LONDON CHAT.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 118, 20 May 1905, Page 2

LONDON CHAT.

PROSPECTS OP PEACE. THIS STATE OP BRITISH POLITICS. TAXATION AND FINANCE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) 15th April. During the past throe weeks rumouiM of impending peace in the Fnr Kast hnvo onco moio been prevalent, but they me, of course, discredited by thinking people. Hul, ns if to render any early pacilication .■itaolutely impoM>ible, Russia hns allowed it to bo uuderskiod thai she is resolved never to consent to uny arrangement that involves either cewsion of teiritory on her part or payment of indemnity to Japan, l'ho Jnpnues.i>, on (he other hand, openly deolnrn tl|al they will never innko pence Until they shall have thoroughly succeeded in destroying tlio possibilities of jmy future revanche on Hitsoia's part, failing which they deem that all their heroic and unparalleled efforts of the past fourteen months would bo woise Own wasted. Tho reception of tlio latest Japanese lonn m London \vn» one of almost unequalled ertthusiusm, and it could lmyo been covered ninny tinx-i, over. This remilt ivib «tl tho more .<»tiikiiiß and MRnificnnt in v)c\v of tho recent ignoniinioiifl failure of Ru.s<«ia to float a smaller loan even on exorbitant terms either in Franco or in Uenntiny. So asMuvdly Japan hnft no idea of making the. first advances lowaid v ccssasion of hostilities.

At tiro piwnl moment wo in England mo in the densest ignorance as to wlmt is going on in Mimdiuriu and around Vlailivastock. Onoe moie the Japanese have lowered Iho dnvlc veil, and it* opacity is ns impenetrable an ever. Vladivorfjoek hiis been repotted to be besieged , invested, even captured, but nil these htoiics lin-ve their oiigin in ]<ondon, and luive not even come tlirough the telegraph cihlo, Mliicli certainly has canic.l many exceeding Meep "yarns" since the. M.ir began. Almost equally opaquo us the veil which hides front us tlio prenenl. intiiniil condition of J{u««ia, All we know is tb.it disaffection and disturbance lido liimpidit over most of the Enipiie, only kejrt within bounds by military or police massacres, which are ahiiiys succeeded by a ssahM nations. And the very 1.u«.l thing that Uic RiiNtinn Govornmenl would dare, to do ih to make peace at the cost nf bringing homo some half a, million of disgraced and infuriated soldiers to swell tilts ranks of (he malcontents and supply the weapon of military skill whose lack is the only thing that' hinders the ncquihilion of dominance by the -party of reform. TITE BUDGET. Mr. Austen Chamberlain's second Budget is (i bitter disappointment to the oppressed income-tax payer of the UniUd Kingdom. Afler Jong continued indications of a serious deficit the tide had turned so decisively that a surplus of live to seven millions was anticipated by many who are in the inner circle of "the know." Owing, however, to a less favourable finish to the financial year than had been boned for, the surplus was barely two millions. Now a penny in the pound income-tax represents about £2,000,000, so Mr. Austen Chamberlain had not even a penny to spare off that very unpopular impost, and thus, in spile of his previous plain declaration that the income-lax paper hud the first claim for lelief, nothing has been done for him, twopence being tuken oft tea instead, as n sop to the so-called wpvking elu.ss, whoso special right to that designation I always venture to dispute. But let us say to the "manual labour 1 class. And ro this war-tax of a. shilling in the pound in time of peace Mill reinams""on our shoulders, checking expenditure and deadening trade. r.AOKMOUS MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS. What makes the prolongation of war taxation still more ocrious is the vast and inpidly-grow ing mnguitudc of our local burdens. Money is borrowed by the various local bodies with reckless extravagance, and then, as recklessly and extravagantly kquandcrcd. I need not inflict, upon New Zealand readers the indigestible masses of figures which have latterly found publication, as belting fnilh the enormous local and municipal indebtednww of this country. It will give a better idea of the severity with which English ratepnyeis aro burdened if I mention that, the local rales, altogcthcrapart fiom, general