CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6551, 31 July 1899, Page 2

CURRENT TOPICS.

The San Francisco corresaiAMTiAx. pondent of lihe Melbourne law in the "Age," writing on June 14, united gave a description of the restatbs. suit of the dynamiting outrage ib. the mining district of Idaho. Civil law had been suspended in consequence of the destruction of life and property through the high-handed course of" the Union labour leaders, and for nearly two months the district had been under, martial law of the strictest character. Over ! four hundred men were arrested for various offences connected with the Wowing up of the mine buildings- at Bunker Hill and Sullivan. The prisoners were kept in close ! confinement in the stockade at Wardner, locally known astke "ballpen," their, guards being negro soldiers of the United States regular army. Many of the accused had \ been influential men in the Coeur d'Alene mining district, and now, driven by despised ] "niggers," they were , compelled to perform menial tasks such as chopping wood, carrying water, washing; and cooking. Martial law was administered with, an iron hand by General Merriam. One of the prisoners in the "bull pen" was adjudged insane, and while waiting for a train to take him to an asylum, he tried to escape, but his negro warders used their rifles to suchi effect that his body was riddled with bullets and fell into the Coeiir d'Alene River. The ac- ! tions of the military authorities were criticised in a local labour paper, the editor' of which was arrested, and his wife tried to bring out the next issue. The office was raided by coloured soldiers, who carried off the pages ready for the press, and most of the type-on hand. All the organised labour associations in the country held mass meetings to denounce the military authorities, and to appeal to Washington for relaxation" of the military regime, but their denunciatory resolutions had no effect. The writ of ' habeas corpus was suspended, saloons were closed tight, dnd the authorities were proceeding steadily towards the trials. , The general tenor of the resolutions was expressed in those passed by a Montana trades association, which called on all lovers of patriotism and justice to hold mass demonstrations "to denounce General Merriain and the War Department^ flic subservient Governor of Idaho, and the sympathetic Governor of Montana, for the. tyrannical treatment of the working men." The Association also asked all working men to " use their ballots to secure a government that would clip the wings of military autocrats and truculent officials," and declared that, "standing on their constitutional rights, they yould prepare to defend those rights a* any cost." The people generally of the States were not disposed to fall in with these inflammatory resolutions, as they considered that the severe policy of the Government was the natural Tesult of the action of tho dynamiters. An action of -world- wide the interest was heard in tha "uevised British Chancery Court re- ■ version." cently, when "The Chancellor, masters and scholars of the Universities of Oxford and Cam- j bridge," as owners of the copyright of the j Revised Version of ; the New Testament, j applied for an injunction restraining George Gill and Sons, a firm of publishers, from printing and selling certain Scripture manuals, and thereby infringing the rights of the plaintiffs. A knowledge of the various readings and renderings of both Greek and English versions of Scripture is of great value to students who git for certain university and theological examinations, and Messrs Gill and Sons had brought out editions of the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of St Luke, by tho Rev Francis Marshall, exhibiting in an instructive way the chief alterations effected jn the text of the Authorised Version by the revisers of. the New Testament.. The authorities of the University Press, however, became alarmed at ' the great popularity of Mr Marshall's manuals, and appealed to the Courts to prevent the'r sale. In the course-, of the -case it was shown that Mr Marshall used the. text of the Authorisol Version of 1611, and in the margin or in notes, set out the corresponding passages of the Revised Version of 1881, wherever substantial •• differences occurred. Thus, between the- two versions of SU Luke's Gospel t-hero are 2578 instances .of difference :n readSng, and Mr MSaa-shall used 234 of these; of the 234, however, 209 were proved to have been used prior to 1881. Similarly, in regard to the Acts of the Apostles, out of 2586 differences' of reading, the defendants had appropriated, 673 ; but 584 of these, again, we're to be found existing in translations antecedent to the Revised Version. Upon--these^facts-tbe-.plaia-tiffs contended thafc had

taken ail that was material from their copjTighfc Version where there was ' any difference between it and the Authorised. Version, and that their copyright was I thereby infringed. It was stated that tho ! revision had cost £20,000, and that the plaintiffs had never refused a reasonable application for permission to use the newVersion. The defendants claimed that the revision was common and necessary knowledge, and that no injury had been done in this case. The Judge, however, held that tnere had been a distinct infringement of copyright, and granted the injunction. Mr Marshall claims that this judgment places students of the New Testament absolutely at the mercy of an exclusive and privileged body, which may make no attempt tt> giva them necessary assistance in their studies. ! • -A- facetious Melbourne com- newspaper suggests that the pulsorx harassed Treasurer of Vn> mabbiaoe. toriashould follow the pre. cedent of Messrs Best and Trenwith's inquiry into the labour laws oi New Zealand by giving a roving commission to certain gentlemen to investigate a recent fiscal experiment in the Grand Ducfay of i Hesse. In this German principality, e*«ry census shows a great excess of females over , males, and tlie Duchy Diet, as an attempt to compel men to marry, has decreed that bachelors shall in future pay 25 per cent . extra taxation for the privilege of remammg- ( single. From its knowledge of human, nature, the "Age" does not anticipate from this tax much more than an increase in tie revenue of the State, and- believes that it will fail in its primary object of raising the marriage rate. John Selden's maxim, that " marriage is a desperate thing/ deters the confirmed bachelor from , taking- a plunge into matrimony, and' hi will pay double and treble taxation rather than -face its unknowa risks. The. romantic element in &© Gfermaa character would suffer a serious reflection, if the swains of Hesse were induced by taxation proposals to lay their hands, hearts'and income-tax schedules .at the reputedly large feet of the disconisoiate fraulein. Even if the tax-collector proves .a more vigorous matrimonial agent than Cupid himself, the "Age" forsees many domestic squabbles in Hesse .when' the -economical Teuton discovers that it would have been cheaper after all to have remained single. If reports from such an untrustworthy source as a South American Republic can be relied upon, Hesse was anticipated in its action by the Argentine, which some time ago decided to inflict a fine of 500 piastres on any man or woman who should refuse, with-, out sufficient reason, any offer of marriage. This scheme pre-supposed the equal rights of the sexes to propose, but probably the Republic was deterred from putting it in. force by the difficulty of determining wist' was a sufficient reason for refusing ah offer jof marriage. Instead of this tax, the Argentine imposed a special monthly assessmeii on all single men over twenty and under eighty years of age. Lack of population must be a very pressing evil in. a State which penalises a bachelor who has reached the -Scriptural limit of three score and tea for refusing to pass his few remaining y&na as a Benedict.