Topics of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue XXIV, 16 June 1900, Page 1113

Topics of the Week.

THE TYRANNY OF THE MICROBE.

Whatever the exact scientific truth may be as to the part which the microbe plays in the drama of life, there is no doubt that the fear of him grows apace in the heart of man. What would our fathers have said of this proposed innovation in our churches, the individual communion cup, over which the consciences of our ministers and congregations are exercised now? They would have regarded such a thing as utterly subversive of the beautiful idea- of Christian fellowship and nothing short of sacrilegious. It would hardly have been worse to complain of the quality of the vintage on such occasion, a thing- they con hl not have dreamt of doing even had the cup been filled with hemlock instead of wine. But then our fathers knew nothing of the microbe that lurketh unseen. Bacteriology was to them quite an unknown science and they ate and drank oblivious of the dangers by which they were surrounded. A happy ignorance theirs I am disposed to think, for even if they did occasionally fall a prey to the insidious foe they were able to enjoy life while they lived free from the thousand misgivings and fears that beset us their descendants to whom it has been granted to learn the mysteries so mercifully hidden from them. I must confess that 1 envy the insouciance of childhood in theso matters. Their blissful ignorance of scientific truth allows them to gratify their unjaded palates to the full.” They eat and appreciate anything and evert thing that is nice, unappalled by the vision of the microbe. Practices that revolt our hygienic taste are universal in childhood's happy realms. Charley does not reject the offer of a suck of Willie’s half depleted orange, and the transference of the saccharine morse! from one mouth to another is merely a token of unselfish friendship. Why cannot we indulge in those gentle interchanges? But. we must have our own particular orange, and our own particular lozenge or piece of candy. It is true we had grown stomach proud in that direction even before the microbe came to our knowledge, but his advent will assuredly make matters ten thousand times worse. I can foresee the day when he will have become the greatest danger to the social fabric, the destroyer of fellowship, the breaker of family ties, the cruel foe of love. If you will not drink of the same sacred cup as 1, the time will no doubt come when you will be chary of sitting at the same table or even in the same room. A little later and the grounds of friendship will not be mutual respect or mutual affection, but a common freedom from or a common subjection to the same microbes. From their birth men will be alienated from those to whom they are naturally joined by the closest ties. How can a mother fondle her baby in the good old fashion when she knows that every act of endearment means perhaps the transmission of some deadly germ? And as for cooling the pap after the traditional fashion of putting it first in her own mouth before it goes in the baby's —that will be reckoned a criminal act. Scientists have already indicated that in the new bacteriological age that is dawning the kiss, that exquisite emblem of love, must become as unknown as it was in Japan before civilisation introduced it there. No one is disposed to take tha’ prediction seriously, and it. merely serves to give opportunity to the humorist. But I am afraid it is no joking matter. 1 cannot understand how without the kiss cupid can fail to become cold-hearted and hymen's torch be quenched. Consider it, what act could one substitute for it that could have the same supreme fulness of meaning? © © © AN AWFUL OUTLOOK. These are startling deductions which Professor Segar draws from the fact that for the last twenty-one years the number of babies which make their appearance in the colony per year has been the same, although the popula-