taxation, commonly amount to from 8s to 1O.» in the £, and in one London district (Poplar), reach a maximum of 12s in the £. Vet thai same district, Poplar, which already has a 12s late, k at tlio pnM>nl moment floating a new loan for various desired improvements! But the- moit flagrant offender of nil m respect of v. -niton and wasteful and prollig.itc expendituie is the London Count y Council. Some years ago its creator. Lord Salisbury, accused it of "meguluinnnin," nrul this tendency has now attained an appalling magnitude. Its lnk'H development was keen this week in the publiratmn of n gigantic design for a London County Council Palace — soothingly called "oHiops" — the cost of which is estimated at the agreeable little Mini of £1,700,000 sterling. The ingenuously plmiMh'.a defence for what looks like profligate extra viig.mre is that the annual oluirge on (he ratepayer will not exceed tl(,e Mini which at present has to bo paid for lvni, an outlay which, of couibc, would be rendcicd no longer »eu\s«iiry if the Council had its own ofllces. But the really alarming feature of this new proposal is that it does not seem to | have occurred to rtny member of the Coun- , oil that no necessity existed to spend in interest upon a. loan for building.-* and site tho s.wne «urn that in now required for oflico rent, or that tho Council could very well secure all the accommodation it really needs for Iwt* than half this annual outlay. That the fact is so appeals to bo undisputed ; but the grc.it ide.i of tho London County Council seems to be to put up a costly and showy and imposing palace instead of Iwing content with, mere humdrum, utilitarian office*. And as it is tho ratepayers and not they personally who will have to pay for all this contemplated grandeur, naturally the latcpayer who has no direct voice in the cxpendiluie, does not get heard, wherci.* the County Councillors, although they may not benefit directly by the vast expenditure, certainly do so indirectly in tho c.ise of those who vote for it tlirough the reflected credit of employing proportionately more labour, which is tho wodorn method of influencing votes — mother words, the fashionable form of bribery. EXTRAVAGANCE OR NECESSITY. It is desirable that these formidable facia, dry us they may seem at first sight, should be fully appreciated and carefully studied in New Zealand, where it is probnblo th.it a similar state of affairs may in some cases exist, albeit, of course, on ft far smaller scale, and whero there always •has been n» undoubted tendency in that direction nlike in colonial and in municipal politics. In the present slate of things in England, colonists lvmy see their own awe as if through a huge magnifying glass, and may thus learn somo useful lessons as to tho effects and results oE " megalomania," whether prevalent on a relatively .small or relatively large scale. Two very eminent men, bol'h largely associated with commerce, and llunnee, have just been speaking; out very strongly on tho topic, •but have tvibeai opposite- .sides. Lord Avebury (better known ns Sir John Lubbock) has raised poignantly tha cry of alarm as to the disastrous tendency of the present rage- for extravagant borrowing and profligate outlay, and has pointed out that there must be a limit to this sort of thing nliko in national and in municipal affairs, while ho utters a grave warning that this limit of safety is now being narlowly approached. Sir Albert Rollitt, on tho other hand, whilo admitting the vustuess, alike of flic public debts flml expenditure, nevertheless contends that on (he whole, Iho public hii? got good valuo for its money, and that in respect of sanitary improvements, facilities for locomotion, and public convenience of all sorts, the. ratepayers have obtained results which, economically and otherwise, aro well worth all they have cost. Tho rejoinder to this view is, of course, that numbers of things may be highly desirable and, if obtained, beneficial, for which nevertheless the persons benefited cannot ntlord to pay. and winch, therefore, in tho case of a private individual, mu«l either be done without or procured on "tick," tho latitcr method being commonly condemned by moralists. A SERIOUS MATTER. But tho most serious pliant? of (he mutter is the coincidence of this condition of things in both Imperial and municipal nf-f-iirs simultaneously. Already (he ovil cffn'ts aio becoming p-iinfully manifest. Notwithstanding thp extreme difficulty of securing house-room in London, large numbers of empty houses ore now to be seen in ni.my of the moit popular ievidential disliicts of tho Metiopolis and its suburbs. People find that they simply cannot stand tho combined weight of he.ivy w,\i -taxation in time of peace, and of huge local rulus, and cousci|uently it is j

