OFFICIAL IGNORANCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 953, 26 May 1883, Page 2

OFFICIAL IGNORANCE.

(The World.) ’ ; The map of the world has always been the weak point of English Ministers, whose rule extends over so large a section of its surface. When Lord Palmerston was for the first lime appointed a Secretary of State, he ran over the papers which a subor- - dinate placed before him, and after looking as puzzled as that: jaunty statesman possibly could, remarked that “ Now we will have a look at the atlas, and see where all these places are.” The old Duke of Newcastle was quite delighted when told that Cape Breton was an island—for •“ the* ' Kiing would-be so glad to bear’it*” -4 and declared with an oath -4 that “ Annapolis must be Tde- •• fended,” though he was compelled to ask in an undertone, “where,the • deuce Annapolis was?” A Secretary, we believe still living, when 1 asked to sanction better mail communi-.y tion between Victoria and Tasmania, 4 * / suggested, as, he glanced at. .one. Jpfr those small scale maps by Lord Salisbury, that it would be beb : ter to “ throw a bridge over ” Bass Straits, “ and we can guarantee' the , f loan.” Another statesman, was for lohg under th£ belief that Victoria was <• arj island ; a second that Vancouver Island was invested by tigers. The same,., r gentleman proposed putting the;'. New South Wales convicts on Cockatoo Island—a spot so small that it would barely give them standing room. It is still common to receive letters for “Met bourne addressed South Australia, aud it was a daily subject tor jeering in \ British' Columbia that members of Barr ‘ ~j liament who discussed the San question had hardly the remotest idea of the locality about which they were talking.. ■. 'Daring- the Traw£ vaaf war—-so it is affirmed in ~ South Africa—an admiral on the __ station was directed not .to bombard .. POtchefstroom, which happens to btj- J 400 miles in the interior; and it is not surprising to hear that ‘a Government which sent vessels to the Baltic of such ■ a draught that they could hot Apsf6acK v * within bombarding range of'Gronstadt forced an irate old, commodore to ; blaspheme “My Lords,” when they suggested that, in view of the disturbed condition of Germany, the fleet had VI better anchor off Frankfort-on-the- -iMain. Shakespeare, we know, considered Bohemia an island, as did Greene in treating the same storyi' 1 which is the basis of “ Winter’s Tale,” and the old Danish' Folkedigter always - spieaki ng of Bohmerland as lying. i>y; thiestormy sea. ?■.-