TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11487, 21 January 1903, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Captain Raeon, R.N.* Tho Outlook the British Bceidenl ' in the Commissioner in the New Hebrides. New Hebrides, has been speaking his mind, witA a frankness unusual in a Government oft.* ciol, regarding the present unsatisfactory position of affairs in the group. "If w*.. want supremacy in the New Hebrides," h*. said to v Sydney interviewer the other day,;." "we imwfc give liberal encouragement W trade, recruiting free from harassing »• • strict ioiw, and more liberally eubnidie* UK. steamers." The joint system of control, under which France and England'At present.', administer the New Hebrides, does not pro-: vide for jurisdiction ofer the qptives, n< cept when they tome in conflict with •'- ---white man. Thus the, natives are free tt* rob, murder, and fight each other, and M»} resident representatives of the not interfere. According to Captain B*»n,* the English representative at the toiandtf. has by no meatus so free a band m b* French colleague. "His hand* are tied ia" many directions in which the other feltowX are free," says the Captain, "In the ef«nt»£ for instance, of an offence by xwtivee against! an Englishman—murder, perhaps—l )hiv*i no authority to punish the offender, *»•$ even to arrest 4iim. And the result i* #f stats of anarchy among the natives. T&fc; chief* are not hereditary, and the people that are feared are the inedieM! men." Captain Eason pointe out that ti»| French settlers receive far more tn«nirage*| ment from tlwir Government than do thl| English from theiw. The French Bte«B»Wg for instance, ore much more heavily «mttii"| dised, and the French coffee groweni an| encouraged by bounties. Their trader* »*•>.' allowed to sell rifles and! other arms to toM natives; oure are forbidden. Their scbooaen | are absolutely unliampered in the recruitili* trade, while the Eajjlish captains h*v* eMlft to find a £500 bond and to observe a OW» | ber of stringent restrictions. The fe«tt «>p all this Jβ that British Settlement as t*% group make* little headway; the three four hundred whites living there «re French. The nuesionariee, lay* C*pW«| Rason, have for the most part a good«f»*| among the natives, but some aie cawing dissatisfaction by the severity of the rul«| to which they seek to bind their convertf| In some instance* they have absolutely Jw| bidden the convert* to ernoke, arach ta latter's dismay. Tftere are no squabbles, and an anecdote related by tain Rason shows how the miseionorie* each other along. Recently » Catl«>Uc Wig sionary, finding a b f otl * e '[JSi dietrees, for some weeks sent him vegetables, fruit, and other food. 1 send you this," he wrote to the P*«"*flp terian, "don't think that I believe going to heaven. 1 know you are *e«i| for the other plaoe, but 1 hope to *•"! your heart toward me, and to reason **tl| you, «o that in the end we may be together." •%

New Zealand rivei* «• "^jS The Worth no mean* alone • in **■*» of the powers of "erosion," , or •Jβ Willow. eccentric habit of e«**?lj^ away their banks end WSm preprinting new beds without i*gird neighbourhood's convenience. World Magazine" describes a P art interesting struggle with th« which lias at times the tame awkward of leaving its dd bed dry and cutting 4 "Sfß one through the too yielding **»!• » ™§|H ewe, ftft«r a sudden change of &™ tim \Wm tumnt was working steadily at «»«»»J S the fine et«el bridge at Cambridge reoaj « erected by the Chicago and Alton R » iß Company; and tbe ord«r went ottt tirtt riTur must be beaten off at any cost. *f 9 extraordinary difficulty lay m a M*Jgß pervious to the slightest eddy of tbe and so loow from their cowtart oartjlge that any bank defence eeemtd like vrood or stone on a substance alnwst rtab:. a cm air. We are not ttJd to ««>» genius was <r.ved the brigU idea of ""■Qμ ing the land already under water by the of a forest, of willow trees gi owing * *I|l miles away. Hundwd* of were «et to work etripptog the JW bmnches and 4ip>, and carrying j th€ *M the jMiw of actioai. Here aaotiier of nun -prepoiwi a e«i«J of huge m*gß carpets by interlacing the willow «*Q|g in regiil-a-r warpsf, »efiirely coidmg finally with stout rope- EIM -' h - mat "' ham'two hundred feet-long "« * 8 biwid, was first H led tjS bank and eunk by mn ol huge r "Tl>€« aune a fleet of flat boat* Jfl4 *V?Bß smaller stones, gravely mi other m for building the new bank. This W ed on top of «h* eabmwged n*"* , ""^HB