beginning to be found, as has so oflen been the case in a smaller degree formerly, that increased taxation and rating does not biing in anything liko propoitional incienient of revenue, while it injuies tiado and commerce to so great an exlenl as to lead injuriously upon tho indirect taxation. Privete expenditure becomes compul.sonly abridged as public e.\i>cmlituri, expands, and with the constriction of people's, spending power, comcb the unavoidable correlative, diminution of ti.ule. It it no answer U> nay thut Bnln>h commerce Mill shows an increase, it does not show anything like the rato of increase thut would Iw proportional to the enhanced burden of taxation, or to the progms mad© by other countries which Britain once, left, as it seemed, hopeles-sly in the rear. THE POLITICAL SITUATIONBLUFF AND TRICKERY. In PnrlianiMit thero still prevails the anomalous s>iUto of things to which I have pieviously lefeirel. Mr. Balfour retains power by majorities l tinging downward to as low a point as twelve — the result of one of the latest divisions in the House of Commons Both sides arc play- . ing a game of llaguml blnfT and tiickiry, j and there is not a pin to choose between them. Public intenst and public business are alike neglected; measuies of the > utmost importance and urgency, such a* j the Aliens Bill and the Investigation of the j South Ahican War Swindles, are post- ; poued indefinitely, while vhe House amuses itrelf with exhibitions of nval trickery — while the Opposition try to trick the Uovernment into either dissolution or resignation, and while Ministers keep in oifice and checkmate the Opposition by various dodges of eounter-tiiclcory. Probably, the House of Commons has seldom sunk so low in these respects as at tho present time. But there is thi^ excuse to be mado for Ministers : That the lead in Parliamentary business does rest with them, whereforo they are perfectly justified in deciding whether a particular political question, such as Fiscal Reform, bhall ho considered now or later, and also in retaining oflico so long as supported by a majority in the House. The Opposition conveniently forget that Mr. Bnlfour's norinoy majority !h even now 50 per cent, larger than that which, when led by Mr. Gladstone, they held to be sufficient to warrant his preceding with the policy of Imperial disruption, soothingly entitled Homo Rule. They also forcct the lino taken by their idol of former dnys with regard to the importance which should be attached to by-elections. A SHARP SLAP FOR THE GOVERNMENT. Still, it must be confessed that one revise just recently sustained by the Government at a by-election is quite the sharpest slap in the face that any Briti>h Minister has over had to experience. Mr. Gerald Loder, one of the Unionist mcmi bers for Brighton, was nominated to a | vacant Lordship of the. Treasury, and, of course, on his acceptance of tho ofllce ho was constitutionally compelled to submit himselt for re-election. It is no secret that one reason why he was chosen for tho vacancy was that the Brighton scat which had been staunchly Conservative from time immemorial, was believed to be perfectly snfe. Tt iti possible that this conviction may have induced a certain amount of slujjgisluics in tho local Conservative camp. But at any rate the astounding and overwhelming result of tho election was that the new member-desig-nate of tlin Government, who had previously been returned by a majority of 2549, was ipnominiou^ly rejected by a Inajority of 817. this iuvo'lvilur a transfer of 1732 votes from the Conservative to (he Libeial aide, and an advantage of two votes in the House for the Opposition npainst tho Government in a division. Thus, Mr. Gerald Lndcr is the second member of tho Ministry to be defeated on seeking ro-eilecti<>n, and this latest