The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 13, 1903. RUSSIA AND MANCHURIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 1020, 13 October 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 13, 1903. RUSSIA AND MANCHURIA.

The .cablegram' which we publish ‘this morning, '-reporting an interview with Mr JDownie Stewart, is an important contribution to the discussions on the subject o£ Manchuria. Most journalists took as final the dcJibeiate opinion given by Dr Morrison, the Times correspondent, that the Russians .would never evacuate Manchuria ; but the British Government, and the smart Americans, continue to profess to believe that the Russian troops would depart from the land in which they, have made ;themselves so comfortable. Now Mr Do.wnie Stewart, who is .well known in New Zealand as a shrewd observer, and who lias had excellent opportunities of judging, confirms the opinion given months ago by. Dr. Morrison. The date set down for the .withdrawal of the troops elapsed last week, and still there is no sign of withdrawal., It is astonishing to •note how this pretence was kept up —not by Russia, which merely, pretended in words, while showing very plainly, by her actions what/ her intentions were—but -by England and America. Russia has now placed herself in the position of saying wit'll some authority that there will not lie any war ; she lias so prepared herself during the course -of the delays, that any nation striking at her would he at an enormous disadvantage, having to meet her on .what she has practically, made her own ground, with superiority of forces as well as marked superiority of position. Russians are not only pastmasters in duplicity, but they prepare for eventualities in a way that would petrify the British authorities who had the responsibility of making tbe preparations, or rather of neglecting them, for the Boer campaign. Russia gains nearly every •point without fighting, for the reason that she always bides her time, pausing when another power shows fight, but still stealthily creeping on, until prepared to make imperative demands and to- seize the territory if those demands are refused. In tlif. words of Mr Downie Stewart, it may be taken for granted that Russia never intends her people to leave Manchuria. It .is to j;he credit of -the invading force that the Chinese are pleased ■“ because the Russians keep order.”

The John F. Sheridan Company produce “ A Trip to Chicago ” to-night. Miss Bridgen is a through passenger fpom Liverpool to Gisborne per f.s. Athenic, which arrives at Wellington to-day. Miss Beatrice Vartha and Herr Lehmann, with a concert company, are billed to commence a season at the Opera House Auckland on Friday night first. At the Mutual Improvement Society's meeting last night all arrangements were reported to be well in hand for the nineteenth annual picnic to be held on November Oth, Kmg’s Birthday. At fho Magistrate’s Court yesterday a charge against a native named Hohepa Patiki of obtaining goods under false pretences, tbe hearing of whish was adjourned from Awanui, was concluded before Mr Barton, S.M. For the defenco it wa6 stated that Hohepa obtained a suit clothes to the order of Hati, but as they did not fit Hat-i the defendant kept them. Mr G. H. Lysnar appeared for the defence. Hohepa was convicted and fined £5, costs JE2 lb’s,

The Borough Council meet this evening. Grazing at Matawhoro is advertised to

Vacancies for three or four gentlemen boarders in a private family are notified. The annual meeting of the Poverty Bay Rowing Club takes place this evening at--8 o’clock in Wesley Schoolroom. Au impounding notice in connection with the Ormond pound appears in this issue Country residents are again reminded that a special train will leave town after the performance of 11 A Trip to Chicago ” to night. Mr A. Cooper, junr., issues a notice warning the person who is detaining his greyhound that the matter wiil be placed in the hands of the police if the dog is not immediately returned. On Saturday evening last, Messrs Dalgetv and Co. imported two very fine Holstein bulls, bred by Mr John Grigg, of Longbeach, Canterbury. The auimals were purchased on behalf of Mr Acland Hood. The many friends of Mr and Mrs J. W. Macki-ell will deeply sympatuise with them in their bereavement by the death oi Miss Craven, a sister of Mrs Macktell. Miss Craven passed atvay yesterday at the residence of her sister at the age of 59. Yesterday afternoon Mr Leslie Reynolds proceeded to Matawhoro, whero he inspected the well at the butter factory. The offer made by Mr Reynolds to report on several probable sources of supply will be discussed at the Council’s mooting this evening. On Saturday last, Mr George White’ sheepfarmer, met with a serious accident at Tokomaru. Whilst mustering sheep on foot he tell over a cliff, and was found an hour afterwards unconscious, his face being much cut and bruised. His head was also cut. He was carried home, and has since been unconscious.

The Wesley Sunday School is busily practising for its forthcoming anniversary, to be held on the Bth and 15th November. The music is of a very blight and cheerful kind, and given fine weather the function should bo more successful than any previously held. The services ou the first occasion will bo conducted by the Revs. B. F. Rothwell and J. G Paterson. Mr Smith, President of the English Association of Methodist Local Preachers, will conduct the services ou the second Sunday. It is a mero truism amongst business men from Mr Carnegie downwards, that the surest way to get work badiy done is to underpay one’s employees ; and it has been well said that a democracy can afford to starve any class of public officials more safely than its school teachers. The complaint against the ridiculous salaries paid in country schools, and the unfair adjustment from which junior assistants arc suffering appears to bo only too well founded ; and Mr Seddon will do well to direct his attention to the subject at the earliest possiblo opportunity.—Auckland Star.

“Nothing will satisfy tho prohibitionists,” declared the Premier whilo complaining of the liquor question being discussed on the Cook Islands Government Bill. “ They are everlastingly bringing this question up. In my opinion they will bring it up once too often. The country is getting sick of it. The persons who have a right to bo considered are the mode‘ rates, .vho desire to see a fair observance if the laws, which are iu tho best interests of the colony and its people. If people will go to extremes there will be a revulsion of feoling ono way or the other, and when it comes those who brought it about

must be held responsible for it.” A writer in the Auckland Herald, referring, to old times, states : “The shopkeepers standing at their doors, smiling and padding, gave you the time of day as you passed,. Now all that is changed. Gone are the old familiar faces.; The shopkeepers, if they are still the same, which I doubt, are too busy now to stand at their doors. The people who are walking up and down are nearly all strangers to you. It is all inevitable, of course, the natural result of the growth and progress of the city, bu t "at times when you feel dull and gloomy, you are apt to lament the change, and to wish that the old conditions had remained unaltered.” The same old story. The Wanganui shareholders in the Fern Flats Drodging Company met to consider their financial position. Mr Hurley, the Company’s secretary, came up from Wellington to furnish any information. The inevitable liquidation was practically the result, and the Fern Flats Dredging Company will go the way of many another gold dredging company in New Zealand, and many more shareholders will be left lamenting. The allurements held out to people to take up shares in this concern wore litorally and metaphorically lined with gold, and it looked as though nothing but a tidal wave or an upheaval of nature could upset their chances of a big haul. But it has all frizzled out, with no blame attachable to anyone. The galling part is that it is said the dredge was just about to open out on to good payable ground—so the tributers say ; but the Company’s funds are all exhausted, and so the riches remain hidden.