tion was increasing. The Government statistician had already made us familiar with the circumstance of a decreasing birth rate, but mere figures, however cleverly arranged, do not appeal to the average mind As it appears in the statistical tables, the dearth of babies does not evoke our personal interest, just as the intimation that the wheat crop has been a failure seldom suggests any interference with the supply of the family’s breakfast rolls. 'I he death rate is calculated to touch us individually much more nearly, for each of us has got the dying business to go through, while the matter of birth is over and done with. After all, what can it concern you or me if there are a few less youngsters born into the world? That is how the average individual, regarding the thing in the cold light of statistics, will most generally feel. Under Professor Segar's hand, however, the fact becomes invested with significance for every one of us—the married man and the bachelor, the mother of children or the spinster who has none. The Professor conjures up a vision before which we cannot stand unmoved. The colony is producing old people, but it is not producing young ones in the same proportion, and unless a change comes we must inevitably arrive in some years at a sad and painful condition of things. New Zealand, this young country, will have become a community of old. or comparatively old, people. Hushed w ill be the happy chorus of childish voices that now salute our ears, half-drowned by the sober sounds of middle-aged converse and the querulous complaints of age. The sentiment of such a future must appeal to us; yet, if we are so hardened in heart that it fails to do so, there are other considerations to be met with which assail us on the purely selfish side of our nature. The falling off in the proportion of young shoulders to bear the burdens of lift* must mean, of course, that these will fall heavier on the older shoulders. Those, then, who are grow ing up. cannot look, in a few years, for their same friendly assistance from the juniors that has been the privilege of the old. And the old age pension, that blessed solatium of the needy sexagenarian, which would have been some compensation to look forward to it looks as if it were likely io fall a victim to the declining birth rate. For, says Ihe Professor, in a decade or so, the number of folks entitled to it will be doubled, entailing an expenditure of £400.000 instead of £190,000, and. of course, the number of people able to contribute the increased amount will be correspondingly lessened. The outlook is anything but cheerful, it must be confessed, and inevitably forces the enquiry: What is to be done? There is but one answer. We must increase Ihe stock of babies. It is plain that there is no more important problem for New’ Zealand at the present time than that. To discuss that problem now would lead us much further than the limits of a mere topic that deals with the surface of things. Moreover, it is a decidedly delicate subject to tackle, but 1 have no hesitation in saying that when we begin to realise as a community all scruples m that regard will have to be thrown aside and the naked truth stand revealed. ® © © PRO-BOER IDEAS OF PEACE PROPOSALS. That conscientious and well-meaning minority, who have rendered themselves somewhat objectionable, and extremely ludicrous by their shrieking admonitions to “Stop the War.” made little, if any, headway in New Zealand, ami soon relapsed into silence, or even became apostates and sang patriotic songs; but in the Old Country, though equally heavily “sat upon” by public opinion, they are proving irrepressible. Finding their efforts to arouse pro-Boer sentiment on a large scab* only provocative of ridicule. and realising that the “fight to a finish” is now drawing very near to its conclusion, they are using the most frantic endeavours to alarm us as to the results of the war, and to persuade us that the only terms of peace tolerable, are such as would tacitly admit

that the war was of our seeking, ajid would place in the hands of Kruger a power vastly superior to that be possessed before the suicid d d spatch of his ever famous ultimatum. This object they hope to achieve by means of a broadcast distribution of pamphlets full of half truths and whole fictions, arguments with a surface speciousness calculated to deceive, backed up with wholesale abuse of Mr Cecil Rhodes, and the party they call the South African gang. It would, I think, be a mistake to describe these men as disloyal. They claim, indeed, that they have only the good of -the Empire at heart, and seem honestly and heartily afflicted with the idea that the present war is the first step to our national dissolution and disgrace. Their arguments have the merit of age. They are those that they have flung at us ever since Mr Rhodes began to loom large in South African politics, namely. that he is a bold bad man, whose sole idea is money, who has corrupted and bribed every newspaper in the metropolis, and, indued, in the kingdom, so that none dare say what they know to be true, and that he and hi’s set would sacrifice the entire Empire to gain their ends. As proof of this they urge the means which secured monopoly of the De Beers mine, and urge that the present war was partly promoted in order that white men may be reduced to the position of the Kaf fir compound “boys,” who are, they a’lege, worse than slaves. Of course one knows it is nonsense, and not likely to shake strong minds, but such words as these for example might influence the weakly impulsive and emotional: ‘’England's real difficulties in South Africa will begin after the killing is over, and the supreme question we shall have to answer is: Shall the country that prides itself on being the ‘Home of the free,’ the Mother land of free nations, accept the ungracious and liberty-destroying mission of placing the population of South Africa, white and black alike, at the mercy of men like the diamond and gold fields ‘bosses'? —half a continent in the grasp of a gang of company promoters, •utock exchange gamblers, diamond mine monopolists, and sweaters of labour! Ponder well this problem, for it is one of life and death not only for South Africa but for England, Little light can be obtained on it from the current journalism of the day. because, with a few noble exceptions, it has been misled or bought up by the lies or gold of the men who have led us into the present fratricidal war. Amore conscienceless group of men has never risen to prominence in a nation’s affairs. These men are unscrupulous alike in the manipulation of markets and of political leaders and passions, and the\ are driving this noble old land of ours towards incalculable perils for their own ignoble ends”? Of argument proper, or even, of reason, there is not a trace from one end of these pamphlets to another. They are from cover to cover filled with just such wild and random statements as those I have quoted. Their effect will of course be nil, but if there were any dangerof such vapourings commanding attention, it would be our place as a part of the people of Ihe Empire to battle against such opinions, influencing the peace proposals. Experience has shown - though those people cannot apparently see it -that tolerance is attributed to weakness. The peace proposals will be stringent, I doubt not, and I believe that in a very few years the most enthusiastic Pro-Boer w’ill admit that in their stringency lay their true liberalism and mercy. © © © KRUGER AND HIS MILLIONS.

