SUMMARY OF THE YEAR

Evening Star, Issue 18161, 29 December 1922, Page 2

SUMMARY OF THE YEAR

Jta immediate predecessor, the year has been one of conferences, but they have been anxious conferences, for the moat part, rather than hopeful ones. The statesmen called to Washington by President Harding completed their labors on February 6, having passed momentous agreements, including a Four-Power Pact to preserve the peace of the Far East and a Five-Power Pact for the limitation of naval armaments. No 1 later conference has "been so satisfactory. The largest and most ambitious, opened at Genoa on April 10, and intended -to do for Europe what was done at Washington for the Ear East, was the greatest failure. Tho first blow was dealt, to its prestige and prospect of usefulness whcb America declined to be a party to it, and disunity was its temper from the beginning. The Bolshevik delegates showed no object except to thwart the Allies, and the revelation of a secret treaty, transacted in advance of the conference, by Germany and Russia made the worst impression. The great congress, convened with high hopes by Mr Lloyd George, was adjourned finally to prevent a dramatic breakdown, and when delegates met again at The Hague to discuss Russian questions more particularly they showed themselves no nearer agreement. Default in German reparations was tho causa of another Allied Conference, being held in London in August, which proved abortive owing to divergence of French and British views as to the pressure that should be placed on Germany, M. Poincare, the French premier, stood relentlessly opposed to tho moratorium recommended by the Reparations Commission, unless it were accompanied by coercive guarantees whioh Great Britain felt would defeat tbeir own purpose. Finally the problem of shoring up Germany’s finances and extracting from her a sum which would not be beyond her means to pay was evaded,, rather than solved, by an agreement relieving her of cash payments till the end of tho year in return for Treasury bills backed by guarantees. Since then the frantic decline of the Gorman mark, following the Austrian krone, and threatening bankruptcy for tho Fatherland, with incalculable evil consequences for the rest of civilisation, has made tho chief anxiety of financiers. Disaster was averted from Austria by an international loan arranged for by the League of Nations in September, but to save Germany presents a much vaster problem. A Reparations Conference, held in London in December, produced no agreement among the Allies.

The Assembly of the Leap© of Nations began its third conference on September 5, and ended it with a large accession of prestige.

The year, which began with new promise of peace, has ended with alarms, caused by Turkey. A conference of the Allies which wts held in March to revise the Treaty of Sevres was made resultlcss by the intransigence of Kemal Pasha’s Nationalists.' At the end of August and beginning of September, when the Q-ncco-i Turkish War had been almost, forgotten owing to its long quietness, a swift offensive by the Turks, helped apparently by French munitions, swept the Greeks out of Asia Minor. The city of Smyrna, all but the Turkish quarter, was burned dowu in the hour of the victors’ entry. Throats made by Kemal Pasha and the Angora Government raised the fear that the Kemalista would, bo tempted to transgress the neutrality of the Straits and attempt to regain territory lost by the last war in Europe -by, force. On September 16 the British Government issued a statement that it would make “great exertions” to oppose , such a development, and invited the dominions to offer contingents if required. The New Zealand and Australian Governments at once agreed, and, while Canada and South Africa waited, the danger passed. A Note by France, Britain, and Italy suggested a Peace Conference, and the return of Eastern Thrace and Adrianople to the Turks if their conditions were agreed to. The effect of the shock on Greece was a revolution which forced Constantine to abdicate for the second time, Prince George being raised to the throne. At the same time the Turks deposed their Sultan, a new Caliph being, appointed without temporal powers. On October 30 the Fascist! movement of extreme Nationalists expelled the Italian Government by threat of force, establishing an Administration of thMr own with their leader, Mussolini, as Prime Minister. The Lausanne Conference, for the settlement of Near Eastern troubles, opened on November 20. It is stall sitting, and the prospects at the moment are not favorable to an early and satisfactory settlement.

Opening with the bright promise of tranquillity which was afforded when the Dai] ratified the Treaty with Britain by 64 votes to 67 on January 7, the year has been a disappointing one in Ireland. The wifi of the majority was at onco defied by Mr Do Valera, while ‘‘General” Roderick O’Connor headed a rebellious section of the army, pledged to tho Republican cause. The great Four Courts building in Dublin, seized by O’Connor at Easter, waa made the headquarters of revolutionary activities, notably directed to the promotion of outrages in Ulster meant to render government impossible in the North. Emboldened by tho overwhelming verdict given for it and for the treaty by the elections, in which .all the principal extremists were unseated, the Free State Government on June 28 made an attack on the Four Courts rebels who refused to surrender to its authority. As the result of several days’ fighting the historic building was demolished, and Die rebels not captured took to the open field. In a short military campaign which followed they were driven irom pillar to pest by the Free State forces under Mr Michael Collins, but the war of brigandage and dee Suction which they are stiff conducting has been most costly to Ireland. The Free State sustained two heavy losses when its President, Mr Arthur Griffith, died and' ita Premier, Mr Collins, was killed in an ambush, within eleven days of each other jn August last, A new Government was established with Mr Cosgrave as President and Mr Muloahy as War Minister, pledged to the continuance at its predecessors’ policy. Military executions andi threats of assassination have made the latest history of the domestic “ war." On December 5 the Irish Oou■titution Act passed by the British Parliament received the Royal Assent, Mr Tim Healy being appointed Governor of the new dominion. From the Irish Free State thus established the Ulster Government lost no time in contracting itself out.

