Current Topics.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 8, 18 June 1886, Page 1

Current Topics.

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The past few months have, indeed, been a time of TEBRIBLB catastrophe. One unhappy event has succeeded events. another, and caused sorrow and loss in many places among us. We hope that the culmination of the sad occurrences alluded to has been now reached in the terrible outbreak at Rotomahana and Tarawera, and that the tragedies which have there taken place among such terrific surroundings may be the last to be recorded at least for many months. The eruptions, meantime, were events, perhaps, that might reasonably have been looked forward to. With the conditions of the country — the hot springs, the geyaers, the many token 3 of volcanic action before their eyes, the serurity apparently felt by the inhabitants of the districts doomed to so fearful a destruction may be considered as somewhat surprising, and, although we should hesitate in making use of the word foolhardy, in speaking of people who have suffered so cruelly, the thought must force itself upon every considerate man that any attempt at settlement within such clearly doubtful territory must needs be rash. It has happened before now that a volcano believed to be extinct, and in whose neighbourhood no such signs of activity were manifest, has suddently burst forth as Tarawera and Rotomahana have done, and been the cause of ruin to everything within its reach. THAT the eruptions as described by those who habbowing looked on weie alike magnificent and terrible DETAILS. belonged to their very nature. The same phenomena in a great degree seem to have been witnessed here as those which accompanied the out-burst in Java some three or four yearß ago. There were the same terrific noisea heard hundred iof miles away, and in the instance we especially allude to reaching to Blenheim in the South Island, or even, as some will have it", t o Dunedin. There were the pamesbowers of ashes.the bame thick darkness adding unspeakably to the horrors of the scene.— and spreading even to Tauranga 6ome 30 miles away. There does not seem, however, to have been the same sinking in of the ground, nor was there an inrush of the sea — and the lives lost appear to have been principally those of people overwhelmed by the weight of the mu,i and lava that descended through the air. The numbers who peilsbed, moreover were very much fewer, as was necessary, owing to the thinness of the population. But where shall we find a more piteous picture than that of the poor mother, Mrs. Hazard, pinned to her place so rigidly by the fallen beams of her house, that she could not even move to ease the head of the child she clasped in her arms, Vut was obliged to suffer her to be crushed and smothered to death tl ere— while at the same time she heard the heart-breaking declaration of her boy perishing by her side,—" Mama I will die with you,"— and the complaints of the little girl, who was also killed. No torture could be devised more agonizing. That there were acts of heroism, and salf devotion on the part of the Europeans present, as in the case, for instance, of Messrs. Mcßae and Lundings need not surprise us, but a feature of relief as well among so much that is harrowing and terrible is the generosity of the Maori guide Sophie, who gave all the clothing in her store to cover her Native friends, and the humanity of the old woman, also a Maori, by whose well-sustained efforts the younger Miss Hazard was saved from being smothered. That the picturesque aspect in the district has lamentable been hopelessly injured, even that the famous } results. Terraces have been destroyed, if such finally prove to be the case, is a matter of comparatively little importance. The loss to the colony of the visits of tourists attracted by the fame of these things may be lightly regarded. Or it may be believed that as many will be attracted to our shores by a desire to see a number of active volcanoes, as would have come had things remained as they were. It may even be that if the district recovers any appearance of safety, it will once more become peopled as before, and the work of settlement may be resumed within it. Take, for example, the hardihood with which settlers returo to, or enter upon, the occupation of farms and townships that have been the scene of disastrous floods, and which there is nothing on earth to guarantee against a like visitation in the future. What we have to

