The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1901.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11785, 7 October 1901, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1901.

— ♦ . The cables last week warned us that the press and public at Home are chafing at the way in which the fighting in South Africa is dragging on. Over two years have elapsed s nee the war commenced . Pretoria 3 since the war commenced ; Pretoria May 31st, 1900, more than sixteen months ago ; and it is nearly a year since Lord Roberts left South Africa with the back of the war broken, i leaving Lord Kitchener, with an army numbering nearly a quarter of a million men, to stamp out the F smouldering embers. Tho embers still smoulder, and occasionally break out into fierce flames'; there has B been no opportunity of appreciably reducing the British force in South 3 Africa ; and the doily cost of the war is not materially less than it /was a year ago. All this is disheartening to the British taxpayers, upon whom r.he burden falls very heavily while the monthly tribute ' in killed and wounded is bringing sorrow into many homes. No wonder restiveness is being exhibited and a demand is being made for more vigorous measures to 'bring the war to a conclusion. The latest evidence~of the existing dissatisfaction is contained in a cable publish3 ed to-day, which ■ states that The S]jectator suggests that Lord Roberts should be again sent out to Kout hAfrica to finish tho war, and 9 that Lord Kitchener should either be recalled and made temporary 1 Commandor-in-Chiof, or remain t whe.'c he is as Lord Roberts' chief V of staff. It will be a melancholy 2 thing if Lord Kitchener's name should have to be added to the long list of those whose military reputations have been lost in South 1 Afrin, but tljat consideration should 8 not be allowed to rland in the way of a speody termination of the war. . As Lord Roberts, chief of staff Lord Kitchener showed marked ability and contributed immensely to the • ( wonderful success of the advance on t Bloomfontcin and Pretoria, but it It has since been made evident that he does not possess the military genius f of the hero of Kandahar. It must of course, be granted that the task Lord Roberts deputed to him was I no light one- N.o greater appreciation of its difficulties will be found than in this colony where a similar ilar kind of guerilla warfare was carried on for years against the native race. Nor can Lord Kitchener , be held responsible lor all the little * blunders and )jp verses which have lately been recorded. Still the fact remains that, the war drags on, and that the monthly list of casualties , are heavy. Occasionally as at Fort . Italia a few days ago, when no less than 332 dead Boers were buried b: the British, the enemy suffers severely, but it must be noted in the \ engagement mentioned it was the^ i Boers who attacked in greatly superior numbers, instead of being hunted down insmall bands we have them attacking JJritish posts in considerable force. The most unpleasant feature of the business, however, is the icar that disaffection may spread among the Cape Dutch ; that the apparent inability of the _ British commander to stamp out the war may lead to active l'ecruiting of the Boer ranks, thus adding to the difficulties as summer comes on. To 3 avoid this nothing should be left unf done, even though niore military rc1 putations should suffer. The pres2 ence of .Lord Roberts once more at - the theatre of war would inspire re1 newed confidence in the army, and 5 and the magic f>f his genius would " quickly pervade all ranks, and do £ more probably to bring the war to l an end than anything else that could 1 be done. There is, however, another * matter in which sterner measxires 1 arc . required, and that is in the r treatment of rebels and of surrend- _ erers. Mistaken liency Los often been been followed by treachery, and yet tho^.e responsible for the policy perf,ist in it. The motives, no doubt, c are of the highest, but they do more X credit to the hearts than to the 1 heads of those who order this so- " called humane treatment of our enem I ics, and in the end the misery and 1 the loss of life through the prolong- - ation of the war more tliar.' make up - for the mercifully intended leniency I shown to prisoners and surrenders. 1 A sterner process would in the end a bo the more humane. Another mat1 ter which soems open lo grave ob- ' jection is the permission recently , given to Boer p; isoners in Ceylon to 1 serve in the British army in [ndia * Those in aothonty ontho spot ought, 3 ot course, to be best qualified

,o judge but it will oc- j ;ur to many at a distance that I Aw result may be an attempt by J hose Boers to spread disaffection | nnong the men of the Indian army, y iml history tells us what that might mean. No, it is time that this war ivns fought to a finish without any "urther mincing of matters. Our kind treatment of our enemies has had the effect of unduly prolonging the war, and unless there is a change it will drag on indefinitely.

