The Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11572, 16 December 1915, Page 4

The Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

CANTERBURY'S ANNIVERSARY. Ttnliiy Canterbury does honour to its founders, to the men. and women •w-Ko first looked down from the Port Hills upon a vast lifeless land, and ■who cot their hearts to the groat task of nation-making in. a country whose appearance must havo secretly discouraged many a pioneer. Each year that passes sees feiwer of the little pilgrim company at the veterans 5 " reunions; there are not many now who can '.tell of their voyages in the four classic ships, in ,a day when the sailing of adventurers for settlements in the colonies seemed almost a departure for. another world. Each year also sees its advance in tie material .prosperity of tho province which had such a.humble beginning; each year adds "to the. aggregate of changes little short of miraculous, which industry and resolution have wrought on the Canterbury Plains ia less than thei span of a lifetime. „

It is well to remember to-day, when 'chitef attention, is given in oid-time areminiscenoes to the coming of 1 the Pilgrim that there were little oases of civilisation in these parts even before the Charlotte Jane and iher far-voyaging; consorts dropped anchor in Lyttelton harbour. There jjwere the Deans brothers at Iticcarton, BCaya in Pigeon Bay, thq Sinclairs •close by, and there was the FrancoBritish settlement in Akaroa, besides the whalers of the outer peninsula bays. So the pioneers of the official ! settlement of 1850 did not come to an ! unknown or untried land. Nevertheless, they were the first real pioneers of tha great interior. The concern of the first-comers was with, the coast, and there was no white inhabitant over all the millions of acres of the Plains beyond the little Deans farm under the lee of the Putaringamutu bush—a remnant of which is fortunately preserved to us to-day. In that great back country of flax and" l .tussock and cabbage-tree, the " De- | ceptive Plains of Waitaha," as tho ■ Maoris called it, there lay the newl| comers' Promised Land. Its deffi[V6lopment was a slow and costly pro■pess, spread over many a year, but its ipv-ealth to-thsy is to be reckoned in millaiions. and it is little short of amazing sip recollect that there are those with ! ||s , to-day who knew Canterbury when, ■ woni the site of Chjistchurch far away Jjb" the "Waitaki no civilised man's Bouse or even a tqjnt whitened the gfeat plains that in less than three generations have become the most fruitful and the richest part of' the " Dominion. I ■ ■■.

at is absorbingly interesting, too, to vafealise th& changes which have come tojpass in ocean transit since tho First F<imr Ships came to a joyful anchor in Cooper Harbour. The Charlotte Jattp, the Randolph, the Cressy and the Sir George Seymour, were craft such as no traveller but the adventurous would tMnfes of taking passage to-day, eveii for a coastal voyage. Look at the historical picture of "The Cressy at Anchor/ 1 reproduced in a number of our local works, and then upon Lyttelfcon and its shipping to-day, and think of the phases through •which our traffic has passed, the successive stages building up of the ocean steamship link with tho world's centres. That old sketch shows a. little full-rigged ship at-anchor in the foreground, her sailors aloft stowing the sails; around her a flotilla of small boats taking immigrants to the shore; further inshore two other vessels of the pioneer fleet, and on the bush and lower hill-slopes the rough buildings just run up for the new settlers. Where the little ships of five or six hundred tons landed their , oceanweary people, prisoned in close quarters, with poor food and little water, for months on end, ten-thousand-ton steam liners are an every-day sight, and the olden square-rigger type is so ra.ro as to be almost a curiosity. The steam-carried traveller of to-day is so luxuriously and easily transported from place to place that he scarcely reailscs ho is afloat. The 1850 voyager, even on tho coast passage that now takes a few hours, knew all about tho dangers and the privations of the deep; aifld tho transformation in our sea communications is not the least wonderful of the thousand vast changes which have com© about since the ships of a great adventure furled their sails in oweport this day sixty-five years ago.