fear is the damage that may be done to the name of the Colony amoDg the outer world. Who, in' Europe, for example, that hears of these eruptions will consider that they are confined to one narrow i district in an extensive country ? The intending emigrant, among \ the rest, will hear a rumour that may seem to him to affect the whole safety of the Colony, and the consideration of crossing the ocean te lodge his family and seek his fortune beneath the shadow of destructive burning mountains will be a very grave one with him. Indeed we see with some astonishment that there unwise iH a tendency in certain quarters, whence more utterances, prudence might be expected, to enhance the evil of which we speak by pointing to every part of the Colony in which extinct volcanoes are snpposed to exist, as if it also was in danger of a like terrible experience. — The contrary task, nevertheless, is the necessary one. — It is not needful to excite the fears of nervous people among ourselves and to make them uncomfortable and uneasy. It is still more unwise to spread abroad reports and suggestions that [may injure the reputation of the country generally, and raise up a very formidable prejudice against it in the eyes of people desirous to emigrate, — On the contrary a true and nnexaggerated description of the occurrences in qnestion, with all their scientific bearings and the peculiarities of the districts where they happened as distinguished from the rest of the Colony — should accompany the reports of them that go abroad — and every step should be taken to sustain the confidence of the world in the. safety of life and property among us, and the immunity of the country generally from all danger of such convulsions of nature. — The disposition of the alarmist, in the present instance, if given rein to, may be the occasion of a great deal of mischief. Among the more hopeful signs of the times is the THE " daily tone of the Press of Dunedin towards Home Rule. times "ON — Our contemporaries without exception regret the home etjle. failure of Mr. Gladstone's Bill, and express a desire to see the country reverse the decision of the Parliamentary majority by which it was lost. — The Daily Times compares the question with that which obtained in 1774, when the people of England backed George 111. in his attempt to coerce the American : colonies — with what results we all know. The Times fears that a like fatal mistake may be now made by the English mass>e°, but still hopes for better things, from the confidence they repose in Mr. Gladstone personally. "It is with deep regret," says our contemporary, that we find the Imperial Idea, in which there lies so much hope for the mother country and for ourselves, is likely to be made the engiae of refusing to Ireland the liberties which the Colonies enjoy. Such use of it may lead to its premature realisation in an Imperial Parliament, feut under such circumstances an Imperial Parliament would probably be more dangerons to the unity of the Empire than the present rough but sturdy "painter." The sympathies of the colonists with a mother country under the influence of an aristocratic reaction and coercing Ireland could not be as full aB with a democracy acting under ideas similar to our own. That the voice of the colonies will have any practical influence upon the result is improb ' able, and we do not assert that it is of much real value; but the Colonies are more concerned with regard to this question of Home Rule for Ireland than about ordinary matters of British domestic legislation, and that their name will be used by both parties at the coming election is certain. What that voice really says will be widely disputed and can scarcely be ascertained by random public meetings ; but of the opinion of New Zealand, the iPress from one end of the Colony to the other, has left little doubt. As colonists who enjoy Home Rule ourselves, and yet are heartily loyal to the Empire, we wish to see similar liberties granted to our fellow-country-men in Ireland, and if any of us recognise a greater distinction between our case and that of Ireland than was provided for in Mr. Gladstone's Bill, the large majority see no difference sufficient to deprive Ireland of the right to a Parliament of her own." Otjr contemporary the Evening Star believes the the "evening true reason which influenced many Members was stae " on the the desire to get rid of Mr. Gladstone. The Consituation. servatives, although bound to oppose the Government had themselves offered more advanced measures both with regard to autonomy and land tenure. The action of Mr. Chamberlain is not easy to understand, unless he be wickedly

