Topics of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVIII, Issue II, 11 January 1902, Page 58

Topics of the Week.

The South African Picnic. Auckland's contribution to the Eighth Contingent, the largest this province has yet given to the war, left for the South on New Year's Day morning. As compared with the departure of former sections from the North there was very little demonstration. The streets were indeed tilled with crowds of people, but it was not to see the volunteers depart en route for South Africa that the citizens had turned out in holiday attire, but to depart themselves by steamer or train for a day by the seashore or in the country. The lighthearted throng were, 1 fear, too concerned with the prospect of enjoying themselves to devote much attention to the contingenters. and speculation ran much more on the chances of a bright day than on what might be the fate of the boys off to the war. Fortunately the boys themselves were not likelv to be much affected by our serfitltigimWiference. They were too full of their own enthusiasm to feel the lack of demonstration on our part. Certainly no party of picnickers left the wharf for any of the mhny pleasure resorts with higher spirits than the men of the Auckland section of the Eighth departed bn the .first stage •of thteir South African picnic. Judging by those of them I spoke with they must have experienced something like good-natured contempt and pity for us poor civilians trudging with our picnic kits and "billies" to the railway station or ferry tee. How tame compared with the glorious prospect that stretched out before their young eyes must the most delightful day on. the sands or in the cool bush appear. They could well do without our enthusiasm and applause. Least of all did they want our sympathy. They could have given us sympathy. we poor unfortunates condemned to enter upon another year of commonplace moiling and toiling for a living, while they, booted and spurred, were off to seek-adventure, fame, and fortune, on the veldt. However, we would not like that - they should leave these shores altogether without some displav of enthusiasm on our part, and we are glad to think that the -final send-off of the Eighth is likely to be something of an affair. o o O o o Boers tor Hew Zealand. ft now appears that there is- a pretty general desire here to accede to the suggestion made by the Imperial Government that we should undertake the custody of a thousand or so of the Boer prisoners. The actual decision in the matter res’s with Mr SeddOß and the member- of Parliament, to whom he will submit the question of whether we should or should not become custodians of a section of the captured burghers until such time as it is deemed advisable to send them back to their country. When that question is settled there still remains the further and more difficult one of deciding in what part of the colony the men will be confined. There is certain to be a good deal of interprovineial jealousy in arranging this. For though it might not at first sight appear, advantages are likely to accrue to the city in whose neighbourhood the prison cnmpisset up. There is the building of the accommodation and the catering for the food and clothing of a thousand men. If they are put in Stewart Island, which is one of the places suggested, all the orders for these tilings will inevitably go to the tradesmen of Invercargill -<nd the Blurt; if they are sent to the Great Barrier, another place that has been named as suitable. Auckland will reap the benefit. With this fact in view, I should not be very much surprised to hear once more the cry of “injustice to Auckland” and the “Neglected North" if the Government should think best to choose Stewart Island Instead of the Great Barrier. And so far as the relative advantages of the two places is concerned, the Barrier can. I fancy, claim a certain

superiority. Residence on it would be more agreeable for the prisoners because of the climate alone, and escape from it should not be easier. The Boer who could make the mainland without a boat would be a slim fellow indeed. It would also add not a little to the interest of the island to have a Boer camp there. We could have special excursions to the place during the summer, ana make the acquaintance of the burghers, who at present are but a name to us. In the eyes of yachtsmen an attraction would be added to the Barrier by its being made the site of a Boer eamp. The picturesque but rather lonely beauty of the place would be decidedly ihe better of a little more stir in it. while the rather monotonous life of the Settlers there, and on the neighbouring coasts, would be kept more lively by the possibilities which the presence of a thousand enemies of the Empire in their vicinity would suggest. Consider what splendid practice in guerilla warfare would be afforded our volunteers in case of any of the prisoners escaping from the camp and taking to the Barrier bush. We might have a sort of repetition of the South African campaign on a small scale, which would give numerous opportunities to the military geniuses, who have now to content themselves with criticism at the street corners. A Contrast. We may complain of the rainy and uncertain weatner of the recent holidays—and certainly the weather was not all holiday-makers could desire — but the best of climates is not free from the defects of its qualities, and it was the same raiu that marred the picnics which makes New Zealand the land of green pastures and running waters and umbrageous forest —the •ideal picnic land in tact. What would not poor New South Wales have given for a few such showers to cool its burning plains as we here so strongly deprecate*!. No greater blessing could Santa Claus have brought the parched country than a good downpour. In vain they prayed for it. but in its place their holidays were marked by stifling heat that rendered life a burden, and raging conflagrations with terrible destruction on their wings. The New Year has begun most mournfully for many settlers in Australia, who enter on the new season with nothing but the ashes of their crops, their cattle and their homesteads. To those of us whose interest in New South Wales is merely that of occasional visitors, the destruction of the beauty spots in the Blue Mountains, of which one has pleasant memories, will be regretted. Yon can picture those wooded, rockflanked gullies reduced to ruin by the flames. What precautions the authorities take against the disaster that has befallen one at least of these famous resorts —the Leura Falls. The picnicker needs not search for wood to boil his billy. It is there dry cut and ready for the fire at convenient intervals'in the bush, where also are erected fire-places and tables, thus leaving the public no excuse whatever for ignoring the strict injunctions issued against the indiscriminate lighting of fires. In New Zealand. while precautions against fire are not altogether unnecessary, we do not require such elaborate provisions. which must in a way detract somewhat from the al fresco charm of picnicking. o o o o o The Feminize Invasion Again The way in which women are entering into competition with men was a stale subject of comment last century, and one does not feel in the lea>t surprised now to hear of the gentle -sex having invaded new masculine spheres. It is evident that we men must prepare ourselves for sweeping changes in the same direction. and probably within the next fifty years we shall find women firmly established on an equal platform with men in positions we have nut

