under currents.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18030, 27 May 1930, Page 4

under currents.

HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE.

(By "Gleaner.")

A CUSSWORDLESS NATION. In court recently reference was made to the alleged blasphemous propensities of Zulus. As far as “Gleaner” knows, Zulus don’t use cuss words at all. They just haven’t got any. The deep-in-the-throat “kluck kluck” of their language is so laborious they don’t want any superfluous words to prolong the agony. Reading the court case, however, reminded "Gleaner” of a little story. An American professor was lecturing on Japan to a group of university students, and stressed the fact that the Japanese had no cuss words in their vocabulary, whereupon an undergraduate at the back of the room inquired in incredulous tones: “Well, how on earth do they start a Ford car in winter?”

KILLARNEY AND LOMOND

The lakes of Killarney and Ben Lomond, and parts of Loch Lomond, are for sale. Like ordinary second-hand furniture, they are to come under the auctioneer’s hammer. The approaching sale of Ireland’s peerless Lakes is being widely advertised in the United States by the present owner, the Earl of Kenmare, with an eye to the most money. Quite human and* natural of course.

This breaking up of ancestral estates is due to the high death duties, and the “Gleaner,” for one, regrets their passing. For the ordinary private estates to pass into the hands of foreigners, East End Jews and profiteers, is bad and sad enough, but if this happens to what are really national heritages such as the Lakes of Killarney, and Lomond—• Ben and Lake—it would be criminal. These spots are hallowed in Britain’s history, and dear to the hearts of the people. Apart from the actual owhers altogether, millions of Celts —aye, and Sassenach, too—all over the world, look upon as a national possession, safe so iong as the head of the ancient sept or clan held them; but not mere goods and chattels to be bartered for in the world’s markets. For this and many other reasons, if given up by the private individual, they should be secured by the Government for the country. Less materialistic nations— France, for instance —would do this; but unfortunately in some ways the Anglo-Saxon mind does not parallel the Gallic or Celtic. France awards medals to dogs and towns for bravery in war—one could hardly imagine England doing this. I say England advisedly, as I firmly believe the .Celts capable of such beautiful gestures. If Celts ran England to a greater extent than they do already the Lakes of Killarney, Ben and Loch Lomond would belong to the country. •

HARI KARI.. Suicide through the means., of hari kari (i.e.., Japanese hari, belly; and kire, cutting) or “happy despatch,” as it is commonly called, has claimed another victim in the person of Lieu-tenant-Commander Kusakarl, who killed himself as a protest to mark his disapproval of , Japan’s alleged failure at Naval Conference.

Hari kari more usually called by its Chinese synonym, seppuku, by-,the Japanese themselves, is considered an honourable death, and the memory of the enactor cherished with reverence. It is committed for various reasonsAnother famous case of liara kiri selfdestruction as a protest is that of Lieutenant Takeyoshi, who, in 1891, gave himself the “belly cut” in front of the graves of his ancestors at Tokyo as a protest against what he considered the criminal lethargy of the Government in not taking precautions against possible Russian encroachments to the north of Japan. The fear of disgrace is" another cause. In the RussoJapanese war, when faced by defeat at Vladivostock, the officer in command of the troops in the transport Kinshu Maru committed hari kari. In 1912, on the day of the funeral of the late Emperor of Japan, General Count Nogi and his wife committed hara kiri. In a letter left by General Nogi he said as he had served his Emperor In life he would serve him in death: life on earth was nothing without the presence of his master. This double liari kari exemplified the difference of the male and female forms of the act. A male performing the ceremony plunges the dagger into his stomach, below the waist on the left side, draws it across to the right, and, turning it, gives a cut upwards. He then proceeds to disembowel himself. Women merely cut their throats.

« • * « IN OLDEN TIMES. In the old days hari kari was. sometimes obligatory. An official or noble who had broken the law or been disloyal received a message from the Emperor, couched always in sympathetic and gracious tones, courteously intimating that he must die. The Emperor usually sent a jewelled dagger with which the deed might be done. Thq suicide had so many days allotted > to him by immemorial custom in which to make dignified preparations for the ceremony, which was attended by the utmost formality. In his own baronial hall or in a temple a dais three or four inches from the ground was constructed. Upon this was laid a rug of red felt- The suicide, clothed in his ceremonial dress as an hereditary noble and. accompanied by his second, or “kaishaku,” took his place on the mat, the officials and his friends ranging themselves in a semicirolQ around the dais. After a minute’s prayer the weapon was handed to him, with many obeisances, by the Emperor’s representative, and he then made a public confession of his fault. He then stripped to the waist. Every movement in the. grim ceremony was governed by precedent, and he had to tuck his wide sleeves under his . knees to prevent himself falling backwards, for a Japanese noble must die falling forwards. At the last cut the Kaishahu who crouched at his friend’s side, leapt up, and brought his sword down on the outstretched neck. At the conclusion of the ceremony the bloodstained dagger was taken to the Emperor as a proof of the consummation of the heroic act.