TOWN EDITION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7385, 7 June 1895, Page 3

TOWN EDITION.

THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

The news from Austria looks ominous. A florin (generally called in Austria a " gulden") is worth a shilling and eightpence in English money. Consequently the first amount of nine million florins voted for repeating rifles equalled three-quarters of a million pounds sterling. That probably meant that a hundred and fifty thousand men were to be armed with the repeating rifle, our assumption being based upon tho theory that the Government of Austria, ordering in very large quantities, would be able to purchase those rifles at an average of not more than five pounds each. The increase of the vote means that six hundred thousand men are to be armed with the new weapon. That looks like war. But war when ? It is impossible to conceive, even in these days of big things, that an order for six hundred thousand r-epeating rifles could be executed by Austrian makers, aided by the factories of America, in less than about eighteen months. Other countries will be engaged supplying their own wants—wants rendered more urgent by the apprehension caused by Austria's action. Hence it seems fair to suppose that Austria is preparing for a suspected bouleveresment in 1897.

But it may be asked why we assume specially warlike preparations. The question is legitimate, but the answer to it is easy to give. In the first place, the total strength of tho Austrian army on a peace footing, including cavalry, infantry, and artillery, but not reckoning officers and staff, is only 330,807 men. To spend twenty-nine million florins in purchasing repeating rifles meanrt that it is intended to arm with that weapon a number of infantry soldiers nearly equal to three times the number of all the peace-footing infantry of the combined Austro-Hungarian Empire, the number of which is 212,800. That looks like the determination to have at least half of the war-footing infantry — about twelve hundred thousand men—armed with repeating rifles. This calculation, of course, leaves out the Landwehr. If the Austrian infantry were at present badly armed there might be nothing very suggestive in the preparations now authorised, but they are not, for the whole of the infantry in the Empire, Landwehr included, are armed with that fine weapon the Mannlicher rifle. The only reasonable explanation of Austria spending such a large sum of money in repeating rifles is that she may be called upon to fight a powerful foe shortly.

But nil the Powers are straining every nerve to be prepared for a great fight. Professor Heinrich GefTcken is our authority for saying that Germany has a war treasure of six millions pounds sterling in coined gold lying in the Julius Tower at Spandau, this money being set aside for war purposes absolutely. In addition to that she is perpetually adding to her warlike material, and her stock of rapid firing field guns is very large. Russia is said to have a war treasure of fifteen millions in gold stored away for emergencies. The Bank of France, which is under Government control, has been steadily and heavily buying gold for years. Some official figures we have been able to find will illustrate this. In 1882 the value of all the gold held by the Bankof France wa5£39,110,000. At the end of 1894 this had risen to £82,400,000, an increase of no less than £43,240,000. Of this increase no less than £8,912,000 was made last year. England is not behind in the race. Gold is accumulating there enormously, and the Bank of England held in 1894 no less than £12,970,520 in gold more than it held in 1893. To put the matter briefly, the whole of Europe is in a state of unstable equilibrium, and the merest accident may precipitate a catastrophe.

There is more " Liberalism " to the fore in South Australia. Tho "people" there are promised reforms in the shape of reduced railway rates (not for passengers, but for goods), subsidies to freezing works, subsidies to farmers and vignerons, and the establishment of a State Bank. This is more of the policy which greases the fat sow. To establish a State Bank means to aid the politicians to get overdrafts without security and to provide billets in the bank for their relatives. Incidentally it will enable the party for the time in power to financially squeeze members of tho other party who have been foolish enough to deal with the State Bank. But in any case it will not be of service to the great bulk of the people, who having no cash to bank, no political influence except at election times (when it can be purchased for flattering words), and no securities to pledge for advances, will be shut out of the manifold blessings which we are sometimes assured must follow tho establishment of a State Bank. Reductions in railway freights will benefit the " Haves," but will not filter down to those who are compelled by poverty to buy their necessaries in very small quantities, and thus to pay several profits. Subsidies to freezing works and to landowners may be good for the latter, who will benefit at the cost of the great bulk of the taxpayers —the poor and landless —but how this sort oE thing can be called " Liberalism" passes our comprehension.

The Mr Abraham mentioned in our cable messages to-day is a native of t-outh Wales. He is descended from a family of converted Jews, and has represented Rhonnda, a district in Glamorganshire, since 1885. His father was a collier and copper smelter, a man full of energy and sound sense, although not possessed of much of this world's gear. His son : who was born in 1842, and is therefore in his fiftythird year, inherited the paternal energy. He had to turn out to work at an early age, after a lew years in a village school. But, unlike many young fellows, he did not consider that he had done with books, and with efforts to improve his mind, when he left school. Ho continued to bo an earnest student, and although he did not achieve celebrity in that direction, he acquired a fair literary capacity, and has even written a little poetry — not bad poetry, either—dealing with Welsh national customs and traditions. A little preachiug served as a road to public speaking generally, and then politics took first place, although he combined them with trade union duties. When thirty-two years of age he was the principal trade union representative for the Glamorganshire district, being what is known as " Miners' Agent." He has been a member of Royal Commissions dealing with mining questions, and at present he is a Justice of the Peace for Glamorganshire, and VicePresident of the Monmouth and South Wales Mining Associations.

Talking of miners naturally loads us to think of the news from France, whore the International Miners' Conference, sitting in Paris, have adopted a resolution in favor of the output of coal being limited by miners working four days a week only, but receiving five days' pay. The British delegates vainly protested against the adoption of the scheme. Yet they did not protest because of its obvious injustice, but only because they thought it would be impossible to secure united action throughout the world. We should think so. Iv the first place it is open to doubt whether there is too much cjsil being won, for during the last winter poor people in Fram--.: and England died from cold, and hundreds of thousands who did not die suffered severely from the same cause, because they could not afford to buy sufficient coal to keep themselves fairly warmed. This was either due to the supply of coal being; too limited, or tcjj^ajsj *hn arP.p.^J^mWL m Mm.

and corners standing between the poor and the coal they wanted. If the supply was limited the theory of over production is admittedly wrong. ' If the other causes were at work the cure is not for miners to cease hewing, but for some steps to be taken with regard to what is to blame. Lastly, supposing that nothing of the foregoing is urged, it is evident that any body of men who gravely put forward a demand to be paid five days' wages for four days' work, are themselves as unjust as any rings or syndicates could be.