The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3026, 8 March 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1881.

The present war in South Africa must, for some time past, have perplexed the ordinary Newspaper reader to a very considerable extent. The Zulu war concluded, it was expected that we had heard the last of the South African troubles for a long time to come. The determination, however, of the Cape Government that it was necessary for the peace of the colony that the Basutos should be disarmed has raised a rebellion amongst a hitherto loyal and industrious population. Then the unsettled state of almost every portion of the Cape colony appeared to the Boers of the Transvaal to offer a fitting opportunity to throw off an allegiance which had been forced upon them. The annexation was undoubtedly consummated againstthe wish oftbegreat majority of the population of the Transvaal, and against the expressed opinions of the most independent portion of the Press in Cape colony, and it appears destined to lead to very grave difficulties in the future. The blatant boastings of a portion of the "jingo" Press in England, and of its imitators in South Africa, have tended very greatly to raise a spirit of bitterness in the minds of the dwellers in the Transvaal, and their sympathizers among the neighboring states. But that matters are looked at in a calmer aud more philosophic manner by a portion of the Cape Press will be seen from the following article taken from the Cape Argus of January 18th:— The would-be leaders of public opinion in this colony who have complained, till the very mention of the complaint is tiresome, that the colony is misrepresented in the eyes of English public opinion, are the very men who are now doing their mischievous best to misrepresent —and in misrepresenting, to defame and degrade —the name and intentions of England at the present crisis in our affairs. Starting from the position which is granted by Dutch colonists, granted by the Boers, granted by every native who is able to reason at all, that England is the supreme power in this part of the Continent of Africa, they go on to rave of England's " last million" and "last man" (to say nothing of the " last ironclad") in a manner which would be becoming and necessary oniy in the unlikely event of an invasion of England by the combined fleets and armies of Europe. They forget entirely that the metal may be composite while the mould is English, and that Englard has no more loyal subjects than millions of people who do not so much as speak her language. England, stable and powerful, needs no such blustering self-assertion. It is only those who do not fell quite certain of their own position, who cannot, in fact afford to be easy in their minds, who must needs resort to fussy exertions to make themselves felt, A nation whose position is absolutely assured can afford, not indeed to tolerate wrong for an instant, but still to be generous and considerate to the weakest of its opponents, and will naturally be inclined to refrain from everything that savors of petty revenge. Let us see how far such general characteristics are borne out by the responsible actions of England at the present juncture, as opposed to the empty, but possibly dangerous, boasting which is put in the mouth of the mother country by the writers to whom we have referred. First there stands out clearly and unmistakably the instructions to the new Governor upon which we commented at length in yesterday's issue. No more high-handed forcing of Confederation, though blood of white and black flow to bring it about ; no confiscation of Basutolaud, and no vindictive " settlement" of the people of that country by any methods dear to the faction of " vigour." For the Transvaal, all the intentions of the Home Government seem bent upon healing, and not upon disruption. It would be against all

rules of national integrity* for England to yield up the sovereignty of that Province on compulsion, as the Boers themselves, or at least their leaders, must perfectly well understand, But everything which lies inuid': the maintenance of order, the British Government is evidently prepared io do. Tie instructions given to Sir George Colley are as far removed from the dragonnade aud devastating war which we verily believe some of the most intemperate of the ultra-English party would gladly see, as it is possible for them to'be. The words of his address to his troops, as published in our latest letter from Natal, are on all-fours with everything which has come to band with regard to the real intentions of Englands "We must be careful," he says, "to avoid punishing the innocent for the guilty, and must remember that, though misled and deluded, the Boers are in the main a brave and highspirited people, and actuated by feelings that are entitled to our respect." Put this with the plain statement of the attitude of the English Government, as contained in Lord Kimberley's reply to the telegram of President Brandj stating that, " if the Boers will but desist from armed resistance to Her Majesty's forces, Lord Kiniberley does not yet despair of matters being arranged on a basis satisfactory to all parties," and we should say that, as far as the attitude of England is concerned, affairs could not well be in a more hopeful train for settlement. We are sure that these authoritative announcements of the attitude of England must have a great effect amongst those Dutch colonists and inhabitants of the Free State who have held their meetings or collected subscriptions to sympathise with their kinsmen in the Transvaal* We are now entitled to say, on authority, to our Dutch felloweolonists that which we have undertaken to say without such authority again and again, that the ill-natured and vindictive boastings they hear from a noisy section calling themselves British, are the sorriest burlesque that ever was made of the settled policy of the Empire. We would point them to remarkable evidences in the Ministerial press of Gape Town, that "settler" utterances are becoming discredited by the more 6ober portion of the colonial public itself. We are able to assure them, and the Boers themselves, that now will be their opportunity for honourable peace, for fair terms, for future prosperity. The Boers are now assured—what they never could have learned directly, in the nature cf things, from a superior Power at war with them—that that Power is ready, in a generaua spirit, to hear them and to do all that it can towards a settlement of their grievances. Locking to their relative position to England, there will be nothing derogatory to " a brave and high-spirited people," as England herself styles them, in asking for terms. If the Boers should be so ill-advised, in the face of these announcements, as to proceed to further deeds of violence, and to pit themselves against England's power to crush them, we know not whom we should pity most—Boers, English, or Colonists. It is the imperative duty of every citizen, whether l)uch or English, to do all that lies in bis power to avert such a calamity; and we hope sincerely that that duty will be performed.

