NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 702, 30 December 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

An outbreak of tribal warfaro has taken place among the blacks of tho Northern Territory of South Ausbut it is stated in a cablegram which we publish to day that the police are not likely to interfere. It may seem extraordinary that fighting of this sort should bj permitted by thoso responsible for the preservation of law and order, but to send an expedition to quell the disturbance would doubtless bo a very difficult and costly undertaking. In any case theso tribal battles among the Australian blacks are not as a rule very desperate affairs The warriors spend a great deal of. attention to their "get up" before going on lo tho field of battle, and to screw up the courage of tho moro timid to fighting pitch a particularly tall warrior is generally called upon to give a war dance. After other preliminaries thoy set out to uCek tho enemy. The actual fighting is of a grotesque character, the combatants often including men, women, a.nd children _ Mr. G. F Scott-Elliot, in describing ono of these engagements, states that "hunting spears and boomerangs, straight, light, and noiseless missiles aro passing _ m continuous, opposite and horizontal streams Everyone is busy. Tho younger women aro keenly interested, for their fate depends upon the battle: the conqueror obtains tho spoil. _ Tho older women are intensely excited. When a soldier falls they dart in, hold thoir_ sticks over tho unfortunate warrior, parry the blows, and shriek incessantly 'Do not kill; do not kill.' At last after half an hour or perhaps three-quarters of an hour of combat somebody is really hurt, One man has had his arm broken by a boomerang, or porhaps a spear has passed clean through a shield and mortally woundod tho combataht. This closes tho baitlo." These troubles arevverty t often started by trespass in pursuit of game, or, as in tho caso refcTred to m tho cablegram, by the theft of women. As a warrior, the Australian black is, and always was, far inferior to tho Maori, for the latter regarded warfaro as a very serious business, as tho British soldiers learned to their cost during tho Maori wars.

, The illness of Tolstoy, referred to in a cablegram published in another column, reminds us that in tho ordinary course of nature the career of one of the grandest old m?n of tho present age must bo drawing to a close. However radically people may differ from him on social and religious questions, all will admit that tho world will, bo tho pooicr when Leo Tolstoy dios, and that a gap will bo loft in tho sphoro of modern htcraturo that it will be hard to fill In an interesting article dealing with Tolstoy's personality, Mn. A. C. Benson recently stated that tho great Russian author and ( reformer is "a strong individualist Ho is primarily concorned with his own rich and amazing experience. Tho help that he gives ib mainly in tho record ho produces of the triumph of Divine aspirations over tho seductions of a strong sonsual nature, Hero he has done a great work, both in encouraging aspiration in people who haio a difficult battle to/fight, and are tempted to' yield arid swim with the stream j and in Bhpwihg them, j too, how -the soul may • bo!: disentangled from the: fetters of .sense. ;,r Even so there is a ce'ijtairi "feeling ■of ; help-' lessness about it all, which makes one ; understand : what ig meant by tho image with which a well-known ; idealistic writer endeavoured .to/.'re? present the position of' Tolstoy. He was like an unfledged eaglet, he. said, cast out of the nest arid crying aloud/ for aid. An eaglet, in the sense that he gives of nobility, of forceful origin; but-deserted for all that, and isolated, entreating help rather than offering it." Tolstoy: is now/oveif 80 years of ago; &nd has been in failing health/for some time past.. ,: ' : :{]:■; -,'/"'' 'y :, : .'-

:;' Parliament closed its doors "last evening; after a'-. session which has been'prolific in surprises] The statistical records of tho work done, published in our news columns, may interest: the ; curious,: but they give "vory little, idea of the results actually achieved. Tho hours of sitting, for instance, work out at a comparaitively reasonable average of a little under nine hours;per day., This is very misleading. , In' the early part 1 of a session the. hours kept are exemplary. Towards the close, howover', the pace is put on, and members are forced to sit in a close arid stuffy atmosphere until they are exhausted, physically and mentally, and the business is then put through with a minimum of resistance. This, of course, suits the,ends of Minis"-, ters, but is bad business for the country. It is not our purpose on tho present occasion to roview tho work of the session. Some valuable achievemehta have,been] placed on record, .the greatest of which was tho passing of the Defence Act, providing ;,- for compulsory military training. Tho_ Government is to be heartily complimented on this. Some fiommont was made yesterday when

tho Supplementary Estimates were under consideration on tho fact that no provision had boon made for-the additional expenditure required under this Act, ■ It will, of course, take time to prepare the machinery for the altered conditions, and the expenditure for the remaining three months of the financial year will be practically nil. It was therefore unnecessary to make provision on this year's Estimates. Wo trust, however, that there will bo no unnecessary delay in bringing the. law into effect.'. ■y. ■'..-.

- The death of the Rev. G. Maunsell,' of Auckland, announced' in another part of this issuoj will be folt almost as - a personal loss by many of the. older generation of colonists : throughout the Dominion. He bore a name highly honoured in the early history of tho Church in New Zealand. His father, Dr. Robert: Maunsell,' was one of the ablest ■ of the great missionary pioneers, l who did such noble work among the Maori race.•/, Bit..Maunsell was in many respects a very remarkablo personality—a man of great learning and force of character, who eventually; became : Archdeacon ~of Auckland and Vicar of St. Mary's Church, Parncll, which has since been-rebuilt and made the Cathedral of the Diocese, of Auckland. ; Ho arrived as far back as 1835, and as Dean Jacobs states in his history- he "will ever. bo inseparably connected with the'.translation of ,the Holy Scriptures into -the Maori language.'! The Church of the Province .of New. Zealand owes a .'great jiabt of gratitude to William Williams and Robert Maunsell for. their successful in this ..connection. ■; "Williams was first:in the, field by ten yearsj", says Dean "Maunsell; though later ln.timo, is equalin distinction. Maunsell is specially famed for the translation of the Old Testament,- Williams for that of the New,'': Tho;REV.G. Maunsell followed, m his father's footsteps and devoted his. whole :life to work among ■ the Maoris. : It is '. true that he, will occupy a. less /prominent Place; in the history of New ■ Zealand than his father, but • his labours for the uplifting of. the Native race are> not'likely, to be soon forgotton. y : y.;.. ■■.;■■'. -:-:i, .yy- •;■■;;■..■ ■■:-.■■:.■■