ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVIII, Issue XXII, 31 May 1902, Page 1107

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

LONDON. April 19. At an “ influentially attended ** con* ference of debenture-holders of the New Zealand Midland Railway Company, held on Thursday, the following resolution was unanimously passed:—“That this meeting approves the course suggested by the Deben-ture-holders* Committee, and authorises them to request the New Zealand Government to hand over the railway to them on payment of £66,045, fhe sum at which the interest of the Government in the railway ha< been valued by the Royal Commission."

The report presented to the annual meeting of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade referred with gratification to the passing cf a law prohibiting the opium trade in New Zealand, and expressed a hope that "Australia would follow this example-

This is the third year of the war, but within the next few weeks no fewer than 21,000 British soldiers, to say nothing of colonial contingents, will be dispatched to the front. What a contrast to the sorry remedy to which the Crimean War drove us. After sending out the first army of 30 000 men under Lord Raglan, the Government declared that no more British soldiers were available, and appealed to Parliament for authority to enlist 15,000 foreigners to fight, the Russians. This was in November, 1854, within three months of the war’s commencement. Despite opposition, the Bill became Act 18 and 10 Vic., c. 2, and recruiting agents were dispatched over Europe to enlist men, as remount officers are now searching the world for horseflesh, for the British Army.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which resumes its sittings this week, has only eleven appeals before it. Of these six come from India, two from New South Wales, and one each from Jersey, Natal and New Zealand. The last raises the question whether certain wax vestas were goods prohibited from importation into the colony and liable to forfeiture under the Patents Act, 1899, and the Customs Laws Consolidation Act, 1892.

The law has done speedy justice in the case of the collision between the Waesland and the Ilarmonides in St. George’s? Channel in a fog on sth March. In the action brought by the owners of part of the cargo on the Waesland and on behalf of the passengers to recover damage, fo> loss of their effects from the owners of Ilarmonides, the representatives of each vessel claimed that the other was alone to blame for the collision. The evidence of the naval architects was of that contradictory character which has led to the celebrated classification of witnesses. Two surveyed the Ilarmonides after the collision. The one representing the Waesland was of opinion that the damage to the Ilarmonides showed

that at the time of the collision she had considerable way on, while the Waesland was moving slowly, the one representing the Harmonides drew the conclusion from the same damage that it was the Waesland that was going at a substantial speed and the Harmonides that was almost stationary. Mr Justice Barnes and the Trinity Masters, however, came to the conclusion that Ilarmonides had not been “navigated with caution until danger of collision was over,” and that she was alone to blame for the collision. The Waesland, on the other hand, had done exactly what the owners of the Campania, in the Campania-Embleton case had alleged was impossible, viz., slowing down, stopping, and reversing, and then gradually going ahead again at intervals. Very excellent discipline had also been maintained on the Waesland. Judgment was therefore entered for the plaintiffs, with costs, the damages to be assessed by the Registrar and merchants.

A second collection of natural history objects from the exploring ship Discovery has arrived in England, from Macquarie Island, and is said tc be of considerable interest. .This island was the last point at which the ship touched before heading for its destination in Victoria Land, and for many months Captain Scott and his companions will remain shut off from the rest of mankind in that ice-bound region. It is to be hoped that the influences of the Boer War and the Coronation will not cause British folk to forget the explorers, who are at the present enduring the rigous of an Antarctic winter. What these arc like can be understood by any reader of Mr Louis Bernacchi’s book, “To the South Polar Regions” The author was meteorologist on board the Southern Cross, and has gone with the Discovery in the same capacity. He at any rate has the advantage of being “ salted ” to the braiusoftening monotony of the long Antarctic night.