We have received a donation of 6s for the Boys' Institute from Miss Wood. Mr C. M. Lepper has a business notice in this issue. Captain Edwin wired at 12.35 to day: Moderate south to east and north-east winds ; glass rise; poor tides. Should the weather keep fine the bowling green will be open for practice on Thursday next; if wet, then it will be ooen the first fine Thursday. ■ The Northern Steam Shipping Co. has, we understand, decided to inaugurate the extra steamer service between New Plymouth and Onehuuga on December Ist. The.S.M. presided in the Police Court this morning. Patrick Hurley was fined 10s and costs 2a on a charge of drunkennes', and was also ordered to pay £1 Is for medical expenses. In this week's issue of the New Zoaland Graphic will appear the first of a BerJßi of illustrated articles on '■ ! rout Fishing in the Canterbury Rivers," contributed by Mr A. H. Shury. Messrs Carthew, Brittain & Co. report hiving sold, on account of local owner, two full J-aore sections and 5-room dwelling, centrally situated, to Mr Percy Jury, tit a good price. Owing to Bandmaster Sturmey having been engaged to play in the orchestra of the Waldorf Company, at the Theatre Royal, this evening, the usual Monday evening practice of the Town Band has been postponed. Mr W: W. Tunbridge has now added a shaving and hair-dressing saloon to his tobacconist business, in D«von-street. Mr Robottom, late of Christchurch, who takes charge of the saloon, brings excellent credentials as a thoroughly capable man. In another column Mr J. Avery announces the arrival of a shipment of tennis and cricket requisites for 1901. ■This season he nas relinquished the fishing tackle . business, leaving that branch to Mr L. ftl. Taunton, who now stocks full supplies. To-morrow night (Tuesday) the Polypathic Medical Institute of Christchurch will terminate their second visit to .New Plymouth, giving free consultations until 8 p.m. On Wednesday they visit luglewood, and Thursday make return visit to Stratford en route for Christchurch. A society for the suppression of spurious titles has been formed in Virginia, A branch of it should be organised in every State of the Union. Then we might have fewer colonels who never smelled powder, fewer judges who never read law, and fewer doctors who never healed a patient. — Tribune, New York. ]n the Police Court on Saturday, before Mr R. L. Stanford,, S.M.. William Dennis, alias Jones, was charged with being illegally on the premises of All 1 W. D. Webster. Sergeant Haddrell prosecuted, and called Constable Russell, who gave evidence that ho had arrested the accused at 1.45 o'clock that morning. The accused who had been before the Court for a similar offence some few weeks ago, was sentenced to a month's imprisonment. At the Boys' Institute to-night a short concert will be given, to which a small charge (6d) will be made for admission. The proceeds will be in aid of the In-ti-tute funds. It is proposed to carry on the Institute until the end of this month, when the summer vacation will com-, mence. To meet the expenses a few pounds are required, so that there may be no debt hanging over the Institute when it re-opens m the autumn. Tonight's concert will commence at halfpast seven. A new time-saving appliance for traaahipping mails and baggage in connection with the cross-Channel service was brought into operation at Dover recently, i'he appliance is in the form of an endless travelling platform, and is worked by electricity. It brings packages of uuy weight ashore at the rate of one in fifteen seconds. Some of the paekages.un loaded yesterday . weighed seven hundredweight, and required four men to lift them, but thv;y were brought ashore as easily as a handbag. The transhipment was performed in less than half the usual time, A good dog story is told by a French paper Ami desUetes. A peasant sold tourteen sheep, and he agreed with the buyer that the dog which had accom panied the flock should form part of the purchase. Mixing up the sheep with some 130 others the buyer left with them and the dog for his village, some dietance away. Night came on, and the dog decided to turn back. He managed unnoticed to sort out the fourteen sheep and- to safely escort them back to their old quarters. Since than the sheep have been handed over again, but the dog has been retained. The British Trade Union is- an organisation for the restraint of labour and the manacling of capital. The great object in British trade union production is the dissipation of labour — which is waste. This is the cential idea of the " machine question " among the engineers of the eight- hour-day movement, of the miners' weekly " idle day." The less each man does for hia wages, the more will there be for other men to do foi the sime wages — bo they foolishly think, as if there were a common wage fund into which every man can dip, share and share alike with his neighbour. — Public Opinion, New York. Mr W. A. King, formerly, of New Zealand, and more recently of Apia. Samoa, where he conducted the Samoan Herald, is now publishing The Polynesian Gazette (weekly) at Levuka, Fiji. In March la.st v hurricane played such havoc with the office of the paper that its publication ceased until ceptember 7th,"\vhen Mr King resuscitated it ; not without some difficulty, however, for he describes in the first issue how on taking pos3esdon of the plant he found all the type in a state of " pie." The Polynesian Gazette is strongly opposed to the present form of government of the islands a*s a Crown Colony.