GERMANY AND CHINA,

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8077, 30 November 1897, Page 2

GERMANY AND CHINA,

The coolest tiling we have had tins hot weather is the information contained in yesterday's cablegrams, in which it is stated that the Teuton, after quietly sitting down, uninvited, upon a slice of China, makes a demand upon the Chinese Government for the cost of going there. Goimany's ostensible reason for becoming a squatter in the Flowery Land is that her missionaries have been maltreated, and that it is necessary to preserve the lives of those who would' save the souls of the Chinese to have a fort at Kiachou harbor and bunt tho Chinese out of the district. It, was by precisely the same means that, Germany secured the territory she now occupies in Africa. German missionaries were sent out and established stations at a hundred places alony the West Coast, and obtaining thus a footing on the Dark Continent, Germany by a piece of sharp practice managed to jostle England out of a large slice of territory in which Biitish interests were paramount. There Mas a l"iig and sharp correspondence between the foreign ollices of the two countries, which ended in Britain's giving way to (lermany. It is difficult to foresee what the result of this latest little move in the East will be. Without a word of intimation to the other Powers, Germany sent ,i strong squadron to Chinese waters and planted the German Hag upon a valuable portion of Chinese territory, where there is a good harbor aud the makings of a strong fort, and theie apparently she intends to stick, whatever the feelings of other eoinilric.-, may lit 1 . The demand upon China for a large indemnity for outrages upon missionaries and cos,t of occupation of Kiachou will no doubt fall unjustly upon many Chinese innocent of oH'ence against the missionaries, and only desirous of being left alone, and it. is obviously only a pretext to cover tip the attempt to grab territory which is practically under leasehold offer to Russia. The move has undoubtedly been' made to check the advance of the Cossack in the East. How far it will succeed remains to be seen ; but one thing is certain, it is not likely to improve the present feeling of Russia and Germany ;to each other. There is also another little Power to be reckoned with, aud that is' plucky little Japan, who considers she has a* first mortgage upon the Chinese Empire. Japan is hardly likely to sit still and see this jumping of territory on a portion of China that is right at her very doors, and as Japan is no mean naval power if she liked to be aggressive the Germans would find it no easy matter to hold the territory they have taken, especially considering they would have to light so far away from home.

