cover behind the first sangar, kept u.p a murderous fire at point-blank range. Again Madocks tried to charge, but only two men came ever the wall with him. Escaping almost miraculously, he made his way back lo cover and called aloud for his own men. A moment later a dozen New Zea/.anders came tearing over the crest and into the sangar. A brief pause for breath, and then Madocks once more gave the word to charge. Four men leapt over the wall together: Sergeant Gourley, Madocks, Trooper Oonnell, and Lieutenant Hughes. G-ourley and Connell were shot as they leapt. But the charge had already succeeded .... the Boers turned and bolted down the hill, hotly pursued by tho New Zealanders. A minute later, the whole hillsidie and the surrounding kopjes were ailive with retreating Boers on whom a heavy fire was directed. . . For once the tactics of Majuba and Nicholson's Nek had been foiled in the moment of success. . . But for Madocks's charge all would have been over in a few minutes. There are names here that New Zealand, and in particular Otago, will never let die. And already, as we see, they have found a place in, a History that promises to be the most enduring record of the war. "Door " Civis," — A friend and I have been disciiss>ixig the difference in temperature of various countries on each side and equidistant from ihe equator. The discovery we madio was somewhat surprising. Take Vladivostock, 42deg N., which during six months of tho year is icebound, and compare it with Wellington (N.Z.), 42deg S. The latter is

semi-tropical, and is free from ice ?.ll tit year round. Again, take Saghalien, sOdieg X, and the British Isles, 55deg N., both above the equator, yet on opposite sides of the globe; both slip ocean-girt, but with a vac* differei.ee in their temperatures. The G-ul* Stream may be in a measure responsible in the lattsr case, but why the difference betweeu Vladivostock and Wellington? Other instances could be cited, but these should suffice meanwhile. A note on these marked contrasts in temperature from your extensive encyclopaedia of knowledg-e should be interesting- Puzzled. What the geography text-books say otf this subject must, I* suppose, be accepted as true; namely, for" one thing, that British civilisation is the product of a hoi* water system the boiler of which is in the; Gulf of Mexico; and, for another thing, that in the southern hemisphere the temperate zone comes nearer to the pole than in the northern because the southern hemisphere is mainly ocean and the norther a mainly land. The effect of ocean winds and ocean currents is to temper the temperature, 60 that winters are less coltf and summers less hot than otherwise they would he. As a non-expert- I receive thia[ fact in faith, and proceed to infer that it Stewart Island, instead of being an island, were the extremity of a southern continent stretching to the pole, Bluff Harbour would be even as Vladivo&tock — frozen hail the year, and the winter passage across Foveaux Strait would be by sledges, as 16 is across the Gulf of Tartary between Saghalien and the main. But as respeots the climate difference between Saghalicn and the British Isles, both being in J he hemisphere that is chiefly land, and at the same distance from the Equator, that difference is the special gift? of the Gulf Stream. There exists a tradition that Napoleon at one time thought of treating the Gulf Stream as British property and contraband of war. A mad patriot, forerunner of De Lesseps, had suggested to him that a -nick across the Isthmus of Panama — tapping our boiler on the off-side and allowing the hot water of the Gulf of Mexico to run into the Pacific — would reduce perfidious Albion to the condition, -of -ice-bound Labrador, which is in the* same latitude. As a matter of fact France profits by the Gulf Stream not less than we do; so also the Scandinavian Peninsula, which otherwise were as the coast of Greenland, just opposite. Apropos, note on the map how Russia, since th» incorporation of Finland, stretches out ;i tentacle westward as if feeling for the sea, and actually comes within cooee of- it. A mere 40 or 50 miles of Norwegian territory interposes between Russia and ice'free ports' and open water. What William said to Nicholas in their hole-and-corner colloguing a month back is a secret well kept. It may have been: Let your slice of Poland become German ; let the head of the Scandinavian Peninsula become Russian : — allow me to discipline. Lodz and Warsaw, which want it badly ; I will allow you to squeeze Norway, who just now has no friends. Such is the way Imperial personages parcel the world about, at leas* in their dreams. If ever this particular parcelling advances beyond the dream stage, the British people, I fancy, wilt have a word to say thereanent, and the British navy, also, may get a look in. Dear "Civis,"— A French Canadian, Monsieur Beattchemin, hae an article in an English magazine emphasising the vitality of the French in Canada, and the large extent to ■which English families are absorbed into and assimilated by the French element, becoming, in a few generations, completely French in customs, religion, and language, retaining only the English names. In Canada, he says, are maxrf persons with English names, such as Smith" Macdonald, Ball, Craig, Fraser, who cannot speak English, and whose children must learn the English language at school. For example, — proceedings in a Montreal law court last June: — Judge (in French): "What is your name?" "Duncan Hacdonald." Whereupon the judge, thinking himself called! upon to speak English, says, " Do you wish to give your evidence in the English language?" Witness (in French): "I do not understand you." "Do you not understand English?" "No." "But your name is very English." "My grandfather was English, my father, I remember, could speak "English a little, but I have had no chance to leaxn it." Now, what makes this specially interesting to Otago people is the French writer's evident belief that Craig, Fraser, and Duncan Mac dona Id are distinctively English names I wonder whether French Canadians have evei beard of such a place ac Scotland, and if not. why not? I heard of it before I had been in Otago a week. Englishman. This communication, interesting in itselfj may pass with just two words of comment. First, names Fraser, Macdonald, and the like, are English in the sense that they belong fo the English language. What form they have in the Scotch language, if there is a Scotch language, I know not ; in this form they are certainly English. . By the same rule the name* Vienna, Rome, Naples, the Emperor William, are English. In their own respective tongues these names are Wien, Roma, Napoli, Kaiser Wilhelm. So much foir names. My other word is that the children of mixed marriages usually speak the tongue of the mother. What is " vernacular " speech but the speech of the "verna," the domestic slave, who, in Roman households, had most to do with the children? French Frasers and Macdonalds will be descendants of Frasers and MaedonaWs who took to themselves French wives. In Canada this interchange between the races must work both ways, and prettyequally. Monsieur Beauchemin, if that ia how he calls himself, might have found, had he looked for them, people with French names talking English — the lingo o r their English mothers. Cms. A sitting of the Old-age Pensions Court was held on. Wednesday, before Mr H. V. Widdowson, S.M., when five claims wer«t | granted at £26 per annum — at the incrwasec rate of 10s per week, — one at £13, and o. at £9. Three applications fov pensio were refused, the claimants being ineligil as their incomes were in excese of v minimum prescribed in the act, tnd . claim was rejected for lack of yxoci ago.