The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1906. THE KAISER ONCE MORE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 197, 18 August 1906, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1906. THE KAISER ONCE MORE.

Tor the cause that lacks assistance^ For the %arong thai need* resistamoe. For the future in the distance. And ihe oood that toe can do.

At first sight there does not seem to be anything particularly ominous about to-day's cable message, concerning the Turkish Customs duties. But in modern diplomacy apparently trivial matters sometimes assume momentous importance; and this little dispute about the Turkish Customs is rooted deep in the tangled maze of intrigue that has grown

up around the perennial Eastern question. Last year the Turkish Foreign Minister informed England that the Porte intended to increase the Turkish duties on certain imports by three per cent, and it was necessary lo get England's consent before thus prejudicing the position of her large foreign trade. It is estimated that at least 60 per cent of the increased impost would fall on British goods: and, to gild the pill, the Turkish Government offers to make up the annual deficit in Macedonia, and to reorganise the finances of that urifortuiiate province. Tbe change would make a difference of about £750,000 a year to tbe Turkish exchequer, and 25 per cent of this would have to be applied to the reduction of debt's leaving an extra £SSO--000 a year for the Sultanas treasury. But though this stmt would just about cover the a-nTiTia.l deficit in Macedonia, it must be remembered that this deficit has hitherto been made up out of the existing Turkish funds; the Sultan would thus have an additional £560.000 a year to use for any purpose that might suit him. What would he most probably do with it? A highly suggestive answer to this question may be found in an interesting letter to the "Times," written by Mr. H. F. Lynch, the eminent authority on the Middle Eastern question, whose impartiality in criticising present British policy is vouched for by the fact that he is a strong liberal, Mr. Lynch states that 'It is credibly reported in Constantinople that these funds thus to be set free are to be applied to finding the guarantee for the Bagdad railway." We have recently called tbe attention of our readers to. the resurrection of this Bagdad railway scheme; and it is sufficient to remind them that the ""Tdlometric guarantee" whkh Turkey has to furnish to the G_rma*a promoters and "_n*__tders

is an rndnyi.n-ar'le condition of the oontr__e_. As we have previously shows, the only reason that the Germans do not go oa with the railway __ that they cannot raise the money. But if Turkey conld utilise the £580JOGO set free by this increase in the Customs duties, the capitalised -ralne of this increase in revenue at ordinary rates would be about £12,----000,000; and this sum Xcrkey might bortow to supply the guarantee reqnired bribe Deutsche Bax__ and its coadjutors. It would t_£e only about half this sum to "tarry the line 375 miles across the Taurus and on down the valley of the Tigris; and fact that the suggestion has already been freely discussed in Constantinople shows how easy it would be for the Sultan thus to play into the hands of the Kaiser and promote German interests in the .Near and Middle East. What then is the acinaj position of , affairs ': As the '-Xalional HcTiew*" puts it, "the British G-oTcrnm-i iii is being called upon to consent to an increased taxation oi several t_a_.drcd __.ous_n_ pound. per annum upon British trade, ostenj sibly in the interest? of Maoedordan reform, hut really in or__r that Germany may construct a strate.o-ie railway to be liri'.ed up with other strategic railways in _____ Minor, with objects at which we may shrewdly guess from our recent experience oe the Egyptian frontier. * I 11 may seem '"a far cry" from Lit. Turkish customs dutis to the Bagdad r_ilway; but the connection should hot.- b. obvicrus enough. As to the Bagdad scheme, Mr Lynch regrets that ''the nature of this vast enterprise, destined to under German con-mi, not only a great railway from tiie Bosphoms to the Persian Gulf., but also the railway system of Syria, which is being extended along the Egyptian frontier to Mecca and Medina, is not yet fiiilv appreciated by the general public,'- and he asserts with tbe utmost emphasis that, it would be exceedingly urwise for England to give away the advantage she now holds i in her right to ret use permission for the I proposer] increas.' of the Turkish customs dues. The stale of Macedonia is of course made the pretext for Turkey's insidious request. But the "reforms'" offered by the Sultan in exchange would certainly proyp as illusory _s all his previous promises; and we fervently hope that on this subject the British Government will give heed to the warning of one of the best-informed of its j political supporters. Happily the atti- i

tude of Sir Edward Grey toward the Sultan's proposals justifies the belief that the Imperial authorities are fnllv alive to tbe real nature of the scheme, and that the Kaiser will once more find himself outwitted by our Foreign Secretary.