yet dreamt of their filling. The tendency to prefer “them to men is growing- wry rppidly. Their attention to their work, trust worthiness, - ■nd earefnlness being- superior to that of the ordinary youth of the day. who are at the beek and call of a hundred distractions, of whieh their sisters know nothing. The latest experiment in the way of substituting feminine for male labour has recently been initiated by neuter's Telegram Agency in London, which has. engaged . some hundred and twenty girls as messengers in the place of boys. The company was led to make a trial of girls through ‘‘the growing tendency of Jjoy. messengers towards levity and neglect,” and the results are described, as most satisfactory. The quickness, willingness, and intelligence of the little women has charmed the authorities, who mean to extend the system. This sounds to me very much Hke the death knell of the message boy generally. and-though-he is of my sex. I cannot say that I entirely regret it. There may have been a time when the message boy was a paragon of promptness and reliability, but he must have sadly degenerated before I came to know him. ’ To speak of- him as I have found him. he was not burdened with a great sense of ditty, was prone on the other hand to regard the discharge of little commissions as an unwarranted interference with his leisure, and never allowed the urgency of the message to interfere with his attention to every street row. or pursuit of stray cat, or interchange of witticism with a friend, or even a friendly turn at marbles. Message bearing has so long been the monopoly of the small boys that they have become a distinct caste, with all the pride and insolence of a caste. They saunter about the streets with an impudent indifference to the world at large that is quite unattainable by any other section of the community. the worst type of jacks-in-office. Contrast them with the neat little, quick Tittle, polite little girls, who, under the new system will take their place, and who would not vote for the innovation? Whether, however, the advantage would be lasting is another question. New brooms sweep clean. How much is the apparent superiority of ladies in certain positions due to the fact that they are fresh to them, and that they feel their sex is there in a way on sufferance. When they have acquired the assurance of office, it is possible they may develop faults not less than even if different from those of the men. I know one or two instances where this has already happened, and I have found myself sighing for one of my own sex in place of the pert female who kept me waiting while she finished her frivolling with some acquaintance, and when she did attend to me. made the greatest favour of doing so. When you speak of the superior conscientiousness, alacrity, and the rest of the woman in office, don’t forget that special instance—the domestic servant. 0 0 0 0-0 To Horse! To Horse! The Lyttelton ••Times” takes as a text for a recent article on the dec-ay of horsemanship in the colony the fact that nearly one-third of the candidates for the Eighth Contingent at the local Defence Office failed to pass the riding tests. It is a matter quite worth the notice given it. The old boast that every New Zealander —as well as every Australian —was a horseman, seems to be a rather empty boast in these days. With the growth of our towns anti town population, and the ~ increasing facilities for internal communication, the centaur-like colonial of the old times is becoming rarer and rarer. The more settled conditions, of agriculture too limit the necessity for the settler to be tn the saddle daily, and as a consequence the man who coni’, d sit anything with the name of a hors* to it. and go anywhere on its back, is -receding into the page* of the old colonial days novel. -Among the town population the number of voting fellows who can ride is.. of ronr.-e. a. much greater proportion than the Home cities can show, be-

cause horseflesh and horse keep *rv eheap,-bat it is a dinjinishimt proportion. and. considering our "advantages, a much too rapidly diminishing one. There is not a very large number of the young fellows in town who are riders. Of course, they all speak as if they rode, and were at home on horseback, in deference to the tradition that every colonial is a horseman, but what a sorry figure the majority would cut on a restive nag. Now. the war in South Africa shows pretty plainly that the horseman. the good horseman, is the most important factor in the field, and lacking the military training, the colonial can only hope to atone for his shortcomings in that respect by his excellence as a rider. In the next Imperial war of offence or defence, the mounted soldier will doubtless play a very large part though probably not so large as in Africa, and the Imperial authorities will count on the colonies for the men who can ride. It will be rather a surprise if they find on application that we have not got ready the class of men wanted, which must be the case if the decline in horsemanship continues. And we are doing nothing to help it. Where horsemanship comes most prominently in evidence in the colony is. I regret to say, on the racecourse, and everyone knows that that prominence makes gamblers rather than horsemen of our young fellows. Our equestrian salvation does not lie in that direction. I notice that the Government have decided to thoroughly organise all the school cadet corps of the colony. It might be suggested that no organisation which has for its object the embuing of the corps with a love for, and a certain proficiency in warlike exercises, can be complete which does not teach them to ride. To introduce horsemanship into the curriculum would, of course, entail no little additional expense in connection with these youthful companies, but unless the thing is done, our young soldiers must grow up ignorant of or little proficient in a department of military training, which is of the first importance. It need scarcely be pointed out that the opportunity for riding would commend the cadet corps to scores of youngsters who are not now in the ranks.