Wairoa, will preach at the usual seven o'clock service in St. John's to-morrow night. Mr and Mrs Chambers, of Te Mata, proceed to England on a visit by the next mail steamer, via San Francisco. They expect to be absent about twelve months. Hawkesare very much on the increase, and are said to be playing havoc with the pheasants. The Acclimatisation Society are still paying one shilling per pair for hawke's feet and this reward should be to Becure the extermination of .those birds.

General entries for the Jockey Club's race meeting on the 17th and 18th must be left with the secretary, at the Criterion Hotel, by 8 p.m. this evening.

To-day the first instalment of the property tax was payable. Yesterday £500 was paid into thr> Commissioner at Napier, and to-day £2000, making in all that has been received about £4000.

The recent rains have had a wonderful effect on the appearance of the country, green grass having taken the plane of yellow seed stalks. More rain, however, would be extremely beneficial.

At a Council meeting, not one hundred miles from Wairoa, a discussion was goinrj on as to whether a certain right of road should be taken one chain or only half a chain wide, when a Councillor sapiently asked the road overseer " Whether the proposed road would be of the same length whichever widih it was made." The read overseer gravely replied "it would."

In reference to the approaching visit of the Simoneens opera company, we may mention that the advantage derived from the purchase of season tickets is that a saving is effected on the cost, and that they are transferable and available for any night, so that, if desired, the season packet of ten c»n be exhaueed in one or more nights. There is to be a change of opera every night.

Privates Newton and Gunn were successful in obtaining places this morning for tho Rifle Company's match, their scores being 44 and 41 respectively. Friday next will complete the preliminary firings, after which the handicapping will be proceeded with, and the times for the final firings be fixed. Mr J. W. Graig has added an opera glass, value £2 10s, to the list of valuable prizes to be competed tor.

The privileges of the Jockey Club's race meeting were sold to-day by Mr W. Routledge, and realised the following prices:—Grandstand bar, £84, Mr Barrows ; publican's booth, £42, Mr Ashton; luncheon booth, to be erected by the Club, £10, Mr McCarthy j confectionery booth, £14 10s, Mr McCarthy ; fruit stall, Mr Miles, £8 ; fancy goods stall, £5 10s., MfH. P. Cohen; cards, Mr Smythe, £30 ; total, £194 lCs.

There are twenty-three hard labor prisoners in the Napier gaol. At present they are employed in the Coote-road quarry breaking stones for the Corporation and street contractors. It seems a great pity that prison labor to be remunerative must of necessity oompete with the work of honest men. If stone breaking for the streets of Napier can profitably employ twenty-three prisoners, it may be presumed that the some work would keep at leaet fifteen honest men in constant and remunerative employment.

At the ordinary half-yearly meeting of the Standard Inauranoe Co. at Dunedin, yesterday, the report of the directors was adopted. The retiring directors, Messrs Charles Stewart and James Anderson re-elected. It was decided that the services of a managing director be dispensed with. The following motion was negatived by a large majority:—"That the directors be requested to convene a special meeting of the shareholders for the purpose of considering the advisability of winding up the Company or adopting whatever the said meeting may decide on."

Judgments were given at the Resident Magistrate s Court yesterday in the followiner civil case**: —W. Tuck well v. John G. Bell, olaim £1 ss: Lascelles v. E. A. Laurvig, claim £4 16s ; Benjamin and Co. v. Austin Niotaol, claim £5 3s 9d ; Alley v. James Stephenson, claim £11 12s (Mr Lascelles for plaintiff) ; Wishart and Co. v. Henare Tomoana, claim £4 10s; Edward Foley v. James Stephenson, claim £5 13s 4d. Judgment for the plaintiffs with costs in all these cases. Clayton v. McSweney, claim for £3 8s for labor done; judgment for plaintiff for 4s, eaoh party to pay his own costs. Hohaia te Hrata v. W. Fulford, claim £10, value of a horse ; judgment for defendant, with costs and counsels fee. Lascelles v. Madigan, claim £5 ; judgment for plaintiff fo- £3 with costs. Mafroriey v. Cohen, claim £19 18s Id; plaintiff was nonsuited with costs. Rigg v. Kelly, claim £8 10s for wages; judgment for plaintiff for £2 lis, with costs.

