The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1895. THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7416, 13 July 1895, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1895. THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

It was recently announced by cable that the French troops in Madagascar had inflicted a third defeat upon the Hovas. That they should be completely subjugated, and the island brought absolutely under Gallic control, is only a matter of time and money. If France cares to expend enough of both the business is as good as settled. , But there is another item which, although few will stop to reckon it, except the relatives and friends of les pioupious who will never again see la belle France, must be regarded as the glory's discount. That is the enormous number of deaths among the troops. By the last mail from Europe there came particulars of the ravages disease is making in Madagascar among the invading soldiery. Fever is stalking through the camps. The mortality from it is greater than the average. Moreover the condition of the troops who have spent the winter on the coast is almost as bad as that of the troops further inland. The incapacitated are described as amounting to fully fifty per cent, and one case is given in which out of a company of a hundred and fifty men only forty could be mustered as fit for duty.

No doubt the result of the kauri shipment to London will be regarded with satisfaction by the Auckland people who risked the venture. It is true that the best prices obtained did not amount to more than sixteen shillings and eightpence per hundred feet superficial, and that the charges wore no doubt heavy. It is also true that first-class kauri will bring from thirteen to fifteen shillings in the colony, in large quantities, so that at first sight there may not seem much in the idea of shipping to England timber that practically brings only colonial prices. But it must be remembered that the timber shipped to Loudon does not cause any sensible diminution of the supply here. If circumstances made it impossible to export kauri it might bo obtainable a little more cheaply iv the colony, but tho possibility of export tends to the employment of labor where the timber grows. Hence iE a trade with the Mother Country in kauri timber is built up, the fact is not likely to prejudicially affect buyers here, and it will help to keep the mills up north going merrily.

AYe recently referred to the change of Government in England as possibly the cause why changes were being made at tho English Embassy in Paris. Another circumstance certainly due to tho Gladstonians going out of office is the determination of the Government, as announced by the Marmng Post, to retain control of Chitral. However the

other alternative could have been seriously considered by the Rosebery Ministry is difficult to imagine, after the blood and treasure poured out in the successful attempt to subdue the country and punish Umra Khan. To send our soldiers through snow-drifted mountain defiles—over ravines spanned by light bridges made en route (like a spider building a gossamer road from one twig to another) and to travel up shingly river beds—all the time fighting a restless foe, may be regarded as sensible or not. But having done so, and having achieved that which was the object of doing so, why should the victors be told to right-about-face and crawl back again ? That, indeed, would stamp all that had been done before as dangerously near lunacy. A certain King of Prance, we are told in an old song, once marched his troops up a hill and then marched them down again. The Gladstonians may see something clever in that, but their successors evidently do not. Mr Justin McCarthy denies the statement made by Mr Mealy, to the effect that the Gladstonians bought the votes of a certain number of Irish members. Healy reiterates his charge, and is told by the other side, which is evidently very mad, that the truth is not in him. Well, perhaps it isn't, but that doesn't seem to help the Separatist cause much, seeing what a staunch advocate of that policy the awkward Healy is. If he is the liar that the McCarthy! tes would make him out to be, what becomes of all his statements as to the wickedness of the Sassenach tyrants' ? We should very much like to believe Justin McCarthy, first because he is a really fine fellow, and secondly because if he is right a stigma is removed from the Irish members. But we know Healy of old—not personally, of course, but by following him up, and following his colleagues up, as they have fought what they think to be a good light—and we are bound to say that we do not think lying is his weakness. He has an obstinate knack of producing documentary evidence in support of disputed assertions, and he may yet surprise the McCarthyites in that manner.

