BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 112, 7 November 1908, Page 13

BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

SPECTATOR SUMMARY. (For the week ending, 12th September.) GERMAN FINANCE. The semi-official North German Gazette of Wednesday has an important article on German Imperial finances, which is summarised in Thursday's Times. The need for a thorough reorganisation of the entire financial system is emphasised by a comprehensive retrospect, showing (1) the immense growth of the Imperial debt, which has advanced from £800,000 in 1877 to £212,500,000 at the present day; (2) the national danger involved in a constant multiplication of Government securities which tend to depreciate in value ; (3) the continued growth of expenditure while revenue has remained piactically stationary. The method in which the Government proposes to deal with the situation is then indicated. Speaking generally, expenditure is to be strictly limited — with tho proviso that no economies are possible which would in any way impair tho military efficiency of the Empire or hamper the State in the work of promoting Bociil progress — and revenue judiciously increased, while debt is to be redeemed and unproductive expenditure no longer met out of loans. Specific measures for augmenting the revenue are then foreshadowed, viz., heavier taxes on articles of general consumption ; the extension of the existing legacy duties on the lines of our "death duties" ; a readjustment of the matricular contributions of the Federated States ; and lastly, taxes on "various characteristic amenities of modern civilisation." Details of these proposals are not as yet forthcoming, but, in view of the quarter in which they have been made public, there is no reason to doubt their substantially representing the intentions of the Government. MOSLEMS ON BRITISH RULE. The last Indian mail brought the text of the striking letter by the Aga Khan, the most prominent of the Indian Mohammeuans, ,which was read at the opening meeting of the Deccan Provincial ■ Moslem League. This is a branch of the All -India Moslem League, and the Aga Khan is its presidents. In the course of his long letter the Aga Khan said : — "British rule — not only a v* *- lar supremacy, but a vigorous force per- ' meating every branch of the administration — is an absolute necessity. Therefore, I put it to you that it is the duty of all true Indian patriots to make that rule . strong. I do not mean strong in the physical sense. That is a duty of Great Britain which she is perfectly able to discharge. Moreover, Great Britain's mission in the East not, and never has been, one of force, but of the peace and liberality which have brought to tens of millions in Asia the comfort, the prosperity, and opportunities of intellectual advancement which they now enjoy. No, I mean strong in its hold on the mind^ the K affection, the imaginatioh of the peoples of India. This is a duty which lies not only upon Mohammedans, but equally upon Hindus, Parsees, and Sikhs, upon all who are convinced of the benevolence of British rule. If there are any among the less thoughtful members of the Hindu community who think they can snatch temporary advantage by racial supremacy, let them pause all they would lose by the withdrawal of that British control under which has' been effected the amazing progress of the past century." We may add that the mail also brought us several tributes to British rule from other Indian Mohammedans. These are tributes of the most valuable kind, because they are discriminating. Indian Mohammedans may rest assured that their loyal and opportune support at this time is valued to the full by Englishmen at Home. DECLINE IN TRADE. The Board of Trade returns for August show greatly decreased values in both imports and exports. The decline in imports amounts to £6,544,396, while exports have decreased by £7,012,358, the decline in articles wholly or mainly manufactured alone amounting to £6,--161,386, of which £3,000,000 is due to textiles and £1,000,000 to iron and steel. Some of this decline is accounted for by the fact that the month contained one working day less than August, 1907, and the values are also affected by lower prices ; but\ the general tendency Is sufficiently indicated by the fact that for tho eight months ended August, 1908, as compared with the corresponding period in 1907, imports have- decreased by £42,000,000, exports by £30,--000,000, and re-exports by nearly £14,--000,000. DEPRESSION. Yet, as the Westminster Gazette points out, even now the exports for the first eight months are six and a half millions more than in the corresponding period in 1906, and it is only with the "record" figures of 1907 that those of this year compare unfavourably. Compared with 1902, the figures for 1908 show that while imports had increased by only a tenth, exports had gone up by over a third. A more serious index of the depressed condition of trade, however, is to be found in the Report, on Changes in Rates of Wages and Hours of Labour issued this week by the Board of T'-ade. During the first six months of 1908 415,641 workmen have been affected by increases, and 429,478 by decreases, the figures for the corresponding period in 1907 being 1,168,236 and 207. The net amount of the decrease per week m the wages of those affected is £16,247 for JanuaryJune, 1908, as against an increase of £115,170 for the same period in 1907. As in last year, the changes affecting coahniners have been the predominant fnetor, changes in the engineering and shipbuilding trades and in iron and steel manufactures sending next. INTENSIFIED UNDER PROTECTION. Perhaps the most helpful commentary on these figures, and on the gloomy reports of unemployment in our great industrial centres, is to be found in the admirable , speech of Mr. Franklin Pierce, the distinguished American freetrader, who was entertained at luncheon by the Glasgow and West of Scotland Unionist Free-trade Club yesterday week. Mr. Franklin Pierce reminded his hearers that in highly protectionist countries they had even more unemployment — about thirty-five per cent of the trade unionists were out ot employment last winter in America — while the price of labour was higher hero than in any of the Continental countries where higu protection prevailed. Tho people of Great Britain, he went on, were the ir ost modest in the world ; they did not appreciate their greatness. They had made a record under free trade which was without parallel ; yet they were not satisfied, and talked about change. If they did not appreciate the magnitude of their achievements in the last sixty years, they ought almost to go over to protection and get a dose of it. When people talked of moderate protection they were guilty of a contradiction in terms. They could not be moderate in protection any more than they could fall half-way down Niagara.