It looks as if Mr Kruger were going to have some trouble with that million or two millions, is it? He could explain his flight easily enough and justify it. When his armies and burghers were in full retreat it was natural that the old gentleman should also make tracks and yet not have the least intention of quitting the country altogether and leaving his followers to their fate. But the collaring of the two millions and suddenly departing. leaving Pretoria officialdom lamenting its unpaid salaries, had an altogether suspicious aspect about it. After that little art of his even the most blindly devoted adherent of the President might be excused for entertaining a shadow of doubt regarding the sincerity and patriotism of I nch* Paul. His care to secure the treasure for himself at the l;iJ*t moment consorts ill with the loud expressions of single-hearted devotion to lus country which have

fallen from his lips. To do him justiw. the world expected <uitirthing a little inure heroic from hi in in his extremity. It was prepared to be *tagffervd as he had promises!, but it Mould have been contented with touch le<s. The figure of that uncouth figure fronting alone the approach of the invader, and maintaining up to the last the stern face of defiance would have called forth the admiration of us all. And among his own people Oom Paul would have remained a household, a national inspiration as that of William Tell is among the Swiss. Cut a patriot who uses his authority to fill his money bags when the fee is at the gates, and slips out b\ the bac k door, can never hope to merit unv thing but the execration of posterity. The fugitive Kruger cuts a very sorry figure at best after all his insolent boasts and braggadocio- I notice that he absolutely denies having the money or cnv intention of getting out of the country with it. Of course hr must assert as much if he is to have the least chance of get: ng away safely with his booty. But if he lies there must be those who know the truth. An old man cam • two millions in gold among his personal belongings ami no one but himself be cognisant of the fact. 1 suppose Paul explains to his confidants that he is holding the money in trust for his eouatn : that these sinews of war are to be used to prolong the struggle; or should that prove ho|uiess he wilt go to Europe with the money and there subsidise the alreadv friendly continental press to stir up hatred again>: the British. In some recent tv published l>iogra[ Lic-» i notes on Napoleon it is st.it rd that, the fallen Emperor on several occasions declared that he could easily have bought the British pres*. tile “limes*' included, and be regretted he had not done so. Perhaps Mr Kruger anticipates being able to co "Omvlliiug of the same kind. All that, however, is generous sp<-culation on my part in which I confess I indulge with no great confidence of '»:* turning out right. I cannot di**M:<>r** my seif of the idea that Krugru latter part in this drama will not be a heroic one in any sense, and that he will prove himself to be but a mean mercenary sotii after all. ® ® @

