OPINIONS.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 202, 29 September 1888, Page 3

OPINIONS.

« Ofinion-; may b 3 worn on both sides like a leather jerkin.’* CoNTBIBUTED. j CNIFORMITAEIANIiiM. Geologists of high fams have said that Nature must occasionally have produced her results bv sudden and violent efforts—by cataclysms. followers have set themselves against snch a belief, and they teach uniformity of Nature s action from the present time to the remotest geological epochs. Wind,

rain, frost, snow, ocean waves, running water, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions are sufficient, time being allowed, to have produced all that we read and observe in the record of the rocks. The danger of this modern belief is apparent, at least to the geologi.-t, who values his reputation. The action of nature on our earth's crust may have always been the same in kind, but surely it could not be the same in degree. In almost every corner of the globe there are evidences of the enormously greater volcanic activity of past geological times as compared with the present. It has been said that at one period of our globe's career, at«n early period of the connection between the earth and moon, tides several hundred feet high swept over the land several times daily. Compare these with the bores of India, the Bay of Fundy, and the Amazon : when at times as of some tremendous agitations occurring in the bosom of the ocean : these tidle waves occur about this _ month September. The writer, on Friday, the 21st inst., observed an unusual disturbance in the Turanganui Biver ; it was but slight, »sembled rhe spent action of some dis rave. The bore of the Hoogly rises me twenty feet, and its approach is generally very imposing and very dangerous in its effects unless great skill ba exereied by boatmen and seamen. In a new book on “ The Mammoth and the Flood,” a Mr Howorth takes up the position that, at a comparatively recent geological epoch,— since the appeal ance of man on the earth; this is remarkable —there must have been a flood which was practically universal over the world. The remains of mammoths, of animals akin to the elephant and rhinoceros, in all stages of preservati >n, in all pos Bible positions in the North of Europa, enor mous bones in other countries of Europa, America, the West Indies, remains of animals of enormous size; Australia and our own colony afford instances of similar animals : how uniformitarianism can be held in view of these proofs one is at a loss to say. The flood must have eome on so suddenly that the anima's were overwhelms 1 by the waters, even whilst the boas's were still grazing ontheri h vegetation which then clothed these now barren tundras. The same flood swept man away, and left—as geologists have long observed—a great gap between the pnmative man and the man of the neolithic periods. It is also remarkable that those mimmolh remains have never yet been so satisfactorily accounted for until just now by the amhir -of the great book noticed above. And yet one would think that the Mosaic account of the deluge should be sufficient to direct the geologist in bis search. THE ELEPHANT 18 DICING OUT._ So writes a traveller in tropical Africa; the extinction of the elephant and the exhaustion of supplies of ivory, will happen within com paratively few years. Can nothing be done to save the grand brute’ Move a Government ; where are the Julius Vogels ? Cruelty to Animals Societies to the rescue! Batepayers of Gisborne, give your £40.000, now lying idle, to the noble work of preserving the elephant of Africa from extinction; have a few scores of them imported—they’d do well (?) on our hills, especially on the property of the Harbor Board, the rsuwhsreparae Block But even the wiping out of the African beast has

a redeeming feature, and it is this: the ivory and the slave trade are closely allied in that country. For every tusk obtained, a slave must be had to carry it. And the poor twolegged man or woman—not quite a beast, although treated as such—must be begged, borrowed, or stolen for the work. CLOTHING CUB SOL WEBS. The British army cannot be clothed any cheaper than it is at present, so an authority says; but certain classes of head-dress might, he says, be dispensed, with. The German army was not well clothed. The material is good, but not the pattern, and they fought with great difficulty. The clothing of the the British soldier is not suitable to the various climates in which the soldier has to live from time to time—the British army should have a fighting dress and a show dress; bo says our authority. Well, I don’t know what my old grandfather, who was a soldier in the palmy days of the first Napoleon, would say to that. I venture to speak for him, •• The next best thiog the British soldier can do is to get someone to fight for him ” SOLDIKB3 WANTING LEGS AND ARMS. The mainstay of our British army is the army reserve, and by the policy adopted by us we have no means of knowing whether this reserve is absolutely healthy or strong. They may have lost their legs or their arms since they were in the army, and we have no means of knowing it. Such is the language of an expert in such matters. Cheery that, for England; aye, and no one contradicts it. The ship may be lost for a half pennyworth of tar. THE GERMAN THRONE-BOOM. Seated in one of the galleries, the view of this noble room and its furniture is striking and impressive. Tramping in across the popery inlaid floor comes a squad of Life to relieve guard at the doors ; bursts penetrate from the massed thousands in the street; next, a louder roar announces that the man of iron is approaching The Chancellor did not come in time for prayers; where, bsfore the Protestant altar of the Hohenzollerns, many Catholic princes kneel without scruple or twit of conscience aide bv aide with Germany’s young King.

The area of the throne-room now begins to fill with a crowd of men in gorgeous military uniforms of every cut and line known to the German army. Scarlet eoated Knights of St. John; aye, and some outshining with the showy vestments of the Church of Borne; the Bober gowns of Geneva, for here clerics have seats in Parliament, where—as almost everyone knows—-they have no earthly business to be. Many and various are the decorations observable. • Ah! there comes Prince Bismarck, habited in the full uniform of his Cuirassier regiment and arrayed in all his most distinguished orders: see him stalking in and taking his a'and on tbs left of ths tbrnns. Look at that little man, a Baron von Lu>a, from Bavaria. Perky and complacent be is, but decorous, as in etiquette bound. Now the great Council is arranged and ranked up on the left of the throne, facing the brilliant array of Deputies; bark I the tramp, the measured beat of armed feet approach; and there, what an imposing spectacle the Yoemen ot the Guard—perfect, tall, magnificent veterans in the costume of the old Potsdam giants; these head the Imperial procession, and file past the throne ; the movement is singularly and strikingly impressive. Ah! look, look; on softly falling feet pacing with graceful, wel -sred unmilitary mien, a train of pages in scarlet coats, with powdered hair, sweet faced youths, comely young sprigs of nobility from the cadet schools; these are followed by high household officers, and Ministers and Generals braring on cushions of silver cloth the emblems of rule. But, hush, here comes the young Emperor himself, helmeted, and wearing the grand crimson velvet mantle of the Order of the Black Eagle. As be enters an official of high rank calls for three cheers for His Majesty. Ths very Crystal lustres that depend from the lofty toof ring and rait'-e again to the loud and sonorous roll of these mssrire cheers. See how regal and bow dignified be smiles and bows as be advances, followed by the Princes of his house and by the federal sovereigns of his Empire. Grouped with a brillanoe that is almost magical in spectacular effect; see the Emperor, in the centre of the whole, seated on a diss three steps high, carpeted with purple velvet, and overcanopied by a golden baldachin; emblazoned with black eagles. The Empress is also there and her little white-haired eon ; a crowd of Princesses, hut habited in the deepest mourning, are around ; thia deep band of sombre black gives striking prominence to the brilliant circles around the Emperor. Now be rises, helmet on, and advances two steps, bows to bis auditors, and in firm emphatic tones of voice reads his first speech from the throneThen to the loud accompaniment of three e more deafening cheers King and all the pageantry withdrew; leaving with the representatives of the people the impression that Germany is singularly fortunate in the pro* iulk of uwh ne* infer. |