HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue XIII, 28 September 1901, Page 592

HERE AND THERE.

There has been a startling break in the chain of British successes which Lord Kitchener has cabled home with such monotonous regularity. On three recent occasions (one rapidly following on the heels of another, we have had to bear the chagrin of hearing of defeat where we had grown used to read only of victory. The Boer plan is so obvious in these reverses that one wonders they have only adopted it now. By a few’ well-laid’ traps to give your enemy to understand that at any moment he may fall into the hands of a band much superior to his own. is to force him into a less extended method of warfare. For many months now comparatively small parties of British have been separately scouring the country anti thereby covering immense tracts, to the evident consternation of the Boers. The late disasters teach us that such tactics cannot be pursued save in a more limited way. and then not without the utmost caution.

'lhe remark made in the House last weak, that Bellamy’s had become a mere drinking shop, may be comparatively true, yet it does not follow gven if that is the case that the place should be shut up. Members have surely a right to be catered for in the matter of liquid refreshments if they desire, such. Even the prohibitionists will admit how' grateful the ettp of hot eoffee is during a long night's sitting, and the: beef tea has a reputation for sustaining qualities that dates back to the time when port wine was an important though unsuspected ingredient in it, and itwas itt favour with temperate, intemperate. and total abstainer. I am ready to admit, however, that there is something in the argument that a House without Bellamy_ would probably keep earlier hours.

The other week we commented favourably on the protest raised by the y. omen's Political League against the publication in the newspapers of the ■proceedings in divorce suits. Since that time the organisation has been moving further in. the matter, and seeks to get legislative support to its proposal by means of an act dß’bvidhtg either that all such eases shall be heard in camera, or that the Judge shall have power to prohibit the publication of certain parts of the evidence. A Judge in the South has recently. in an application made to him. condemned the former expedient. And there are many reasons to be urged against it. It is not in the interest of justice that these trials should be virtually secret any more than any other trials. Further, it is not in the interests of morality that wrong-doers in this respect should have their mi-deeds cloaked from the public eve. when with a great many of the offenders the fear of public scandal acts as their principal deterrent. But the suggestion that would givi the Judge authority to withhold from publication anything in the evidence which appearing in print might have a prejuiHcial effect on the morals of the community, and the suppression oi which would not affect the case--that suggestion is an excellent one.

Tie British bull-dog has need of a very good reputation as a set-off to his far from prepossessing visage; and 1 understand be is credited vriih no end of virtues, gentleness among them, bv Hi— friends and admirers. T'n fort unately some degenerate representative of t he breed is a lways get t ing himself into hot we.ler, as last week, when a fierce brute almost tore a man to pieces r.l Riverhead. The description Of the frightful injuries inflicted bv the animal the victim’s ears were hanging by shreds of flesh, his scalp was torn away in several places, his nose nnd feet were bitten through, etc.- almost give one the impression that the man was an unresisting sufferer. One would have imagined that ■nv man of even less than the average strength could have tackled the brute nml in desperation broken his bones with his naked hands. If he rould not. bull dogs are even more dangerous assailants than one had

thought. auui should hr given a wide berth. ¥he Bishop of Carlisle is convinced that the emptiness of churches on Sunday can be traced to "the amount of attention given to recreation on Saturday to relieve the strain which we all had to undergo.” That he holds is tending in one way or another to make men take less interest in things spiritual and so to he less diligent than in former days in their attendance at the means of grace.

A rather amusing breach of promise case has recently been heard in Ohio, United States. The man sued for failing to keep his plighted word to the fair one put in as a defence that the girl when he proposed to her weighed lOst. She increased to 22st, and he abandoned her because she did so. The lady alleges that her great weight spoils her chances of getting anyone else, which is undeniably true, and that as the adipose tissue accumulated while she was waiting for him he is guilty of contributory negligence.

The mistaken arrest of J.illywhite on suspicion of murder at Colchester is going to prove almost as expensive to the authorities as it must have been disagreeable to the accused. The Colchester Town Council has been reckoning up its expenses in the affair, and they do not fall far short of £ 400.

