NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 42, 18 February 1905, Page 9

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

. _ rl(1 i s weary o f the aeeunra-' it has to solve yet--*3 3. of the "Times" aro *»"* c 0": gLaged in tossing another— r ff&poSLl the dis-' ta d a J 1 ??" -If wo a ii turned heartEn^f s what should w, do with *<£?-St in the .oloseal riddle " n [ h Sh these anxious soak an- per- ?*•! themselves and their neighbours. to nrarder<SS but if everyone thought aa they he overrun by the poultry L can't or won't lay eggs-to say no- * ai bull calves, a? one ot the wncasual! v remarks. It may. to reassure both fl«hL e [er aßd vegetarian to point ont that at diet *an. may. and indeed must, by "quire another diflFerrnt S.drf « aaonins Bite e rt^ r : 1 1 r pe r pare to be "carnaseiers" m order to Cn down the numbers of the animal \a the argument «innot be contined rt or even to bull ,-alv,s A ~rII author has devoted the greater par, 7a book to extoUing the tender flavour the unneL-essa-ry rat. Another has Lnd the attractions or the superfluous rtdeket, which, tried in butter and serve,! hot is snid to be a toothsome morsel. Tie list" mi!?ht be extended almost indefinitely, and one shudders to think to what weird recommendations it might mentally lead us if the premiss were once admitted that man was bound to feed on whatever animals there happened to be most ot

jj vas bound to comrr "Bicycle "back," "lawn-tennis arm," "typewriter's irrist," motor-car cold," and many more tt j] m eri3 which come from a special gniusement or novr have a n ew companion in the "bridge eye!" It appears that almost every woman who devotes much time to playing at bridge Ma an anxious look in the eyes which in many cases is not becoming, and as English society is still bridge mad it is to be presumed that the "bridge eye" yill in future be one of its. most projninent distinguishing cbaranieristica.

It has been truthfully said that Japan las copied many English ways and indatntions. But in one respect the pupil has, gone even further than the master. Its postal system is the cheapest in the wurld, and as perfect as any. Letters are conveyed to any part of the empire for two sen —a little less than three farthings —and this seems the more remarkable when it is known that the Japanese railways cover not much, more than, one hundred miles.

Tfie Mississippi and Misstnrri rivers are of an unpleasant yellowy tinge, but the latter hardly deserves the description of a Kansas city journalist. He says that: "The Missouri river ia the only river fn the -world where the dust blows in one great column out of the rircr bed. The catfish come up to the surface to sneeze. The Missouri River is composed of sis parts sand and mud, and four parts water, continues the scribe. The natural colour of the water is seal-brown, but when it rains for two or three days and the river gets pretty •Sβ it changes to a dark iroa-gray. A long rain will make it so thin that it can easily be poured from one .vessel to another like cocktail. When it is ordinarily dry, hxrweveT. it has w ba stirred with a stick before you can pour it out of anything."

Poor old Admiral Dewey's peace of Iniad has been greatly disturbed lately, iccording to the '•'Philadelphia Post,"' by (fie nuisance of '"sight-seeing automobilea,"' each carrying :iO or 40 people, ■fhica stop in front of his home thrc times a day in the effort to get a glimpse of the admiral and Mrs. Dewey. Even more annoying than the stare of 40 pair of eyes is the criticism of the guide, who shouts through the megaphone in a voice that can be hoard a block away. 'The red .house to your Dfriit —given by the American people to Admiral Dewey. who destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and came to to be captured by a lone woman." Publicity is not to be totnrted with immunity in the States.

