JAPAN'S INTEGRITY.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 404, 4 February 1904, Page 6

JAPAN'S INTEGRITY.

Ban Psopla An Proud to tarTatraeto BoT«rn«i»nt Co * m Plttaßot, The rnodern Japan whicH Marquis Ito's polioy has brought forth waa made possible by the religious devotion of nobles and coolies to the emperor, which made the imperial wishes law; by the intense patriotism and the official integrity of the retainers of the Diamyoa, who have become the officers of the army and navy and members of the civil serv-' ice, writes Frederick Palmer, in Scribner'a. As an occidental, I should, place integrity aa the first cauaeJ When you have official servants so proud that even the postman will not accept a Christmas present, a statesman knows that, whatever hie errors, of construction may be, the timbers are sound. As long as men become policemen on less than a coolie's pay for the honor of serving the government, it will never lack for first-class ability to fill its offices. Japan may well reverence her old military aristocracy, with its false punctilios.

The Heaviest of Cups. America's cup is apparently the heaviest bit of silverware in the world. Sir Thomas Lipton, that prince of sportsmen and genial gentieman, has not been able to raise that cup or tilt it the least bit in his direction, says tfc« New York Herald. It is estimated that he has spent about ?1,300,000 to lift it and yet it firmly maintains its level of the last half century. He has spent enough to lift Westminster abbey an entire story and still is unable to move that cup the simttlest fraction of an inch nearer the Hritish islands. If he had pnt thai money into coal, and by its combustion converted a small portion of the water he has sailed over into <ti-,:■<., he ivuuld have power enough to lift the great pyramid. Y< t all this power directed against that little cup has not been able to even shake it on its foundation. Surely this is a wonderful exhibition of gravity. A High Balloon Ascension. MM. Siering and Berson of the meteorological institute of Berliu have lately ascended in a balloon of S.OOO cubic meters capacity to the great height of 10 r 3OO meters (33.800 feet). Success was possible only because the aeronauts began to breathe pure oxygen at an elevation of about 8,000 meters- The scientific results of this ascension are now in process of calculation and will shortly be published.