disaster as more tremendous than even tho comparatively recent olio in Scotland when the Lord Advocate expeuenced a similar fate. Without attaching any unduo woicrht to casual by-elections, it must bo confessed that this last debacle dors bear a painful resemblance to " the wiiting on the wall." FINAL DEVELOPMENTS. Mr. Balfour's latest move in dealing ■with tho [untie attempt of the Ojiposi* tioli to bring on a Jj'Ue.il Reform debate and division, lumvly, the retiienient from the flor.se of hiinsilf and all his party whilu that question is on, although admittedly clever as a stroke of party strategy, certainly does not command respect in tho country generally. On the first occasion, two Ministerialists did vote in Ihu division, the uutubors consej quently being k64 against two ; in tho I scoond iustunuo tho abstention was withI out exception, and so the motion con- ! demning Fiscal Reform had to bo dei dared carried nem. com., which left the j Government in the position of having 1 wh.it was practically a vote of censure , upon the Prime Minister carried by the j House, without a dissentient voice. Mr. j Balfour's attitude next day was strange j beyond parallel. He actually professed entire ignorance that such a vote had j been passed, aud would not accept an I assurance to that effect until the oilieial 1 i n try had been brought to him and i placed under his nose.' I imagine tint I ho regaided this peculiar proceeding as i being huuinvous in its character, but I I have not jet met with a single person who hesitates to sl.igmati.se it us childish and silly, unworthy either of tho man, his position, or the occasion. Quite the latest development in the House of Commons is an attempt to employ against the Opposition tho tactics that party have used against the Government in reference to Fiscal Reform, i.e., tho employment of every possible dcvi.cc to make Ministers commit themselves prematuiely, irrevocably, and injuiiously on the question, 'l'he Unionists now aro similarly endeavouring to draw from the Liberal' leaders somo compromising declaration on the score of Homo Rule, it being clearly recognised that abandonment of that policy would definitely alienate tho Irish Nationalist^ whilo its re.ifnmmtion would appreciably harden up tho Unionist side. Practically, however, tho efforts of both sides to work mutual damage lmvo been resultless, save in costing nn inordinato wasto of public time. Meanwhile, the Opposition certainly do score to this extent, that by means of varying the systematic obstruction they render it viitually impracticable for tho Government to mako nny material progress with the business of the country — a most patriotic achievement. AN ANGRY SCJ4NR A few days ago, obstructive tacti« were developed to such an extent as to { lead to an all-night sitting. It was the Army Annual Bill that underwent this factious resistance. Tho Opposition endeavoured to forty tho Government, to report progress in Iho Committee stage. Mr. Balfour refused to adopt llm cmirst, J iind carried the closure tinio after Unit ] by substantial majorities, and ultimately ' «* climax was reached, which is dcsciibud by an eye-witness as follows.— An angry ' sceno was witnessed at four o'clock, when the Secretary for War once more, in tones inaudible to the Opposition, moved to closure the clause Togothei several Radical members sprang to their, fret, all pitilesling indiguitiitly. Mi. | Lloyd-Gent go complained in loud voice I that Mr. Ainold-FoistT w-as treating tin.I House with di'-resp.Jct in mumbling to the. Chairman. Mr. Jeffreys, who throughout the tijiiij. proi-enMuuh in>mtained >i quiet d meniour r\p'um\l 11n.ituiv "t the proposal, and speedily I tho House was cleared for the divisn.ui. j

