Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 31 May 1917, Page 17

Current Topics

Food in France M. Herriot, the Food Controller, has issued a decree according to which a person dining in a restaurant may not be served with more than two dishes, only on© of which may be meat. Menus are to be subject to Government control. They shall not include more than two soups and nine dishes, which are to be as follows; —One dish of eggs, two varieties of fish, three of meat, and three of vegetables. In order to reduce the consumption of flour, milk, eggs, and sugar, entremets are suppressed. From our recollections of the powers of French chefs we should say the people are a long way still from following the example of Nebuchadonazzar.

High Prices In the old days a man of moderate means could dine for a franc and a-half on a four or five course dinner, via compels. As prices range at present such cheap banquets are hardly to be expected. At the end of January as much as £d a ton was paid for coal that was largely dust and stones. During the winter, which can be very cold in France, the poorer classes have suffered incredibly from want of fires. Carrots sell at Is a dozen, cabbages for lOd each, spinach at fid a pound, potatoes up to fid a pound. Apples, pears, nuts, bananas, figs, and raisins have gone up in a similar manner. But in spite of all the hardships they are enduring, and of the terrible losses which have stricken France as the Angel of Death struck the Egyptians, the people have never lost their courage, and never looked back since the day they were left to defend the long lines from Alsace to Belgium.

The Electoral System in Prussia Electors are divided into three classes, according to the amount of taxes paid. Each class elects an equal number of electors (Wahlmanner), and the latter elect the 433 members of the Abgeordnethaus, or Lower House. Thus those who pay most taxes elect most members. The Herrenhaus, or Upper House, consists of a limited number of hereditary peers and a large number chosen for life by the Kaiser from the landowners, merchants, men of letters, and professional men of eminence. The Herrenhaus is more democratic than the English House of Lords. Both Houses together form the Parliament, which is called the Landtag. Ministers are appointed by the Crown. They are not responsible to Parliament for their actions, but cannot pass laws without the consent of both Houses. For the whole of Germany the Prussian system does not obtain. The members of the Reichstag are elected by direct ballot on the system of universal suffrage. A man is not qualified to vote until he has passed his twenty-fifth birthday.

History Repeats Itself To-day in the old files of the Tablet we came upon some pf the compliments which the press of his time used to address to Bishop Moran. That great Bishop and good Irishman hit hard, without respect for persons, when Catholic or Irish interests were at stake, and by pen and tongue mercilessly castigated the venal, blatant papers always ready to support the enemies of the Church and of Ireland. The result was that he was attacked in language almost identical with that of the Orange Nation and kindred journals at the present time. Here are some extracts: —The Otago Daily Times-. “We say, then, to Bishop Moran, as we hope the electors of the Peninsula will say next Monday—- . Hands off ! rash prelate; hands off the ark of our liberties.” This to a man whose whole life was a defence of liberty and justice ! And listen to this; —The Clutha Leader-. “Bishop Moran’s weekly fulminations from the pulpit and from the press against laws, law-maker's

and institutions of the country, ought to disqualify him. No one has set himself more determinedly, systematically and persistently to put class against class and to stir up and maintain the most bitter of animosities since he set foot in the Colony. It is only through the good sense and prudence of the R.C. congregation that serious disturbances have not ensued from the Doctor’s intemperate language and behaviour.” Intemperate language- and behaviour is good: we hope the editor of the Sun will make a note of it. It may take a little time; but we shall yet accustom our readers to recognising that the truth is better for them than the vacuities and falsehoods served out from certain quarters. The similarity between the abuse directed against the great Bishop and that to which we have been treated is a reward beyond all our expectations: it is a guarantee that we are doing our duty.

The Naval Blockade According to English and French experts the true aim of the German blockade is not to starve England into submission, but to stop the “ferries” across which troops, coal, and guns are being poured into France. The naval forces of Great Britain must be concentrated in order to guard the Channel, to conduct operations on the Belgian coast, and to protect sea—transport to and from the British Army in France. This is done by what has come to be called the Dover patrol. To disperse the patrol by calling the fleet afar for the salvation of merchantmen is the object the Germans have in view. Their own naval experts are not convinced that the submarines could hermetically seal up the British coasts ; and they aim at scattering the fleet and attacking it bit by bit. According to the London Telegraph the real anxiety for England lies in the fact that Germany comes to grips with the British navy with important tactical advantages on her side. These consist in greater speed of units, in longer range of guns, the peril from mines, the use of aircraft and wireless, and in the low visibility of the German craft as compared with the British. Current Opinion says there is much suspicion in both the French and British minds on account of the publicity given by the Germans to their plans of blockade. JThey have indicated the number of their submarines, their size and type, and the limits within which they will operate. The Allies wonder what is behind all this apparent candor.