Mr Leo. Mandel, of Wellington, draws my attention to the translation of a paragraph which appeared in “Le Petit Marseillais,” which he thinks will interest your readers. The French journal says: “Those fine fellows the English are hunting everywhere for recruits for the war in South Africa. But it would seem that the task is no easy one, and that, as a rule, there is a want of enthusiasm for the business. At least, one would imagine so from the fact that our neighbours across the Channel are reduced to enrol even the Maoris of New Zealand. These natives are old followers of anthropophagy’, having only renounced cannibalism within the last 40 years. The English, no doubt, hope that the Maoris will regain tbeir fine appetite of former days, and will set to work to eat up the Boers. But what does it matter? To obtain volunteers among people who so recently’ were cannibals shows that England is still the most civilised country’ in Europe. We are ignorant what these regiments of former cannibals will

do, but we doubt much that they will alarm the Boers. Up to the present the latier have not been very much frightened. Besides, it must have been brought hdrne to them that the natives of New Zealand cannot be a bit more savage than certain English volunteers have shown themselves.”

Now that the Board of Trade is taking over the Imperial Institute, it is interesting to compare the work done by the German Colonial Institute, the Kolonial-Wirtshaftliches Komite of Berlin. Although it receives no financial aid from the German Government, and is therefore unable to carry out costly research investigations such as are made at the Imperial Institute, every year it organises and equips expeditions to explore new colonies for new products of economic value, supplementing the systematic explorations on a large scale undertaken by the German Government in East and West Africa and elsewhere. Last year a botanist spent two months in German South-west Africa investigating the best method of preparing rubber obtained from the roots of certain trees, while another expert explored the central portion of German East Africa for gum-yielding and medicinal plants, fibres, and tanning materials. Dr. Stubbmann is now studying the cultivation of teak, cinchona, and sun hemp in India for the benefit of German East Africa, and other experts are investigating the conditions of cottonculture in the chief eotton-produeing districts of the world, with the view of cultivating cotton in Togoland on a large scale. The collections made by the explorers employed by the Komite are exhibited in Berlin, and afterwards deposited in the Colonial Museum; small exhibits; of typical products are sent to schools nnd colleges. The results of all investigations appears ia a monthly publication containing interesting articles on the development of the German colonies and “commercial protectorates.”

We, .who leave the discovery and development of the economic products of the Empire to chance, and the private explorer and manufacturer, might, in the reconstruction of the Imperial Institute, profit by the example that the German Institute has set us.

Lord Macnaghten yesterday delivered the judgment of the judicial committee of the Privy Council dismissing the two appeals of the Wellington City Council from a refusal of the Court of Appeal of N.Z., to set aside tile filing of claims for compensaiion for lands of the respondents taken compulsorily by the Council for public improvements in Wellington, so that the claims might become void and of no effect. The facts were simple. The City Council, -under the Public Works Act, 1894, took the lands of the respondents for public improvements. The respondents in due course, as required by the Act, sent in their claims for compensation. Section 44 of the Act provides that if the respondent does not within 60 days after receiving such claim, give -notice in writing to the claimant that he does not admit it, the claimant may file a copy of his claim, together with the

receipt for the service thereof, in ths Supreme Court, and such claim when so filed shall be deemed to be and shall have the affect of an award filed in the Supreme Court, and may be enforced in the manner provided in section 76. By the omission of the Town Clerk of Wellington, the Council failed within the statutory period to give notice of objection to the amount of the claims, so as to entitle it to have the amount of compensation determined by the Compensation Court. When the Council discovered that the respondents had filed copies of their claims and receipts in the Supreme Court, it applied to the Court of Appeal for an order to set aside the claims, on the ground that the corporation’s omission to give notice was entirely due to inadvertence. The Court of Appeal (Mr Justice Edwards dissenting) discharged both motions with costs, and the Privy Council also made short work of the Council’s contentions. The scheme of the Act was not unreasonable. It was said that Parliament had overlooked the possibility of a slip. It had certainly made no provision for a slip in the case of' a local authority setting the Act in motion. It had made provision for a slip in the case of a claimant who had received notice that his claim was not admitted failing to make the next move in due time. But that was a different case altogether. It was not unreasonable to require that public bodies putting in force an Act of Parliament for their own purposes should attend to its provisions. The claimant, in the opinion of the Court, having fulfilled the requireir.ents»of the law, their Lordships were of opinion that the appeals failed, and they would humbly advise his Majesty that they ought to be dismissed. .The appellants would pay the costs of these appeals. ,