A four-roomed cottage belonging to Mr 1). Hepburn, and adjoining his residence in Aberdeen road, ivaa destroyed by lire yesterday. The outbreak is supposed to have boon caused by a spark getting on to the shingle roof and igniting it. The building was insured in Die Norwich Union ollice for £100. By (ho s.s. Westralia leaving Auckland to-day, the Right Worshipful District Grand Master, C. C. McMillan, and District Grand Secretary, J. P. Clark, arc passengers to Gisborne, coming to be present at the annual installation of Worshipful Master elect, T. C. ])a\vson,and officers of Lodge Turanganui, on Thursday evening next. With stubborn insistantc, none of the Maoris who have lately been captured and .sentenced to two months' imprisonment for ploughing up settlers' land in the Taranaki district will say by whom they were incited to break the law. The live Mokau Natives who were arrested last week adopted the same course as the seventy or eighty previously caught, and when asked who instigated the ploughing simply pointed to the Mhilc feathers in their headgear (the Te W'hiti emblem), and replied, "All of us." The Natives at Raupaki pall, about three miles from Lyttolton, have evidently plenty of faith in their own weather forecasts, and are prepared to back their opinion for a considerable sum. At a meeting of the Lyttelton Borough Council on Monday night a letter was received from the Natives asking that the Lyttelton water supply pipes be carried to the pah. The Natives said there would be live more months of dry weather. All hough it is a long way to the pah and the cost would be groat, the Maoris have sufficient faith in their weather forecast to pay the large amount required to bring in the water. It remains to bo seen how far they arc correct. Tho public will sincerely hope that in this instance, at any rate, they are false prophets, A correspondent writes : — " Sir : Ido not want to unnecessarily alarm those who indulge in the luxury of a morning dip, as what is more invigorating or conducive to good health than a dip in the briny, but a word of warning may prevent a recurrence of the bathing fatality which occurred at Napier last year, when Air Bright Cooper met such an untimely end. During the past week several sharks have been seen in the bay, and on Saturday morning one of these monsters, which must have measured fully 8 feel, was obscrvod in tho Turuhcru river beyond the Rowing Clubs' sheds. On the Sunday, whilst some ladies were bathing oh the beach, a gentleman on horseback observed the fin of one of these monsters gliding along the surface of the .smooth water in very close proximity to tho bathers, and he at onco warned Uicni of the clangor, with the result that one lady, who was in fairly deep water, sullcred from the effects of a severe fright, Tho shark camo close enough in shore to bo soon very clearly, and appeared to be about 10 feet long. In a town like Gisborne, whore the temperature in summer renders it necessary and indispensable that one should bath at least once a day, the beach, until the long-felt want of a water supply is overcome, must of necessity be resorted to, where, with ordinary caution, bathing may be indulged in freely in shallow water within the break, but to go beyond that limit Jand jt is very hard to restrain the impulse of a good swimmer to go out into deep water) is nothing short of foolharrlincss, and will some day, if persisted in, result in some one meeting with a most dreaded, though by no means unoommon, bathing accident, in tho colonies." The Maori I'Jnoka, who has been arrested on a charge of murdering his wife, at Parihaka, is 23 years of age, though ho looks perhaps a few years older. He is understood to be a full-blooded Maori, and his people live in Hawko's Bay, where tho accused spent four years at Te Ante College. He speaks English lluently. Ho went, to Parihaka about five or six years ago, and soon afterwards, when 17 years of age, married deceased, the latter being about the same age. J)r Walker, who made a pout mortem examination of the body, stated at the inquest that on the back part of the right shoulder there was a clean cut wound five inches long, aud two inches in depth at its deppest part. A little above and behind this was a second wound two inches long, and gajiing widely. Still above this, below and bcliiiif) tlic car, was a. third deep incised wound 3} inches in length. On the buck part of the head, beginning just above the right car, and running obliquely downwards and backwards, was a fourth incised wound, 4=; inches in length. The cut went right down to aud through the skull, causing a fracture which extended from about one inch round the right orbit right round tho skull to within U inches behind the left car. The fracture measured twelve inches. A sharp cutting instrument, such as an axg or tomahawk, had, in his opinion , caused the wounds. It was impossible that the wounds had been inflicted by deceased herself. They were quite sufficient to cause death almost instantly. There was no doubt that the woman had been murdered. An axe with which it is sonsidcrcd the deed was committed has been found in the river, and search has also revealed v quantity of liluod-stained clothing. One of the most successful steamers that over plied in the Pacilic coast trade was tho Senator. After making fortunes for all Il9r pwnnrs, the finguitß \vera taken out qi her, nnd she was turiipd into a sailing ship and sent to Now Zealand, wherp she was made into a coal hulk, and is still doing duty in Aucklaud harbor,