The New German Submarine « For the ordinary submarine the armed merchantman was a match once the little vessel was semi above water. Now it seems that Germany has constructed a new type of U boat which is practically a submersible cruiser quite capable of carrying a coat of armour thick enough to defy the guns of the merchantman; and the menace assumes yet more formidable proportions. According to the French naval expert, Admiral Degouy, the new submarine is a craft of at least 2000 tons, v It is driven by four Diesel motors of 7000 horsepower, and is capable of doing 14 knots submerged. The length is 270 feet; eight torpedo tubes, and fifty automatic mines are carried. The crew consists of fifty men and five officers. Four guns are mounteed on a cylindrical armoured shell, and these guns are bigger than those carried by the Emden. When we reflect that this means that there are many Emdens afloat now, capable of doing all the Emden did, and having the advantage which she had not, that they can disappear at any time below the surface we begin to realise the gravity of the danger. We hear of many being sunk. But we must remember that we have been hearing of similar sinkings since the war began, and the danger has increased rather than diminished. Moreover the new type is more difficult to sink than the old one. The problem works down to the question whether we can build ships to replace those destroyed as fast as Germany can build submarines to destroy them. . As it is the same trouble and risk to sink a small ship as a large one, and as a

small ship is a much minor loss when sunk, the logic of the suggestion to have our supplies carried by a number of little vessels is apparent. According to statements of neutrals the German dockyards are now concentrated on turning out the new U boats. If they can do so more quickly than we can sink them the effect on the supplies from overseas without which England and France are seriously hampered will be of consequence. Late cables announcing that the insurance on freights between America and England has dropped 33 per cent, is the best confirmation of assurances that the submarine campaign is being effectively dealt with.

Officers and Men We do not want to see the militarism which is the curse of Germany ever rampant in this country, and we do not apprehend that the Colonial spirit of independence will ever tolerate it. From returned soldiers and officers we learn with what disgust our boys view the arrogance and airs of “ Piccadilly Johnnies” whom the fortunes of war have clad in the uniform -of a man. It happened at a certain camp in England that one of the real Anzac heroes was moving about his business when an officer, with a bevy of ladies under his martial wing came upon him. The veteran said that one lady looked him up and down through a “ port-hole on the end of a stick ” ; and the officer shouted in his best parade rasp: “Where are your puttees?” ‘The reply was to that particular officer particularly galling: “In Gallipoli, where you should have been.” To another Johnnie, whose language we will omit, an orderly said; “ If I forgot I am a gentleman I should be tempted to apply your words to yourself.” The Anglo-Saxon bully may learn from our boys that it is the man, not the frills that count. England, as well as Germany, has to be taught the lesson of Christianity that we are all brothers in Him Who died for us : and in His sight the workman is often the better man. Some apprehend that the war will increase the curse of militarism ; but it is far more likely that it will be the death-knell of that empty pride of class, and of that heresy that either blue blood or jingling guineas make their possessor a superman. We have not seen published in any paper here certain remarks made by Commander Wedgewood concerning some officers whose money and influence put them in a position to do much to militate against the success of that unfortunate and heroic Gallipoli campaign. Some of the same gentlemen saw the Munsters and the Dublins pour out their life blood in that awful landing that is without a parallel in history, and quite forgot to mention in their dispatches the splendid heroism of these Irish troops. Tint the brave men who were with them published the glory of the soldiers and the infamy of the officers to the world.

Scruples In the April number of the h'rrlesiasfical Review, the distinguished American writer. Dr. James Walsh, K.S.G., discusses from a medical standpoint the problem of scruples. As it is probable that few devout Catholics have not at some time or other had an attack of this spiritual malady, we think it worth while resuming his conclusions here. A nervous specialist will meet, every week, several cases that are just as bothersome as scruples although they have nothing to do with spiritual things at all. People come for advice who suffer from acrophobia, or the fear of heights skotophobia, or dread of darkness; misophobia, .or dread of dirt aichmophobia, or dread of sharp instruments, and any number of phobias besides. Scrupolosity is a form of obsession, which to medical men means a besetting tendency to do something or leave something undone. Occasionally neurologists and psychiatrists are brought in contact with patients suffering from spiritual obsessions or. scruples; but they find these so similar to purely, mental-cases that they classify them in the same way. These states of doubt are simply dreads, fears to do or not do things, with a certain amount of physical anguish or worry. There

