ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 297, 23 May 1879, Page 2

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

(From the English papers.)

The Zulu war is naturally extremely popular in England, and all conditions of soldiers are eager to lend a hand in the coming campaign. The news of the disaster and its bitter humiliation has had the usual effect. There is a strong desire among Englishmen to be avenged. Without discussing the unhappy policy which has plunged us, it is to be feared prematurely, in a war far more serious than any but the pessimists supposed, the feeling is thatthe|national prestige has been tarnished, and that Cetewayo must be called strictly to account. It is this which causes all ranks to come forward and offer their swords and strong right arms. From the gallant corporal of the 18th Hussars, who, when unable to volunteer into the 17th Lancers, purchased his discharge from the one regiment and enlisted into the other, to the royal duke who, within a week or two of his marriage, wished to have it either hastened or postponed to allow him to accompany his old comrades into the field, it is .exactly the same tale. Even old warriors, with one leg in the grave, freely place their services at the disposal of the Duke, andean alien prince, who has as yet made England his home and the English army his profession, has gladly embraced the opportunity of smelling powder under the English flag. The French are indifferent, at least upon the surfaco, to the action of the Prince Imperial in thus volunteering for the Cape, but they cannot deny that it is a gallant and soldierlike act, and if he does well they will like him none the less when he returns. The exodus of the Kentish hop-pickers who went en masse to New.Zealand a month or two ago, is graphically described in the new magazine Time, under the head "Toilers in Field and Factory." The hardships of the locked-out laborers in the grim winter weather, their protest couched in rude but vigorous language against the order of things which they blame because it drives them from home, all these are told in truthful and impressive language. The emigrants themselves, it is stated, resolved to leave the country as " a sort of self-helpful protest against the landlords and the clergy." They were not poverty-stricken ; they were " wellhoused, well-fed, and well-clothed." , They were only angry at the unjust incidenco of taxation ; at the difficulties placed in the way of their rising in the world. " Other people lives moro expensive and extravagant" than they do—"they hold their heads higher." It is only the agricultural laborers who can never get on in the world, and the reasonable prospect of bettering themselves is a very plausible inducement to men to start anew in a new country. Whether those who count upon doing well quickly in New Zealand will have their hopes realised is not quite certain. One man said confidently, " I know all about plantations (of hops), and I shall have plantations of my own in a 'ear or two. It is the beautifullest work as is; and I know all about it. Oh, yes, I've been pretty well off in England, but I shall be better off in New Zealand." Let us hope they may all prosper ; but whether or not New Zealand will find a valuable accession

