(PUBLISHED DAILY.)

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XVII, Issue 2964, 30 October 1891, Page 2

(PUBLISHED DAILY.)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1891.

THE WEEK.

The feature of the week in British politics seems to have been the speech by Mr. Chamberlain, who, though the cable gives us very little of it, has evidently made a great effort. The Daily Chronicle describes it as the most brilliant, audacious, and scathing party speech that has been made since the time of Disraeli. It is to be anticipated that political matters in Great Britain will goon be getting more lively in the prospect of an early dissolution, for the end of the present Parliament cannot be far off.

The fates seem most propitious to the combination now in power, and, despite Mr. Gladstone's ''electoral facts " built tip on the issue of recent by-elections, it is difficult to see that ihe has a very promising chance of giving power at a general election. His references to Egypt during the famous speech be made at the assembly of the National Liberal Federation have met with no response, as far as can be judged from the cables, except in France and Turkey, while in Egypt, where the beneficent effect of British rule is so' highly appreciated, there is nothing but dismay felt at the re-opening of the question of British occupation. As Mr. Chaxn-

berlain cleverly puts it, Egypt has never been so prosperous since the reign of the Pharoaha ; and, whatever may be said as to the moral right of England to be there at all, the fact remains that she was practically forced to take the risk and the responsibility of occupation, and she is not likely to leave it until there are ample guarantees for the internal peace of the country. She may also be pardoned for taking care that when she does leave Egypt it will be on terms that will make very secure ker water-way through the Suez Canal to her Eastern possessions for all time to come. On this Egyptian question Mr, Gladstone does not represent national feeling, even if his speeches give an occasional prick to the national conscience.

Nor ib the position in Ireland likely to aid the Gladßtonians. In England and Scotland the effect of the present bitter strife between sections of the Irish party must be " burdensome and embarrassing" to Mr. Gladstone's followers and the electors who wish to support him; and in Ireland itself the conflict needs only the means and opportunity to develope into a civil war. Nothing more terrible in its bitterness has been seen in Ireland for a long time past, and every day events Beem to make more hopeless any prospect of a reconciliation which would consolidate the Irish party, and enable it to put before the constituences of England, Wales, and Scotland a scheme for giving the relief so long nought for.

The cable message from London announcing the withdrawal from New Zealand of a quarter of a million of money sent here for investment is a sample of the announcements we may expect to hear from the meetings of the financial companies for sometime to come. Of course it will be a pity if it is true, but we must say we do not feel so much alarm on the subject as some of our contemporaries appear to do. We think that the legislation- of last session was unfairly " rough " on some of the land companies. It is said, for instance, that one will have to pay over £20,000 a year mainly in respect of properties which are yielding little or no return, and a large proportion of which it cannot get rid of, firstly, because there are few persons willing to buy, and secondly from the very sufficient reason that owing to the laches of the Legislature there are difficulties as to title which absolutely bar the possibility of sale. So heavy a tax under such circumstances is simply confiscation, and whatever sins may bs alleged against land companies such treatment only reflects dishonor upon the colony. This, we dare say, is an exceptional case, but it is a piece of glaring injustice, which will be made the most of to raise panic cries, and may really alarm financial companies.

Howeveb, we think that when the i first feelings of alarm in respect of the nev taxation are over investors will calmly sit down to consider what they are to gain by withdrawing capital from New Zealand, and we think they will probably find that they will take nothing by such a move. Our fear is and has always been that the burden will find ita level lower down; and the taxation which in> vestorß in the first instance have to pay will before long be added to the rates ot interest to be paid by the improving settler of small means. Capital may, ana no doubt will, to some extent be frightened away, and this will aggravate the evil which we fear is ahead, but for the most part capitalists will simply consider how they can recoup themselves the taxation they are called on to pay. Possibly, there will be less inclination to lend for long terms unless the borrower covenant to pay any increase of taxation. But we have no fear for the capitalists : they will be able to take care of themselves. The people to be thought of are those who must borrow or " bust."

