COMMENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1827, 22 March 1884, Page 2

CO MMENTS.

Wh STKVLii the world's opinion of Mr J. M. D.irgaville may be, that gentleman, it is plain, holds himself in the highest estimation. His celebrated speech on Fedeiation, delivered at the Choral Hall, Auckland, on January the 29th, has been published in every conceivable shape, first in the ordinary columns of the newspapers, then in supplement, and finally in pamphlet form. Probably it will be translated into Maoii, Blackfellow's lingo, Pigeon English, and, for the behoof of any Recidivistes who may contemplate settling here, into Parisian French. We hope these varied people may understand and appreciate it. Somebody has said it bristles with points ; if so, it must be precious easy to miss them. The address, in tmth, is nothing more than a weak, mutilated echo of the false conclusions drawn by Sir George Urey in a speech which immediately preceded it. Mr Dargaville has found out that the effect of Sir George's eloquence has been to make Federation unpopular with the unthinking, and he is determined to come in for some of the kudos. He knows that his chances of achieving greatness as a financier are few and remote, and he therefore intends to pose as a champion of the working man, whom Federation threatens to crush out of existence and replace with " Chinese cheap labour."

The chances are that before many days are over our heads we shall hear of some further ma^azies in the unhappy Soudan. Though we hope for the best, there is every reason to fear that the intrepid Governor-General of the v rebellious territory — Chinese Gordon — has fallen a victim to the wild fanaticism of the Mahdi's followers, who, despite the recent defeat of Osman Digna, are daily increasing in numbers. Khartoum where General Gordon was last reported to be, is now the centre of a cordon rapidly contracting, and . a J force of the rebels has closely invested Shendyj a town on the- Nile, about one hundred mileß northward of Khartoum, Osnrnn's defeat utf peem tq have fti&vted

the operations of tho interior, and the rebels on the Upper Nile can well afford to treat with contempt a British force 400 or 500 miles away at Suakim. But Gener.il Graham ought either to be at Khartoum or not in the Soudan at all. Why the operations of the force under that should be confined to the coast lino betweon Suakim and Tokar, is probably one of those problems which time alone will solve. Mr Gladstone himself probably could not unravel the riddle, though he might to some extent even yet repair the mischief which the vacilliating, half-and-half policy of his Government has caused. England dare not evacuate the Soudan, and le.ive the countiy to the full control of the Mihdi. The prospect of a unhcrsal Mahommedan uprising, which would extend over the whole of North Aftica and piobably stretch across Arabia and into India itself, is much too appalling to be regarded with equanimity. The risk is too great to run. But how is the evil to be arrested ? Surely the simplest way is to root out the germ, to break down the Malidi's power while it is confined to the Soudan. This is the plain duty of somebody, and as England has put her hand to the plough she ought not to look back. There arc difficulties in the way, but their removal will enable us to avoid greater difficulties now looming in the distance.

Seasonable showers have fallen since Wednesday, and the pastures have been considerably unproved thereby.

Mr Archibald Scott was the onlycandidate nominated for the vacant beat m the Hamilton Borough Council vostei day, and hr> was accordingly declared to have been duly elected.

The acceptances for the Cambridge Jockey ClubS Autumn Meeting on the 30th April and Ist JVLiy, close on the 17th April. By an eiror the date has been given in the advertisement appearing in tins journal, as the "17th of March."

The case Beale v. OBrien, claim for professional seivice^, heard at the Hamilton R.M. Comt on Wednesday, in which the plaintiff w,ii non-suited for neglecting to produce themodicil register, h.'.s becou aniubly settled. Defendant has paid the claim in full, with coste.

The official atmosphere of the Auckland Hospital doe-s not appo.ir to be clear yet. The visiting medical staff have complained that the house surgeon, Di B )iid, h.fs disiegaided thoir inductions. A conference was held on Thursday, and it was agreed to can y on as at picscnt, the himse surgeon jn-oimsing to ]wy mine defeience ti) the opinions of the vi .iting s'j.iii in futiue.

