THE EMPIRE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 57, 30 November 1907, Page 12

THE EMPIRE.

NEWFOUNDLAND VIVENDI. A cabled summary of tile Bluo Book on the Newfoundland fisheries disputo has aroused some interest in political circles in St. John's, owing to Lord Elgin's strong intimation to Sir Robert Bond, wlion the latter was in England, that tho Imperial Cabinet, while preferring to obtain tho assent of the Colonial Legislature to the modus vivendi with the United States was prepared to resort to other measures, if necessary, to obtain legal sanction to a compact which it considered essential for tho preservation of relations of peaco and, unity with a friendly nation. In somo quarters hero this is considered as evidence that tho United States Cabinet put strong pressure on the British Government regarding tho modus vivendi, while in others it is thought to indicate that tho Iriiperial Government regarded somo of Sir Robort Bond's demands as unreasonable. ( The newspapers which support Sir Robert Bond's Ministry continue to criticise tho Imperial Government's conduct of the dispute, but the public remain apathetic regarding tho whole question. ■ / 1 FRANCO-CANADIAN TREATY. Important speeches were made at Halifax by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Premier, and Mr. W; S. Fielding, Minister of Finance, the occasion being a demonstration by the Liberals of Nova Scotia in recognition of. Mr. Fielding's conspicuous sorvices.in connection with the conclusion of the Franco-Canadian Treaty. Sir Wilfrid Laurier said Nova Scotia was the salt of Canada, oven' as of old Scotland '•was the salt of Europe. Never had a country with so small a population produced so many famous men. Among these was Mr. Fielding. Ho (the Premier) had seen the Franco-Cana-diah Treaty,.but lie could not discuss it in public. When its provisions' became, known, ho ventured to say that the people of Canada would be delighted. With , regard ,to the Japanese Treaty, the Premier criticised Mr. Borden, the Leader of the. Opposition, and Mr. Foster, for having reserved their animadversions until now, and for not having said a hostile word when Canada becamo a party to its provisions two years ago. If it was good at tho time of its inception, it could not be bad now. ( Turning to the work of Mr. Fielding as a Dominion Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier said the Finance Minister's tariff of, 1907 would make his name famous. It lmd already made its opponents dumb. The policy of the present Administration was not only to bind Canada together, but the Cabinet had v conceived the idea of funding tho British Empire together. Something had been done in this direction in the'oncoiiragcjnent accorded to the "All-Red" route. In this connection, all they asked of Great Britain was that the Mother Country should do for Canada what she had done for tho United States in the matter of mail subsidies. In conclusion, Sir Wilfrid Laurier said: "The ' All-Red' route shall and must succeed." ■Mr. Fielding, in his address, said France had been met in a generous spirit.. Under tho new treaty of commerce Canadian trade would be conserved, whilst the British preference had not been forgotten. TRAMWAY DISASTER. The most serious-tramway accident experienced on the Halifax Corporation line since the system'was inaugurated occurred on October Id, resulting in lour persons being killed and 29 injured. Halifax is a very hilly town, and several of the gradients are as steep as one in ten. Tho catastrophe took place on one of the steepest gradients near Sowerby Bridge, oil a portion of tho system where, in order to lessen tho gradient, a "corkscrew" ' formation: of lines had to bo constructed'. This formation is over a mile long, and descends into Sowerby Bridge, an urban district. .