THE CHINESE EMPEROR. Hie report that Yuan-Shi-Kai had accepted, th© throne of ancient China has hdeii confirmed, but in thfj.se troublous times such a remarkable development creates little or no commwmfc, Tlkj new wearer of thq Imperial Yellow is a man of iron, straightfor- , vard to a degree almost unknown ■&*...

among Orientals, yet endowed with all those subtle powers so distinctive of the Chinese mind. In an interesting character sketch published recently an Englishman who has known the now Emtperor for many years said;—" Ho 13 not a very big man physically, but he is thick-set, with Tory determined Chinese bulldog, in fact. His wide-open eyes watch the questioner closely, but never craftily; yet it is well to understand from tho outset that those «>'©s wo seeking both to understand th 6 question thoroughly and to discover precisely what lies bebind it—an art very imperfectly known in'TSnrope, although lawyers think they possess .it, AVhtjn lias* got tho meaning and tho motive—which he does as rapidly as a dog snaps up a bone—he answers at onco bluntly and determinedly; and then, settling himself, waits patiently for the next borne. He can work through a whole carcaae of questions without the slightest sign of fatigue—ho sits there squarely and finishes you off until the last bona is gone. Tho thing is immense and fascinating, a. new experience iu a world of worn-out experiences, something to bo remembered for a long day by those) who have matched wits against him."

The waiter briefly discussed the question of Yuan-Shi-Kai's accession to the throne. Many conflicting interests had to bo considered, but of ono thing ho felt curtain: that if anything in the nature of a coup d'etat were attempted, " as usual Yuan-Sbi-Kai will allow events to make that coup, feeing borne akrag tho crest of the wav e and landed high and dry above all danger." "Whether the Chinese statesman is above all danger remains to bo seen. His election to the position of President made him a mark for tho assassin's weapons and the throne of troubled China may be no safe place. China is again an empire, although as yet the Powers have not given it recognition. International complications may follow, but those who know the Emperor .have confidence in his ability to steer clear of all rocks. "If tligro is to be a second Empire/' says the writer already referred to, "if the revolution is tcv prove only one act in a long drama, there is only one man living who can fitly ta.ks his teat on tho re-established throne." •

INDIA'S HELP, The splendid generosity of the Indian native States, and rulers towards the cause for which Britain and her Allies are struggling has been told again and again in our cable messages, and a despatch from Delhi which we published yesterday supplied a further illustration of the loyalty of the people of India and of the substantial assistance they are giving the armies in the field. In gifts of aeroplanes, hospital equipment, motor vehicles, necessaries and comforts for the soldiers, and in the manufacture of munitions—all this in addition to the hundreds of thousands of fighting men who in one field or another are serving' the cause of Empire—lndia is doing nobly, and the whole-hearted response of the country from tho Indian Ocean to the foot of the Himalayas to the call for men and equipment is a complete and glorious reply to the over-sanguine enemies who looked to Hindu and Mohammedan to riso against the British Raj. An AngloIndian recently gave expression to the amazement of the British officials themselves at the headlong and 'enthusiastic way in which all classes of the community rushed to Britain's aid when the war began. Some of these classes were frankly distrusted, because of their agitation for political reform. They are distrusted no longer. The tremendous ordeal of war and national peril has found them faithful.

One of the most remarkable aspects of India's loyal attitude in this Empire crisis is the genuine attachment to Britain which the semi-ndependent States have dsplayed. Some of tho great native States administer thehvinternal affairs with almost complete independence ; the visible bond uniting them to the Empire is of the slightest. There is not one of these, however, but has rushed to the King's help with men, money and munitions; and in some instances the hereditary chief has gono to the front with his regiments. The North-Western States,.over whoso war-loving peoples effective political control has always been a difficult task, have contributed to the British armies some of tho finest native soldiers, and even from across the borders tribesmen come to offer their fighting services. India, indeed, taken in tho mass, stands firm in Britain's cause, and instead* of being a source of anxiety is a bulwark of strength. The people's fidelity to the Empire's cause is not unlikely to lead to something of a reconstruction in the methods of administration when the war is over; they have shown beyond all doubt that they are to be trusted with a measure of self-govern-ment which. they do not possess to-day,

A NEW APPOINTMENT. Tho appointment of Mr J. Caughley to tho important position of Assistant Director of Education removes from scholastic circles in Christchurch one of its best known figures. Fortunately for tho city, Mr Gaugblcy's activities were not confined to the "West Christchurch School. Hp found or made time to assist many movements, and when the education system of the Dominion was threatened prior to tho last general election, he really led the forces which rallied to the defence of the national system. Among his colleagues Mr Caughley is 'known as a man of sound constructive ability, and his unopposed election to a seat on the new Council of Education was a well-earned tribute. Very big tasks await tho new directortasks which have been carefully sidestepped for many a year. A Dominion scheme of classification of teachers has been discussed and demanded over and over again, and if Mr Caughley can produce a suitable scheme ho will confer a distinct benefit upon the teaching profession and the Dominion.