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Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14563, 14 January 1913, Page 6

It is nearly twenty years ago since tho Dreyfus case opened, and nearly sevon since justice was finally done to tho wronged oEcer, yet tho case is still exerting a maleficent influence in French affairs. According to a cable message published this morning a Ministerial crisis has been caused by tho appointment of Colonel dv Paty do Clam to tho Territorials by tho Minister for War. Tho Colonel was one of the officers mixed up id the case, and did not show up in a very favourable light, and it was indiscreet, to say tho least of it, for M. Millerand to revive the case by giving him an appointment. It is a proof of tho national importance which the Dreyfus case assumes when it is revived, that such a comparatively trivial Ministerial act should cause a crisis. There was a somewhat parallel case in England some little time ago, when an oScer who had been censured

by the War Stores Commission, was recalled from half-pay to a position at the War Office. The appointment was eharply criticised, but it did not shake j tho Government or tho Minister. | But tho Dreyfus case was of such ' a nature that it profoundly affected ; the whole course of French affairs and probably it will go on causing trouble i such as this until all the principal j actors in it aro dead, v> ] The resignation of the Minister for ! War will _be regretted by friends of' France. What the country wants more > than anything elso except a higher | birth-rate is poH.ical stability. During ! the last few years, owing to the sure of danger from outside, politics have become more stable, and the present Ministry, owing to the calibre of its individual members, seemed likely to la.st a long time. M. Millerand has been an energetic and progressive War Minister, and has given special attention to aviation, in which France lrads the world. It is a pity i that anoCaer change should have to be j made at the Ministry of War becauso j a certain elderly officer has been appointed to the Territorials, and it will be a calamity if tho revival of the case causes any further rupture in the Ministry. The new Australian capital is, according to yesterday's cables, likely to 'jo called either Pacifica, Myola, or Fisher, What an anti-climax! All tho mngmficent aspirations and imaginations af tho great Federal movement, tho "Continent for a Nation, and Nation for a Continent," tho "One race, one nation, ono aspiration, one country" bounded by the eternal sea without, no alien footprint on its unsullied shores—any one who remembers the prefederation oratory could recall plenty of it—have come to this. Wβ cried, "How long?" Wo sighed "Not yet," I And still with faces downward set, "Prepare tho way," said each to each, And yet again "Prepare," wo said; And toil, re-born of resolute speech, Make straight the path her feet should tread:— Now triumph, faithful liands and steadfast wills, For, lo! Whoso pomp the bannered Orient fills? Whose feet aro these upon the "morning hills?" Why—just "Fisher, Myola, Pacifica!" Superb in conception, unhappy in execution, the Federal Capital, beside ! the rushing Snowy River, or out on tho j breezy mountain plateau of tho Orange country in Australia's heart, has shrunk to Myola, or Pacifica, or Fisher, on the ■hanks of tho insignificant Cotter, pocketed on the bare hills on a route that leads to nowhere. Truly tho sins of tho fathers are visited on their children. The selfishness of New South Wales, which refused to connect her railways across tho'Darling to Broken Hill, lest South. Australia should get some of tho trade of her western districts, and had sho done so would have commanded all Australia; tho later selfishness that refused a capital on tho breezy uplands of the Monaro becauso it was too near the Victorian border, and therefore to Melbourne, for Sydney's liking—is to have its "Pacifica," or "Myola," or "Fisher" at Sydney's back-door. After all, "Austral," the Capital of Australia, would .have been worthier. All that can be said is that the greater Australian -names aro appropriated—the Wentworths, the'Parkes, etc. A cablo message about tho British Government's intention to alter tho electoral franchise with respect to tho City of London and other cities requires some explanation. Tho City of London electorate comprises tho heart of London, and there are some 31,000 electors. Nearly all of these, however, are basiness men, who do not live in the electorate; indeed the resident population of the inner circle of the city is only a few thousands, and is actually decreasing. These business men also have votes in the districts in which they reside, but the move of the Government would mean that the business world of the City of London would cease to have a voice of its own in parliamentary elections. Seeing how much the Liberals at Home owe. to the "dear-food" cry, there is something anomalous in the fact that the Liberal Government goes on levying duties on certain articles of food in universal use. There is a penny a pound on cocoa, fourteen shillings a cwt., or twopence on coffee, fivepence a pound on tea, and from tonpenco io one-and-tenpenco a _ hundredweight on sugar. It is no wonder that, as stated in our cable news this morning, a number of Liberals aro urging Mr Lloyd George to reduce or remove theso duties, to make freetrade more secure. Their existence is a weapon that tho Tariff Reformer has not been slow to uso. But tho country must have revenue, and the tea duty brings in about six millions, the sugar duty three millions, and the cocoa duty half a million. So that these Liberals aro likely to urge tho Chancellor of the Exchequer in vain.