trading on the anti-Irish and anti-'Jatholic prejudices of the lower middle classes. But the Whig aristocrats desire to uphold the priviligpd classes " wbo alien m religion and blood have long ridden rough-t-hod." The nsult, Lowever, says our contemporary, is that " the best attempt made during the last two or three hundred yeara to make the Irish people happy and contented has been frustrated bj political cabals and th^ i fluence of territorial magnates.' 1 "In purport and design " ho adas, " the scheme was one for restoring to the Irish people, in harm' ny with modern conditions, the self-govern xnent they enjoyed under the English Crown for five hundred years. Inland was to have the right to make its own domestic laws, and to direct its own domestic administration. The Bill even went so far as to provide that she should take no part in Imperial concerns, and no longer send representatives to Westminster. As to the nonsense which has been talked about handing over the whole leg islation to the National League, this was effectively disposed of by the provision for the Legislature consisting of two Orders, who were to sit and deliberate in the same Chamber, but have the power of voting apart —each Order having a veto. As one Order was to be elected on a rather high property suffrage, the freeholder and leaseholder would have held the householder and small farmer in check, presuming these might have been disposed to unjust dealing with the landowning classes. So far, indeed, from handing Ireland over to the League, the scheme might, on the contrary, be charged with handing the National League over to the middle classes ai.d the aristocracy. The Legislature thus constituted was to have full legislative and administrative control in Ireland, but not in regard to customs) excise, the army acd na.vy, foreign and colonial relations. The Irish Parliament was, in fact, designed to be a subsidiary Parliament, not directly subject to the Imperial Parliament any more than the State Legislatures in America are to Congress ; but, like those Legislatures it would have authority over purely local concerns. The design was, in truth, worthy of the author — agieat effort of constructive statesmanship." — Our contemporary Tegrets the rejection of the Bill— but trusts that justice and an honorable consideration for the Irish people may still produce a different effect. ' The Saturday Advertiser refuses to accept the WHAT THE noisy demonstrations made in and around the House 'SATURDAY of Commons as representing the feelings of Great ADTErtiseb " Britain as a whole, and pronounced it incredible thinks. that people who are the champions of constitutional liberty should refuse that privilege to Irishmen. — " It must be apparent," he says, " to every thoughtful observer that it is not merely just, but also piofitable, to end the quarrel of seven centuries, and have in Ireland an ally instead of an enemy. We have over and over again in. these columns advocated the right of Ireland to make bur own laws, subject, of course, to the endorsement of the Imperial Parliament. We have maintained, and still maintain, that such a concession would strengthen instead of weakening the Empne. We hold that the establishment of an Irish Parliament wou.d be the means of stamping out Ftnianism, Hibbonism, Orangeism, and all the other iams which have cuiscd the country, and made Ireland the Cinderella of nations. And the view* which we hold are those maintained by many of the most profound thinkers of the day. The parrot ciy raised by the Tories regarding the unity of the Empire has succeeded for the nonce in leading to the rejection of Mr. Gladstone's great measure of justice, but the time is not far distant « hen the eyes of the British people will bo opened to the true state of the case." Thkse liberal and enlightened views are very xs important cheering ia the present aspect of affairs aud are of expression, no little iinpoitance to the interests of the question, Mr. Gladstone's appeal through Lord de Vebcitoall sorts and conditions of men for their opinions, was no vain or merely complimentary address. It was really meant to bring forth such an expression as the great Statesman, himself confident in the justice of hie cauhe, felt that men of clear and comprehensive minds in every part of the empire must make. The need, moreover, which then prevailed for Buch an expression is intensified now that the fate of the measure hangs in the balance, and when, we may be persuaded, frantic attempts will be made to blind the eyes pud confuse the understandings of those on whom the momentous issue depends. At such a crisis the unbiassed aud calm utterance of the Press of any important centre of population must cany great weight with it — and we may claim for Duucdri a consideration that no one will be disposed to deny. The piomifie of theCo'ony isno-where morejapparent than it is in this city, and out Press speaks in advance with the voice of the nation that is to be. It is a noble voice that of a nation in its youth, just conscious of its growing strength and of the grand inheritance that lies before it, when it bids the " Niobe of nations '' arise from the earth where her sorrows have bowed her down for centuries, and, returning to the freshness aud health of the earlier age, join it on the path of peace and progress and contentment. That the Press of Dunedin. nevertheless, Bhould take a just view of the