The chief health officer of the colony is now collecting evidence as to the most suitable sites for sanatoria for the treatment of consumption. There is quite an ideal place on the slope of Tongariro, beyond Tokaano. which it is to be hoped the officer will inspect. The chief drawback to it is its distance from civilisation, but. apart from that, its ■altitude, the purity and invigorating quality of the air, the hot and medicinal waters all mark it out as a place in ten thousand for consumptives, if there is anything in the open-air cure'.

Some youngsters iu residing district recently meted out. summary punishment to an unfortunate rooster which they discovered trespassing on a field. They caught the .bird, painted it green, tied a kerosene tin to its wings, and left it to flounder in a ploughed paddock. It was shockingly cruel. as the Feilding "Star” remarks. but there is no denying the fact that maltreated fowls elicit a nnieh Jess degree o’ sympathy than horses, dogs or cats In trouble do. It is questionable whether the compassionate eye of the Society for the .Prevention of Cruelty to Animals takes particular cognizance of the woes of hens, or they might' have their hands full. We are not so callous, however, as the Italian market women, who niav.be seen quietly gossipping while they pluck their poultry alive.

Our prohibition friends would do well to read the recent findings of the Investigating Committee of the British Society for the Study of Inebriety. .They entirely nonsuit those who believe and preach that drunkenness is hereditary. It is not denied that drunken parents may beget degenerate offspring, who in Perm may become drunkards;, bill the drunkenness of the lititer is not a specific inherited taint, but the result of weakness- of mind or body or the evil environment in which they are brought up. This conclusion coincides with the dictum of science that there is no instance of the hereditary transmission of an acquired characteristic either in the animal or the vegetable kingdom.

A cablegram announced on Monday that French cruisers had interfered to prevent an engagement between a Venezuelan and Columbian gunboat. France's action is dictated largely by the fact that she has large interests in Panama, and holds n large part of the Venezuelan bonds. On the latter ground other European Powers might also interfere to keep the peace between the two countries. It is the United States, however, which wilt probnbly claim to be chief arbiter in the matter. The authorities there are

contemplating an extension of the Monroe Doctrine so as to embrace the proposition that .there shall be no wars between tbe pecq*K* of the American continent. The opportunity now presents itself to propound that doctrine openly and act upon it. but how such an attitude would suit the European Powers with interests in South America is questionable.

A Dairy Commissioner in America is so persuaded of the truth of Dr. Koch’s contention that the tuberculosis of animals cannot be communicated to man that he has publicly offered! to eat flesh and drink milk infested with the germs of’ tubercle, provided an annuity is guaranteed to his family in case of the result being fatal.

Air Napier probably knew what he was saying when he declared that Mr McGowan was prepared to forfeit his portfolio in retaining the ’Frisco mail service for Auckland. But whether Mr McGowan would actually do so or not. it is certain that no member or Minister who’did not fight to his last breath against any attempt to do away with the service or alter the port of call need ever show’ his face to tin Auckland constituency again.

Monarchs are flesh and blood after all. and whatever the considerations of policy which decide the' courses even of the autocrat of all the Rhssias, he cannot fail to be touched by the delightful attention of the French. To be carefully guarded and so sumptuously feted is enough to elicit from even less generous-hearted men than the Czar an impulsive expression of friendliness, but France will make a mistake to presume too much on the alliance between the two peoples. Everyone understands that the Czar is nor Russia, and that mightier movements than he can control guide the footsteps and shape the destiny of that giant nation. IVe may expect a strong wave of Anglophobism to follow the Russiophile demonstration. Already the French have been striving to. incite the Spaniards against us. They may now try. the. Russians.

A ease recently came before one of our Police Courts in which n woman punished her drunken ansband for his inebriety by . tying him up. to the verandah post upside dowtj and leaving him all night to repent of his folly. This device will remind colonists from .the North of England of an ancient practice still in vogue there called ‘Tiding the staff".” In this case the drunkard is placed astride a pole carried on the shoulders of two men. His feet are made fast together below the pole and he has to balance himself ns best he can—an awkward and difficult business — while. he-Js-inarched round the town.

In reference to Mr Monk’s desire to secure from New Soutlr'TVales the early records of New Zealand which are kept in the archives of the Mother colony doubt has been expressed whether the New South Wales Government would be willing to part with them, line can scarcely suppose they would refuse save on the grounds suggested by one joker that their own early history is so dubious in its character that they would fain retain eor records to give it an element of respectability.