TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8288, 16 November 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

There docs not appear to be any reason to treat seriously tbe petty rapid into North western Cape Colony which has been made by an insignificant Uoer leafier. What ever possibility there mny be of a ronownl of the South Afrloan B'crußßle for supremacy between Boer and British, we tnay be sure \tbnt< it will. not come in suoh a form. In any case, the Boer leaders are too hopeful of the results of political agitation to resort to arms at thu present time, while the Dntoh of the Gape ara too oautious to be drawn into any movement wihoh has no ohanoe of suooess. And we may hope that, apart from suoh sordid reason, the lesson of the war has not altogether j been lost, and that our British I feeling of goodwill towards tbe Boers, and our earnest and honest desire to see them recover from their adversity, and join with us in all friendliness, £is not unreciprocated. Yet it is always possible that foolish and ignorant lads, always eager for adventure and prone to seize upon opportunity for excitement, may join any raiding band. Beoause they do so we need not regard all tbe South African Dutob as on the verge of sedition, or tb« Boers aa in active preparation for a widespread rising. For nothing would suit tbe raiders better than to throw the olonk of a lost cause arouud what id evidently no more than a pretentious "buahranging.''

It is a far ory t.o the Congo Free State, but the terrible condition of that unhappy laud under the misrule of K iug Leopold was not only deserving of the public uotioe of the Marquis of Ripou at the Lord Mayor's banquet, at London, but calls for the

attention of the entire civilised world. For the whole of civilisation is involved in the scandal which lias resulted from the infamous treatment meted oat to helpless savages by a Government instituted in the name of Christendom. It has been the croud boast of the leading West ern Powers that wherever their flag was raised over .barbaric peoples juatiee and equity were dispensed impartially to high and low, rioh and poor. Britain in India, Egypt and a soore of other France in Algeria and Cochin-China; tlolland in the East Indies; America in Cuba and the Philippines; have used their strength in a manner whioh reflects honour upon their peoples. Bui the Congo Free State, handed over for administration to King Leopold of the Belgians, by the interested Eurpean Governments, is a glaring exception to this honourable record. Under most depressing climatia conditions, gallant Englishmen and Frenchmen, ia the Weat African territories of their respective nations, have asserted law and order, dealt justly, protected the industrious, crushed the lawless. But in t ie Congo Free State, the Belgian administrators have heaped wrong on wrong, until the deeds that have been done in the name of Christian authority have covered that administration with infamy. Every opportunity has been given to the Belgians to clear their administration from the oharges made against it, and their excuses and explanations have been acoepted until auoaptauoe la impossible.

The sea is constantly wearing agaiost England. She is smaller by 55 Bquare miles than sho was in the time of the Norman Conquest, and she is losing yearly u territory equal in size to Gibraltar. If this goes on, will the seas one day wash over the last crumbing bit of the "tight little isle?" The shores of England are composed largely :of day, chalk, of friable rook whioh is easily eaten away by the waves of the ocean or the strong currents and tides along the coast. In consequence great stretches of the shore have been worn away, and are constantly crumbling further inland with eaah succeeding year. This gradual destruction baa caused great damages to many fuwns situated on the seashore, and has destroyed thousands of acres of valuable farming land. At certain locations, even within the memory of men still {jliving, the sites of prosperous villages of former times are to-d»y covered by many fathoms of water, sometimes several miles from the present shore line. Coast erosion following severe storms within recent years has been so marked at many points on the English coast that after extended press disoussion a Parliamentary Commission has been appointed thoroughly to investigate the subject, and, if possible, to devise means for the abatement of theJn jury. There can be no doubt that coast erosion is oausing serious loss of land at any points, particularly on the South and East ooasts, notwithstanding that thn areas gained artificially at other pointß almost compensate for it. It ,has been estimated that in the 1000 years from 900 to 1900 an area of nearly 550 qquare mil«s has been worn away by thß erosivo action of the waves and ocean currents. The question of coast protection and reclamation presents engineering difficulties of no mean magnitude, and the overcoming of these difficulties will constitute an' interesting phase of future engineering history, for English technical men and men of science will find huocesaful meaua for combating the destructive power of theses.