CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12081, 9 August 1917, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE OLDEST NATiVE-BORN. It is curious to find mer G youths of seventy or so entering claims for tho distinction of being tho oldest living native-born white colonist. Two Canterbury resdents have been put forward as the possible oldest identity, but their titlo to tho honour is far and away distanced by at least one native-born in this island, and probably by others in tho North. The first white child born in tho South Island is still alive. This link with a wonderful pastl is Mr John Guard, of Port Underwood, Marlborough, a man with a stirring anil romantic history. "Old Jack/' as ho is called in his native provinco, was born at To Awaiti, on Arapawa, Tory Channel, in 1831, and is therefore now eighty-six years of age. His father was the celebrated Captain John Guard, who commanded tho Sydney barque Harriet, and who settled in tho Marlborough Sounds as a. whaler. The story of the*wreck of the barqiio Harriet on the Taranaki co-Mi in 18iU, has often boon told. The rescue of Mrs Guard and her infant children from tho. hands of tho Maoris was accomplished under circumstances of amazing adventure, and it was a notabl 0 event, in our New Zealand history, because it was the first occasion on which 'British naval and military forces came into armed conflict with the Maoris. Little .lack Guard, then a boy of three, was heh] prisoner with his mother for several months, after a fight in which fourteen of the Harriet's crew were killed. To go back to Jack Guard's early days is to dive into a wild cannibal period, when New Zealand was still a, No Man's Land. The old man has been a whaler and sailor all his life, and ho is one of the very few men left south of Cook Strait whose memories go back to the foundations of white .settlement in this island. Certainly In* ante-dates all other southern claimants for tho honour of tho Oldesti White Man, Native-born.

THAT EARTHQUAKE. The silly person who cabled an alarmist message to London stating that tho earthquake experienced in the north a few davs ago was the greatest *hoek in New Zealand sinco 1850 should ho ea'uctJ to account lor his perversion of 'faef.s. The-'quake seems to havo created mm:h more excitement in London than it did here, for it is reported by cablegram that hundreds of anxious people called at the High Commissioner's office and that there was concern about tho "casualties." There was certainly no occasion for alarm; New Zealand has had several more severe tremors in the last few years without exciting itself to any extent about them; and to say that the shock was tho greatest since the Fifties of Inst century was a patent misstatement.. Tho earthquake which caused the. explosion in Lake Kotomaliana in 1886, coincident with tlip Tarawera eruption, was tho most disastrous that New Zealand has know" for. probably, centuries. Tim earthquake which so seriously disturbed Cheviot many voars ago was also perhaps more serious than tho recent little shrugging of the earth's crust in tho north, which was assuredly not of sufficient importance to .-justify a sensational message to London. Such senseless exaggerations of trifling earth-quivers breed needless alarm among those, who havo relatives in New Zealand, and especially in the Did Land, where, thousands of the Dominion's men arc gathered, and they help to confirm the curious belief of grangers that these islands aro places ]■'• • :<■>■'! ically devastated by volcanic <: options and earthquakes.

GALAPAGOS, Most countries acquire territory by conquest : few have in the past shown a disposition to pay for areas torn from other nations. We frequently hear a groat deal concerning the predatory instincts of the average American, how he is ever thirsting for gold and riches, in a word, how ho longs to monopolise the earth. In his dealings witlJfthe. territory of other nations, howeverfho has laid down a now principle: ho is always prepared to pay in hard cash for his acquisitions. We have the example of the acquisition of Alaska from Russia, for which tho land of the Stars and Stripes paid in hard cash ; a few months ago Hie sale and purchase of the Danish West Indian Islands was agreed to between Denmark and the United States, and now wo learn that America may soon secure, for financial considerations, the Galapagos Mauds, which have had their romances. In tho days of Spanish ascendancy in the western hemisphere they were the resort of buccaneers and freebooters. The wildness of tho scenery has appealed to the adventurous from time to time, as the remarkable rock formations have to geologists, but inaccessibility has deterred many from venturing upon a visit to the'islands. The Ecuadoran Government has made several fruitless attempts lo establish colonies upon them, but all have failed, ami it is only at long intervals that they are now visitod | iy from the mainland. Ecuad'or in fact, ha* little uso for or interest i„ the islands, and doubtless would be glad to sell them for a price which would nnnpensate for any sacrifice of pnde attendant upon loss of territory.