CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6660, 5 December 1899, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

As the Transvaal is pei*

" flag- haps the finest country in the waggers." world for signalling purposes, owing to its numerous easily-accessible hills and its magnificently clear atmosphere, th.c " St James's Gazette '' finds it difficult to understand why the military authorities have not drawn more freely for signallers ujjon India for the formation of a, most indispensable unit of a South African army. Every one of these "flag-wag-gers," it says, should have been taken from the European garrison of our great Eastern dependency, as, by force of circumstances, signallers trained in England cannot arrive at the same pitch of efficiency as men who have been " put through " in India. The conditions of climate wnd the topographical features of India, make it a typical country for signalling. In every battalion of infantry, eighteen men are annually inspected in the teat, and twenty-two soldiers have to be trained and kept up as signallers. There is thus a much larger number of men to select from than in Home stations, where only eight men are examined. Indian " flagwatrgers," moreover, have opportunities for long-distance signalling. They often transmit signals over twenty miles, and even thirty miles is on record. For the long-dis-tance message work which is needed on the Natal and Bechuanaland frontiers, practice is required, and this has been gained in the Indian frontier campaigns' during the last four years. The majority of these signallers should be cavalry, with the infantry to form lar"e mussed stations at the heads of columns. The mounted signallers are intended to move on with the moiinted arms, and to keep the headquarters staff continually informed about their movements. This enables the " brains " of the army to receive all reports of the day's reconnaissances early | in the evening instead of having information ! dribbling in at all hours of the night by mounted orderlies. The advanced light horse are justly said to be the eyes and ears of an army, but the primary means of transmitting news to its brain-centres are ttie humble " flag-waggers." Signallers such as are turned out of the Indif.ii " military mill" would prove invaluable in South Africa at the present moment. There are some people, rrNroru- says the Melbourne " Argus," laiuty. who describe themselves as unpopular, when the most appropriate term would be insignificant. A very able ivan may be unpopular, but a nobody cunnot incur unpopularity. This remark evidently does not apply to the Rev J. H. Mackay, of Bendigo, for lie has told the Presbyterian Assembly that he is " transcendentally, sublimely unpopular, and the people will not come- to him." "In its continuity and one or two otUer things," he says, "his unpopularity is sublime." a

gentleman who has the originality, the candour, and the courage to use these words about himself is evidently not insignificant, whatever else he may be. When so many have to be content to live in commonplace obscurity, it is something to be able to boast even of an opportunity that reaches the heights or the depths of the sublime. Mr Mackay is also original in his outlook towards better things. If his expectations are verified, fire from heaven will fall to attract people to his place of worship. When a minister recommended a stove for a cold church, an elder suggested that it was in the pulpit that the fire was wanting. Here, again, the " Argu3 " confesses that the illustration is inappropriate to Mr Mackay's case, for if this sample of his deliverances is of fair average quality, his utterances are not wanting in fire. It suggests, indeed, that the Bendigo worshippers, like certain other highly-lauded Christians of Dutch descent, do not stand fire well, and that a too constant discharge of spiritual lyddite has deplorably thinned the ranks of Mr Mackay's followers. However, it assures Mr Mackay that he has, in a marked degree, some of the elements of popularity, and it joins him in the confident hope that, at some day not too distant, his ability will be recognised, and the spiritual and pecuniary results of his teaching will be greatly increased. Full of years, and overX' MtJLTr- burdened with riches, the anrj,iox- noteworthy personage widely ajre. known in Great Britain and in the United States as "Chicago Smith" died last month in .London. Nearly seventy years ago he left Aberdeen for the United States with a few hundred pounds in his pocket. The site of Chicago when he arrived there in 1834 was a mere swamp, but Smith foresaw that in time it would unite the east and west routes and invested in plots of land about the branches of the Chicago River which now separate the city into three parts. He also bought land at the mouth of the river on which Milwaukee, the chief commercial city of Wisconsin, an important port, and the centre of five railways, now stands. These investments were so profitable that in a few years he sold his real estate for one quarter in cash and the /balance in notes, and returned to Scotland. He was not suffered to remain there long, for banking in the United States was loosely conducted. The democratic idea of 1853 was that any persons who wished to do so might form banking corporations, and this principle was soon acted upon. In most of the States, banks were started, with or without capital, and their notes were used to buy Government lands, which only needed to be held a short time to gain a handsome profit. One of these corporations had ti wild cat, or panther, as its device. It became insol-

vent after having sent out a large ' number of notes, and for many years all irresponsible banks were called " Wild Cat Banks," and their notes "Wild Gate." The term is now familiar enough in this country a3 the designation of undesirable mining schemes. In 1836, Jackson's Secretary of the Treasury ordered his land agents to accept only gold and silver in payment for lands. This action originated the nickname, now that of a party, "Hard Money Men." when the wild cat notes were dishonoured, failures, on a scale gigantic even for America, took place. George Smith hastened back to Chicago, and as a makeshift bank established an insurance company, whose certificates were for a long time the most popular security in the northwestern States. He engaged in other banking institutions, which proved highly successful, and enabled him to take up his residence in London. He paid frequent visits to America, taking great interest in the birth and growth of its cities and the development of its" railway systems.