situation and give it generous and manly expression, is not astonishing to us. That it is in the hands of honourable men, honest in their convictions, and independent in their action, we are aware, and for such men to be fully informed is sufficient to insure their upholding the cause of justice in every case. The complete discussion received by the Irish question has had the effect necessarily of enabling it to be thoroughly understood, and hence true men, otherwise of all the different shades of opinion, are its sincere advocates. Apropos of the news brought us by cable relative doubtful to the rioting that has taken place in Ireland reports. between Catholics and Protestants— we must no doubt receive it as proved that Eome disturbances of a serious nature have occurred. With regard, nevertheless, to any Irish news conveyed here by the cable, we must be careful, and not over ready to draw conclusions without more exact information. The cable, however it may be accounted for, is in the hands of men who are opposed to Ireland and who do not scruple to publish abroad an adverse view of anything that occurs in connection with her. From the silence of the cablegrams, therefore, as to the party of aggression in the very serious riots that appear to have occurred in Belfast, we may probably decide that the conduct of the Orangemen alone was that which provoked them, and that this fact is too plain to admit of any doubt, or to suffer any misrepresentation without the certainty of exposure. Had there been the slightest room afforded for falsehood or equivocation the agents who direct the cable would have seized the opportunity, and we should have been told that the whole fault lay with the popular party. With respect to disturbances reported as of occurrence in Sligo, on the other hand , we are informed that the Catholics were the aggressors — and, although we by no means accept the tale as necessarily true, we may admit the possibility that some circumstance exists which can be made to give it plausible colouring. It is difficult at the same time to understand how serious rioting could take place between two parties of whom the one was so much less in numbers as were the Protestants in Sligo, and the doubt is one that gives us some reason to suspect that if pure invention has not been called into play at least there is gross exaggeration. Can it be that some rash Protestants by boasting of the deeds of their friends at Belfast and twitting their Catholic neighbours with them, had excited an attack upon themselves which if not justifiable was of easy explanation ? We shall not be surprised to find that such is the true ■tate of the case and such the grounds of the cable's accusation. Meantime, we have no desire whatever to make the inexcusable slighest excuse for the Catholic or popular party, if conduct. they in any way transgress the laws of peace, humanity or fair-play. By doing so they are not only acting an un-Catholic and un-Christian part, and giving reason to those who are the enemies both of their religion and their country to blaspheme against the one, and deride and condemn the other, but they are doing their utmost to injure their ju->t aid noble cause, and placing fresh and heavy difficulties in the way of those who are endeavouring already in the face of great difficulties to serve it. We have no sympathy, no excuse, for the people who act in this manner, if any such there be, but are even more ready than those who, through the hatred of all that is Irish or all that is Catholic, are always anxious to find fault with them, to accuse and condemn them. We shall however, await more accurate and fuller information, aud coming from a less suspicious source than the European cable, before we form any decisive judgment. The debate on Home Rule which took place on the the debate ON motion of Mr. Jago in the Dunedin Parliamentary home EULE. Union on Saturday evening, and the report of which we borrow in another place from our contemporary the Evening Star, so far as it went, was highly inteiesting. The fact, moreover, that the motion deals with the general question of Ireland's claim to Home Rule rather than with a mere matter of sympathy with Mr. Gladstone as a statesman is of importance, and gives to the debate a wider scope, as well as a deeper and broader interest, than it must otherwise possess. The speakers dealt with their subject in a very clear and able manner, and the genuine conviction apparent in their utterances lent them an additional weight-that is, of course on the side favourable to the Irish cause. As to the opponents of the motion, any failure in their arguments must not be attributed to want of capacity in the speakers, but rather to the shallowness and insufflciency of the objections they had to urge. Wo do not see, for example, why it must needs prove fatal to the design of a statesman that it should be adopted by him at the close of a long career, and when he had the opportunity of bringing the whole experience and knowledge of a life-time, occupied with great questions of State, to bear upon it. Nor do we see why he should be accredited with weakness in yielding to fear, nor why his perception of danger should exclude his respect for justice. Surely there is a natural affinity between fear and injustice — the one resulting frequently from the I other, so that a return to justice absolves from fear. It is, besides, the part of those who guide the State to provide for its safety, and

