CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6064, 30 December 1897, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

The impelling nation. — japan energy of the Japanese j and thb excellently exemplified b colonies, their far-reaching efforts t |. i establish commercial rela y tions throughout the world, and especial! with tiie great progressive British colonies i What Japan is doing in this way was ver; well shown the other day when the Japan ' > ese Consul in Sydney sent a protest to th ! Premier of New South Wales against th Alien Bill recently brought forward ii that colony. The Japanese Consu maintains that the colonies have m ' reason to fear an influx of Japanese, a the Government of Japan does not wish t< lose any of its subjects, and there is n< necessity for them to emigrate, as may bi judged from the fact that wages hav< nearly doubled in Japan within the las three years, consequent on the marked de velopment of industrial pursuits. He doe: not hesitate to say the Government o Japan will be quite prepared at any time by treaty or otherwise, to make arrange c ments that will practically secure Nev . South Wales, so far as Japan is concerned v all that the proposed legislation cai c secure. As showing the desire of Japai to promote friendly commercial arrange ments with Australia, the Consul points out that Japan has wholly removed th( , duty on wool, subsidised a steam ser B vice with Australia to the amount OJ 3 .£70,000 yearly, and is building sixteer . steamers for the Australian trade. Besides f the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, another Japanest company has commenced running _ monthly steamer to Newcastle. Owing tc the increase of manufactures the coal •: raised in Japan is selling for more monej t there than New South Wales coal is ie Sydney. It is the policy of the Japanese Government to encourage the consumption of meat, steamers of the mail line are ■ docked in Sydney, and even now the com- ' pany spends -625,000 a year in that capital. ' Japan is already taking fair lines of New ' South Wales wool, tallow, timber and > lead ; and, if the merchants of New Zealand '< care to try, this colony, too, may obtain a • share of the trade which, like that of England herself, appears to be anxious to connect itself with all the shores of the world. When, in the end of 1895, the news of Professor Rontgen's x discovery reached thecolony rays. some journalists referred to the matter in a hopeful, appreciative way, but one leading New Zealand newspaper, in a highly superior manner, consigned the discovery to the category of " Yankee notions." Subsequent events have hardly justified this summary verdict. At the opening meeting of the recently-formed Rontgen Society in London, the president, Professor Silvanus Thompson, remarked that Novemberß, lß9s, would be memorable m the world of science, for on that day Professor Rontgen made the great discovery which subsequent experiments had confirmed. He said that recently the [rays had penetrated the bodies of six men standing in a row, and that even already no discovery of this century „had done so much 1 as the new rays for operative surgery. Still, in his opinion, the possibilities of the Rontgen rays had not yet been fathomed, and he hinted at the destruction of bacteria and the partial restoration of sight to the blind. He referred to a skiagram of a full-length figure shown in the room as a proof that the soft tissues were nSw -made visible, and added that the new discovery might have, been foreshadowed even by Shakspere : " You shall not budge until I set up a glass which shall show the inmost parts of you." The cinematograph had come into play in connection with the rays, so that it was now possible to reproduce the action of the heart, and Mr Nikola Tesla had invented a new pattern of induction coil, which gave high frequency oscillatory discharges direct from any ordinary electric supply with small expenditure of energy. There is nothing in this that suggests the idea of the proverbial " Yankee notion;" in fact, apart from Professor Thompson's statements, the walls around were covered with skiagrams of arms, legs, ribs, and soft tissues, and the recent advances in Rontgen methods were illustrated by tubes, screens, interrupters, and Rheostats. In a letter addressed to A real a Stockholm newspaper, peace Count Tolstoi proposes that partt. Nobel's Peace Prize for this . . year should be distributed amongst the Duchob'oizes of the Caucasus. These people may -be regarded as fanatics, but they have been and they still are enthusiasts for peace. The facts are these : A whole population of more than 10,000 persons, who believe that a Christian can never be a murderer, has decided never to serve in an army. Thirty-four young men whose time it was to serve refused to do so or to take the oath, and were consequently drafted into a punitive company. Abont 300 reserve men have sent in their papers, de:laring that as Christians they could not and would not take part in military exercises. They were sent to prison in the Caucasus, their families we're driven away from their villages and removed to places among the Tartars and Gruses, where there was no land for them to cultivate and no other employment. In spite of the threats of the authorities that they would have to suffer constantly if they remained obstinate, they stuck to their principles. Tolstoi considers that these poor people, who sacrifice their all to their opinions, have done far more for peace than all the writers, orators and others who talk all over the world of their peace principles, but do nothing for them in veritable aots. He further thinks that the miserable conditions in which the steadfast Duchoboizes are now placed, render them worthy of the Nobel Prize for peace. "Priests, emperors and princes" he says, "are always speaking of peace; they speak of it in the chancelleries, inthe railway stations when they receive and embrace each other, at State banquets when they sup together. But, in reality, not one of them works to suppress war, -while the Duchoboizeg, by suppressing soldiers, have found the only means of rendering it impossible. I know well that an act of obedience to the Christian law cannot be the object of pecuniary recompense. But the amount of the prizes might be an acceptable help to the parents, wives, and i children of the refractory prisoners." It is ' to be hoped, for the sake of the innocent \ sufferers at any rate, that the suggestion of '. Count Tolstoi will be adopted.