A woman in the Wairarapa dislocated her jaw the other day whilst yawning. She had to go into Masterton to get it righted. The Government has set apart 500 acres of land in the Akatarawa Survey district for game-breeding purposes. Nine horses were burned to death in the fire at Gore, including two pretty ponies, of which the owner of the horse bazaar, Mr TremhaMi, was exceptionally proud and proposed entering at forthcoming shows. A disciple of l.saak Walton, indulging in his favorite pastime at the Spit, landed a six-foot shark, which, on being opened, revealed the body of a full-grown fox terrier, amongst other unconsiclered trifles. A novelty in the shape of a race between a bicyclist and a pedestrian, over 100 yards, came olf at Philadelphia, in which a rider named Holmes was defeated by the runner, whose time was 10,J seconds. The distance was too short for the rider to get going in. Last Wednesday a whirlwind passed over Puniho, near Opunake, lifting a two-roomed cottage, occupied by four Maoris, bodily ofl' its piles, and carrying the roof ten chains away. The occupants escaped injury, but the chimney, in falling, killed a dog which was on the premises. In nearly every instance the safes of owners of building's destroyed in the Gore (ire last week proved valueless as means for pi'cseiving records. Mr Klaikie's papers were reduced to ashes, and Mr I'oppelwell's books and papers arc considerably scorched. Messrs Brewer, Trenibath and Co.'s books and documents in one safe fell to pieces when touched, and Mr Oibbs' jewellery was melted down. Mr Esther's books and papers arc totally destroyed. Mr G. F. Trew's books are also in a very bad condition. In only two instances did the safes do what was claimed for them by their makers. .Sunday gambling on unoccupied sections, private lands, lias become very rife in Sydney, and the suburban municipalities arc petitioning for legislation to put a stop to it. The Mayor of the Campcrdown Council said the other day that the previous .Sunday morning he counted in two paddocks in their borough no less than 90 persons gambling. They were divided into groups, and many of them were mere youths — from 10 to 20 years old— and were playing with cards, at pitch and toss, etc. They were using the foulest language, and the same conduct went on every Sunday, not only in Camperdown, but in all the suburbs where there was vacant land. The evil was a most serious one, and was growing, and he thought it the duty of the Council in the interest of public morality to endeavor to stop i l . S.jiiie interesting specimens of fulgurites can now be seen in the window of Messrs Flavellc and Robots, of 340 George street, Sydney. They were found onj||kc sandhills near Kensington, New South Wales, and in some cases the tube was followed down 10ft and 12ft into the sand without any signs of their terminating. They are the result of a flash of lightning passing through the sand which it melts and forms into a ylass tube. Mr G. H. Knihbs, KH.A.S., and the Rev. Milne Curran are assisting in the preparation of a paper to be read at the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, which is to be held in Sydney in .January next. The paper should be of great interest. This is the first time fulgurites have been found in Australia. The specimens have been kindly lent by Mr ,T. Grimshaw, M.lnst., C. K. In a letter to the Rev. Fred Hibbert, of Blackburn, who recently preached upon the subject of Mr Hall Cable's novel " The Christian," Mr Hall Came writes: — "The interpretation you have put upon the book is the right one. It is the story of the Christian, not of the Christ, as the critics so foolishly supposed, and the motive is a protest, an affectionate protest, against the ultra-ascetic wave of Christian socialism which is leading so many good men into lives of celibacy and aloofness from hitman love. In the attempt to realise the ideal of the love of Christ, Storm, like his contemporary type, does not realise the falseness of the ground upon which he takes his stand, but all the same lie is a more real Christian with the Christ idea, which ho honestly strives to square with human needs. He fails where, all must fail who aro merely human, but the world is the better for such failures. In Christ alone was the Christlike triumphant." A correspondent sent the following to the Lyttelton Times: — "On Sunday a patient of one of our city physicians was ordered to be fomented with hot water or poulticed. The mother, being nurse, thinking a hot bran poultice would answer the purpose, prepared quo, placed it in position, and the patient was made comfortable for the night. A few minutes before the mother retired a friend called, and went upstairs to see the patient, who had been dozing. After a few moments conversation the visitor remarked that she noticed a very peculiar odour. The patient replied that it was from the bran poultice which had been applied, and for the first time she herself detected the odour. She then threw back the bed-clothes, and, to the astonishment of all, flames and smoke rose in a cloud. Assistance was at hand, and the lire was at once extinguished. It was then found that the poultice was one mass of smouldering fire ; the bran, the patient's clothing, the sheet, blankets, and quilt were all burned and scorched. The patient, however, was not burned in the least, nor had she felt any unusual sense of heat. Had the ciroumstanoe remained unnoticed an hour longer, the patient would have been suffocated, the house burned (for it is a very old one), and tlio cause of the conflagration would have remained an unsolved mystery. The bran, being over-heated, spontaneous combustion was the natural result."