Topics of the Weeks

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue VII, 16 February 1895, Page 146

Topics of the Weeks

GOOD news indeed was that which arrived last week telling us of the reciprocal treaty between Mew Zealand and South Anstralia. South Australian wines are without question the finest produced south of the equator, and many of them are equal to anything produced in the finest and most famous vineyards of the Old World. If Mr Ward’s proposed treaty is ratified, as it surely will be, one hopes (despite inevitable disputing and discontent by a minority), these excellent wines will be procurable in New Zealand at prices which will place them within the reach of all. And once the taste for wine—sound and wholesome—is created there will be an instant and noticeable decrease in drunkenness. Presumably the fanatic section of the temperance party will strongly object to the cheapening of even the mildest and best form of alcohol, but the commonsense of the great mass of the people will never be disturbed by the frantic howls of the prohibitionist pulpit-pounder. It is to be hoped that South Australian-New Zealand reciprocity is only the forerunner of similar arrangements with other colonies. Intercolonial free trade would not entirely do away with depression, but it would materially lighten it. An imperial tariff would, of course, be better. A tariff which would allow the importation of British Empire goods and produce free, would very soon secure federation on the very soundest basis. The idea is, of course, an old one, but it cannot be too often brought forward and too frequently discussed.

THE report that Mr Seddon’s book describing his tour in the Urewera, which is shortly to be published, will consist mainly of the Premier’s speeches to the natives and the native's speeches to Mr Seddon will not, I imagine, boom the publication to any great extent. Mr Seddon is a valuable and on occasion a good speaker, but a book of his speeches to the natives would, one imagines, pall on even the most enthusiastic admirer of the Premier after, say, fifty or sixty pages. Maori speeches, when there is a Minister about are too apt to possess a certain sameness, so to speak. There is generally a good deal of the husk, and what small amount of theme there is is invariably a request for something or other. There are, we are told, to be illustrations. These will probably be interesting, especially should the artist be a bit of a wag, with a keen sense of humour.

TO all those in this colony who are interested in the temperance question let me warmly recommend the study of the new edition just out of Dr. Norman Kerr’s splendid book, ‘ Inebriety, or Narcemania; Its Etiology, Pathology, Treatment, and Jurisprudence.’ It has been practically rewritten and greatly amplified. Six years ago, when Dr. Kerr first brought out his book, it made a tremendous stir, for the author took the novel ground that drunkenness was a disease and should be treated as such, and that when a man was known to be a confirmed inebriate he should not be permitted to marry and bring forth children. Since then these revolutionary views have been generally adopted. In fact, the English Government is considering the remedial instead of the penal treatment of the inebriates who appear with great regularity in the police court.

The author develops at great length hie argument that inebriety is a disease closely allied to insanity, and that the only cure for one who has fallen under the thraldom of drink, or who has inherited the alcoholic habit, is to be taken in early life and trained. He shows clearly that all so-called cures for inebriety are fallacious, as all are de-

ficient in nerve restoration and moral renovation. The only sure means of cure is to take the subject when the symptoms first appear. When the habit has once secured a firm hold reform is hopeless in the great majority of cases. The medico-legal aspects of inebriety are discussed in an interesting way, and in conclusion the author sounds a warning against the use of antipyrin, which he regards as one of the most dangerous of the new drugs. The ease with which it cures headache tempts women to use it to excess, and the result is always shattered nerves and broken health. The book is a mine of information on the subject of drunkenness and the slavery to drugs, which in these days is far more common than the liquor habit.

’XT’OW that all the world—or all this part of it anyway -L-i —is thinking of "the value of a Pacific cable, some interest will centre in the picture here given of the silver trophy recently presented to Sir John Pender, G.C.M.G., M.P., etc., at a private dinner of the staff of the Submarine Cable Companies over which Sir John presides. The presentation of the trophy was made with a desire to mark the 25th anniversary of cable communication with the far East, and record their admiration of his labours in the canse of submarine telegraphy. The design is purely nautical and symbolical in its character, in view of the nature of the business of the companies in which the staff presenting the testimonial are employed. The chief features are a repre sentation in miniature of the submarine cable, and a carefully executed illustration of the celebrated Great Eastern s.s. in repousse. Displayed upon the plinth, borne upon the ocean waves, are four sea horses, guided by