The number of people in Auckland, sr-.: the Observer, who declare that they drbw Natator in North's sweep on the Wellington Cup, and would have been ready to pay all their debts if " that abandoned scoundrel hadn't bolted," is really wonderful.

The New York correspondent of a Washington journal says : — A new diversion among New York women of money and leisure is to save a piece of every kind of material used in their garments. These a.c handsomely bound in book form, each sample making one leaf. The volume forms a history of the owner's dress from season to season, and is of intense interest to herself at least. It is a story of the " continued in our next" sort, and in too many a case tells of extravagance, and rnin.

" Spur," in writing upon the late W: '- lington race meeting, says :—" It is a pity the stewards at the late meeting did not think it necessary to remind .'the owner an< rider of Agent that if a hcrso starts it is generally supposed to win if it can be made to do so. In the hurdle race on the first day Clarence and Agent simply cantered round, and then galloped round in the straight, the former being known to have the best foot for a spurt. On the second day, the bookmakers piled everything against Agent, while Clarence was never touched. The result gave every reasonl for believing that not the slightest effort Was made to bring .Agent to the front, forjthe bit was hard in his mouth all the way up the straight when the struggle between Grey Momus and Clarence was going I on. It was on no stronger grounds that Mata was disqualified at Melbourne, the <Wy exception being that the latter won a race." Patsy will get his deserts some day.

That colonial institutioa—the swaggeris (remarks the South Canterbury Times) becoming a bore. These fellows literally swarm over the country just now, some doubtless looking for work, but too many, it is feared, hoping not to find it. The large stations are besieged with them, but it is the small farmers who chiefly complain of the tax upon their resources which these men become. A farmer in the neighbourhood of Timaru had a3 many as ten swagmen to breakfast one morning recently, and before eleven o'clock seven others turned" up and asked for refreshment. The swagger's favourite time for putting in appearance as is well-known is the dewy eve, when having partaken of tea," he turns in, gets his breakfast the following morning, and goes on his way rejoicing, and in many cases the farmer is frightened to refuse beard aud lodging to his unwelcome guest for fear of after-consequences in the Bhape of burning stacks or broken fences.

In the description of the race for the Wei lington Cup, the New Zealand Mail has the following :—"Half way into the straight it looked as if Dan could not be kept out of it, as he had a lead of a little over _ a length, and appeared to be full of running. But as Lara's chances were upset last year by Foul Play, so were Dan's this year. Natator and Libeller had occupied place's about the middle of the field until the run home was reached, when they began to make their way to the front, and just as Dan was within twenty or thirty lengths from home, the white jacket and black sash of Natator's rider was seen alongside of Luna, closely followed by Mr Walteis' rose and white stripes. Within two lengths from home Natator had secured first place, while Libeller jumped into second honours almost at the post, the favourite beating him by half a length. The hack had run a game race, but he was after all not good enough for the blood he had to contend against. Luna and Norseman ran well up to the placed horses. Sir George came next, apeMischief last. Randwick did not come in, owing to his jockey having got a spill through the breaking of a stirrup leather. Time, 3mius. 38secs."

Admiral Glyn, to whom Miss Neilson left her fortune, was hindered from marrying her, it is rumored, by the disapproval of the Prince of Wales. The Prince has had him lately to shoot deer with him in Scotland, and he was also invited to dine with the Queen at Balmoral.

A correspondent of the Southland Times says that he heard a townsman hit the naji pretty straight on the head the other d&p When speaking of the unseemly squabble in church matters at Gladstone, he stated his opinion that the name of the church should be altered from " All Saints" to " All Scrts."

The London Times contained recently a strange advertisement from a lady, who wished to sell " rich fur trimmings in sable tails, elegant seal-skin paletot, diamond ear-rings, rings, bracelets, an exquisitively fitted travelling bag, two fine fur carriage rugs, some lovely electro-plated entree dishes, tea-tray, fish and dessert knives and forks, and numerous other new wedding presents."

