‘RATHER LIVELY.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17569, 20 June 1925, Page 2

‘RATHER LIVELY.”

TO MEXICO FOR A REST CURE! 1 DUELS AND REVOLUTIONS. (By Captain Francis M’Cullagh in the “Daily Mail.”) MEXICO CITY, April 10. I came to Mexico three weeks ago partly for a rest cure, which I needed after a four-months lecture tour in the United States and Canada. But I am off to-morrow. Mexico is too much for me. In some respects it beats Rus--1 The first thing that excited my apprehension was the list cf missing Americans and Englishmen published in the local newspapers by the American and British Consuls. Most of the local Consuls were inquiring after some lost national. While I was in Mexico City the body of a Spaniard, j who had been reported missing about 1 a year ago, was dug up in a remote part of the country. He had been stabbed to death. A Cuban diplomat 1 who came here on business come i months ago, broke his journey, as mfny people do, at Orizaba, and has not been j heard of since. | On the other hand, there are quite ; a number of people missing from ’ America and Europe and badly j “wanted” by the police there, who arc ' very much in evidence here, though j not under their right names, i DUELS IN THE STREET. 1 I went to see the British Consul-Gen-eral. and, when he had perused my cre- | dentials, great beads of perspiration i stood out on his brow. 1 “You here!" he gasped, “Get out!” I should explain that this country is becoming nearly as Red as Russia, and that, as diplomatic relations between England an*! Mexico were broken off some time ago. the Consul-General : expects to be expelled himself at any moment. I am getting out, as I have already observed, for, despite the short time that I have been here, I can see that 1 this is no place for a rest cure. I shall not say much of the ordinary J shootings and stabbings, for I expected J a good showing in that line from a race ' which is, as somebody has said, a cross : between the most bloodthirsty Indians ! the Spaniards ever met and the fierci est elements of the Spanish race itself. But I thought that things went a bit j too far when, on March 31, a big brass general shot another big brass general I dead on the steps of the War Office in i Mexico City and afterwards committed suicide. Net that I mind very much these generals exterminating one another; there are far too many of them in Mexico as it is! one cannot throw a stone in the street without hitting a general. It is the spectators I arn thinking of. Two spectators were hit while the Acosta-Maciel duel was going on, for Acosta fired six shots at his assailant before being killed, and all six missed. Old residents tell me that, as a rule, the casualties are much heavier than this when the local war lords begin bombarding one another in the street —which is fairly often. TEN REVOLUTIONS A YEAR. Then, of course, there is the annual revolution, when, again, the spectators furnish a considerable percentage of the casualties. Annual, did I say ? In eighty years Mexico has had SOO > revolutions or attempts at revolution, and ninety Presidents. From 1812 to 1900 the average period of a President in office was one year. As a rule the legislators assembled in the Congress pass laws without forming a quorum. To act otherwise seems to bring bad luck on “the House,” as, when they do form a quorum, somebody is sure to start shooting. On one occasion, a few months ago, shots, instead of repartees, were freely exchanged among the honourable and gallant members (for they are nearly all generals) during the course of a debate, and one idealistic deputy' is now causing merriment among practical men by proposing that deputies should not carryrevolvers in the Chamber. Generali:/ speaking, Mexico is quieter now than it has been for years; but this is not saying much I was going to visit Guadalajara when I saw in a newspaper the startling headline, “Una ola criminal invade la ciudad cie Guadalajara” (“A wave of crime in- | vades the city of Guadalajara”), and, curious to ascertain what had thus shocked even a Mexican editor, I read on. It was certainly pretty bad. Assassinations in the public street were common, and, “to avoid complications,” witnesses refused to gwe evidence. j And it is surprising that they were I asked to give evidence, for the police f are otherwise occupied at present—to ! wit, in fighting the soldiers. The trou- ! ble arose from the police arresting j two drunken soldiers. When the comj mander of the garrison heard of this he sent a detachment of soldiers to rescue the prisoners, and, at the order iof Don Felix, this detachment was j fired on by the police, and a regular ! battle began. As usual, the spseta- • tors are suffering.