THE WEEK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXXI, Issue 70455, 5 October 1900, Page 2

THE WEEK.

However much it may be semiofficially denied by Germany that there is any triple alliance between that country, Russia, and France, the practical comment of the German Money Market in the fall of stocks but voices the belief of tho world that there has been arrangement between Bussia and Germany as regards the course of action in China; and, in respect to France, she clings to the policy of Bussia as a matter of course between Allies, and sides with Germany with reservations. Those three have so manipulated the majority vote in the so-called, concert of the Powers as to give Bussia a free hand in her policy of annexation, and, further, have combined to prevent in Shanghai and the Yang-tse that predominant action of the British in that region which has been tacitly given to Bussia in Manchuria. Japan has been deluded into some agreement with Bussia, whereby a joint control of Northern China was decided upon, but Count Ito, who has now taken office, is more favorable to British policy. That policy is equal rights for all men of all races, and security for all whites within the Chinese Empire, and, in order to bring this about, the establishment of a strong Chinese Government.

The policy of Germany has been to confirm and extend her hold over Shantung and the adjoining provinces till her possessions march with those of Russia, and the policy of France to tighten her bold on the Southern provinces, and extend, as far as possible, her sway northwards to the Yang-tse, and as regards Szu-Chuan, to acquire the whole, though it is situated in the valley. That province is necessary to Britain, together with the whole of the valley, in the interests of Burma and her Indian Empire. But the open door was good enough for her, so long as the other nations kept their hands off other parts of China. If annexation was to be the policy of the Powers, then Britain in self-defence must have the Yang-tse Valley. There has been much consultation between Britain and Germany, and there is a declared effort on Germany's part to re-establish the concert.

As regards the*edicts and promises of China there is too much basis for the belief of Italy that they are all a delusion and a snare. Li Hung Chang from the very first has been in close communication with the Empress and her party, and, at the same time, the St. Petersburg correspondent of The Times is responsible for the assertion that daily wires came from and to him at that Russian capital. The denunciation of tho Tsung-li-Yamen is ridiculous, in face of the fact that its impotence has been long notorious, whilst the real power has been concentrated around the Empress among the princes and eunuchs of the Pink Forbidden City. There is evidence that a check is to bo placed on the lone hand^pf

r ussia in the dispatch of an allied force to Sh an-hai-kwan, to which place I llussia was hurrying after the conquest of Lutai. The powers of Count i Waldersee are by no means denned, and France distinctly limited her consent to ] his commandership of the Allies to operations in Chili province. The avoidance , of him by the Russian Commander is ; significant of Russia's claim to separate action. i The amnesty given by Lord Roberts to , the Boers for five days is a pause in the interests of humanity ere sterner measures are taken with the forces still fighting against us. As the Times said, "Lord Roberts has displayed infinite patience in giving all the genuine burghers every chance to satisfy themselves of the hopelessness of the struggle, as well as the absurdity, against a future administration of the country whioh will secure to them far more than all the advantages conferred by a Government which was their own only in name. But a time must come when the leaven of burghers left in the mass of combatants will no longer suffice, even in the view of the most indulgent, to give the struggle any national character worthy of respect, as a dwindling minority of genuine 'citizens cannot indefinitely disguise the real character of a majority of mere marauders. On the contrary, they will be identified with their lawless associates, and, in the event of continued contumacy, will have to submit to repressive measures of a sterner kind than they have yet had to meet." It may surprise those who view the Boers as ill-used patriot farmers, so attached to liberty that they prefer to live as exiles rather than accept the yoke of Britain, that nearly two thousand are preparing to trek to German South-west Africa. But the true character of the Boers was given by their friend Mr Merriman in a letter to Mr Fischer shortly before the war. Asking the latter gentleman to remonstrate with Kruger, he said : — " What is the future ? His Boers, the backbone of tho country, are perishing off the land ; hundreds have become impoverished loafers, landless hangers-on of the town population." This being so, we can quite understand the complaint now made by the Boer farmers that the Boer army is their worst enemy. That the end is in sight, however, is shown by the appeal of Lord Roberts to the' employers of Britain's citizen soldiers to extend their leave so that they may see the climax of the campaign, and the permission to refugees to return to Johannesburg is another indication. So far as the result of the Imperial elections is known, there is not any certainty that the overwhelming majority asked for by the UnionConservative Ministry will be returned, but there is a decided pronouncement for Imperialism. The Leader of the Opposition, in saying that the real issue of the elections was " whether ours was to be an Empire of commerce and peace, or militarism and aggression," does not appear to have grasped the significance of the living lessor) now being given in China. There no nation wants territory for tbe settlement of emigrants, for the land is over-crowded with a teeming population, and yet every nation is prepared to fight for a footing for commercial purposes. It is becoming plain that as the want of every nation is markets, only those which are prepared to fight for them will get them, but most will agree with Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman that it is absolutely necessary to prevent the army . becoming the playground of the rich, i but in saying that Mr Chamberlain's \ despatches to Kruger were not provo- : cative he cuts the ground from under the feet of those of his own supporters who contend that their tone provokod the ultimatum from Oom Paul. The fear of African colonists at the beginning of the war was that in the settlement there would be a return to that policy of poltroonery which left strong men weeping bitter tears at Pretoria, as they buried a dishonored British flag. The redress of dishonor in the Soudan and in South Africa is the most potent claim of Lord Salisbury's Ministry to the suffrages of the Empire. l It is impossible to say whether the nationalisation of the liquor traffic in Russia is in the interests of morality or for revenue purposes. Tho monetary needs of Russia are desperate. She has lately raised the tariff from 50 to 100 per cent, and that in a country hardly \ recovered from famine. She has already tried the liquor scheme spoken of in eej.-tn.in districts, andthe general adoption of it is a proof of its success from a , Russian point of view. From the same point of view the operations of a Russian emissary in Thibet will be galling to Britain, as also will be the reported visit of tho Mikado to the Czar. But Britain has no time to notice such pin-pricks at present. New South Wales is bestirring itself to oppose Mr Seddon's scheme for the annexation of Fiji, on the grounds of superior commercial interest. Those should not be allowed to influence the decision, which should be arrived at entirely by the wishes of the people to be governed. By the way, although Mr Seddon has crowned the operation by singing " God Save the Queen " in his highest top note, thd people of New Zealand have not yet been consulted.