CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12082, 10 August 1917, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE BOHEMIANS OF PUHOI. The old German, settlement at Puhoi was tho subject of some discussion in the House the other day, and there appears to have been some misconception as to the national characteristics of itbe place and the political sympathies of the people. The Puhoi settlers are certainly not Dalmations as someone had asserted. Auckland people are familiar with the history of the place, and the antecedents of the inhabitants, but it was as well that an explanation for the benefit of t'hose who know not Puhoi was offered to the House by Mr Payne, who based his information on a letter from an old shipmate of the original settlers. The pioneers of the settlement, immigrants from Southern Germany, arrived in Auckland by the ship War Spirit on June 10, 1863. Their advance land agent, Captain Krippner, formed of these Bavarians and Bohemians th 0 German Company of the 3rd "Waikato Regiment, and they served in the Waikato "War of 1863-64. Some settled on Their military-grant land at Ohaupo, in the Waikato ; most of them remained at Puhoi, a bush settlement on a tidal river close to "Waiwera, a celebrated beauty spot of the Hauraki Gulf, and by industry and perseverance they builit up a thriving little community. Ever since the day that the pioneers fought under our colours in the Maori War they have been loyal subjects of the British Grown, and they and their descendants have proved thoroughly worthy and dependable sot tiers. Some of them fought in the New Zealand Contingents in the Boor War, and twelve left New Zealand with the Expeditionary Forces before conscription was introduced. Some of the old folk customs of the fatherland are still followed and treasured at Puhoi, but in all essentials the hard working descendants of the early immigrants have become New Zealand citizens, and their loyalty to the country which has provided them with a home need not be challenged at this time of day.

BRITAIN AND AMERICA. United States newspapers and magazines continue to dwell enthusiastically on the Bepublic's entrance into the war, and indulge in many optimistic estimates regarding the part which the Western Republic is destined to play in the world embracing drama now in progress. The union of the two great Eng-lish-speaking nations is dwelt upon in warm terms, and there appears in every article evidence of pride in the fact that the world's three greatest democracies, Britain, France and America, are marching side by side to achieve by their common effort the emancipation of the universe. The London " Daily Chronicle" picturesquely describes the event as the return of the Mayflower to Britain after a sojourn in the west of wellnigh three hundred years. ''' Here is a nation," it says, "composed of settlers, whose migration, from the days of the Mayflower onwards, has largely been in the nature of a flight from tyranny of one- kind or another. In their new home these refugees have built up, through three centuries, a mighty people, to which practically every European stock has made its contribution. For the first time on any considerable scale they now stretch out a hand beyond their new hemisphere, and turn back to influence the world that their ancestors left. It is as though every ship that had gone out since Columbus were coming back with a new tale. It is as though all the principles of freedom and law gradually diffused since Magna Charta, attested by British and American revolutions, by their wars and civil ware, and ordered relations afterwards were embattled against the Neo-Machiavellism of Prussian policy." Senator Williams, in a recent speech, said: "lam tired of men telling me, Welshman, Scotchman, Englishman in blood as I am, that the hereditary enemy of the United States is England, or Wales, or Scotland, that it is GreatBritain," and, after referring to the common inheritance of freedom shared by the two countries, he continued: " It was an Englishman of the English, so far as his blood was concerned, George Washington of Mount Vernon, who led the American forces that fought against the dictates of a German-blood-ed King backed up by Hessian hirelings."

THE REICHSTAG. As at present constituted, the powers of the German Reichstag are very narrow, and the ability of the representatives, of the people to shape the pc|Uey of the country are so small that they are practically worthless, almost absolute power being in the hands of the) Kaiser and the great officers of State, who are chosen by the Emperor practically without reference to the people's representatives. The Reichstag, in a Word, is a delusion, and in the British .sens© of the term the German people have never actually enjoyed representative Government, mttch as they .have ever prided themselves on being a progressive people. The following extract from Mr F. W. Wile's "Who's Who in Hunland " will make the position clear:—

The World's Most Tedious Debating Society, of 307 members, was invented by Bis- i marcTt to mako the newly-forged Empire be- ! lievo that it was ge-tiin§- a parliament. Elected- by universal manhood suffrage, the Reich- ! stag" ft without real power except 1o block supply voles for the army, navy arid other government purposes. It can originate no legislation, nor oven indulge in discussion of wisherl-for legislation unless sanctioned in advance by the Federal Council, which is the creation and tool of the federated sovereignn of tho empire. The Rrsichstag is still elected on a suffrage-distribution system which effectually prevents the industrial masses from having their fair proportion of representation. If they had it, there would probably bo a safe arid permanent Social Democra.ic majority in the House, instead of thn minority lllceats the Reels now hold. Whenever the Reichstag; becomes :oo self-as-sertive, the Kaiser dissolves h and holds a general election. Ho can keep on resorting' \o that convenient recourse un'il he. secures a Parliament thoroughly pliable to his imperial will. There are mtc<m so-called parj ties in the Reichstag, ti.curh only half a I dozen count—the> Soon] Democrats, Roman jCa holic _Clericals (Centre), Conservatives. I Na'ional Liberal. o , Progressive People's Party ! and People's Party, to name them in their ! order of iheir numerical importance. The | German Government, being the sole creation I and instrument of ihe Emperor, is in no j respec: responsible to Parliament. "What ihe j divi'.e right paladins, who are tho props of j tho Kaiser's thione, think of parliamentary ] government was typically illustrated a few : years ago. A Conservative deputy-nobleman, I llerr von Oldenburg, complaining about the ; Eeirhs'.eg's arrosan: desuo ;'„ have something ' really to ray about conduct of national affairs", observed that if he had his v.'iy, ho ' would tsll off a Prussian lieutenant and fen ; grenadiers to go to the Konigs-Platz (German idiom for what Englishmen would call :S v S'epben's; and close up the Reichsiagl i The Socialist-Radical paries have long crui sadnd for Parliam'entafv Government in Ger i many, but thus tar their voices have been | cries" in a dreary wilderness!