The Star. MONDAY, MAY 14, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6794, 14 May 1900, Page 2

The Star. MO N DAY, MAY 14, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Tlie deputation froiri the Hospital' Bolrd' which waited on tho'Llindster of Justice, on Saturday to' protest 'against the practice of sending- drunkards 'to the Hospital for medical . treatment did nob succeed in convincing the Minister that the custom <ught to be discontinued. It was able to show, however, that the Hospital liad ai-either the accommodation nor the appliances suitable fcr ministering to sufferers from drink. Naturally Mr M'Gowan replied that the sooner the Board prcvided the Hospital with the necessary accommodation and appliahcag the better, and he very properly added that he could not entertain the deputation's proposal to send drunkards to prison for treatment. The deputation, therefore, got practically nothing from the Minister, but as a matter of fact its wtrk was not thrown away. For, unconsciously, perhaps, it drew the attention of 'Mr M'Gowan to\ the necessity •of establishing- special institutions for the treatment of drunkards. If an institution of this character existed m Christchurch there would be no need either to send inebriates to the Hospital, or even to think of sending them to the police cells for medical attention.

Eai*ly last month the Indian famine was the subject of a long -debate in the House ofCommoiis. The debate began on 'the question whether the ImparialV Government .should offer ythey Indian Treasury assistance, but ... ultimately it resolved itself into a _ dispute as to whether the Indian Gov-eniment was responsible for causing the famine. One speaker maintained that the famine was the result partly of the neglect of irrigation and partly of over-taxation. The Ministers, made an effort to combat these assertions, but, we are told, did not succeed in disposing of them to the satisfaction of the whoie House. As regards taxation, it is admitted,, of course, that under the British the natives are . expected ,to pay less than they were called upon to contribute to the Mogul rulers ; but whereas tlie British succeed in collecting the whole of the taxes imposed, their predecessors did not. There seems no doubt that the system which now prevails prevents the rise of an agricultural middle clsiss, and in consequence prejudicas the prosperity of the country, but' whether it is directly responsible for the famine is not by any means certain.

After discus_ing the settlement of the South African question on Saturday, *we came across a speech oh the subject .'delivered last month by Mr' Rose-Innes, tho well-known Cape pbliticiairi. Mr RoseIniies is raid to sympathise neither with the Afrikander Bond nor with that "British faction of which Mr Cecil Rhodes is recognised as the head. His remarks, are, therefore, entitled to the consideration of everybody who desires to form ai unprejudiced opinion regarding the present struggle, its cause,, and its outcome. But for the agitation now in progress to secure the retention of the independence. of the. Itepub•liqs; Mr Rose-Irines, so he said, w.culd have refrained from speaking. As matters' stood, however, he felt impelled to warn Britain that there will be no lasting peace sd long as the independence; of the Transvaal, and Free State is permitted. • " Nobody," ' he observed, " wanted another war of this kind, nor to see' the plains drenched with the best blood of England and of the flower of colonial manhood, nor- to see the foe dying in heaps for a. hopeless ideal. There- . fore lie and those who thought like him said, 'Give us peace, in Heaven's name, after a settlement, but . make no settlement not' calculated- to secure a permanent, peace."' "Independence," added Mr Innes, "meant with the Transvaal Boer the continuance of the domination of the ruling caste." As it was the desire of the Boer^ to pese as the ruling caste, which led to the war, it is plain that unless we are prepared to again submit to their domination we cannot .permit them to retain their independence. As Mr RoseInnes also remarked, "The methods which had worked before the war were now impossible and impracticable. ' It is useless to attempt to piece together china broken in ten thousand fragments." . .

" To-day " tails ani amusing story of an officer, at present on General Roberts's staff, who is' noted for his ready wit and quickness in repartee, which have never desorted him since the days wh&n he was a mere subaltern. In the very early days of his career he was -ordered out to Bombay, and was thejii! v attacliedi to the staff of the then Coinmander-iw-Chieif as A.D.C. Shortly after his arrival he had. to make a visit to Government .Houfce, .where a new and very supercilious military, secretary was installed. The room was crowded with pecple at the time when ;t'ho young subaltern entered and proceeded to- explain his business. The military secretary, who, in the conscious pride of -Ms new position, liad a hearty contempt for subalterns of all degrees, with a glassy stare through his eyeglass, offered him two fingers to shake. ~ The A.D.C, quite unabashed, lotked at him for a moment or two, and then said, geniially, " Hang it all, Major, itihe Governor gives me three." The whole room was convulsed, and the military secretary, now a colonel on the' half -pay list, profited by the hint and niemdedJiis manners— but he never forgave the A.D.C.

It was inevitable, and a healthy proof of colonial feeling, that there should be a discus3ibn as to which colony the honour be- ( longs to of first offering help to the Mother Country in the war in, South Africa. In England. Mr Seddora was reported "by cable to have saiid'that it .was a Temarkable coin- | cidence '.tn'afc,New Zealand, the first colony to obtajiii' self-government was ihe first to offer her foroes to England. Sir Horace Tozer, ia a letter to the "Times," claimed, however, that the genesis of the present colonial assistance was to be found in an offer made last July by the Hop J. R. Dickson/, Mr Reeves, hi a letter to .the. same' paper, corroborated Sir Horace Tozer's statement, and asserted that Mr Seddon would be the last to wish to take from Queensland the honour that was due, Ito her, and that it would, w> doubt, be ft,und 'when a fuller report was received: that. Air Sodd-civ referred to, what is ■admittedly- the fact, the arrival at the seat of war of the New Zealand Continent before that of any other cok'niial contingent, ''Contingents /forwarded with protaptitude aii'd d^L-patoh " might indeed be ,N T ew. Zealand's motto. The. verdict must bo honours easy ,; for, if the Queenslanders made tlie first offer,^the New South Wales Lancfers'wer- the first Australasians, and the New Zealanders the firstcAitingent to reach South Africa.