An old woman has just died in Paris who went by the name of " Old Mother Cashmere." Forty years ago she had been the wife of Baron de Scharneu, and since his death had lost all her fortune. She had a small pension, to draw which she emerged regularly from one of the poorest quarters in the city, hiding her miserable rags under a superb cashmere shawl, embroidered with gold, the one remaining relio of her past prosperity. Henoe she was known as the " Vieiile au Cauhemire."

Caedia Singj second son of the Rajah of Chota,in the Bombay Presidency, is accused of murdering his wife. It appears that he suspected her fidelity, and watching heY movements caught her descending a Jrope ladder to meet her lover. She was seized, and, it is said, tortured in the most cruel manner for three dayß before she died, when it was given out that her death was caused by a snake .bite. Tho British Politicals Agent is holding an enquiry, and should his report be unfavourable, the accused will probably be tried as was the late Gaikwar of Baroda.

" Atlas " in the World says:—"The man who would eat a boiled turkey with great bowls of bill-sticker's paste cast over it, accompanied by slices of flabby tongue, would eat his grandmother without sauce. Those who rejoice in the luxury of such abominations ought on no account to omit serving up with it an enormous cauliflower, the delicate perfume of which will enchance the appetite, and overporae any predomin* ance of sweet odours which the dear creatures carry about with them. I have never met with this dish on my travele.—lt is indigenous to England."

At the anniversary tea meeting of tha Invercargill Baptist Church last W6ek, Rev. It. 8. Sunn, one of the speakers, Baid " that he did not feel in the best of humors for speechifying. He had been away four weeks, two of which he had spent at Nelson, a place also known as' Sleepy Hollow.' He had done a lot of yawning Bince leaving Invercargill, and no marvel. It was said that the dogs in Nelson were so laiy that when they wanted to bark they leaned against a wall, while the larks, that elsewhere soared heavenward, sat on the fences. Of course he did not mean to say that all these things were true."

The other day, at a Cincinnati wedding, the organist occupied the time previous to the advent of the bride and groom by playing several voluntaries, and just before they arrived at the church door he struok into a familiar refrain, "Trust her not, she's fooling thee," with elaborate extemporaneous variations. Whilo he was hard at it the bridal party entered the church, but the ptofessor, totally oblivious of the fact, kept banging away until the bridal party was well on itd way to the altar, when he jumped into the wedding maroh with an emphatio suddenness that nearly took the w.nd out of the man at the bellows.

A correspondent sends the Lyttelton Times the following:—"During the harvesting operations on the station of the Son. John HaXa few days ago, the reapers came suddenly upon a swarm of bees in the wheat. The angry insects immediately attacked the intruders, and the horses became unmanageable. To set them free did not take long, and in a few moments men and animals were flying over the plains, leaving their implements, consisting of a reaper and a binder, sundry coats and lunches, in the possession of the enemy. One of the wounded looked afterwards aa if he had spent an hour with Tom Bayers."

Wright's book of poultry enters into some calculations upon the valne of bone dust and bone meal, which are worth the attention of breeders. Laying fowls need bone dust constantly, both for its egg and shellmaking constituents, and also for its value as food. Use freshly ground bone meal and mix it with soft food. At times feed coarsely broken bits of bone or ground shells to assist digestion. Large breeds of poultry, such as Brahmas, are subject to weakness of the limbs. Bone dust is the only preventive. Another point made is that by a series of careful experiments it has been shown that all kinds of poultry can be made to grow larger by using bone meal. The best breeders prefer to keep a shallow vessel, containing bone meal in the poultry yardso that fowls can pick it over, there being no danger of their taking too muoh for their own good.

Lovewell, "Wing and Co. have received a telegram to sail for the South on Saturday, the 12tb. instant. The gallery will positively be closed at noon en Friday the 11th. imtant.—[advt.] '">

Madame Wilmot gives readings in the Theatre Royal this evening at 8. Messrs Kennedy and Gillman will sell tomorrow at their rooms, furniture, &c., at 2 p.m. The monthly meeting of the Victoria Lodge will be held this evening at 7.30. The s.s. Bella will run on the Ngaruroro on the day of the regatta.^ Messrs Banner and Liddle will sell on Friday, the 11th, unclaimed watches, jewelry, &c. Messrs Watson and Co, notify that Mr F. Graham has no connection with their firm.

Lost a gold locket and chain. Messrs Manoy and Co. have jußt received new fruit.

Mr T. K. Newton will seX on the 11th and 12th clothing, groceries, &c. Messrs Neal and Close have new goods for the coming season just landing. A number of new advertisements will be found in our " Wanted" column.