The Star. FRIDAY, February 23, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6727, 23 February 1900, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, February 23, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

The uneasiness caused by the meagre in- j telligtoce received since Monday regarding ■ the_. situation in South Africa was, i in a measure, relieved this morning by the arrival of news to the effect that*, the Boer . forces under -General Cronje had been surrounded, and that after two days' desperate, fighting the enemy's com-mai-der has asked for an -armistice. It is not stated that his request was granted, butthe mere fact that the Boers were obliged to ask for a. suSpetisibh of hostilities is 'lieassuring. Their action may, of course, te the outcome, of a desire 'to .gain, time to allow their reinforcements to reach them, but Lord Roberts is not likely to facilitate their wishes in this direction. If the British are in a fit condition to continue the fighting, we may expect to hear that Cronje has been informed, that he must either fight or .surrender. Although the losses of the First New Zealand Contingent 'have been, a great .deal smaller . than the casualties sustained** by some of the other colonial contbgents, they are mounting up .nevertheless. Bradford, Gpurlay, Connell, Booth and Patterson have . all found grave's on the South African veldt, and yesterday came news of the death of Lieutenant Neave. r It is true that at tha time of his death Lieutenant 0 Neav-e Was no longer a member of the New Zealand Contingent; but this fact does not soften the regret which the news of his death aroused. Nine-tenths of the newspaper, readers simply remember him as one of thf little band which left Wellington, under Major Robin, in October last, a-nd in their eyes his death is the colony's loss. .. .... L&sfc week the cable informed us that an -American named Molineux had bean sentenced to death for the murder of Mrs Kate Adams by means of poison sent by post. Further particulars of tne case show that Molirteux, who is of good family, aid a son of General Molineux, is a> chemist by professfcn. The charge against him was that .he -sent by mail to a friend named Cornish cyanide of mercury, in what seemed to bi a harmless vial of bromo-seltzer, and also, thai he had sent this- poison by mail in a vial or package of JttufafoTv's powder to a fellow, clubman named Barnet, whose death was caused by it. The poison received by Cornish* was given by him innocently to Sirs Adams, his landlady, whom Molineux did not know, and it killed her. The theory of the prosecution was that Mpliiierta, j *'who had recently married, had reason to be jealous of Barnet, and thaft his m6tive with respect, to Cornish was Hatred, due to a quarrel, and fear, because Cornish suspected tim of murdering Barnet. . '''The Egyptian Budget this year is interesting' reading! Owing to the bad* Nile and the' consequent loss of cultivated .area, and so of taxes, the receipts have fallen off by £250.000. The farmers, it is calculated, have lost £550,000. But then they haye made an extra £3,500,000 owing to the itaproved cotton crop. On the whole, it seems , probable that the total revenue for 1899 will work out at £11,562,000, . as against £11,632,000 in the previous year. , The fund in the hands of the Caisse is about £4,136,000. In the opinion of the " Spectator," these figures all show that the financial condition of Egypt is very sound. Mr Gorst ends his Financial Sta,temeiit. : ,withjthe wise.; and beneficial declaration that the Egyptian Government '-does ! not Thtiend to' allow- the tariff , -is essei-tialjiy a revenue tariff, to be u-sed/to foster- unsound industries. For exampl-?, if cotton tnills are set up, the cloth will pay ran, ejecise equa! to the duty. If not, and if this wefre done on a large scale, the Egyptian Treasury might be bled slowly to death. . .';■'.; _. ■ The bayonet, which inspires such terror in the ran kg of the Boers, was not employed in the British Army until the reigli of Charles ll., when it was described in a Royal Warrant as "a bayonet or great knife." For some time it was pot into lequisitio'n imtil'tifter Wfthe'^mmiimtion had been expended, and then it was screwed into the barrel of the musket, completely closing up the muzzle. At the battle of Ramillies, iqwever, some.'thnfty years later, the men pf tlie 25th* Regiment cf Foot, now the Royal Borderers, noticed that an opposing regiment charged'immediately they had delivered their fire, and withou**;; jilting to screw, on their bayonets. After the engagement the French • fireldcks* -which- fclid been captured were e^a-an_ ? ed,a6<-t the improvement pointedVou-t .to lhe English .armourers, who were instructed to fit the muskets of the English .^Aimyip the sj*Jhe ™7- ". " ■' ',-;.. Ta ' : "PP P"y '■'