South Centerbury Times, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2927, 12 August 1882, Page 2

South Centerbury Times, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1882.

The situation of affairs in and concerning Egypt just now is somewhat puzzling. The plot cannot be said to have thickened. On the contrary, the heavy clouds that were but a few days ago gathering round the question, seems suddenly to have dispersed. The Porte, which then appeared to defy England, and was actually discovered in double dealing with reference to Arabi, has. suddenly veered round to the opposite pole of obedience and honesty. She agrees to proclaim Arabi a rebel, and to support the Khedive, as desired by Great Britain, and bodies of her military force are now on their way to the land of Egypt, to support the action of the British Government. So far all is well, and if no disturbing influences act upon this, the difficulty will very soon be got over, without bloodshed, though at an enormous cost. Our military and naval men will have enjoyed a passing excitement, the British nation will have had its patriotism kindled into a flame, and the world will have seen that the old lion is neither asleep nor infirm. But it must be confessed, there remains an uneasy feeling in a great many minds with regard to this difficulty, and a belief that it is not yet done with ; together with a latent distrust of the intentions of Turkey. There are two sources of danger abont which not the Cabinet itself probably is fully informed. These are the Muslim disaffection, and Russian intention. It is evident the followers of the Prophet Imve been stirred ■: it is impossible to say to what extent as those who know them best know how intense is their hatred of Christians, and what a grand, meritorious work does the extermination of such“ infidels ’’appear in the eyes'Of the “ believer.” This is not a danger which time has done anything to lessen. The Mahometan, however he may have advanced with the times in some few respects, remains, as to his religious convictions and fanatical belief, at exactly the same point as the immediate followers of Mahomet stood. 1 The surest, the most glorious way to Paradise is over Christian corpses. When the smouldering embers of fanatical zeal are stirred as they have been by recent events, it is not wise to conclude too hastily that a sadden clearing of the horizon indicates that they have keen quenched altogether. If we mistake not danger from this source still exists, and it will take a considerable time of undisturbed tranquility to make us think otherwise. With regard to the other source of danger, this is the more to be dreaded because we are so imperfectly informed about it. What has taken place, and what we have already traced beyond doubt to Bussian influence, afford sufficient grounds for our now entertaining very lively suspicion. How much of the Afghan difficulty was due to Russian intrigue is pretty well known at Downing street. How much the Porte is now under the influence of Russia is probably altogether unknown, —or, under such circumstances, what reliance is to be placed upon the apparent acquiescence of Turkey. As for Russian designs upon India : well, we do not suppose any of our readers who have read, and watched the events of the past few years, have any doubt whatever on that head. We are not alarmists, but we cannot help thinking that at present the dangers which threaten the Empire are but withdrawn from view, and they exist, ami are as formidable as they were a mouth ago- _______

The Harbor Board seems afc length to have awakened to a perception (however late in the day) of the requirements of the port, and of the present deplorable stand-still at which it has arrived. The Board has actually purposed to construct a supplementary jetty at which surf boats may load and discharge, It is intended at last to do something to invite and encourage a trade that appears to bo languishing for encouragement. Wo shall be glad to sec a beginning made. They appear to have nothing to say about the circumstance of which we are now unformed concerning the Titan, viz., that she stands in need of very considerable and somewhat expensive repairs, and not merely of the coat of paint which, we were first informed, :was all the tug required. It is a

hopeful sign that the Board has thought well to postpone the endeavor to raise the port charges. It is well they should consider that they have to contend against the railway, and that to raise their charges would be to play directly into the hands of that department. Altogether a more hopeful way of doing things is beginning to manifest itself on the part of the Board. For indeed improvement was needed.

Our Christchurch telegrams of last evening informed us of the fining of a publican in that city £lO for permitting drunkenness in bio licensed house last Sunday and of the comment of the Bench to the effect that a disgraceful state of affairs was disclosed by the evidence. Probably no one except the most habitual and degraded drunkards will be disposed to gainsay the remarks of the Magistrate. It is a disgrace to our boasted civilization that in the midst of one of our cities in the nineteenth century such an evil should exist. In up country districts where the law may with more or less impunity be defied by the unscrupulous, such recurrences may be partly understood, for they are due to human nature running riot. But that they should occur in cities where the law has its officers always at hand, and there is a public opinion is in the last degree shameful and points either to laxity on the part of the officers of the law, or to signal defects in the law itself. We are disposed to blame the law and to absolve the officers. Whoever is to blame, the fact is an ugly one for this case we may safely set down as but one of many. We may conclude that there is sub rosa a vast amount of Sunday drunkenness, and if it is allowed to continue it will prove more detrimental to the welfare of the community than any other drinking. So far as the publican is concerned, we would dispose by a very summary process, of the man who permitted sixteen drunken men to lie about his house (particularly on Sunday when it is supposed to be closed). We would forthwith cancel the license of his house and impose a punishment somewhat more substantial than a £lO fine. Happily, however, our publicans, as a rale, are men who are as much opposed to such scenes as the most ardent teetotaller. The existence of illicit Sunday trading shows that the law is in need of amendment. We have always maintained and believed that to forcibly close the doors of public houses on Sundays, was to invite surreptitious drinking, We must deal with facts, not act on theories. The fact is a great number of people will take drink on Sundays ; the theory is that they must he prevented from doing so. Experience has incontestably proved the unsoundness of the theory, and demonstrated the fact. It is different with drunkenness, that is preventable. That is equally an established fact. The houses being closed, those who will have drink are forced to intrigue with him who has drink, and to obtain their liquor in defiance of the law. They thus become, not only tipplers, but sly law - breakers besides. Open wide all licensed houses, say two honrs, every Sunday, If during any part of the day, other than those prescribed hoars, liquor was dispensed, under any pretence whatever, let the license, not of the publican, but of the house itself, be forthwith cancelled. We would rather do that and trust to the education of public opinion as a safeguard against intemperance, than we would promote deception as well as intemperance by puritanical methods of repression.