The Bruce Herald. "Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, JUNE 24 1890.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 2177, 24 June 1890, Page 2

The Bruce Herald. "N emo me impu ne lace sset." TOKOMAIRIRO, JUNE 24 1890.

Heli&oland ia a small island off the European coaat which has for re any years been in the possession of G /.'eat Britain. The population is small, , a.ud the products are not very valu able. The British G-overnment has recently ceded it to Germany. Aa a matl:er of fact it lies nearer to German 8 h.ores than do the Channel Islands to the shores of England. The Germans are, it is said, extremely jubilant over the cession, but why, it is scarcely possible to imagine. They may intend to convert it into a mighty fortress, but what particular strategic or defensive value such a fortress would have does not yet appear. Ma.ny of the leading English newspapers de09un.ce arrangement, Tb^ 'j Star '

call* the Premier a traitor and the 1 'Chronicle' refers to his action .is, ignominious. The French press des- j eribes the whole affair as a degrading j arrangement. Tliere is another siJe : to the story, but it is difficult to quite understand it on the b.isis of the meagre information telegraphed. It seems that the session of Heligoland was really a sort ot barter with Germany for surrendering certain claims in Africa — in fact it is spoken of as the Premier's bargain. All this may be well enough, but it is not pleasant to hear of England giving up any territory she has once acquired, least of all what she has held so long, and which is so near to her own coasts. Having given up Heligoland to Germany, France may take it into her head to ask for the cession of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, to all of which islands she is as much entitled as Germany is to the little rock off the mouth of the Elbe. Mr StaxLE7. says that the arrangement with Germany has added 500,000 square miles of territory in Africa to the Empire, but it is just possible events will show that that little island is of more real value to Great Britain than the whole of Africa would be. We. shall be very much surprised if trie fuller reports of this transaction which will come by the mail do not show it to be of far vaster importance than the meagre cablegrams indicate

In 18M a penny on the Income Tax yielded £-400,000, now it yields £2,200,000. These figures look simple enough, but they indicate how enormously the wealth of Great Britain has increased in less thau half a century. Noborly who has a less income than £150 a year has to pay this tax, and it follows that the gross annual income of those who pay the tax cannot amount to less than about six hundred millions sterling, while in 184-i it was only £L 9 2 :000,000 -an increase of over 300 per cent. With these figures before one it is no matter for surprise that almost every country under heaven should be in debt to England, and that her capitalist* should be able to run «o many extensive businesses in the United States by means o\ capital owned in the Tight Little Island. The present position of England is unique in the history of the world. Hnne once ruled the e..rth Universal empire lay at the feet of the iffisars. Later the British navy ruled the seas, and foreign raon-of-war were compelled to dip their ensigns when within sight of the red white and bl ue. Nowadays England has laid all the world under tribute in quite another fashion. Her army aii'l uavy are ikiw maintained chiefly for defensive purposes. Somerset House is of more importance thau the Horse Guards, a.nd the merchants, bankers, and business men generally count for more than the warriors. If universal peace should be proclaimed, England will undoubtedly have the biggest say in the matter. ii>he is now practically at peace with the whole world and likely to remain in that state. There is not a single r umor in the air of any possible complication with any other power which couid lead to hostilities. Her only trouble is that domestic difficulty of tb.e Irish question. Her empire is more extensive than Alexander of Macedon ever dreamed of. He conquered a world which in his day wan insignificant contrasted with the world which Britain has conquered., and he wept because there were nu more worlds to conquer. England now rules over something like a third of the habitable world, and hier language is the common speed i of a far larger proportion. .And there is scarcely a country which is not heavily indebted to her. And better than all, the influence of BritaiiK baa been in every instance for goo d. There is not an uncivilised rac e she has taken under her aegis wh ich has not been improved, moralise d, and christianised. And without do >übt England owes very much of h< ir present greatness to the se-ttle-ro ient of its surplus population. And s/ince the old .Romans overrun the c arth no people ever proved theinf selves such successful colonists. Spaniards, Danes, Germans, Dutch, and other nationalities have in their turn established settlements, but it seems to have been reserved for the British to open up and settle the waste places of the earth. From every point of view England now occupies the premier position. In , wealth it can buy up every country; in its charities and benevolent work it stands second to none; in war it can, as it has always done, hold its own either on land or sea; and in every other respect it is entitled to demand of all other nations that they dip their ensigns to her as they did in Deake's time.