The ill-fated car was coming back to Halifax before G o'clock in the'morning, laden with workpeople, and had to ascend the hill, jfojipd almost reached the top when it. began to run back, despite almost superhuman efforts oii tho driver's part. The car gained the momentum of an express train as it slid back along the greasy rails, and finally jumped the metals and crashed into some shops, shaking them to their foundations. The top of the car was. completely removed from tnebody, which overturned some distance away. The; conductor, Walfer Robinson, urged the, people to keep their places inside the car, and ho himself was caught in the final upset and killed on the spot. Tho passengers for the most part kept their heads, and several lay 'down" in' tho bottom of the car. The driver stuck to his post, and escaped injury. Immediately after the impact tho air was rent with groans from tho injured, and tho most seriously hurt were removed with all speed to the Royal Halifax Infirmary. Several doctors wore on tho scene in a few minutes, and many of the injured were attended to in adjoining houses. TRANSVAAL RETRENCHMENT/ Judging from Mr. Botha's speech at Randfontoin, the Transvaal Premier is permanently'satisfied with the credulity of the British public, whereas in Johannesburg his absurdly disingenious defence of the methods of the Boer administration is accepted at its true worth. His descriptions of Mr. Esselin as a Dutchman and Mr. Greenlees as an ardent Briton (the two new members of the Legislative Council) are considered as particularly amusing. ■ " The statement, that "no singlo Englishman has been retrenched to make room for' a Dutchman" is possibly verbally accurate, but it does not alter tho fact that Dutchmen are almost invariably selected to fill the now posts which- are continually being created. The "Transvaal Leader" observes:—"lf Mr. Botha wishes tho people to be convinced of the truth of his assertion, why does ho not publish a list of the civil servants retrenched in all departments, and a further list of tho now appointments which have been made?" The Johannesburg "Sunday Times," a journal usually friendly to the Government of Mr Botha,. says the Transvaal • Premier "either mado tho worst of a caso none too good, or the best of a vory bad case." TO MEET SEDITION. Tho ordinance for the regulation of public meetings which was promulgated last' May, and' applied to the Punjab and Eastern Bengal expires shortly. In the viow of the Government, recent events' liavo rendered necessary a permanent measure, giving-tho authorities power to ■ deal with inflammatory meetings 111 any part of India, and accordingly, at tho meeting of tho Legislative Council on Friday, October 18, a Bill was introduced x to make better provision for tho prevention of meetings likely to promote disturbance of public tranquility. The measure, which was called "Tho Pretention of Seditious Meetings Act, 1907, "■ will extend to the whole of British India, but will only have operation in such provinces as tho Govornor-General shall from time to time notify. .Wlieri such notification is made, the local-government may declare tho wliolo or part of its province a proclaimed area. In the terms of the Act, "public mooting" means anymeeting open to the public. Such a meoting is deemed public, though it bo held in a private placo, and admission be restricted to bearers of tickets. A meeting of 20 persons constitutes a public meeting. No public meeting shall bo held within a proclaimed area unloss a written notico has been given and pormission obtained. Any breach of the Act will bo punishablo by imprisonment or fino, or both, and a meeting which has been prohibited will be doomed an unlawful assembly. INTERESTING STATISTICS. In tlio now number of tho illustrated weekly journal "Canada," tho following significant comparison betweon tho rnspectivo progress of Canada and the United Statos is made: — "Replying to tho statement of a Now York contemporary, to the effect that Canada's growth is slow in comparison with that of the United States, and that. the Dominion would have been much further ahead to-day if sho had been free from England, tho 'Mon-treal-Star' says:—'The fact romains that with .-ill tho disadvantages she has had to contend with, Canada has grown twice as fast as the' United States in tno last 95 years.