But Adeline de Cevenne had not hesitated. For a week, day by day, she had importuned the dreaded Cardinal. It was said he wan cruel. She cared not. He had sent many of the sons of Alenois to the scaffold. She was not warned by the fact. Hardly was there a house in the land which had not some cause, direct or obscure, to hate him. She was blind even to this. One thing’, however, she knew and clung to. In his hands were the reins of power. He spoke for the Prince. In all but name he was the Prince. He could break her heart or not as he chose. Why was everything that was beautiful nothing to him? Why was he for a mere principle of policy to be allowed to commit a crime? If the aims of his statecraft were great, there were other things also to be heeded, things of beauty, joy, happiness which must not be broken, gifts of God which must not be crushed under foot for the mere aims of man. Why should he dare to decree that an innocent man should die? Aman whose only crime was that he united several claims to the Princely throne, and that he had committed a trivial indiscretion. For a mere aim of statecraft must her heart be broken, must the fairest gifts of God be as naught, must an innocent life be taken? For days she had sought an audience with him, thrown herself on her knees at his feet, and kissed his hand. He had smiled and treated her as a child. Once he had taken her to a seat in one of the gardens, and with his courtly grace had read to her the latest poem of the Court poet, a thing, she remembered, in praise of a clipped tree and a flowerbed laid out in geometrical designs. And thus she was treated, reduced to a mere timid girl, had quailed into silence, though protest, entreaty and rebellion were at her heart. And now. if nothing were done, in a few days the scaffold in the market place of the town whose houses clustered on the hillside under the shadow of the Palace, would once more be reddened with innocent blood. With an inarticulate, gasping cry of helpless misery she buried her face in her hands. She did not* know that the Cardinal was gazing at her from one of the windows of his room. It must not be supposed that the estimate which the Court formed of {he Cardinal was wholly just. Those who suffer invariably abuse the hand which causes their suffering without pausing to inquire what faults may lie at their own door. And the faults of the nobles of Alenois were many. They were selfish, short-sighted, quarrelsome, ■ and absurdly jealous of each other’s power. They spent their time in constant feuds. It was now some years since the Cardinal Bretani had become the chief minister and the virtual ruler of Alenois. Trained in the intrigues surrounding the Papal throne, he had gained a not surprising belief in the virtue of a strong hand. A strong advocate of reform in the church, and a strong opponent of the corruption and nepotism prevailing in Rome, he had made violent enemies for himself in the Consistory. After several attempts upon his life, he left Italy and placed his services at the disposal of the Prince of Alenois, a weak and dissolute ruler at the mercy of his nobles. There he found himself face to face with the same problem which a century later faced Richelieu in France. He proceeded to solve it in the only way possible, by breaking the power of the nobles. If Alenois were to remain an independent State, internal dissension must be stamped out. Otherwise the little mountain principality must inevitably be absorbed in either the possessions of France or the grasp of the Emperor. Thus it was that the Cardinal waged unflinching war against the nobles, who cared little for Alenois but much for their own individual ambitions; thus also it was that the scaffoid claimed so many victims. Such a victim Would shortly be provided in the Comte de Mervalie. The curtains were held aside, and fbe Count was brought into the Car-