Tritons blowing trumpets formed of couch shells, supporting a large terrestrial globe, with the various continents accurately represented thereon, gracefully reclining upon the upper surface of which are four exquisitely modelled and chased figures, emblematical of the four great quarters— Europe, Asia, Africa, and America —united by telegraph lines. Busily around the sphere Puck and his attendant Sprites are realising Shakespeare’s poetical extravagance:— * I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes.’ ‘Midsummer Night's Dream.’ A portrait of Sir John Pender, in high relief, is shown in front, whilst—surmounting the whole—Mercury, the God of Commerce, is proclaiming the triumph of Ocean Telegraphy. The trophy was accompanied by a silver parcel gilt casket, containing an address. The casket is of an exceedingly novel and quaint design, being a large model of

the submarine cable, an opening being made at one end to receive the adddress. Both trophy and casket were manufactured by Messrs Elkington and Co. (Ltd), 73, Cheapside,

\ V 7" HEN mesmerism under its modern designation of VV hypnotism was brought into notice a few years ago by the study and research of Dr. Charcot, it was suggested almost at once that if all that was claimed for the power of hypnotism were true, hypnotic suggestion might become a very terrible and potent auxiliary to crime of every kind. More than this, it was pointed out that the hypnotic subject could not be held guilty even if detected in the very act of crime, for intent, which is necessary to constitute a crime, would be as wholly lacking in him as in an idiot or a lunatic. What was foreseen has come to pass, and hypnotic possession and compulsion has succeeded as a defence to the place once held by demoniac obsession or witchcraft, and later by emotional insanity, and the various manias, such as kleptomania, pyromania, and the like. One accused of crime and who can make no defence on the facts, asserts that he has been hypnotised, and that whatever he has done he has done under the direction and control of some one who has hypnotised him, and so deprived him of all power over his own will, inclination, and conscience. There have been very recently two notable cases of crime in which the defence foreshadowed is that of hypnotic possession, and which have aroused considerable attention in America. One is the case of Blixt, the murderer of Catherine Ging, who declares, it is understood, that he had been hypnotised by Harry Hayward, one of the accessories to the crime, and the other is that of Samuel C. Seeley, who robbed the National Shoe and Leather Bank of some £70,000, and who now asserts that he was completely under the influence of Baker, his partner in the stealing.

Admitting, for the sake of argument, the reality, the possibility of hypnotic suggestion, though of late the possibility has been questioned very seriously, it will be found that students of the subject agree in the main that the suggestion of crime cannot be continuous. In other words the

most that is claimed is that the hypnotised subject may be made to go to a certain place at a certain time, and then and there perform a certain act, but that if there be any delay or hitch in the programme ths suggestion is succeeded by a natural mental condition, and the scheme comes to naught. In addition to this Dr. Charcot is on record as saying that not more than one person in a hundred is so susceptible to hypnotic influence as to be made the innocent instrument of a crime or offence of any kind. In the case of Seeley his wrong doing had extended over a number of years. Is it conceivable that during all that time he was in a hypnotic state, or that Baker or anybody else could have suggested embezzlement and falsification of the books so absolutely that be never knew that he was doing wrong T The idea is absurd and preposterous. If Baker had any influence over Seeley it was the influence which a strong will exercisesovera weak one, but that is something very different

from hypnotism. The criminal courts of all countries will (the Chronicle truly remarks) shortly be brought face to face with hypnotism as a defence for crime, and it is of vital importance that they approach the question dispassionately and understandingly. They must be satisfied of two things before they can allow the defence of hypnotism to be interposed—first, that there is such a thing as hypnotism, and second, that the defendant is a genuine hypnotic subject. Unless the courts can satisfy themselves in every case on these points, the defence of hypnotism must be rejected as fraudulent and a sham, and, as has been said, the latest scientific writers are inclined to doubt the possibility of hypnotic suggestion and to class the widely heralded experiments of alleged hypnotists as fraud and humbug.

ANY New Zealand hostess who wants to be extremely fashionable according to the latest home standard should, when the oyster season comes in again, make a point of providing dinner or supper guests with white oysters. To be sure, they are not so wholesome as the everyday common or garden bivalve, but they are undoubtedly * the thing,’ and that, if you desire to be fashionable, outweighs all consideration as to health. Nobody knows exactly where the craze started unless it took root in the feminine idea that everything that is white is pnre, but it is a fact that your smart society hostess nowadays would never dream of providing oysters for a supper or dinner that were not white. For the benefit of those amiable but assuredly not very wise colonials who imitate anything and everything in vogue in England or America, however foolish, one may remark that the white oyster is probably a diseased oyster. But they certainly do look far more delicate and appetising than the regulation oyster. Salt water gives the natural colour. To produce the white colour all the dealers, or for that matter the consumer, has to do is to put the oyster into fresh water. They get very fat, become rapidly white and then very quickly die, the turning white being, one supposes, a sign of approaching dissolution.