In 1812 the population of the United States was 8,000,000, -while Canada had only .300,000. The population of the United States proper is now estimated at ,80,000,000, and Canada's was at tho last consus 6,000,000; therefore, if in 1812 tho Stntes had 8,000,000 and Canada only 300,000, what should tho population of Canada bo to-day? If 8,000,000 gives 80,000,000, it is evident that 300,000 will give 3,000,000. Tho actual figures are 6,000,000, or, pro rata, 100 per cont. more than the, United States ill tho same period. It would be interesting to bo able to see tho outcomo of the next 95 years.' " It is also interesting to bear in mind that ocean transport facilities to-day exceed those of 1812 by fifty times; and that, whereas tho United States had only the old world to draw upon for its immigration, Canada is drawing 60,000 immigrants a year from the now world, as well as three times that number from this side of the Atlantic. . CANADA'S NEEDS. . "The Standard's" special correspondent interviewed the heads of tho Immigration Department on the subject of the suggestion in a leading article in tho "Standard" of-Octo-ber 4, that thero should be free emigration from Great Britain to Canada in the place of a Canadian contribution to tho cost of the Imperial Navy. They seo many difficulties in tho way, and point out,' in tho first place, that Canada is doing well in the matter of emigration at present, and is getting nearly all the, men that can be dealt-with without increasing the staff of the department. Oho of the best guarantees of tho good qualities of emigrants is the fact that they, have scraped together a few pounds wherewith to pay their passage and maintain themselves for a while on arrival bore. The free passage question is only one item in tho problem; there is the handling of the emigrants on arrival, and finding them temporary accommodation, pending their obtaining permanent employment. Mr. Rudyard Kipling, speaking at Toronto yesterday, said Canada's great need is settlers., "Pump in the white man," he remarked; "pump him in; that is my solution if the Asiatic problem." Mr. Kipling went >n to advocate unrestricted emigration from Sreat Britain. ; In the, course of a speech, Earl Grey referred to'tho Asiatic problem, remarking that the attitudo of tho labour unions in opposing tho importation of English mechanics was inconsistent with their agitation for a "white" Canada. PARTITION OF BENGAL. To-day (October 17) being the anniversary of the partition of Bengal it Was observed as a day of universal mourning by all Bengalis, who fasted from all food, and went about barefooted.'All the shops wore closed. lii the afternoon a demonstration of' 30,000 people took place. No police were present,' tho leaders or the movoment having given An issurance to tho authorities' that' there should be no violence. The speeches which were delivered were noticeable for their moderation, and good order prevailed throughout, the :lozon or so Europeans who wore in the crowd being treated with absolute courtesy. A resolution renewing the Swadeshi vow was carried amidst loud cries of "Bando Mataram." The speakers included Christians as well as Hindus and Mahometans. GENERAL STAFF FOR INDIA. Speaking-at. Simla on September 24,? Lor d; Kitchener said:—

"When I arrived in this country.l found an Army consisting of regiments, individually undoubtedly oxcellent, but wanting in that higher organisation in brigades and divisions which is essential in war, and should,- therefore, exist in poaco. For instance, I may say that there was nob.then in this country a single formed brigade of cavalry under a cavalry General. Moreover, there was, no moans of training our future Staff Officers in their duties. Camberley was unable ,to. sup-; 1 ply this deficiency—in the first place, owing', to want of room, and, in the second, because' 1 only a small minority of the officers of the Indian Army could afford the expenditure the course there involved. Tho establishment of; an Indian Staff College at Quott'a, which is. now in full working order, has i'lVppliecl 'this< want, and enables our oflicprs to study,their future Staff duties amongst tbe surroundings of our Frontier lifo.

"Gentlemen,'l am sure it : will particularly interest you to hear that I have recently had under my consideration tlio formation of a General Staff for tho Indian Army on modern lines. The point on which I havo had to lay special emphasis in that connection is that a General Staff exists for war, and that its organisation and duties, to be" allotted to it in peace, must be decided with reference to its role in war. The' point sounds elementary enough whon thus stated, and yet experience shows, that it is just this consideration which nations, and oven armies, are most apt to forget (luring years of peace. Therefore, gentlemen, speaking as I am to-night to the present and-to tho future Staff Officers of the Army in India, to tho men who havo been my assistants, as well as to those who will work undor my successors, and who I hope to seo rise'to positions in which their influence on tho future development of the Army in India will bo considerable, I would ask you all never to loso sight of this paramount consideration, that all questions of organisation. as well as training, existing or proposed in the Army, should he judged by the test of their suitability under war conditions. In a nation like ours this ideal' cannot always be rcachod, and it is frequently necessary to accept tho attainable; but the ideal should always be there present to our . minds, and we should work towards it—slowly, it may be — bnt ceaselossly, and with no uncertainty of purpose." RAND NATIVE LABOUR.' '. 'Mr. Raymond Schumacher, .speaking at tho Glen' Doep Mine meeting, stated that work had been dis-orgaijised' by tho repatriation of. the Chinese. In September,, ho said, it had boon possible to roplace Chinese by natives drawn chiefly from Capo Colony, but these were inferior as a class, they were not good workers, and they were expensive. Tho profits had fallen from £10,000 monthly to £2700 in September. The working costs had risen' ss. per ton. The management was doing its utmost to improvo results. Natives from Central African provinces, on whom tho mines would henceforth also partially have to rely, wore physically unsatisfactory, and had an appalling death rate. Tho average mortality, on the Rand iu 1906 was 74 per thousand, while that of the British Central African natives alono was 98 per thousand. The mortality among the Chincso on tho Glon Doep Mine from all causes was 12 per thousand. ...