this, in fact, is one of the chief tasks that devolves upon them. Jnstice towards the State generally, as well as towards each of its constituent parts, requires so much of them. The argument, agaio that becauao Ireland, like any other ountry under the font of tyranny, has been the scene of crime and conspiracy, the removal of the oppressing hand would involve the continuance or increase of the evils in question, is a yery empty one and conld only be caught up by any sensible man for want of something worthy of being urged. Nor are tne cases of the union of Scotland and that of Ireland analogous. The one being brought #*y«ut at the desire of the people for their beneat, and the other forced •gainst a people's will upon them to their lasting injury. But if it be desirable that England herself should also enjoy a system of pure autonomy, at least the removal of the Irish Members from her legislature would be a step in that direction. It would at best be taking example by the dog-in-the-manger, meantime, to refuse autonomy to Ireland because England and Scotland must want it. Finally, the position of the Orangemen armed to resist an enactment of the Imperial Parliament is a spectacle, as an hon. Member in effect remarked, most convincing as to the nature of their loyalty, and what it deserves are at the hands of Government. The Orangemen, in tratb, can be most kindly and considerately treated by being eared from themselves and their humiliating condition. They have simply been the cat's paw or , if that be too mean a comparison, the tiger's claw of a government hostile to the country, and all their use has been to do that government's dirty work. They will be more honourable as men, and more consistent as Christians, when such an office is no longer required of them. And, all their just prerogatives being duly respected, when the Government has no longer need for them they will be set aside and known no more as an important element in Irish affairs. All the privileges of the citizens of a free country will still be theirs and they will have nothing to complain of. And in any case is it not better that a minority should supply themselves with rifles to maintain their unjust claims, than that a majority should need to be restrained from obtaining arms for the purpote of demanding their just claims ? The Orange ruck in itself causes ns no uneasiness whatever, all its importance being in the attitude of the Government whose tool it is— or nothing. There was very little weight, then, in such arguments as the opposition were obliged to urge, and their chances of distinguishing themselves against the motion were but slender. That so many members, in conclusion, should urge the arguments in favour of Home Rule and ■how such a manly goodwill, and so much ability in doing so, is a matter for congratulation, and one most honourable to the intellect as well as to the sentiment of this city.

The turn which one's miiid naturally takes in hearing A COMICAL of volcanic eruptions is towards Lord Ly tton's wellINCIDBNT. known romance "The L;ist Days of Porap.'ii." The events there are controlled by the first recorded eruption of Vesuvius and a description of that occurrence is a chief feature of the book. It may be added, as we are now able to decide from the descriptions given by eye-witnesses of the phenomena at Tarawera and Rotamahana, that Lord Lytton's realisation of the Bcenes he dealt with was very perfect, and he seems to have left no circumstance in the great convulsion unnoticed. It is a little remarkable too tbatag Vesuvius in the days of Titus had its witch, at least according to the I , imagination of Lord Lytton, Te Wairoa, that has bo ruinously bore the brunt of (his outbreak, had its sorceror — whose weird reputation, indeed, would seem likely to lose nothing by the manner in which he has fared. The special correspondent of the Daily Times tells us that this old man named Tuhuoto, and said to b e over 100 years of age, was found in the corner of a whare that had been crushed down under the weight of the falling lava. Here he bad a safe refuge where he lay unhurt and perfectly contented for 104 hours in complete darkness and without anything to eat or drink. " When found," says the correspondent, " he was talking to himself but was by no means anxious to corte out. He wante I to be left alone, and did not see why anybody should go digging and pushing him about." It is somewhat sad to learn that the people of his tribe are not rejoiced over much at Tuhuoto'a escape, but are suspected of having looked upon his death, of which they were assured, as a fortunate accident ridding them of an occasion of much fear. Th c > J^.iveß, in fact, we are told, accredit|the sorceror's enchantments with i X whole disaster of the eiuptions. That so pulent and with all so malevolent and mischievous a being should live on such primitive and simple victuals as potatoes and water, as is reported to be the case, seems rather inconsistent, and may go to piove a point against the total abstainer and the vegetarian, The old ma.'s fate however is one of Ihe curious incidents of the terrible events, and once more goes to show us how nearly related are the sublime tud the ridiculous.