are patients who wash their hands every time they touch something touched by others, and who will avoid as if they were hot irons door knobs, bell-pulls, and side-bars of cars. The whole question of dread of dirt is analogous to the dread of sin which constitutes the usual basis of scrupolosity. Patients will wash their hands over and over until they actually irritate the skin and set up a disease, just as scrupulous persons will make confessions again and again and never be satisfied that they are free from sin. The latter do not suffer from true conscientiousness, but from a definite psychosis. They are often vain, a little spiteful, and not wholly truthful perhaps. They ought to be brought to recognise that they are not -saints, but merely mental cranks. Again patients specialise, as it were, on the microbes to be avoided. They read up medical books, and spend their money on new antiseptics until they become a nuisance to their friends. The result is that thev end by preparing the system for the entrance of the hated microbe by breaking down the natural barrier against such microbes. In an analogous manner the constant preoccupation regarding certain sins keeps the scrupulous subject in such a states of nervous fear that it may readily react on the physical constitution, and complications may occur which may add to the difficulty of overcoming temptations of sins of the class we refer to. . The question of the influence of environment should not be forgotten. Contagion of mental states is not uncommon. Scrupulous persons should not be associated with the scrupulous, and scrupulous confessors will only make scrupulous penitents worse. If the scrupulous person once gets away from the idea that this state is spiritual and comes to understand that it is only a question of an individual weakness of will and intellect, the foundation of the cure is laid. We would add that blind obedience to the spiritual director is the next essential.

The Poems of Lionel Johnson The old Greeks used to have a saying that “Whom the gods love die young.” And it is notable that all the work of some of the greatest of the world’s poets was done in a very short span of days. Keats, Leopardi, Heine, Shelley, Byron, Francis Thompson—to mention only a few of the immortals, —were cut off in their prime. Lionel Johnson was hardly more than a boy when death called him, and if he did not leave us as large a heritage as these other young poets, he left us a record of high achievement in the realms of beauty and harmony. The fine frenzy seemed to be his habit : and the loftiest themes were his. He walked among the eternal hills during his brief life, and like the mountains his muse points upwards always. Like Thompson and Crashaw and Plunkett his work was so spiritual that it is not readily understood and unlikely ever to become popular poetry. But it is sublime, vast, sincere, and intensely spiritual. We must limit ourselves to a few quotations, which we are confident will make our readers eager to become closer acquainted with this gifted singer:

To Weep Irish.

Long Irish melancholy of lament! Voice of the sorrow that is in the sea: Voice of that ancient mourning music sent From Rama childless : the world wails in thee. s. The sadness of all beauty at the heart, The appealing of all souls unto the skies, The longing locked in each man’s breast apart, Weep in the melody of thine old cries. Mother of tears ! sweet Mother of sad sons ! All mourners of the world weep Irish, weep Ever with thee: while burdened time still runs. Sorrows reach God through thee, and ask for sleep. To Ireland. How long? Justice of very God ! how long? The Isle of sorrows from of old hath trod

,The stony road of unremitting wrong,, The purple winepress of the wrath of God : Is then the Isle of Destiny indeed To grief predestinate; Ever fordoomed to agonise and bleed, Beneath the scourging of eternal fate ? Yet against hope shall we hope, and still Beseech the Eternal Will: Our lives to this one service dedicate. A Stranger. Her face was like sad things: was like the lights Of a great city seen from far off fields, Or seen from sea : sad things as are the fires Lit in a land of furnaces by night: Sad things, as are the reaches of a stream Flowing beneath a golden moon alone. . . . Lonely amid the living crowds, as dead, She walked with wonderful and sad regard : With us her passing image ; but herself Far over the dark hills and the long sea. Te Maetyeum Candidates. Ah, see the fair chivalry come, the companions of Christ! White horsemen who ride on white horses, the Knights of God ! They for their Lord and their Lover who sacrificed All, save the sweetness of treading, where he first trod ! These through the darkness of death, the dominion of night, Swept, and they woke in white places at morning tide :i They saw with their eyes the Eyes of the Crucified. Now, withersoever He goeth, with Him they go; White horsemen, who ride on white horses, oh fair to see! They ride where the rivers of Paradise flash and flow. White horsemen, with Christ their Captain : for ever He 1