THE WEEK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVI, Issue LVI, 23 July 1909, Page 4

THE WEEK.

The: fight which the deposed Shall of Peama, put up to regain the despotic power which wasi surrendered by his predecessor and confirmed by himself has ended in disaster. Mohamad Ali Mirza has lost his throne; Ms so<n redgns in his stead. Ali Mirza asoeradeid the throne on the death of his father in January, 1907, and his brief reign has) witnessed a determined, sustained and at last successful endeavor to win constitutionalism. The late Shah, it was said, had only two eyes — one for Russia and; one for England. We think it might liavei beletn added that he had another eye for himself — and that eye was blind. In grasping at the shadow of despotism, the Shah lias lost the substance of sovereignty. The struggle which the world has seen in Persia has just had its exact prototype in, Turkey. Promises of political freedom were

issued profusely from both thrones only to be repudiated when a monuent's breathing-space- lulled the monarch^ into a false security. llepaated breaches of trust provoked the people into a determination to do or die and the Shah of Persia, like the Sultan of Turkey, was broken on the wheel of the new politic^. When we consider the centuries of Oriental sentiment which had to bo overcome before emancipation was possible, the issues of the revolutions in Persia and Turkey can only be regarded as striking examples of the political development of the* East.

The cables which come to hand from day to day respecting the British Budget debate are so scrappy and disjointed that readers may unashamedly confess to an inability to glean from them .any coherent account of the progress of affairs. But this much seems clear : the House of Commons and the House of Lords are coming to< close grips over the finance proposals*. A couple of cables published on Monday suggested that the Lords wea*e\ to oner a defence so desperate: that the Commons might be bound to go to the country withi "the Lords" as the issue). Lord Lansdowne declared it was unthinkable where ther© were two legislative chambers that it should be left entirely to the discretion of one of them to impose "burdens however monstrous, taxation however inequitable, and a new financial system however subversive of. society it may be." He added, according to Monday's cables, that the Lords would not swallow the Finance Bill without "mincing." To this the explosive Mr Winston Churchill rejoined that no amendment, modification, or mutilation of the Bill would be agreed to by the Government. "We | will stand no 'mincing,'" said Mr Churchill, "unless Lord Lansdowne and his landlordly friends eat some of their own 'mince." But a later message relieved the tension. Lord Lansdowne claimed to have been misireported. "What I said," he affirms, "was that the House of Lords 'would not accept the Bill without wincing." The 'V made a world of difference.

Friction is now mainly confined to the land-owners and the Lords, which combination the Government strenuously opposes. At the same time the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr LloydGeorge) has spent a very great deal of time in an endeavor to prove that, far from laying new burdens upon agricultural land, the Budget actually gives substantial relief to> agrieultuav ists from existing burdens. The "reliefs" are a saving of £600,000 by the land-owners through thet Government expenditure of that sum to make the roads agreeable to motorists i(but which the land-owners never contemplated spending); a saving of £120,000 by the Old Age Pensions Act (through not having to pay directly certain pensions which they will now be tasads t» pay indirectly); and a saving of .£250,000 a year by the operation! of thei Development grant (for which no provision has been made in the Budget). Mr LloydGeorga calculates that the whole -inoraasa of burdens on agricultural land dwe to the Budget is £880,000; while, on the other hand, that land is relieved of taxation by the Budget to the extent of nearly a million. It is really a very great pity that he has taken so much trouble to confer tlm boon upon agriculturists. As the London Times remarks: ha had much better have kept the balance for the Treasury by leaving things alone.

But the struggle with the Lords is the issue of the future. Mr Lloyd-George is essentially a fighter and it is evident that in the Commons and the Lords he will have his meittle severely tested before the Finance) Bill is finally passed. Of late years) the Lords have claimed increased power with respect' to money measures ; as a quotation in a foregoing paragraph from Lord Lansdowne's speech indicates. It will |be remembered that the Lords unhesitatingly slaughtered the Licensing Bill because "it would occas/ion grave inconvenience to many of His Majesty's subjects and violate every principle of equity in its dealings with the numerous classes whose interests were affected by the Bill." What will that House do with thei Budget? Being a financial Bill they may not amend it; they must say "yes" or "no." If they say "no" the • consequences cannot be foreshadowed. "It is said," writes Mr W. T. Stead, "that the Lords will reject the Budget and so precipitate a dissolution!. If they did it would not be a dissolution they would precipitate but a Revolution."

A little time ago naval scandals in France caused much alarm. The Navy Commission reported that the Danton Dreadnoughts were costing 50 per cent, above the estimate, and although the ships would be ready by 1911 their guns and ammunition would not be available until 1915. Further disclosures were that ships had been ordered before their plans were completed, and that guns were ordered without their models being tested. It was also complained that although France had spent £120,000,000 within the last 10 years (more than Germany) France, which was the second naval Power a decade ago, is now only the fourth, while Germany, which was only the fourth power, is now the second. These scandals culminated in the defeat of M. Clemenceau's Ministry, by 212 votes to 17G, which wos reported yesterday. M. Clemencoau, it appears, was something of a political bully, and it is affirmed that his violence on this occasion alienated. Fome of his supporter?. Fir the past throe years, however, M. Clemcucpau gave France a stable Government, his term f office was responsible for the separation of the Church and State in France, and the strong attitude of

himself and his colleagues over the postal crisis won for his Government a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies. M. Delcasse, whose brilliance in attack and debate was largely responsible for M. Clemenceau's downfall, was driven from the Foreign Office through a threat of war by the German Emperor. He is remembered as the friend of Great Britain, the man who with Lord Lansdowne prepared the Anglo-French agreement which was signed in 1904.

It says something for Hubert Latham's philosophy that he was able to calmly smoke a cigarette while floating on his disabled monoplane in the English Channel. As a cable on Wednesday stated, Mr Latham was bidding for the Daily Mail's prize of £1000. Barring accidents Mr Latham might reasonably have expected to cross the Channel, which at its narrowest part is about 20 miles wide. In France two months ago he "monoplaved" 28£ miles in 37£ minutes, the speed being at the rate of over 44 miles an hour. This feat established Mr Latham's position amongst ■fifae conquerors of the air as second to that occupied by the now famous aeroplanists, the Wright brothers.

The connection of New York and New Jersey by moans of a tunrel under the Hudson river to carry electric trains, at a cost o-f £14.000.000, again reminds us that the United States is a country of great schemes. Altogether six tunnels under the Hudson and eight under the East river are, projected, the total estimated cost of the undertakings being £60,600,000.

The statement in the House of Commons that the Admiralty was to pay £150,000 to the Auckland Harbor Board, in sums of £5000 annually for 30 years, for the moment gave prominence to New Zealand as a naval depot. The value of the Calliope dock, as shown in the last balance-sheet issued by the Board, was £147,085. In return for the subsidy the British Admiralty is to have the right of priority in the use of the dock for repairs to his Majesty's ships at any time, subject to payment by it of the cost of labor and material only.

In the cities the position of the unemployed has been further eased .during the week, and the fact that a number of men for whom work was available did not turn up again suggests that the industrial crisis was not so acute as the registration of names at the bureaus would suggest. Throughout the country districts the number of unemployed was little' if any greater than is usual at >be time of the year. In TaranaH the amount of labor engaged on farms is rapidly decreasing on account of the wide adontion of mechanical milking, and families who want herds of cows to milk are not by any means in such heavy demand as they were a few years ago.