Our galfcmt allies in the Far East do hot confine their appropriation of EnTopean institutions to the domain of politics, science, industry, and arms: they are quite ready to enrich their own literature by borrowing from the authors of the West. Thins, if we may Mere a writer in a French contemporary, a translation of "Faust"' ia now tang played in Tokio and in other Cl «cs of Japan. Tt is, howovw, an amended version. The seducer of MarPiente is still Faust: bnt the MephNtoPiieles of Goethe has been transformed "no an up-to-date European gentleman tw°T, shli3ter and Sataaic » disposition wst.he quite throws the original personage into the shade. The denouement of the drama i* also modified to Pomt a highly patriotic moral. MarPjente. abandoned by her lover and enarged with infanticide, is allowed to wme Tipfor judgment if called upon." °n condition that she espouses a Japan-' «e t warrior who has j,r=t returned vi,<wl om Who shall this flna!e is a immanent upon the ordinal'

Most people who have given any atjntwnto the subject would be incline! amw 7 otT : hail(i th *t no ww method . J«W possibly be .Wised of -rambling irtt*. rl °' Tm resourc-w of rouo L ail<i have N>on ;JfK»Btmly tested by derations vLdT", and tW Priti ™ that the la,. to ha™ M? WaU " hmv>v,,r - id ™P ort « l ku 2 5 UpOTl n-.v. Ffe iS , • "Poc-ket" ralt-iilating abt ', by mvtin * °f which he ha- U-on c in eleven sittings to make 150.00:1 Wt~^,^T ion which - " i;! Ported loni ° m take an ordinary player live that tT ' ? nd P re "y bu %' years at meaVlr shows that they °r sevp^l 11 / 1 " 111 " average of sixty KtnS 7 ?% Staked for °* ball - Whether such a "lenifd P -^ tlcable, cannot be affirmed or «aeain? precise infor ™ tion the wimi , -Wall's invention, but, on % & ™\ an attitude oE P olit e incredu«um T t Y S best suitwi to th e occato maM V 0 * ia evidently intended CX t a • p,^er to kee p s - and thus emWel; S amoUnfc of cll P it;l1 - No ono. $ ronW ~ uid" 3 t ands the rationale unfit 5 .* 111 believe th *t this can average beeaus « 't «c a law of ■VtL .-w I,B * assert itself For a time, rtmsof theTe may be splendid maow ' even a pocket calculatW« C T JOt V™™t "I*

j I J™ 11 . Em1 «% comes news of the death of Mr. John CEeffly, whose name is prominently associated with the diaeovery of the first diamond in the area now worked by the De Beers Corporation. It was in 1867 that Mr. (>*Reilly came into possession of a "heautifnl Pebble-' picked up by the little son of a Dutch farmer while placing near Hopetown, on the banks of the Orange river. The child took it home with a handful of other pebbles, and the extreme brilhantrsr of the stone attracted the attention of his mother, who drew a neighbour's attention to its sparkling qualities. The neighbour, another farmer, snowed it to Mr. O'Reilly, who at that tune was a travelling trader, and he, shrpwdly suspecting its real character, undertook to get it valued. Several people in various parts of Cape Colony to whom he showed the stone ridiculed the notion that it had any extraordinary value. Finally Mr. Lorenzo Boyes, the Civil Commissioner of Colesberg, pronounced it to be a diamond, and his opinion was subsequently confirmed by Dr. W. G. Atherstone, of" GrahamstoTvn, the leading colonial mineralogist of the

The specie-room on an Atlantic liner is a source of wonder to the passengers. It Is alleged to be secretly placed, so that, no one can find its whereabouts; but everyone knows where it is. "Somewhere under the saloon.'' La g-enerallv T,h« description given by the older passengers to those who make the trip for the first time, and the latter consequently ffipl that when they cross the ■saloon they are walking on piles of gold. The room Itself is bnilt of steel, and is usually about 16ft long, 10ft wide, and Bft or so hig-h. The steel plates are a quarter of an inch thick, and strongly riveted; and floor and ceilings are equally strong. Novelists of various kinds have conceived of attacks on the specie-room, but one and all make that apartment somewhat easier to enter than is really the case. It would take a genius among burglars after he had discovered the whereabouts of the room, to circumvent the mazes of the combination lock which guards