THE LUST ART OF CONX ERSATION. It is a mutter for profound regret, but th*' fact. I fear, remains, but for reasons hereinafter to be disetpsed, the gentle art of eon\. rsatie n would appear to be in a dying condition in this colony, and bid- far to become as extinct as the moa. To those wishful to controvert so sweeping an a.**t-rr:<-r. and d< siring many Li sta • — ■ it be* a -- a| r»»pos. 1 will ch »o*e. firs:, the reception given only the < thei evening by the Countess of Ran:urh, at Auckland Government House. the rooms. bril TH:; fly 'ighted and beautifully decorated, were crowded with upwards of seven hundred well dressed and (presttroaul v j veil educated people, who would set themselves down as the «■ . tured classes. From a s’Hstacuiar standpoint. nothing was want ng. There were pretty women in pretty frocks. there were well groomed men. every arrangement that thonghtfillness, good taste, and ample men u* v.-uid provide. had been provided for the enjoyment of the gue*ts dl they had to do was to enter the list* f conversation w th their friends, and enjoy rhe tournament. As a matter of fact, gossip and personal comments he'd the somewhat *hy gathering entirely in thrall. There was no attempt at mutual entertainment: the guest* simply stuck to the persons forming their own parry, and made >h rt peregrination.- from draw i ngpoem to corridor, and vice-versa. Ln mif one group, so far as I could -ee. w.- any topic of general interest tie ing discussed; in not one instance did the conversation rise >b«we rhe level of feminine criticism on the frock*, and commonplace* a* to ihe prvttinr«s of the decorations, and the number of the guest*. ?Cow, «uch topics were legitimate ewough a- a wort of implement to break the ice. but surely it ’»* a p-’fy that in such x gathering there should have been stwb an utter absence of that spirit of social ron munam which ought Vi ha\e prig nevi, and that the power to talk pleasantly, aumingiy. and. perhap*. even wittily, on such • ceaaioo* should teem to have vaniahed bo com-

pletely. The cause cd the loss of the art is. of course, continued lack of exercise in even the rudiments of the sr.me. and the terribly universal appreciation of gossip and petty scandal a* a substitute. Bur one must go beneath these things if one wishes to get to the root of the matter, and find out how it is we have become so lazy, and so willing to accept tittle-tattle as a substitute for conversation. And I think we shall find that, to a great extent, the almost entire absence of the dinner party as a form of social entertainment is responsible for the moribund condition of the art of conversing. Much has been written, much alleged humour ba* been lavished on what is sometimes termed the professional diner out. the individual that is whom any hostess making out her dinner list knows for a discreet and pcllshed talker, a patient listener, a man with the news of the d-y at his finger ends, with apropos comment or anecdote a! ways ready for emergency. and who can therefore live—if he chose -at other men’s tables from cue end of the year to another. It is the fashion to chaff this individual, hut had 1 a son of sufficient years I would consider I might do worse than place him untie? the tutelage of such a man. The discipline and the restraints, the snubbings and encouragements imposed in turn on .he youngster who would surcetd as a diner-out are only equalled in value by the constant reading, observing, and general keeping up with the world, also essential to success. At no other function are such qnaliiies demanded tv so full an extent One can gossip at a reception, one van discuss domestic questions at a musical party, one can talk scandal in the smoke-room or at afternoon leas, because at all these places two or three can get together separately. But at the dining table all this is altered. Gossip is not a success at dinner. Domestic details are barred, and scniidah if at all piquant, must be left til! a more fitting time, as “th( se « • r.’o’i: ded servants.” as Lytton calls th< m in Pelham. , ‘ar a always in the way.” A bore can work his evil v. ill and yet be a-Jirdtfjd to drawing-fi in recept! ns and musical partie*, bur be i 55 soon banish »d from any dining table, where the dinner Itself is merely looked upon as an a< < ompan nt ti thf mut al e :• rtaiiimvnt of intelligent men and women. Trr.i . th:’ accompaniment must be g.-.-d of its k nd to insure complete s.u-ve-s. but it need n »r necessarily i-e e’alu rate. Love nuking rs pi.’ssih!e at dinner, t eeause it is pe-sitanywhere, bin the manner of »t Bins be so s • — s literally kept l»eneath the table, that it is ever any s to the g.-rera 1 mjovtiren:. Surely, then. i r i- a pity we have let the dinner p .rty. :.s the school of polite c< uvcr* ki *: it from » u»* social tak ndar. S»rt s a pro. 'u our ideas, our thoughts, our r\ ■ ■ . _ - - • - - * other people, to Ivar:, to thrive pleasure .. . -■. gas s talking, to prefer ci erness al, I talking to tat*..nig. » I.- ugec ;h : most of us ha : ■ ■ ’ the servau. s to give a ri'nner. Admit red t. r we van rat go in for ♦ al rate i . u:-. admdted that we t offer tlu ' _ ~ f Giesler, Ayala. Pol Roger, or whatsoever hapI - e popular I raad of vhampag?'*-. ye? none of our friends are acvu*r<.med to thr-se things either, so there ran l>r not the smallest occasion to fee! abashed at our non ability t ft ni sh forth such entertainment. A tendt nry prevails—and really amongst a class who should know better —to imagine that there i< a particular virtue in champagne, ami that n<; ing person of niea: s in England drinks anything r!. One would have imagined it miner* ary to controvert s»’eh an al *urd vulgarism, but such . not the va<r. The detectable phrase, ”a bottle of wine” (at Home confined to an unspeakable mass) has te-n u v ed (to denote champagne) to the writer by people cue would have thought utterly incapable of such a solecism. If it is merely sparkling or other wines, and costly viands, tha* stand in the way of a revival of dinner partie* and reaversationai art. let ns at oner sweep away such obsta< les. Some of the rito*l enjoyable dinner parties ever given in London were popularly kibowa as the beef, baked potatoes, an/1 beer parties, and to such simple fi*rr. men w hoe** names are world famous were willing to sit down and exchange opinions; and if the wise war lacking, the wit was not. Such parties could be arranged here, and would certainly serve to enliven and elevate the u&ual round of social pleasures