On Wednesday and Thursday His Ks.c»llency the C-Jovoi not visited a number of the Maori -settlements on the Mist Coast, noith of Auckland, and e\ciyul>ete lio has been tvceiveJ with the wai me-^t p\presiions of welcome and lo^.ilty. Though the natives luve tikon occ.won to ims mi's hni ill {fiievivnci?->, they luvve almost unauiniously deelued that they have no sympathy with Tawhiao.

At the RM Court, Cambridge, jestoulay, before Mi H \V. Not thai oft, K.M., a number of undefended civil ai^e-> weie disposed of. The W<u»tu obstuiction-i->t», Whntu.uo, N.at.Tia and other,, .lpplicd foi an extension of tiui" in which to pay their fine*-. An o\t jn«.ion of two months was gianti'd, on condition th.it tlmc'i-,t-> are paid on Tuesday ne\t, the, defendants undertaking that they will not obstruct the survey.

The following is the team elected to repieient Cmibiidge at the ciickct content with Ofcahuhu on Monday and Tuesday next : — Mev^ Foirest, N. Hunt, E. Pilling, C. Collins, F. Faiquhaison, A. B. Stubbing, H. Wilson, L. Loncf bottom, 11. E. Cotton, H. W. Moore and J Steele. EiHCigencie-> : — iL Stubbing, C. Hitclnnau, and Morecraft. Tho visitoii will be entertained liotli evenings of the content at dinner m the Public Hall. Tickets tor the dinner may be had from the committee, pi ice ss.

There are to be seen at the shop of Mr >S. Tucker, Hamilton, twenty-one vaiietie-> of apples, giown in an oichaid at Frank ton. One of the ISmpeior Alexanders weighs 250z5., and the whole of the apples an 1 well giown and splendid specimens. Our old friend the Rihston Pippm occupies a prominent place. Pewms contemplating planting fruit faces should take a peep at Mr Tuckei'.s window befoie selecting their apple trees. Any infoimation concerning the chaiactorihtics of hhe different vaneties may be obtained on application to Mr Tucker, in the fiist instance.

That the soil of Hamilton can produce respectable vegetables we ha\e h:<d ample proof the last few days. There are now to be been at the office of this join nal some extraoidmary specimens of the potato and onion families well worth looking at. The potatoes were grown by Mr Stoadman, Hamilton East, are of the " Magnum Bonuin " variety, and three of them weigh 21b 13oz. They are about the shapeliest tnbeis we have ever &een, and a fair sample of the 01 op, which was grown on a piece of land containing 280 feet, and pioduced from 131bs of seed 3(iBlbs of potatoes. The onions were grown in the garden of Mi Hugh Hunter, Hamilton We->t, and are equally remarkable. The doisn sent to us weigh 141bs, and in appeal ance they are equal to anything of the kind wo have ever come across.

At the Police Court, OimTsridge, on Thursday last, betore ivlessra A. Clements and J. G. Corbett, J.P., a young man named John Morriasey who had been arrested on warrant, was charged with assaulting his father, Michael Morrihsoy, at his residence, Cambridge West, on' the previous day. The accused pleaded guilty. Jt appeals that father and sun had had a few words, when the latter shuck the. plaintiff on the eye, and, iwug threatening language, told him he would take his life. Notwithstanding the plea of guilty, the bench dismissed tlie case. ' A native known as Paddy Kegan was chaiged with being diunk and dis>ordcily in the -.treets of Cambiidge. Fined 5s or 2-i hours. Houro profeired.

We are glad to hear that the people of Cambridge West have at last awakened to a sense of duty with regaid to the laying out and beautifying <>t thenlocal cemetery, \\ hich hat. long been subjected to careless neglect, being oveigi own with goi&e, and quite unwoithy of the surrounding district. A special fund is boing raised by .subscription, and, .so fai, all who have been cilled upon have tespoiHed ino,t liberally. We tiust th.it before long "God'.s Acie" at Cambiidge West will cease to be the dreary wilderness which it <it present K.

