THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN ENGLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 229, 25 September 1903, Page 2

THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN ENGLAND.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —"If I were a colonial instead of an Englishman I should advise applying to the United States for annexation to that Republic" —Dr. Bakewell . concluding effusion in yours of last night. Is he joking or is he in earnest? If he means business, thank Cod he is not a colonial. Imagine being ti;ed to the talon of the eagle, the emblem of that lynching, law-breaking, revolver-practis-ing country. "England," infers that enlightened writer, "cannot quench her insatiable hunger for land." If England's is an insatiable hunger, what could United States' or Germany's be called? Does the writer forget that not many week 3 ago that tall, top-hatted, starstriped gentleman took a sudden fancy for some small British islets off the coast of Borneo? Does he further forget that the same gentleman calmly pulled his "st».r spangled banner" aloft and hoped the matter would be settled by a commission? May the Pacific Ocean be ever the only link that binds the "American of the States" to I am, etc., COLONIAL Auckland, September 24

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Dr. Eakewel.' says "he has never troubled you with a political letter before," and let us hope he never will again, if he arrives at the same illogical conclusion as he does in the one of to-night, viz., "That if he was a colonial ... he -would apply to the United States for annexation to that Republic." His reason, so far a. 1 can see, for making this extraordinary statement is. that England's "insatiable land hunger" will land us in New Zealand in trouble with some other power But didn't I read jn .he "Star" not long ago that the Americans had seized and hoisted the Star s_d Stripes on_ome islets near Borneo, which makes one think that "our cousins" are also troubled (or -blessed) with this same hunger, which your correspondent so deplores in England. Then, again, Dr. Bakewell says, "the recent war in South Africa has opened the eyes of the masses to the folly of spending millions on territories that will never bring any pecuniary benefit." That is quite true, but afen't the Americans more cocksure than ever since their war with Spain, as witness their recent message to the Czar about the Jewish massacres. I think we would be more liable to come to blows if we were an American possession than as we are at present situated. In Caise that war ever becomes a grim reality, we (in our insular position) will be much safer under the protection of Britannia who "rules the waves" than under the wing of the American eagle.—l am, etc^ A. R. (XTTHBEEtTSON. September 23.