A PLEASURE craft dependent on neither oars, wind, or steam is somewhat of a novelty, and an invitation to inspect one recently imported from America was eagerly accepted by one of the Auckland staff of this paper. The engine, which is of four horse power, drives the boat at a great speed, and yet there is no boiler, no furnace, nothing, indeed, to suggest whence comes the motive power. In two minutes after the party was aboard the little craft was rushing through the water at something like nine knots, all that the owners had to do being to turn on a tap and press a lever. It sounds almost incredible, and even when seen one finds it hard to believe that the boat may be thus got away at any time without the slightest previous preparation. The cause

the mystery is gasoline. The gasoline engine is a comparatively new invention, and has been only very recently perfected, but it is now certainly the acme of simplicity and convenience combined to utility, The importers, Messrs Ryan and Co., of Auckland, were able to set up the first engine received and set it going after once receiving the printed instructions, and so excessively simple is the mechanism that any person could understand the working of the engine in an hour or so. The engines are made in a variety of sizes and horsepowers, and wherever they have been tried they have apparently given satisfaction. Handier boats for pleasure cruising cannot well be imagined. The launch which our picture represents is 22i feet long, with 5 feet of beam, and carries a Ahorse power engine. She is owned by W. A. Ryan and Co., and was running at the rate of 10 miles an hour when the photo was taken.

COLLECTORS of stamps will be distressed to hear that the question of an inter-national stamp is likely to be re-opened at an early date, and that there seems considerable prospect that the difficulties which have hitherto stood in the way will be overcome. Germany has quite recently placed a proposition before other Postal Union countries for the adoption of an international series of postage stamps. There is every likelihood that European countries will adopt such a stamp, and hopes are entertained that the United States will also enter into such agreement.

One of the principal reasons urged for the innovation is the convenience resulting in communication between merchants in different colonies and countries. Firms in one country have frequent occasion to write to those in other colonies and countries for certain information. They are now obliged to depend on the generosity of comparative strangers not only for the information desired, but also for payment of postage on the reply, unless, indeed, the questioners have provided themselves with current postage stamps of the country to which the letter is addressed—a matter of considerable difficulty at best, and most frequently an impossibility.

To Consuls, too, the international stamp would be a great advantage. They are constantly in receipt of letters of enquiry from the country they represent, and these never contain payment for reply, owing to the improbability, or at any rate the inconvenience of procuring the necessary stamps.

It is also announced that the Minister of Post in Ger many has designed suitable stamps and formulated a plan for adoption. It is expected the proposed stamp will mention on its face all countries in which it will be current, also its value in the cnrrrency of each. The details are, however, as yet a secret, but it will, of course, be considerably larger than those now generally in use. This will, indeed, be unavoidable if any additional inscriptions are to be made and to appear in legible form. An international stamp will also prove of great convenience to those desiring to remit small amounts to foreign countries. Correspondents will be furnished with an easily available and inexpensive means of exchange. Should this departure go into operation it may be the stepping-stone to a system of international coinage.

Stamp collectors, however, view the idea askance. They fear it will result in taking away the charm of collecting by confining the varieties of stamps to a very limited number. The fascination of stamp-collecting would then be gone, for it would seem to consist not so much in actual possession as in the pursuit of the object sought for. But as the American contemporary who has furnished us with this subject remarks, the philatelists have an immense field already in existence in the millions of different stamps

issued since the one penny black of Great Britain became their precursor. And as the same writer points out, while there is scarcely a doubt; that sooner or later we shall have an international stamp, there are certain to be countries who will not adopt it until forced by circumstance to do so.

VERILY the independent colonial woman is better off in many ways than even so exalted a personage as the Czarina of Russia. Since the marriage of the new Emperor it has transpired that in Russia there is no provision made for the widows of the Czars and the Grand Dukes, and in consequence all widows of members of the Imperial family are completely at the mercy of the reigning Emperor, who can do as little or as much for them as he pleases. The present widowed Czarina is entirely dependent on her son. On one occasion she told her father, the King of Denmark.,

t n ftt Bhe lcnew if ” er ® he left a widow that he would allow her to occupy the room she had used in her girlhood, and that that should be her dower residence. It must be a strange and, one imagines, very disagreeable experience, and one not easily endured by one who for so many years has been so great a personage as the Empress of Russia, to find herself suddenly dependent on either her son or her father for honour and support.

NEW ZEALANDstilladvancesin musical art. Tennyson’s beautiful lines, * Why Should We Weep for Those Who Die,’ have been set to music by the late John H. Carroll, the arrangement being by his sister. Mr Carroll was a composer of some eminence, and had held important positions as organist in the Old Country, notably Downpatrick Cathedral. The publication comes from the Graphic and Star litho works in Auckland, and is admirable in regard to printing and general getup. The cover design in crimson and gold is very beautiful, and the whole production shows that New Zealand can produce as good work as anything we import in this line.