The New South Wales parliament is about to discuss the question of female suffrage, and a rawwure to that effect will almost immediately be introduced. Should the bill become law it ia conjectured that the other colonies will at once fol ow suit The reason given is that New South Wales being the Premier colony the others will copy her example. We are not so sure of this. New South Wales has never set a very excellent pattern m the matter of legislation. We cannot call to mind a single instance in which she haa led the way. The history of her methods of procedure is agaiust her. They are the rowdiest of any parliament in the British Empire. But, however that may be,

we are rej >iced to le.irn that the oldest col. my of the group is likely to take, a st.-p in the light direction. Or. all the political reforms carried into effect or proposed of late years none has b -en or can be of a more valuable character, or prove more likely to purify the atmosphere of parliaments than this. The female vote would tend to nullify the injurious effect of manhood suffrage; it would undoubtedly assist iv the passing of sound legislation on those social subjects which are latterly so much to the front ; it would certainly result in the exclusion of many undesirable men from parliament, and moreover it would secure, what does not exist now, more adequate and uniform representation of all classes and all interests. We siucerely hope that in this respect New South Wales wi 1 take the lead, and that the other colonies will follow.

The recent disastrous floods at Bourke has brought to the front a subject which we have on several occasions mooted in these columns. Large contributions poured in from all sources to the fund raised for the relief of the sufferers. In fact, so liberal were the donations that more money was received than was actually required. A proposal was made to «et up a ball to afford further relief, but the Mayor set his face against it. He said that " the recent action iv asking for further assistance, whether done for political purposes or not, will not be endorsed by the Bourke people, or at all events those who have any respect for themselves or their town." He also stated emphatically that the people of Bourke do not desire to pose before the public of New South Wales " as a lot of beggars and paupers." It is also saiT that in various places in the neighborhood it was so well known that the subscriptions were in excess of requirements that money collected was being returned. In an article on the subject, the ' Sydney Mail ' advocates what we have on Beveral occasions suggested as being the best thing to do in such cases. Our contemporary writes :— " The difficulty in all these cases is for the public to get at the truth. It is quite willing to subscribe to meet real distress, but it is not willing to be victimised by loafers, or by hunters for political popularity, 't is simply impossible, however, in the ureseuce of any sudden calamity, to tell how much will be wanted to give relief, and to stop at the point where charity becomes demoralising. All our experience in successive cases of this kind points to the expediency of having a general calamity fund. If we hare that we shall always have enough, and we shall never need to waste anything, simply because there is money in hand. The surplus can always be garnered, and the fund can be replenished from time to time." In connection with the Bu li Fund in the same colony, too much was collected, and it is suspected that the same will be the case with the money subscribed for the sufferers by the Darling flood. It certainly seems a little absurd that when a great public calamity occurs, and money for the relief of the sufferers is given without stint, that the funds so contributed should be capitalised, and the interest become the property of the sufferers for an indefinite period, often for mauy years after they have ceased to need it. Were these contributions fu ded, and the distribution of the interest entrusted to a Board of Trustees especially constituted for the purpose, there would always be assistance available for the sufferers by any such disasters. To vest those funds in such a way as that for all time to come, they can only be distributed among the sufferers or their families is about as sure a method of pauperising the recipients as could well be contrived.

A. RETURN prepared by the Minister for Lands BUOWB conclusively that for at least eight years the area of land settled has been steadily on the increase. In 1883 27,352 acres were settled, and in 1890 -up to date — the acreage disposed of was 33, 178* The number of selectors in 1883 is not giv> n, hut the next year it w.s 2318, while in 1890 it has been 2118 This should settle iho Vixed question as to the land administration of the present G wernuneut as compared with previous guveruuieatP. Taking it all round it would appear that there has be^n a fairly even averse no matter what G vernment Kvas in oifi;e— and an average of over 2000 s-t.-ltrs ii yeas starting h. mes on nearly 40 000 ;tcrea is noc a bad stowing for this, or

,Ny oilier C"uuiry of its tiz . Bumi of our rtilical contemporaries are attempting to Bb'>w that the le.-u ts of the land a<imiuis« fc-aiiou have been unsatisfactory, and yet th y have been so foolish as to quote the figures we have given above in support of t .eir position. The accuracy of the statistics is uor disputed, and they show conclusively that if settlemeut progn^ea at the same rate as it huß done, and there is no reason to su.pose it will not, the whole of the oolony will be denseiy populated before it is muoh more than a u^n. ration older