Here and There

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1, 6 July 1907, Page 29

Here and There

Maxims of Publius Syrus (45 8.C.) As men, we are all equal in the presence of death. When we pause to think, we often miss our opportunity. There are times when we may do well to forget what we know. The fear of death is more to be feared than death itself. The two greatest blessings of human life are good health and good sense. Observe the golden mean between saying too much and too little. «>s><£> A Little Misunderstanding. The German is a long time in learning American idioms. One who had been there for a year or more, and could speak some English before his arrival—a very short and corpulent man. by the way —went to his grocer’s and paid a" bill which had been standing for several weeks. ‘‘Now you are all square, sir.” ‘•I vas vat?** ‘•You are square. I said.” “I vas square?” “Yes, you are all square now.” Hans was silent for a moment: then, with reddening face and flashing eyes, he brought his plump fist down upon the counter, and saiu: “See here, mint frent. I vill hav no more peezness mit you. I treat you like a shentleman. I pay my pill, and you make a shoke of me. You say I vas square ven I know 1 vas round as a parrel. 1 don’t like such shokes. My peezness mit you vas done.” An Imperial Socialist. Mr. Sidney Olivier. who has been chosen to succeed Sir Alexander Swettenham as Governor of Jamaica, is by no means a stranger to the West Indian island. In fact, he knows everything about it worth knowing, for he has already had five years’ residence in the island as Colonial Secretary. He was sent out in 1899, when Mr. Joseph Chamberlain had charge of the Colonial Office, and the confidence of that astute judge of character was amply ju-tii. I by the immense value of Mr. <>li i« r’s services. He stayed in the island until 19 >4. and during three years of his sojourn practically ran the executive machine. He reorganised the finance »f Jamaica, and made the country solvent, proving himself a statesman of no mean order. ■ Nor was he less successful as a disciplinarian. When the riots broke out in Montego Bay. Mr. Olivier, in the absence of the Governor, took the reins in his hands, and. aided by the soldiery, rapidly quelled the rising. The new Governor may be said to be a specialist in Colonial and West Indian affairs. In 1890 he was Colonial Secretary to the Government of British Honduras; in 1895 he was appointed AuditorGeneral of the Ijeeward Islands; and the following year acted as Secretary to the Royal Commission which wa< sent out. under Sir Henry Norman, to investigate the conditions of the Wist Indies. For these services he was appointed C.M.G. by the late Queen Victoria. Mr. Sidney Olivier was born in 1859. and is the son of the Rev. H. A. Olivier, of Hants. He was educated lir-t at Lau.<inne. then at Kineton Sclhk»l, Tonbridge School. Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree, and finally in Germany. He entered the Colonial Office in 1 <B2, heading the list in an open competition. Mr. Olivier was one of that remarkable l»and of reformers who startled England. towards the end of the eighties, by the publication of “Fabian Essays.” and it is a strange coincidence that almost every contributor to that pioneer work of the aims of the Socialist. Mr. Sidney Webb. Mr. George Bernard Shaw, Mr. Hubert Bland, and many others, has “arrived.” At the time of its publication Mr. Olivier was the secretary of the Fabian Society, an office he held