OPE.XJNG THE DOOR TO THE IMPERIAL ARMY.

Amongst many reforms which will be instituted directly the war is over, none will command more public attention or have further reaching consequences, than the schemes now in preparation by Lord Wolseley and his satellites, for terminating the wretched state of affairs which render the military career practically a closed one. save to men of independent means. It is. of course, perfectly well known that no man can hope to enter the army without the possession of from three hundred to a thousand or upwards a year, according to the regiment to which he attaches himself, unless, of course, he should be willing to endeavour to work his way up from the ranks, a task few have pluck and determination to carry out. so far as English regiments are concerned. It has been amply proved in the present war that the system of selecting our officers only from the leisured class has resulted somewhat disastrously. In bravery there was no cause for complaint, but over and over again it was obvious that loss of men and disaster were the result of incompetence. not wholly on the part of the comma tiding officers, but of their subordinates. It has not yet transpired in the brief despatches published, but after the war is ever we shall no doubt hear of many cases where the care and forethought of the general was sacrificed to the foolish t'cbaviour or incompetence of the subordinate to wnom .is instructions were » utrusted. The reason for this is not hard to seek. These young officers are compact of pluck, they will endure misery, discomfort, cold, and semi-starvation with n cheery good nature beyond praise, when the call conies they will fave death with smiling faves, with a jesting encouragement for those they lead on tneir lips, bnt as one critic has observed, thev do not know their trade, and

have sever taken the trouble to learn it as a man has to learn the trade of a lawyer, a barrister, a doctor. His time, when he is home, is devoted too much to those pleasures and pursuits which necessitate the aforementioned £3OO to £lOOO a year. Sow, if all regimental expenses were'rigidly curtailed, and the pay given to officers increased, it is obvious that an etirely new set would be available from which to <lraw offieers. Al present our officers enter the army mainly "pour passes le temps.” and because it is a family tradition to serve the Queen. This is altogether admirable from a certain point of view, and the sentiment of traditional service of the sovereign is of the noblest, but if. owing to such men following the fashionable world more keenly than their profession we are to suffer humiliating disasters and defeats, we are paying somewhat dear for that sentiment. Men whose means, did not allow them the multifarious pastimes and pleasures with which most army men now regale their somewhat too ample leisure, would naturally concentrate their attention on their profession, and not regard it as a mere plaything. Of course, there are officers taken from the class mentioned whose profession is al! in all to them, but. as any one who knows the smart army set is aware, these are not, to say the least of it. in the majority. Lord '.'.olesley has long wished to bring about this reform to cut down regimental expenses to a more reasonable figure, and to raise the standard of pay. Hitherto influence ar.it conservatism have proved too strong for him. Now undoubtedly be will get his way. Necessity backs him up. and necessity, as we know, heeds no law or custom. The granting of commissions to colonials—of no private means—is another spur, and this reform will indeed probably be one of the very first to receive attention when the "clearing np” process begins after the war is over.