A Press Association messa?G dated Wellington, Thuivday, bt.ite-^ : — "It is notified in the Gazette th.it pheasantb and Califomian and Austialian quail ni.iy be taken or killed within the Auckland district, excepting the counties of Cook, Whakatane, lauranga, Eabt Taupo and Wairoa, from the l^t of May to the 31st of July, and the licence to kill Mich game is £3 ; albo, that native game (except tnis) may be taken or killed within the said district from the l^t of April to the 31st of July." Theie muht hi some mibtake about the amount of the licence to kill. Probably the words bhould be •* license to sell, &c."

The following special messages to the Pres^ Association, dated London, Maich 20th, have been published : — Mr Murray Smith, Agent-General for Victoria, has written to Lord Derby, suggesting that the Frenth Government should be pressed to limit the operations of the Recidivistes Bill for the present. — Commenting on the trip of the Australia n cricketers to England, the Standard urges that the reigning crack eleven should play the colonials.— Messrs Redmond have complained to the Irish League of the bitter attacks that have been made by the colonial Press. The Orangemen attribute the success of the Redmonds to the support which they received from the Bishops.™ The flight of Prince Napoleon to Switzerland is unconfirmed.

The Referee re-produces a little story of English humanity and justice an told in the police reports which will put foreign traducers to the blush : — " A few weeks ago an elderly man, who had married a comparatively-speaking young women, found himself in great difficulties. For some time work had been slack with him, and at last his employers, thinking him to old, discharged him, andput a younger man in his place. t JSU wife at this time wss taken exceedingly ill, and starvation stared them in the face. The sick women and his little ( child , wanted for bread. He tried London in vain for work, and, hearing of a chance of employment in the country, bade his wife good-bye/arid went on* id lotk for it, hoping to get taken on, and be able to send, his wages aip to his dear ones at home, $e r hti4 hardly M^eO, wh^ R j^< w|fq

became worse, sank, and died,, and his mother-in-law, a woman not well disposed towards him, took the child off to the workhouse. In a few days the man returned, and heard with horror that his wife was dead and his child in the Union. He went off at once to claim the child and bring it way, but directly he appeared at the workhouse the relievingofficer gave him into custody on a charge of deserting his family. He was brought before a magistrate and sentenced to two months hard labour. "

Truth is proverbially stranger than fiction, and we, says the Timaru Herald, often come across scraps of mere prosaic " news", which throw the most ingenious romances in the &hade. The Swiss Family Robinson is a boys' book of thrilling adventure, in whicli the pei ils of the sea aie employed with admirable effect to heighten the interest of hail breadth escapes and miraculous deliverancss on the part of a worthy foreigner and his family. We used to read it with breathless emotion in the merry days when we were young and we have acted most of its more important tableaux a hundred times in the play ground or the dormitory. But we never seriously believed it after we were fourteen. We are only now, m our old age, beginning to realise that there is nothing impossible or even impi'obable in it. We have just met with a " shipping item" which might almost have been mistaken for a loose leaf fiom that book. The Swedish schooner Alert at rived at Port Pnrwin on the 25th of last month, bringing Captain L. J. D. Scbutt, Mrs Schutt, two little Schutts, and five seamen, belonging to the wrecked schooner Ynrra. Tt seems that theYairawas caught in a hurricane, and driven mi Scott's Ttoef in the Indian Ocean, on the 15th January. The captain stuck to the wieck for a weok, when he had to abandon her. He then made a raft, provisioned it well, and set out, with his whole ship's company, to make- the bes>t of his way to land. After a voyage of six: days he reached Browse Tsl.uid, where the Aleit and Ki^oe were loading guano. The rafters met with a heaity lecoption, and were divided fairly between the two schooneis, both of which agreed to sail to Port Darwin and to land the distressed paity there. By way of making this sensational story specially attractive to the ladies, it is stated further that the Schutt family was inccised by the appeamnce of a little ghl at Biow-e Island, two days after the ai rival of the raft. Mother and daughter aie tepoited to be doing well ; and there seems to be ground for thinking th.it a week's voy.ige on a raft in the Indian Ocean is what doctors ought to prescribe to delicate females under interesting circumstances Some people, however, mnv question whether that is altogctner a nidicious way to teach the young idea to Schutt.