We believe the latest prophecy of The Times, as set out in our cable news last evening, will prove true in every particular. The big London daily is of opinion that the Kepublican party in the United States will come out on top at the next elections, and in consequence there will be a return to a complete Protectionist tariff. It would be pleasant to be able to entertain reasonable doubt of this, for Protection is simply a means for the manufacture of millionaires and for grinding the faces of the poor. But, just because it is wrong, it will be popular. Its advocates consider it as a method of getting something for nothing. They recommend it to the working classes on that basis. Now it is quite true that it is correctly described, but the unfortunate part of the business is that the wrong people benefit. The masses of the people get nothing but the kicks, while rings and syndicates gather in the coppers. Thero are at this moment more slum degradation, more sweating, and more women and children being slowly murdered in America by the capitalist Juggernaut, under the shelter of Protection, than in any European country with the possible exception of Austria. It is possible, in a selfish kind of way, to extract a crumb of comfort from the shocking state of things under which Carnegies, Goulds, and Vandarbilts batten on the blood of men and women. Most of us, even if in conditions of political excitement we fancy ourselves bitten with the " Little England" madness, have yet a soft corner in our hearts for the grand old Mother Country. Her prosperity will receive a great blow when the United States become sane enough to adopt Freetrade. At present most of Britain's competitors in the markets of the world, America being most to be feared, voluntarily handicap themselves by fiscal burdens. Believing aa they do that imports deaden the demand for labor, they try to keep imports out. But imports constitute a demand for labor, for they can only be paid for by local products exported, and before these can be exported they must be made or grown, and to rai3c them or grow them means the employment of labor. Moreover, in so far as imports are shut out, the countries from which such import* would come cannot take goods that America would like to export, for all trade is two-sided, and those who will not buy cannot sell. Hence the policy of all the Protectionist countries is all the time tending to drive countries which desire to export to do their trade with Great Britain, as intermediary. That is why the United States has no merchant navy to speak of. It is not wanted. That is also why the merchant navy of Great Britain is on ail seas. She has become the trade centre of tho world, and will continue to hold that position while other countries are stupid enough to retain Protection. That is at the bottom of the trading superiority of Sydney over Melbourne, and of New South Wales as a colony over Victoria as a colony. On the ground of desiring the right, as right, to flourish, we may regret that the people of the United States should be so easily gulled by the capitalistic rings who support Protection. But, as lovers of the clear old land which gave us birth, we have a certain amount of excuse if we at the bottom of our hearts should feel that we are not over anxious for A merica to see the error of her ways. The news from Canada is disquieting. It is, further, almost of an extraordinary kind, for on the twentysecond of May last the Roman Catholics, as represented by Archbishop Langevin, had agreed to the terms of a compromise extremely favorable to them. Now we learn that the priests are inciting the people to demand absolute control of the schools, and that there appears to be a religious and racial conflict developing. What, the priests want is for the Government to support "Roman Catholic schools, and not to claim the right to supervision, the sole control being left with the hierarchy. Judging by the cable message the French section of the Roman Catholic population are inclined to agree with the decision of the conference. If they are not they ought to be, and jump at the chance, as also should bo the case with the priests generally. The alleged grievance is practically no more than what used to be called a grievance here, till sensible people became so sickened with an illogical agitation that it died out. The province of Manitoba desires to keep the schools free from all sectarian teaching, instructing the youth of the colony in ordinary school subjects, leaving to tho various churches' the task of teaching their dogmas by ordinary church agencies. This the priests object to.

Up till 1890 there were two sets of schools in Manitoba supported wholly by the Government. One set was totally unscctariaii. In the other set tho doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church were taught. In 1890 the Provincial Parliament by Act abolished separate schools, and made tho btate system of education uniform and uusectarian, like that of New Zealand. The quarrelling now coming to a head began then. On the twenty-second of May last there met at Ottawa, as a conference to try to arrive at a peaceful compromise, the Jd'arl of Aberdeen (the Governor-General), Sir Mackenzie liowcll, Mr T. Creonway, Mr Clifford Sifton, and Archbishop Langeviu. At this conference it was decided to recommend the Government to recognise the separate school system on condition that the Roman Catholic schools were manned by properly certificated teachers and that they should be inspected by Government inspectors. Another member of the conference (Mr Greenway) desired the conference to agree to reestablish the old Council of Public Instruction, which when it existed was composed of Protestants and Catholics

in proportion to the religious beliefs of the population. This Archbishop Langevin would not agree to, but he agreed to the other proposal. It is therefore very strange that we should get the cable message we publish this evening. Tt is difficult not to feel sorry for Henry Parkes. With all his faults he has done great service as a politician, and that the declining years of his life should be sullied by the miserable and unjust attitude he is now assuming is very much to be regretted. His opponent, Reid, is anything but an angel. Good " Liberal" that he is, he has signalised his accession to power by letting other good Liberals out of gaol, but for all that Parkes' conduct towards him is not justified. It is based upon a total denial of principles formerly held dear, and suggests the impotent rage of dotage rather than .the indignation of a patriot. The fairly decent part of Reid's programme is the only one he is likely to carry. That is Freetrade out-and-out and a land tax to replace relinquished Customs duties Parkes used to profess to admire that ideal, and therefore his alliance with Sir Impudent Dibbs now, in order to embarras Reid if possible, is the height of inconsistency.