Among the disturbing causes that may make sinisteb Bnssia at the present time more or less suspected COLONISTS, by other nations, the German colonisation of certain of her provinces has a part. — From time immemorial almost, it had been the custom for Germans to cross the

frontier and settle in the empire of the Czar either as operatives in the factories, or agricultural settlers attracted by the cheapness of the land. At the time, however, when the serfs were set free by Alexander 11., much encouragement was held out to this immigration both by the landed proprietors, who were anxious to Becure the immigrants as labourers on their estates, and the Government, which ■uv in their arrival additional means of weakening the power ef the Poles in their own country. — The immigrants bought farms at a low rate, and when they had improved them, sold them to other Germans who had followed later in their path, and themselves pushed further into the bosom of the country — continually repeating the process of buying, cultivating, and selling to renew their settlement at a more advanced position. And in this way it has come about that in the provinces of Volhynia, Podolia, and Kiev, there are settled to-day more than one hundred thousand men, many of whom have served in the German army, and are well versed in its discipline, while they still retain the arms in whose use they have been trained. Being foreigners, moreover, they have been exempted from disabilities and exactions imposed upon the less fortunate natives of the country, and they have sedulously preserved all the sentiments and habits of their own nation together with its tongue, which they are careful to have taught in schools under the care of teachers brought from Germany.

"In order that our readers may easily perceive the the DANGER to extreme gravity of the situation," says the corresRUSSIA. pondent of the Clvilta Cattolica, from whom we take our information, " not so much for the .Russians and the Germans as for the whole of Europe, I beg of them to con. aider that it is precisely the government of Volhynia that must be traversed by an Austrian army on the march to Kiev, which is the capital of southern Russia and the bulwark that defends the rich valley of the Dnieper. The possession of Kiev would secure to the invading army all the country of the black soil, Russia's granary of abundance, and would intercept the principal lines of communication between St. Petersburg, Moscow and Odessa." The writer adds that the railways north of the Carpathians wouH afford facilities to Austria for the suddea occupation of the Russian territory, from which no natural obstacle divides her, In addition to all this, Kiev is the holy city of Russia, a pilgrimage thither being regarded as only less meritorious than one made to Jerusalem itself . '' Certainly," sayß the correspondent, " the occupation of Kiev by means of a foreign army would not bring with it the ruin of Russia ; but the loss of the mos* ancient sanctuary of the Ru9su-Greek faith would have an immense echo in the country, and would be looked upon as a national disaster. 1 ' — The correspondent goes on to accredit the diplomatists of central Europe with keeping all this iv view while they planted German colonies along the line in question, and, further, explains the advantage to an invading army oi. marching through a country whose inhabitants are favourable to it. We cau understand, then, how the Czar may show some irritation and alarm at the position in which he rinds himself, particularly when he considers that S>:rna also inclines to favour Austrian designs, while Rournmu seems disposed to make a coalition with Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelu against him.

The difficulty, meantime, is to decide as to whether thk the situation promises a prolonged peace or threatens momentous an immediate war. Russia can hardly be content question, to 6ce the iron chain that menaces her with imprisonment strengthened or drawn tighter. — But yet she may not feel that she is prepared to burst it in its present weaker condition, though every day may make her chancea fainter. — Undoubtedly there is a good deal in the outlook to make those who desire jeace uneasy, even if there be also much to encourage them to hope.

Said the Right Rev. Dr. Logue, Bishop of Raphoe, Ireland, in the conise of the sermon which he preached at t'.^e consecration of the new Bishop of Down and Connor, the Right liev. Patrick McAlistur, which took place recently in Belfast : '"Among the demands on tiie sympathies and attention of an Irish bishop, which the circumstances of the country and the times rendered imperative, was one which seemed to draw him away from the sphere ot his legitimate duty and involve him in secular conflicts ; bu- those who assented that a bishop forfeited his dignity and transgressed the bonds of hia tacicd calling when he descended into the arena cf politics, supposed a state of things which never had, and probably never should, exist in Ireland. Could religious and political interests bo separated there would be some ground for the assertion. In Ireland, however, political aspirations and religious iuteros a were closely indentified and bound up with each other, and their beparation was impossible. If the Irish people had suffered, they owed thea 1 sufferings chiefly to the fact that they had lovingly clung to the birthright ot their faith. These were the people whom their bishops and priests were expected to deseit at a moment when the country was iv the throes of h momentous crisis. Such advice was opposed to public order and the public good. There had been mistakes and excesses in the past, no doubt, but these had been most pronounced where the people had, from some unfortunate circumstance, been withdrawn for a time from the leading of their spiritual guides. He rejoiced, therefore, that in Down and Connor they would have a prelate to advise them on matters concerning the public interests,"