for many years. That he has l>ven true to these early ideals is evidenced by the fact that only a few days ago he lectured before his old society on "Social ism and Middle-class Economics.” In 1881 he published a volume of "l\»ems and Parodies,” showing a fair ability as a versifier, and he has als<) signed his name to two plays, one of which was successfully produced by the Stage Society. He is above the average height, with the strong. I»earded face of the pioneer. His eyes arc brilliant and searching, and his well-shaped lips indicate a strong of determination typical of the man. His ap|M>intment has given complete satisfaction to the natives, with whom he was al yays a prime favourite. -r Horse-Power of a Horse. The old-fashioned street cars were drawn by two horses; the modern onus are driven by motors rated at from 30 to 50 horse-power. The conditions that make necessary such an in •rea-u in power were not recognised al first, so that some of the earlier electric mads were regarded as failures. an edi torial writer in the "Ek*c; t dual Re view”: — "Two horses were >ll that were required for drawing the ordinary horse - car; an I when it was attempted to apply the electric motor, the inventor that if he used a four or five horsepower motor, he would be doing all that could be required; yet there i- no doubt that the failure of all the early atteinptto apply the electric motor » struct railways service was due, in part. *o the small power of the mot or. The conditions were underestimated, and the motor was far too small f ». ihc work required ol it. Not until t \q motor-, each rated at about fifteen liGrse-power. were adapted a- the •'tan! ard equipment, was the running Of th? car satisfactory; and it was not long before this had been raided t » two twenty-five horse-power motors for ?. 1 except level roads. It seems strange that it should be necessary to pla. mu chanical apparatus in a ear whiuh is rated at more* than twenty tim* t animal power that used to move l’:® oiler vehicles; but thi- is due. fir-t to the fact that thu cars are larger, an 1 hence heavier, and they mu-t rim at ? higher speed; and al-» to the f j . • Hitt a horse is capable, for a >'i.?rt tiir.u. »f working at a c »nsiJerab’y gi- iter r. c than one-horse-power. In ct’. r v r N. he has a large overloa I rating. Oh the other hand, the electriu motor is rated for that power wli: h it can perform continuou>ly. It- ordinary performance is usually c »nsid n ral.h less than thi<” Victor Hugo s Hope of a Future Life. Victor Hugo‘s opinion on the question of life l»eyond the grave was a remarkable one. Definite an 1 virile, it struck in <>ive'y against the ja 1 .ml sceptical spirit of his age and country. Backed by his >trong int- llu l. the < reed of such a min a distinct note in the discoid f warring theologies, it- power multiplied by the number of Hugo’s gift', it- value measured by tin* worth of his pers<»nality. The great Frenchman wa-» firmly con vinuej that he would med al! hi< friends in a future world. 11 • was equally sure that he ha 1 always existed from the antediluvian ; imus. when the Creator p’aee 1 him on earth. He believed that lie would exist fonver. inasmuch as he felt in his - ml th of hymn*, dramas, and poems that ha 1 never found expression. When the atheists would say to him, “The proof that you will not exist in the future i« that you di.l n«»t cxi«t in he past,” Hugo would answer: — ‘•Who told you I did lint exist in the pa<t c.'nturie*? You will say ttrit is the l»*gen<i of the ages. The poet haa written, ‘ldfe Ls a fairy tale twice writ-

ten.’ 11 • ii ’got have said a thousand tin.v.'» written. Y?u do not believe in the doctrine of surviving personalities for the reason that you do not recol lect your anterior cxi?tence. But ho v can the recollevtion of vanished ageremain imprinted on your memory when you do not remember a thousand and one scenes and events of your present life? Since 1802 there have been ten Victor Hugos in me. Do you think that 1 can recall all their actions and al their thoughts? '“The tomb is dark, and when I shall have passed the tomb to emerge int i light onee more, all these Victor Hug s will be almost wholly strangers to me. but it will always be the same soul.” <s> Five Years' Drift. Dr Nansen. Norwegian Minister to th** Court of St. lames, one night recently resumed the character of Puhu expert, and lectured to the Royal Geographical Society on Polar problems. Thu way to reach th? Pole, he sai 1. would be to follow the course of a bottle get in a ship and drive it into the ice north of Behring Straits, and remain in it until it came out near Greenland. “Such a drift would take five years, it is true,” he added drily, amid laughter. He claimed that th? Finn’s drift showed it to he possible. Dr. Nansen made fun of the idea of leaching the Pole by motor cai. balloon, airship, or submarine. He showed that motor cars would have to climb fieldof i-<• hummocks 20 feet high, and -ai l that ball-.oils and airships would make observations of little value. Submarines w. re of still less importance, because they would have to dive thirty or forty fathom- to g t tinier the ice at all Big Ben Run Down. Unlike the legislators whose time he regain’es. Big Ben is overworked, re marks the London “Express.” Mr 1.. \ . Harcourt, who. as First C ommissioner of Works, is responsible for Big B n s well-being, has prescribed a rest, and the great clock mu-t go iat > hospital in old -, to inakc a thoiougb re ovury. His iin banism is so great that he will be divided into time parts, each to be treated separately. The machinery which is responsible for the chimes will he t :oroughl\ restored in one week, an I then lor anoth r week Bun will fail to strike the hours. After that, when the hour- and the chimes are in working order. Big Bun must be stopped altoge tlier while thu mechanism whi h r?u »ids merely the Ixnidonei’s time i- attended "It will take half a dozen men to remove tiie works,” .-nid a nuinb r of the firm of Messrs E. Dent ami < 0.. who have sole charge of Big Ben. "They will clean the parts on th? spd. an i then take them to our factor} in Hanwayplace. Ox ford-street, to bu repaired. If lie had lasted until next year Big Ben would have celebrated his jubilee with out ever having been really ill. I'h re have been signs, lately, however, that he T ints a thorough overhauling. 1 lie lit tie lapses we have notic'd are not th? outcome of caprice. Having been woik ing steadily, day and night, since 1858, he naturally wantv a re-t. and we are arranging it so that th? public shall be inconvcnienc* d as little as possible.”