Genebal Booth has occupied much space in the papers this week, and his visit is undoubtedly a matter of great interest. It will do the colonists good to see and hear such a remarkable man face to face. No man has done greater things in the religious world during the last half century, and many years must pass before he is forgotten. Whether the organisation set on foot and kept moving by the spirit o£ energy which Ms zeal- and force of character has imparted to it will continue its activity and power, or whether, on his removal, it will lapse into the respectable calm which has overtaken other bodies once almost as active as the Army is one of the problems which caa' only be answered in the years to come. But of the reality and greatness of the work which has been done, and is still being done, under his directionthere can be no doubt, and for it there can be or should be no halting gratitude. He has carried religious and philanthropicenergy into fields of dark j ness through which he can be tracked by light he has left behind. And he has had the courage to approach social i problems, not in a dilletante magajineartic'.e style, but has gripped them and struggled with them at close quarters. That which has been done by one man is, at anyrate, an evidence of what might be done if there were more men of the Booth stamp in the world. All the criticism levelled against him amounts to a complaint that he has not done all that he expected and wished to do ; but the crushing answer is that he has done more than was expected of him, and more than any man could have hoped for a few years ago. It is good for the colonies to Bee such a man, and good for such a man to see the colonies where he cannot but observe in actual existence conditions of life, which, to him, must heretofore have been largely i<leal and idyllic. It will encourage him to hope and believe that there is a better future for great masses of people than that of sweltering- t$ death physically, morally and spiritually in the dirty slums of great cities, and with his latest breath may be he will

still babble of the green fields he has seen over-sea.

■With respect fio the announcement that Shaw, Savill, and Co. have decjnd their readiness to send steamers l^ren with frozen meat to Liverpool, the New Zealand Times suggests that they are quite aware that they have their eye on the largest market in England — not in Liverpool itself, of coure, but in the manufacturing districts round that great centre. The Argentine trade has the command of this great market at present, but the superior product of New Zealand will arrange matters in that direction. There are two other factors in the situation. The Dock troubles are driving trade +'rom London, and the Manchester Canal is compelling Liverpool merchants to think about making up the losses which the opening of the Manchester Canal is sure to inflict on their trade. Between all these operating causes we should not be surprised to see part of the New Zealand trade directed to Liverpool.

The battle of the routes continues gaily. The Marton people have had their meeting, and, of course, have unanimously passed resolutions in favor of the Central route, and the Wellington people are getting up a league to agitate their side of the question. Meantime, the Minister ot Public. Works has decided that he will not suspend expenditure of the votes taken last session, but that does not mean much. The Public Works Department has officially supplied the following information : — The £65,000 voted last session for works on the north end of this line are intended to cover the cost of the untouched section between the upper Mokau and Poro-o-torau tunnel mentioned in tho Public Works Statement, page 9, and will not be too much for this. The length of the section is eleven milea nine chains, and the rails and sleepers will cost a further sum of £20,000. The length of the section between the tunnel and Ongaruhe, the point where the routes via Waitara or Stratford on the one hand and the Central on the other diverge, is thirteen miles, and the estimated cost of the section is between £60,000 and £70,000. The total cost from Mokau to Ongaruhe will be about £155,000. The estimated cost of the line by the Strat* ford route from Ongatuhe to Stratford is £100,000, and the estimated coat by the Waitara routs from Ongaauhe to Waitara £120,000 ; and the estimated cost by the Central route from Ongaruhe to Eangatira £151,800.

It is to be hoped that farmers and others interested in the frozen meat industry will put in an appearance at the meeting called by the A. and P. Society and by the Farmers' Union for Saturday. The Waitara Freezing Works were kept very fully employed last season, and, with the rapid increase of local supplies of fat stock in the district, it is fair to count upon an equal or greater quantity of stock being offered for freezing during the coming summer and autumn. But many of the guarantors of last year lost heavily on sheep shipped, while their neighbors who sent cattle came out with substantial profits. Latterly the advices from Home as to prices for frozen meat have bpen decidedly unsatisfactory, and in consequence shippers generally have been loth to renew their guarantees.

The proprietors of the Freezing Works are thus placed in an awkward position. They must arrange somehow for supplies to come forward with strict regularity, so that their staff of butchers shall be kept steadily going and the freezing capacity of the engines fally engaged, But they must first know what stock is coming forward and when it will be ready. This duty devolves in the first place upon the grazier, who provides the stock, There can be no doubt that if, through want of combination, co-operation, and a little foresight among graziers, the works at Waitara should close, the value of fat stock in this district would, in the course of a few weeks, fall considerably. Or the Waitara Works proprietors might be forced to go into the local markets and buy fat stock for freezing at their own risk ; in which latter case their direct interest would be to buy the stock as cheaply as possible, and their interests would thereupon cease to be identical with those of their clients. There are other meat freezing companies which fellow this system, and although the officers of those companies receive large salaries, and good dividends are often paid, much of middlemen's profits are made at the expense of the grazier and need not' be given away. We would remind those who lost by shipping last year that there has been a great reduction in the charges since this time last year.