Tho temporary quietness of the Chamber ! was interrupted by some loud shouting, and a second pluiubtfring member belonging to the Nationalist Party was then discovered talking in hi B sleep. He was j! promptly aroused by two of his colleagues t.md directed into the lobby. By 145 to '100 the closure motion was agreed to, aud thi-n thu Committee paused the .clause by M 5 to 101. The dreary inItervals devoted to walking through the I division lobbies was relieved by vocal .selections, iv which Ireland and Wales joined in pleasnnt livalry. Mr. Lundon, I a Nationalist of powerful voice, was the 'iirnt to burst into wjiik with a rendering in Gaelic of "Who Feais to spwik of '98," in ulnch many of his wnubed colleagues joined in English. Later was given "Tho Boys of Wexford," by Mr. I Condon, the chorus ol which was eagerly taken up by many of his friends, bomo i Ringing in English and others in Uavlic. Mr. William Abnihani ("Mnbon") afterwards obliged with "The Men of liarlech," and "Wo Won't Go Home Till Morning" was a favourite finata. Five o'clock found the Committee listening U) the voice of Mr. Keir Hftrdie. who ' proposed a new clause, asking thai an i iilv.tr.tct of the Army Act should be i exhibited in every recruiting station and be read to every 'applicant for service in the Army before enlisting. Mr. ArnoldI Fur.ster "refused to accept it, and the j clause was rejected by 141 to 94, but ! not until thy closure had been carried j by the same figures. WAX AND THE PUBLIC DEBT. Considerable uneasiness is being expressed in finiiK-hl circles «t tho failure of the Government to effect any reduction in tho Public Debt as it has .been left through tho costly and mismanaged iSouth African War. Ono prominent and capable critic says: — "Do tho Government, tho House of Commons, ami the country roalise that: (1) We have paid 'off no dobt since the war; (2) wo shall n,iy off no debt in the current year to 31st March, 1906; (3) we shall pay off no lebt either in 1906-07, or in 1907-08? In brief, do thoy realise that for six ycirs after tho close of a costly wai, involving an v enormous addition to our capital liabilities, tho national rovenuo will not provide anything for reducing tho debt of tho country! In these circumstances is it not proven thai tho Chancellor of tlw F<xchequcr and those ro&ponsiblo for tho finances of this country aro guilty o£ gravo deselection of duty in bringing in such Budgets as thoso which luvo been presented to Parliament in "eccnt yeara?" It might bo asked : How, with already upon us the burden of n shilling income tax and local rates ranging up to 12s iv the £, can anything bo <K)ne toward debtreduclion? " But 'the obvious answer is that for the nako of mere popularityhunting, tho Government abandoned quite needlessly, a corn duty which brought in twe millions a year, and now more than another million in the shape of a diminished tea duty, neither of which had been appreciably felt by anybody. A CELEBRATED CASE RE-HEARD. Somo t>f my Npw Zealand readers will remember, 1 dare say, the celebrated Ifiirtopp divorce case, which I describod very fully at tho time it ivas heard, rather moro than a year ago, it-3 salient feature being tho marvellous skill and ■pluck with which the pretty respondent, Lady Hurtopp, kept at bay for several whole* days, one of the most famous and acute of all tho English cross-examinors, Mri ' Lawson Walton, K.C., and not only completely beat him, but actually made him ridiculous. As ro3porid n nt on that occasion she. .won her caso; J !Rirt her husband, Sir Charles Hartopp, resolved to bo at her Again. The rosult has been a second divorco trial, in which lo the intense disappointment of the sensation-loving public, thero was no repetition of the previous war of wit. Neither Lsidv Haxtopp nor ■(ho co-respondent, Lord Cowley, offered any defence, and so a decree nisi was prononnml. It is rumoured that so soon as tho decrco shall bo made absolute tho respondent will become Lady Cowley. THE REVIVAL MOVEMENT. Apparently tho Revival Movement has diod out in London. The Torrey-Alox-and?»r Mission in London really foil very flat. Tho Missiouer always had a certain number of followers, but never efpniPd to reach a yard beyond the limit of habitual gmxly-goodyisiu. So Messrs. Torrpy and Alexander havo now shnken off the dust of London and betaken themselves to the southern suburb of lirixton. The capdrs of Mr. Evan Roberts, the Welsh Revivalist, arc growing daily moro monstrous; even many of his admirers aro beginning to recognise that tho unfortunate, but doubtless well -meaning young man, requires restraining. Tho alleged miraculous mani fostations never came off when anybody was there to act as a credible witm>«s in support of their authenticity. On those occasions t he mysterious light and other pious funniments woro always couepicuoiu by their total absence.