NOTES.

Timaru Herald, Issue 170307, 1 September 1920, Page 4

NOTES.

There mo men whose moral stature appears to' diminish wiicii mo reau Uieir iotioi's. Unsuspected jnconsiiU'iiciei; perplexities, iitsiuicions, weaiaiesscs. anu lapses ironi uigiLny are too utieii revealed in them, uuc nothing oi : trat sort mars our sat-isiacuon in me lieiusal ot Cardinal -Ueivier's voluminous corrc.-pouvieuce with me lnvauon: ami oppiessors oi Jus cumit-.-y (says a. reviewer or •'Cardinal JJertur s own story"',), it is all conceived on a lngli ■ plane and expressed m the grand s'yio. it even extorted a, tribute from tue oppressors when they were no longer an a X)Osition to oppress. "You arc, m our estimation," .burou von der Lanoken wrote lo iiim <m October .17, 11/18, "the incarnation oi occupied Belgium, of which you are the venerated and trusted pastor." 'Die Cardinal was all that; and he was also something more than that. Judged by the combined test of the means at ids disposal and the results achieved : he was, perhaps, the most masterly diplomatist whom the -war produced. There was need for the gentleness of ihe dove, ' the wisdom of tlio serpent, mid the courage of the lion, and all these qualities Cardinal Mercicr displayed. The correspondence., always written in the lofty tone and closely reasoned maimer of btato Papers, is interesting throughout; but the most engrossing pages of ■tlio book are those which deal with tiie deportations.

In "Frederick Loeker-Lampson, a Character teketeh," Mr Augustine Dirrell tells one of his luther-iii-law's confidences, of how, entering ins own darkened, draughty, and apparently desorted drawing room, and swearing with increased richness as he sought the matches and stumbled against the chairs, ho suddenly laid iiis hand on something soft and human, and discovered it t>o be "the upturned face of his respected mother-in-law. 1 ' "1 do not know if she had been asleep—that I shall never know —but I should think not, for she said, in the most wide-awake, mellifluous tones of her very pleasing voice, 'ls that you, deal'" Mr Locker r° This was all she said; she never said anything more. Heaven bless herl"

" Befereeing a Thousand Fights" i=i a new edition of "Thirty Years a Boxing Referee," a volume of racy reminiscences by Eugene Corri, a Loudon stockbroker who has gained worldwide repute as "third man in the ring." "With few exceptions Mr Corn's thousand contests have taken place ,'in Britain, and the greater part of ! his volume is devoted to random, reflections concerning the careers of British boxers. Mysterious Billy Wells, the "Welsh wizard Wilde, Ba.sham, Summers, Lewis, the Bcottisli gipsy Taney Lee, .and a host of other latterday celebrities figure in its pages, and most of the American heavyweight kings of the ring are given prominence, as well as some Australasian champions (including Tim aru's own Bob Fitzsimmons), and the French idol Georges Carpentier. The book will he interesting to all lovers of the manly art.

The first five articles in the "Bound Table" for June deal with questions which are as prominent to-day as when the articles were written. The first is a statement of the difficulties and dangers arising out of the re-settle-ment of Turkey. It discusses the two conflicting motives of religion and race, and strongly advises the Allies to be consistent in their reliance on which is the foundation of the whole peace settlement. The same arguments are used in tho second article,"The Situation in Egypt." The writer rejectß the idea that there has been any failure in the administration, but contends that new forces have come into existence in Egypt as in every other country, and that necessary adjustments must be made to deal with them. An innovation is introduced by the publication of articles on France and Germany by French and German writers respectively. The German case is familiar from the writings of critics on the Peace Treaty, but the French case is well worth studying, for it attempts to show that if Germany is worse off financially than France economically her position is rather better. Another article of immediate interest is a survey of the work of the Supreme Council, which is a convincing answer to the charge that it is usurping the place of the League of Nations. Among the Dominion chronicles the most interesting is the Canadian, for it deals with proposed changes in the relations of the Dominion with Great Britain, and argues tho province which attaches most value to the Imperial connection is paradoxically enough Quebec.