and third mat would be put down between layers of stone to act as a. binder where the engineers thought more protection was needed. As fast as one carpet waa kid the edge of another wae fastened to it, «o that ■U along the bank for a distance of nearly two mites a whole forest of tree branches iraa placed-" On this curious foundation, * u> eqwally ingenious process built up the liver-bed to meet the bank, and welded the bank to river-bad. The reclaimed ground thus taken bodily from the water-war, has at every danger point a .••■tone "levetment" eight or ten fret thick, bo'.ow this seven or eight feet of earth, and below again ]>erhaps three layers of the willow mattin;/. each supporting a tier of lock and stone. Ami the result i* an apparently perfect barrier. "Nothing but a great flood with sufficient power to lift the whole contrivance acd carry it bodily away can affect it. Now, therefore, the mightl-y Missouri beate haimlwwly against hn artificial bank, conquered by the skill and ingenuity of the ißjjinwr." It waa lately reported Deer-Shooting that during the recent AoeidentM. deer-ehooting season in the United States a numfetr of people hudi "been killed through b"ing mistaken for deer. If this is true, it ears a good deal for the eureiessnees of the American sportsman. The dtrwity of tiie forest and .scrub in ■which the deer ate found, and the fact that the hunters mostly wear clothes assimilating in colour a-s closely aa possible to tlie autumn foliage, are given as contributing causes of these accident*. That the danger <to« exist to some extent -s evident from the fact that in the latest munber of '-Outing," the editor, Mr Caspar Whitney, an experienced sporting man, lias jume pungent remarks on the accidental •hotting of deer-hunters. If it continues at the present rate, he .says, "the modern Niinrod must go afield in armour, which, will be exceedingly iitaume, or resort r ° wearing revolving head-pieces of flaming •owlet, which will maka him as risible to hi* quarry as to the hysterical tyro.against whom he seeks protection." Thereupon tie sarratee an experience of hie own that occurred some years ago when he was a, member of a mining camp in New Mexico. The camp larder had become exhausted, and all hands turned out to hunt deer. They divided into parties, and Mr Whitney bad with him a friend and- the "dog-slayer. The latter, says Mr Whitney, "was "always doing some fool thing to annoy a. man, it ttothing worise, or lame a horse; finally He killed our camp dog by careless handling Of an ore bucket," and so found hinweir in deep disgrace with hie mates. The little party had separated to work through some scrub, and were gradually dosing in, when iir Whitriey'u friend, who had come up to Urn, was ahot through tlie muscle of Mie upper arm. Looking round in the direction whence had come the report, "wno •liould we »cc but our careless companion." , Hβ wae standing against an old tin-covered ihaft house, peering about for another glimpse of the euppcfsed "deer," and evi--0 (fently juat getting ready for another shot. Without a word to each other, but acting on a simultaneous impulse, Mr Whitney end his companion threw up tlieir magazine riflea and opened a briak fueikde around the "dog-ekyer." "'The. rapid tiring, tlie bul--1 ltU spatting against the tin side of the cabin, assailed him with hurricane iury. It was all over in a few seconds, and our c»rele«s friend had collapsed on the ground, •bout the most scared man I bad ever seen." It waa an effective remedy in this case, . for the "dog-slayer" refused to go hunting *$am. Possibly » dose of the earns medicine would cure come of the careless aports,.awm who, not only in the States, "are- a , p*ril to their friends whenever thiiy get a ■• *fu» in their hands. The breed is not quite unknown in New Zeaknd.