The year has been a troubled on© in South Africa. A strike of gold and coal miners on the Band, begun as an economic dispute at the beginning of January, was developed into an attempt at revolution by the Bolshevist element who obtained control <?f, the executive of the Men’s Federation. On March 10 an armed outbreak began, requiring martial law to be proclaimed. On the 12th General Smuts arrived in Johannesburg, and’by the I6th the revolt was suppressed, after considerable fighting by the rallying of all classes Wqsfc . .extasoutg, Its ppprofiidaQi

was not effected without heavy casualties. ] and for a time there, appeared the danger that tho entire Rond, including Johannesburg, would conic under tho control of the revolutionaries. In recant weeks a strong agitation has been made against death sentences imposed upon participants in the rebellion. Some executions took place, but the men convicted of murder in connection with tho Brakpan mino affair were reprieved. It has been a year of elections. Those of New South Wales, held in April, brought the Dooley Administration, of financial recklessness, to tho ground, a new Government being formed under Sir George Fuller On October 18 British Conservatives meeting at tho Carlton Club, who had long been dissatisfied with Mr Lloyd George’s control and policy, and found their case strengthened by tho Near Eastern developments, which had brought the country unexpectedly to tho verge of war, resolved, despite the advico of Mr Chamber lain, Lord Balfour, and other leading Unionists, that tho Conservatives should have done with tho Coalition, and aspire to form & Government of their own. At once Air Lloyd George resigned, being dramatically deprived of his majority. Mr Bonar Law was chosen to form, a Government, which, as the result of elections held on November 15, found itself in pos-. session of a majority of seventy-eight over all other parties, with Labor as the second strongest party, and Mr Lloyd George’s following of National Liberals reduced to fifty-five, Tho Australian elections were anything but satisfactory to Mr Hughes. His party of thirty-eight was reduced to twenty-eight, while tho Laborites increased their strength from twenty-four to thirty. Tho Nationalist casualties included five Ministers. The Country Party has fourteen members, the Liberals two, and Independent one. The Prince of Wales's tour of India, in progress when the year began, was made loss than a full success by Nationalist boycotts. At tho beginning of March Mr Montagu’s resignation as Secretary for India was necessitated by hia publishing, without consultation of Cabinet, a telegram from the Indian Government urging extreme concessions to the Turks for the allaying of Moslem discontent in India. Lord Peel succeeded him, and still holds office. Tho arrest of Mr Gandhi, archagitator, was received quietly by both Hindus and Mohammedans, and, tho coun-. try has since then been generally tranquil. Tho independence of Egypt as a separate State, subject to certain reservations for tbo protection of British and foreign interests, was announced on February 28. Catastrophes of the year include the following January 28 —The roof of tho Knickerbocker Theatre, Washington, collapsed, causing over one hundred deaths. February 21—The American airship Roma crashed, and thirty-four out of forty-five of ita crew were killed. April 20—Tho explosion of a munitions dump at Monastic caused over 1,800 deaths. May 20 —The P. and 0. steamer Egypt was sunk in a collision with a cargo steamer in the British Channel, with loss of ninety-five lives). August 5 —100,000 lives lost by a typhoon at Swatow, China. August 29 —A Chilian passenger steamer was sunk in a collision, with a death list of 316. ; November 10 — A Chilian earthquake and tidal wave destroyed over 500 lives. In Now Zealand the parliamentary session, begun late last year, was continued over Christmas. Acts were passed establishing a dominion meat pool for the more systematic marketing of frozen meat, extending the moratorium, and facilitating the procedure of the Arbitration 'Act forth e modification of awards in accordance with the cost of living. In Juno a byeloction for Dunedin North, caused by the death of Mr E. Keliott, resulted in tho return of Mr J. W. Munro (Labor) in a three-cornered contest. Tho passing of a Main Highways Bill and tho ratification of the reciprocal commercial treaty with Australia formed the main achievements of tho regular session. An attempt by tbo Government to set up a dairy produce pool, on the model of tho meat pool, proved impracticable owing to tho strength of opposition. The result of the elections, hold on December 7, was a balance of parties, making tho necessity for an early session to be held next year to allow of the position being straightened out. Retrenchment and tho reduction by the Arbitration Court of workers’ bonuses, in accordance with the fall in the cost of living, inevitably caused resentment to be felt by largo sections against the Government. There was a general feeling. also that tho Opposition should be stronger than it wae in the last Parliament. The effect of tho two influences was to reduce the strength of tho Reform Party to- slightly less than a majority of tho House, though it remained much the largest, of three parties forming it. The Liberals’ strength was practically unaffected, and official Labor increased ita representation from nine members to seventeen. A bad drift of tho national finances, caused in the main by growth of interest burdens and the effect on revenue of post-war conditions, lias been stayed as a result of the Government’s policy of economy, and the business prospects and conditions with which the year ends foam a welcome contrast to those with which it opened. DEATHS OF THE YEAR. The year’s death roll of famous names has been a long one. The Roman Catholic Church has had cause -to mourn tho loss of a Popo—Benedict XV.—and, more recently,"* Father Bernard Vaughan. Statesmen whom death has claimed include Lord Bryce, Viscount Haxcourt (exSecretary for the Colonies), Baron Sonnlno (ex-Foreign Minister of Italy), Princes Okuma and Yamagata (of Japan), M. Take Jonescu (Rumanian Minister), Sir Charles Wade and Mr J. S. T. M'Gowan (ex-Premiers of New South Wales), Mr Arthur Griffith (President) and Mr Michael Collins (Secretary of the Irish Free State). Sir Ernest Shackleton and Mr David Lindsay (explorers), with Sir Ross Smith (who made the first flight from Britain to Australia, and was dashed fatally .to the earth when ho was preparing to attempt a round-the-world flight), have been lost to the company of gallant adventurers. Philanthropists who have passed beyond the veil include Pandita Ramabai (tho Indian woman reformer) and Sir Arthur Pearson; while science must mourn the loss of Dr Graham Bell (the inventor of the telephone) and Dr W. H. R. Rivers, tho eminent anthropologist., Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson was assassinated in London, and RearAdmiral Duirtaresq, ex-Co mznander-in-Chief of the Australian Navy, died on his way to England immediately after the relinquishing of that post. The cxEmperor Karl of Austria, Marshal Von Falkenhayn, who was Chief of Staff of tho German armies during an important period of tho war, and General Christian Do Wet, wore cx-onemy victims of the year. Lovers of art and literature have been specially heavy, as is shown by tho following names : Henry Lawson, Wilfrid Sea wen Blunt, and Alice Meynell, poets; W. H. Hud-

