TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 110, 11 May 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

In three, months the tale of crime com-

mittod in the Wellne District's lington district has Crime. undergone a remarkable change. Yesterday, m charging the Grand Jury, Mr. Justice Chapman said that, taken as a whole, the cases did not disclose anything that need cause any feeling of disquiet as to the condition of crime m this large district. Three months ago the same judge expressed his regret that there was a very considerable amount of business for the Grand Jury to transact. The session of February followed the manifestation of housebreaking and highway robbery. Bold criminals took a high hand with people m the street, and his Honour took a high hand with the prisoners when they had been convicted. He piled the years of hard labour upon them in such liberal fashion that he was attacked in some quarters for an alleged display of harshness, but sound opinion sided with the judge in his allotment of punishment calculated to induce undesirables to move on. It is very probable that the promptness of the police in catching some of the undesirable characters and the admirable firmness of tho judge in sentencing them, served to scare away those who had established a species of reign of terror among the more timid section of the community. The list of indictments, mostly of an "ordinary description, "' for the piesent. session, indicates that the procedure of the authorities three months ago did much good for Wellington society. In the ordinary course of events, with winter aproaching, the city might have recently expected some attentions from the lawless, but the usual anticipation has very pleasantly lacked realisation, in any noticeable degree. With a continuation of the estimable vigilance and activity on the part of the police, and reasonable firmness on the Bench, tho birds of prey should continue to regard Wellington as an unprofitable place for their swoops. Many commentators have observed that Sir Joseph Ward likes The Premier to do things on the and the Cables.' large scale. When "Colony" was painted out of the map and replaced by "Dominion," the Premier freely used a new phrase "worthy of the Dominion," fo the apprehension of many New Zealanders, who feared that the price of tho new "handle" would be excessive. However, when Cabinet, in a desire to do something worthy of New Zealand, and worthy of the Empire, made the Dreadnought offer to the 'Mother Country, Sii- Joseph came in for a large meed of praise, though he did, not escape some censure for omitting to consult members of Parliament. Naturally, when the Premier threw a, Dreadnought or two into the English Ch^innel, he expected to hear some echoes of a splash, and to be told that the surfa.ee of the Gea was at least slightly rippkd. The offer was grand ! Was the reception puny? Tho Premier glanced at the cable messages here, and he thought that the news about Britain's sentiments was too meagre. He complained at Kaikoura on Saturday that the cabled dispatches did not adequately represent the effect .created in the Old Country by New Zealand's generosity. No doubt, Sir Joseph will be twitted with expecting four or live Dreadnoughts' worth of "limelight" for the offer of only one or two Dreadnoughts ; but it would be scarcely fair to blame him for expressing some surprise at the meagreness of the reports telegraphed from London. Sir Joseph, in common with other New Zealander.«, was naturally eager to have something more than the bare bones of 'Britain's opinion about the willingness of a country, with a whiter population of under a million, to guarantee £3,000,000 worth oi Navy. The imaginative mind could easily fill out the little messages received her.c, but. Sir Joseph, under tho exceptional circumstances, may have considered that he stood on good ground when he complained about the brevity of the communications. 'Britain, was stirred by the offer, but the cabled news, pernaps, did not fully indicate the depth and breadth of the stir. The Premier passed on to a statement that, in general, New Zealand figured rather unsatisfactorily in the present dispensation of foreign cable messages, via Australia; but in this part of his speech it is difficult to find justification for his remarks. Taking the year round, New Zealand has little cause for grumbling. Tt is freely admitted that the people here, by the present cable service, are able' to : have a very comprehensive daily outlook on the world at large. The nationalists have fully triumphed over despotism in TurTurkey ami key, and the Young PerPersia. sians seem eager to reach the heights of success attained by the Young Turks. Therefore, though , the Shah, at the gentle but iirm pressure of Great Brit-am, ha.s re-established the constitutional retrnne, set up in October, 1907, and abolished autocratically six months later, it is reported that the nationality aro not yet appea&ed, and aim at the occupai tion of Teheran. In the meantime the

Young Turks have pome misgivings even in the fluc-h of their great victory. Shevkefc Pasha, the strong man, who led the army which freed Constantinople from the domination of Abdul-Hamid, has decided that the Government must rule without the interference of "an irresponsible committee." Obviously he is hinting at the Committee ol Union and Progress, the mysterious caucus of the Centralist party. Practically an identical sentiment was expressed by the veteran Kianiil Pasha before he was forced to resign the office of Grand Vizier Ho resented the "power behind the throne," the omnipotent committee of men, who constituted a species of secret society, ever in the background and not far from the foreground. Shevket desires an untrammelled Parliament, representatives of all the people, free to act, without fear, on behali of all the people, and lie may win the majority of Young Turks to his way of thinking. While this topic is butying the minds of Turkey, a little side issue is served up for Europe in to-day's cable news. A German newspaper, published in Constantinople, accuses the British office and press of supporting the recent reactionary movement, and simultaneously tie world is definitely informed about the discovery of letters from the Kaiser among the late Sultan's correspopdence. It is well known, of course, that Kiamil Pasha, ■nho was alleged to be working for Abdul-Hamid, had a friendly leaning towards, Britain, but the inference that Britain, secretly by itf> Foreign Office, r.nd publicly by its press, was in sympathy with the reactionaries, seems to be an allegation conjured up to distract attention from the Kaiser's letters.