General News.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3888, 15 June 1881, Page 2

General News.

In a sermon delivered at St. Paul's Church, Wellington, recently, the Rev. B. W. Harvey expressed a hope that the law would soon be amended so as to make juvenile theatrical performances illegal. The rev. gentleman also said he thought it would be to the interest of the community generally that bank, mercantile, and other clerks should be protected from employers, who in their misdirected attempts at economy, or from a greediness for gain, kept them working till twelve o'clock at night. ; ......

; The Morning Post says that if Joubert be a faithful exponent of the demands of the Boers, then it is undeniable that they will be content with nothing short of the re-establishment of the Transvaal in what would substantially be its original integrity. The supremacy of the British Crown would be nominally acknowledged,, the English flag being hoisted once a year at Pretoria, but the Boers would retain in their own hands the government of the Transvaal. But, as Joubert frankly acknowledges, this would be only one of the ends sought to be attained. The leaders of the Boers are not insensible to the value of creating a strong coufederation in which England would only.play a nominal part. What had been accomplished in the Trans* vaal would be sought to be established elsewhere between Capetown and Delagoa Bay, and Dutch influence would be made paramount throughout South Africa. This is not stated in express terms, but it is the legitimate corollary of the principle, " Africa for the Africander." By the latter name are known those of European extraction, who hare either settled or have been born in South Africa. The Dutch population is, however, in excess of the English, and virtually what is aimed at is the construction of a .Republic composed of independent States, and bearing a close resemblance in its nature to the United States of America. It is no secret that this is the outcome of the aspirations of the Dutch farmers of the Transvaal, and this is the end which, now flushed as they are with victory, they hope to secure. . , The London Standard of March 16th says:—"We have no hesitation in saying that the policy adopted towards the insurgent Boers may be, and most probably will be, so interpreted as to encourage a general " Africander " movement to overthrow the British authority in South. Africa. We know how hopeless such a scheme would prove, how overwhelming would be the strength put forth, upon demonstration of necessity, by Englaud, and how promptly and strenuously .English Statesmen, even of the most Radical type, would exert themselves to show that they had no sympathy with disloyalty to the Empire. But, we repeat, the populations of South Africa are not acquainted with these facts; their ignorance is by interested intriguers, who keep the truth from them. The Boers, we are firmly persuaded, are as incapable of being impressed in the way Mr Gladstone dreams of by the magnanimity of a peace concluded by the British after successive defeats, as would have been Cetawayo himself. What we the pretensions of. those who represent the rebel Government in the Transvaal? Do they show the least sign of submission to the condi. tions laid down by the present Government in the Speech from the Throne as indispensible to any settlement of the question ? On the contrary, the language of Commandant Joubert, who loses no opportunity of communicating his opinions to those who are likely to I retail them in this country, grows more | decisive and more exacting. He has declared repeatedly and emphatically that the Boers take their stand upon the olaim for absolute independenoa. IS othing else, he says, will satisfy them. They must have it before they do anything else. The Transvaal must be given back to them, and until they get it peace is put of the question. A clergyman had taught an oJ4 man in his parish to read, and found him an apt scholar. After the fcasoqs had; finished he had not been able to call for some time, and when, he did, he only found the wife qt home. "How's John?" said the clergyman. " fie* canny, sir," said the wife. "How does he gat on with his reading ? " «• Nicely, sir*"* m Ah; I sup* pofe he ■ will read his Bible very, comfortably now." "Bible, sir! Bless you, lie was out of the Bible aud into the newspaper long ago."