idramatist; Mr Blair Leighton, artist; Sir Thomas Brock, sculptor; .Sir Charles Santloy, singer; Herr Nikish, tho Hungarian conductor; and Sir John Hare, actor. Lord Northcliffo, the groat newspaper proprietor, and Mr John G. Woolley, the American Prohibitionist leader, wore also among tho victims of tho, year. Tho obituary list for New Zealand includes the following Rev. Dr Michael Wattandßov. Andrew Grojy (Presbyterian ministers), Rev. Dr hjeligan (Anglican ex-Bishop of Auckland), Rev. W. C. Oliver and Rev. L. Hudson (Methodist ministers), Rov. R. S. Gray (Baptist), .Rev. Father Murphy (former administrator of St. Joseph’s Cathedral), Hon. Colonel Baillio (last of tho life members of the Legislative Council), Hon. C. A. C. Hardy, M.L.C., Mr Seymour Thorno George (ex-M.L.C.), Mr Percy Smith (ex-Survoyor-Goneral), Mr W. C. Kensington (cx-Undor-Socrctary for'Lands), Mr P. C. Corliss (Commissioner of Stamps), Mr William Davidson (educationist), Mr William Pryor (secretary of tho Employers' Federation), Lady Roberts, Mr J. M. Stevenson (Mayor of Port Chalmers), Mr Gabriel Hodges (cxMayor of St. Kilda), Mr James Reid (cxMayor of Arrowtown), Mr Donald Reid (ex-Mayor of Milton), Mr S. C. Owen (ex-chairman of Otago Chamber of Commerce), Mr F. Calvert (ex-president Otago Law Society), Mr Daniel Brent (exmostor Otago Boys’ High School), Mr Donald Borrio (ex-chairman. Otago Education Board), Mr Thomas W. Whitson (exsecretary Union Company), Mr John Ewing (pioneer of hydraulic sluicing in Now Zealand), Mr Robert Breen (Labor loader), Mr Henry Wise (directory publisher), Mr Sidney Wolf (musician), Lieutenant S. S. George (military bandmaster), Mr Tom Pollard (theatrical manager), Mr James Gray, and Mr Albert Cohen. Ranks of tho "old identities" have boon thinned by tbo loss of Mr F. B. dapeott, Mr George Blytb (ex-city councillor), Mr Martin Pearce (town clerk of Caversham), Mr Job Wain, Mr Walter Riddell, Mr John Shennan (Berwick), Mr David Hannah (Outram), Mr M. Little (Oarnaru), Mr Christopher Qodby (Christian worker), Mr Allan Galt, Mr William G. Fail, and the following veterans of Gabriel’s Gully:—Messrs Robert Webb, Henry Anderson, Jolm Ponsonby, Thomas Murray, Peter Barkman, David Fyfe, A. B. Donald, James Wilson, Michael O’Connor, John Douglas, John Rose, Thomas Johnston, Thomas W. Wright, and Kenneth Bums Bain.