of strength and sinew in these eight hundred industrious men of Kent. Great facilities are to be offered to people at home to visit the Sydney Exhibition. For the convenience of exhibitors and others anxious to see Australia at this particularly festive season, the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company propose to issue special return tickets at very low rates. The first-class passage will be only £125 there and back, the second class £75, and arrangements will be made to allow ticketholders to spend at least three months in the country. No doubt the good example set by the P. and 0. will be followed by other enterprising lines, and we shall have a host of personally conducted tours with the same laudable object in view. All this will bring grist to the Colonial mill, and will ensure the presence of a large attendance of friends from the old country to see how admirably Australia can manage these affairs. The National Opera House on the Thames Embankment has long presented a doleful spectacle. Commenced under the most brilliant auspices it has languished long for want of funds, and for some tithe past the work has been absolutely at at a standstill. It has become a monument of the powerlessness of private enterprise to establish what should really be a public and nationai institntion. The unfinished carcass of this ambitious building contrasts disadvalitagenusly indeed with the palatial Opera House of Paris. This magnificent edifice, which stands at the junction of several of the finest streets, was constructed at a time when France was at the lowest ebb, and had but just escaped the German grip. Yet we who have never known real misfortune cannot raise our National Opera House higher than the second storey. It is, however, an ill wind that blows nobody good, and if this admirable site has really been secured for the projected Colonial Musuem, the Colonies are to be congratulated on the place which will eventually, house their treasures. Central, commanding a splendid view of the river, close to the principal thoroughfares of the town, the new Colonial Museum, if designed and completed in a thoroughly liberal spirit, will be one one of the sights of London, and a fitting place of rendevous for our colonists from all parts of the world. Phrase-book for the use of General Officers.— (With Mr Punch's Compliments to Lord Chelmsford.) —On learning that an army had been cut to pieces—" Dear me! you don't say so!" On losing the baggage train of a division—" Awkward—very 1" On receiving an officer who has ridden for his life twenty miles through an enemy's country, carrying dispatches—" Very kind of you indeed!" On accepting an offer to head a forlorn hope—"l'm afraid you are giving yourself a great deal of trouble!" On seeing a regimental camp in flames—'« Odd! Isn't it?" On receiving a pair of regimental colors, recovered after a desperate struggle—''l'm afraid you must have found them rather heavy I" On learning that s regiment is " missing " —•'Fellows should take more care— they should really 1" Oft finding a position turned—" I call this quite too pro- ' yoking!" On receiving the news that the troops under his command have been ontgeneralled and cut to pieces—" Now, who is responsible for this ?" And, lastly— On riding up to three score of Englishmen who have defended themselves for thirteen hours from the night assaults of thousands of victorious and bloodthirsty savages, and who have thus saved an army, if not a colony, from destruction— " Thank you all very much for your very gallant defence I"— Punch, People are beginning to enquire how it is the Zulus are getting such good supplies of some of our best rifles and breechloaders. A question was put to. the Government in the House the other night in connection with this subject, and the answer was that such a matter required the co-operation of the several Continental Powers in order to put a stop to the practice. After the above we read this in the newspapers. A firm in Whitechapel are busily engaged in manufacturing arms for the use of the Zulus. To this assertion a member of the firm alluded to writes to the papers to say that the business in which he is employed is that of converting the percussion rifles into old flint-lock muskets for South Africa, none of which can possibly fall into the hands of the Zulus! This may answer the question. Frequently it happens at various arsenals there are public auctions of what is supposed to be old and useless stores .arid, arms. These are readily bought up 'by gun-makers, and after a little touching up, are " better as new," as the Jews say. In Mayfair we find the following:— " Hell-fire Jack" is amongst the many ' volunteers for service at the Cape. He earned tbis emphatic but not polite sobriquet in India, where, during the Mutiny, he was in command of a battery of artillery. While the of Lucknow -was at its height, an officer came trotting up with his battery to Sir Colin Campbell, asking for orders. "Go across there and silence those black devils "—rthat was # the order. "I will, Sir Colin, if you order me ; but it is impossible. I could not get my horses across " ; and certainly it looked as rough and unlovely a piece of trptting-ground as could be conceived, with mounds, ravines, and a brook between the battery and the "black devils." But Sir Colin wanted it done, not argued, and turning to one of his aides-de-camp, he told him to fetch (now Lieutenant-General) Olpherts. On that officer's arrival he got the same ; orders. " Take your guns across there,.' pound away at those devils, and turn them": • out of it." Olpherts, instead of arguing," did what he was told—took his guns across, silenced the black devils, and cleared them out of.it. The first officer, meantime, Wanted to know what order there was for him, and got more, than he bargrined for—" Go to hell with your battery."—He did not obey that, order either, but lived to have the mortification ofseeing Olpherts a V.C. and known for his daring as v Hell-fire Jack." A statue to the memory of Dr Livingstone has just been unveiled in Glasgow. There was no public demonstration, but the citizens manifested their interest by assembling in large numbers to witness the simple ceremonial. Mr James White, of Overtown, in the name of the subscribers, presented the statue to the Lord Provost, who accepted it on behalf of the citizens. The statue, which is in bronze, is by Mr Mossman of Glasgow. It represents Livingtone in the dress he wore during his travels, with a book in his hand, as if engaged expounding the Scriptures to a company of Africans, On the panels of the pedestal are alto-relievos illustrative of the work done by Ltving-

stone as a missionary, a philanthropist, and an explorer. • The sum of one hundred guineas, it is stated, ris the price to be paid for the privilege of being a bridesmaid at a royal wedding. Of this, fifty guineas goes to the dressmaker, who contracts fcr each one at this price, and fifty guineas goes for a present to the bride. This is by mutual arrangement of the bridesmaids themselves.