diual’s presence. He was a young man, singularly handsome. Though he must have been aware that the days left to him to look upon the sunlight which now streamed into his face could but “be few, his attitude expressed neither fear nor a disposition to conciliate. He would die with a taunt upon hie lips against the man who had struck him down. He naturally supposed that he was now summoned that pressure might be brought to bear upon him to induce him to disclose the names of his supposed confederates. He was, however, mistaken, and the first indication of his mistake was furnished him when he looked into the Cardinal’s face. It seemed that in the sunlight its severity had vanished. The Cardinal, having dismissed the guards that the interview might be private, was not long in entering upon the cause of the summons. "You are under arrest, Count,” he began, in the carefully modulated tones so hatefully familiar to his victim; “for conspiring against the Prince of this State. Your claims to the throne, should it become vacant, render such conspiracy only what might be expected.” The Count did not speak. Silence was more dignified than useless protest. “The warrant here for your execution only awaits the Prince's signature.” “I am aware, your Eminence, that When the Prince writes, his hand is guided,” broke- in the young Count. “But,” he continued, proudly, “it is useless to question me.” “Youth,” observed the Cardinal, “is prone to hasty conclusions.” It was a strange thing for him to indulge in an unnecessary observation. “You are not here to be questioned,” he went on, and as he spoke be saw hope, that would *not be hidden, dawning in the young man’s face. “A strange chance has intervened in your favour.” The words fell slowly and softly on the silence, and, as Ire grasped their import, the summer sunlight became once more real for the Count. “Your Eminence is playing with me.” he faltered. “If you will listen to me,” said the Cardinal, “and agree to the conditions I impose, you will see that I am not- If you do not agree, this warrant will be signed.” Even in the midst of the tumult of his re-awakened hope the Count marvelled at the strange mood which seemed to have seized the Cardinal. Was it possible that this unflinching tyrant meditated sparing a victim? What strange power could have touched him? What purpose prompted him to mercy? Was it true, as men said, that he had once possessed a heart? “Years ago,” his eminence was saying, “I chanced to be in Alenois. I was then a young man, as you are. This summer’s morning, those former days are vividly recalled to me. When you are older, Count, and have eyes to see how evil the world is, you will learn that memory is given to man that he may not be without joy. Years ago I tasted happiness in the garden below the windows of this room, and I have been looking down into the garden this morning. “You have guessed what my memory is. You smile. You think it strange that the man who has come back to Alenois to send her nobles to the scaffold should recall a memory. If you went back now and fell upon a knot of courtiers, you would tell the. story with a laugh. I do not intend that you shall go back to ridicule me.” The Cardinal paused. His right hand was lying lightly upon the warrant on the table in front of him. The young Count realised that his hope rested merely upon a caprice. “Years ago,” said the Cardinal simply, as if summarising his thoughts, “in this garden youth was mine”! Having spoken thus, he turned suddenly upon the Count and became again the quick-thinking, decisive statesman that he was wont to be. “I then loved a woman,"and in her memory I spare your life,” he said. “When I looked just now into the garden I *aw Mademoiselle de Cevenne, her whole attitude speak-

ing of her breaking heart. She is the daughter of the woman I loved when, a young soldier, I was for a short time at this Court. She loves you, and has importuned me to show mercy each* day since you were arrested. Because of the memory of my own youth I will respect the happiness of yours and hers. Y’ou would have died on the scaffold because, if the State needs it, not only the guilty, but also those who would probably some day be guilty, must be removed. I am here to make Alenois strong, and her enemies, even if they are her own nobles, must fall.” And as the Cardinal spoke now, another spirit shone in his eyes. He was the stern, unflinching statesman whom the Court feared. He did not allow the Count to speak. Briefly he explained to him that he would be banished; that he would leave the Palace at night, disguised and guarded; that at a town across the frontier it would be arranged that Mademoiselle de Cevenne should meet him. and that they, were there to become man and wife. On these conditions his life was spared. It was said next day in the Court that the Count de Mervalie had been secretly murdered, as even the Cardinal feared the public execution of one so highly born. When the Cardinal heard this he smiled grimly. The story was a fresh proof of the hatred in which he was

held. But that hatred was also an eloquent tribute to his power and to the success of his policy. And in this reflection he may have found comfort. Still it was well for him that he could live at times in the happy memory of his youth, for otherwise, in his old age, he would have had little joy. Perhaps he also remembered that far away from Alenois the Count and Adeline de Cevenne were drinking of a cup of happiness that had come to them past expectation, and that in each other’s arms they found that joy which is like no other joy, and comes only once and only in youth, and which came to men and women even in those days of secret murders and blood-reddened scaffolds, much as it comes now. Perhaps even it may be believed that the dead woman of the Cardinal’s memory saw, from some other life, her daughter’s joy; and that she appeared to the Cardinal in his dreams and seemed to thank him for the mercy he had shown.