A "school for brides" is now flourishing in Philadelphia. It ought really to be called a school for wives, $or the benefits it confers are permanent. Moreover, brides seldom need to be taught how to make home happy. They accomplish, it by virtue of being bridea. It is only vrhen the novelty has worn off, when the newly-married couple begin to awaken from their dream, that the reserves of knowledge and tact and sterling character must be brought to the front. Then it is that the clear coffee and the flaky pie-crust work their subtle fascination, and. the ability to use money wisely inspires respect. To enr.prta.in simply but hospitably, to keep to herself the little household trials, and to look "with a tolerant eye on the groom's occasional visit to the club, and on his renewal of premarital friendships—these are among the other accomplishments of an ideal wife which are taught in the new school. The earnest desire of "women to make real homes for their husbands is attested by the fact that twenty-three present or prospective brides are already enrolled as pupils.

Followers of the manly sports of cricket and football will be interested in a report just laid before the London Jewish Board of Deputies as showing the attitude of certain orthodox Jews abroad towards these games. The Hebrew community in England support in 11-orocco a school "where efforts are made to teach English to native chil-, dren. who. though lacking, it appears. the intelligence of Anglo-Jewish bays, compensate for their deficiency by industry and patience. English sports were introduced, and the boys took a lively interest in cricket, but had lo give it np as their parents considered it contrary to Jewish law. Some Rabbis argued that cricket and football were against the ancient law, -while others argued that cricket was allowable, but football not, as the latter appeared to be played by Moors, and. therefore, was not to bo considered a Jewish recreation. The Old Testament was put in evidence, Leviticus xxv. 23, b.-icg quoted. This runs: "And ye ?hall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you."' Ultimately the sports were discontinued in the school. As bearing on life in Morocco the head master now reports tbat "The time is not ripe here for sports of any kind, but I think the nett generation will alter it."

Certain posthumous papers of the philosopher have recently beeu published ia Germany. Nietzsche ■was capable on occasion, of dealing very fait hi ally with his compatriots, and these documents furnish additional proof of his capacity in that direction. Far from believing that Uercnany is in the forefront of European civilisation, would net, even admit that Germany has yet had any civilisation at all! The real Germans, he declared. hud been almost exterminated by the influence of Ijirther, who had inspired the race with a. false mysticism, a littleness and a, servility of soul. There have born certain exceptions, such as Frederick the Great and Frederick 11. of Hohenstaufen; but at the present tinre (he was writing twenty yeaxs ago) there are not ten men of real worth in Germany, and even those owe their superiority to an infusion of p.) ion blood, especially of Slav blood:

"Bismarck was a Slav. , ' In short, the ("rf-rnians have hifhprto been "the lagcarrls of European civilisation." If the riefurut philosopher is risht. the intflleetual state of the Fatherland must bo rather worse than the moral condition Oi thi> Cities; of tbe Plain. But Nietrsche is ilead. ami Germany, with all ht-r imperfections on her head, still manages to keep a tolerably prominent place among the nations of the world.

Signor Artioli. the secretary of the' Roman Archaeological Association. writes on behalf of the two wolves which are kept in a cage near the statue of Rienzi. on the way up to the Capitol, as a living; reminiscence of Rome's legendary origin. The cage is small, and the animals are apt to be teased by the public, while in summer they suffer from the great heat. It has always been the custom to keep some animal an the Capitol in token of the majesty of Rome, just as Berne has it bears. In the Middle Ages it was always a lion, and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, when they came to be crowned in Rome, used to bring a fresh lion with them for the Capitol. In more recent times the lions have given place to wolves. Signor Artioli suggests that the animals should have a much more spaciotts cage provided for them, into the recesses of which they could retire from the public gaze when they so desired, for the Capitoline wolves are sufficiently mediaeval to dislike the modern craze for self-ad-vertisement, and show an * aristocratic dislike of popular demonstrations. At times, however, they unbend, and may be seen gambolling together like a pair r at glebeMfflJatteM, „..___u._c—u .