CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume C, Issue 11702, 5 October 1898, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

HAWAII.

The Commission appointed by the United States has recommended that the diffi-

cnlty attending the annexation of Hawaii shall be surmounted by declaring the group a territory. The group will therefore probably remain under the temporary form of government until the inhabitants prove their fitness to be'included under ordinary State government,. or other circumstances arise to make a change necessary. The government of a territory under the United States closely resembles that of 'a Crown colony under the British flag. The Governor is appointed for four years by the President, who also appoints the secretary mad other officials. There are still five- territories attached to the United States, and in three of them there are local legislatures, whose form is prescribed by the Federal Government, and whose .Acts must be ratified by Federal statutes. So far as Hawaii, then, is concerned, the problem of bringing it under the Federal Government is not so difficult as might be imagined, for the Americans, contrary to the declarations of those who despise republican government, have devised a deliberate and well thought out method of admitting outlying States to the full privileges of Federal 'Government. The Hawaiians are perfectly amenable to control by the United States, and are already familial' with the people and form of government. The annexation of the group will deal a severe blow to thi sugar ring, which lobbied against the measure tooth and nail. The imports from Hawaii to the United States in 1896-97 reached nearly fourteen million dollars, and they consisted chiefly of sugar, which, now that Hawaii is part of the Republic, -will pay no duty. This will be a severe blow to one larjre section of speculators, and a distinct advantage to another; but the great body of the American people will scarcely notice the effect of the annexation upon the trade of the country. Their interest will be centred upon the departure it marks from the traditional policy of the Republic.

ITS IKUTUBE.

The proposal of the Commission that the group should

be administered as a territory is not necessarily final, and, if we may judge from the debate in the United States Senate when the Commission was appointed, the proposal will not give universal satisfaction. Senator BL M. Teller, for instance, Speaking the minds of many others, proposed that Hawaii should be attached to the State of California. If that course were not adopted, he would propose that other States should bo asked to administer the group. Failing such a settlement, he thought a territorial government, similar to that under which the people of Utah lived from 1850 to 1896, .or the Dakotas from 1861- to TBB9, would be satisfactory. Such a government, in fact, now exists in Arizona and Oklahoma. Senator Davis, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, thought- that there would be no difficulty in adapting the islands to the political, civil and financial system of the United States. “In fact,” he added, “ in that respect they have been dependencies upon this Government for many years. I should think they will not at once bo constituted as a territory, but will be for some time a quasi-colony, with very large (privileges of self-government as to domestic concerns. They could very well be governed like some British colonics. Jamaica, for instance, is as good an illustration. as any.” It is curious to notice how calmly many Senators contemplated a colonial expansion of the nation. .More than one Senator, however, objected to the term colony, and proposed to use “our seaward possessions.” Senator Foraker, of Ohio, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, was probably the most sanguine of the “colonial” party. “ ; Wer will have no difficulty,” he said, “ in

governing Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, or Cuba,-, if Cuba should want to come in. None -of them would cause any disarrangement of our national policy. Our federal system is very like that of England, and England has successfully governed her colonies.” Whether or not Hawaii is to become the “Venice of the twentieth century,” and is to be peopled with “ a million American citizens,” it is hard to say. The islands, it is well known, are hardly a “ clean ” acquisition as far as their “ bill of health ” is concerned, and this may be the cause of trouble in the immediate future.

MUNICIPAL TRAMWAYS.

A cable message yesterday morning announced that a committee of the London County Council lias recommended the purchase of the tramways, which, as the cost is stated at only £850,000, must still be in an ih,cipient stage. Progressive as the London County Council is in many respects, it is still far behind other bodies. Practical experienco has convinced the Town Councils ; of Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, Sheffield, Glasgow, Leeds, iNottingham, and other large provincial cities that only by municipal working can the people receive the Ml benefits of ownership. The Glasgow Corporation built a new service from top to bottom. It succeeded only to the rails used by the old private company. This old company paid £2225 out of its annual profits to the municipal revenue. The Corporation at once realised nearly £9OOO a year. It reduced the fares by 40 per cent, and the traffic at once increased by 38 per cent. The hours of the tramway emjployees were reduced to sixty per week of six days, and their wages were substantially increased. At the present rate of progress wie cost of the tramways will be extinguished in thirty years’ time, and before long universal halfpenny fares will rule. But the chief • benefits are not in the. money profit. The people take their dividends out in cheap travel in comfortable oars which run. for eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. Underground electric railways have been started in opposition to the tramways without interfering with the growth of the' traffic. The Glasgow Corporation has now begun to transform the system by adopting electric traction, with the object of providing still more comfortable travelling facilities, and of keeping pace with the demands made on the system. All this goes in confirmation of Mi- Ben Tillett’s farewell letter to the Wellington Trades Council. “You could,” he wrote, “ by reform turn your cities into beautiful, well-ventilated, well-lighted and wellsanitised habitations. Yon could municipalise every public service—water, lighting and tramway—and abolish the middleman contractor. You could erect baths and washhouses, libraries and technical schools, and enforce sanitary precautions inducing health and longevity.” The London County Council has already made important steps towards the realisation of this programme, and the purchase of the city tramways would be a distinct advance in the same direction.

COMPANY LAW.

A case which is just now very much in evidence in Dunedin illustrates the ease with which innocent persons may become victims through their ignorance of the law. The well-known Kaitangata Coal and Railway Company recently sold its business, through a smart agent, to a Home syndicate. The shares of the company number 5000, which, 'at £lO each, make the nominal capital £50,000. There were two issues of shares, one fully paid up at £lO per share, the other having only £1 called up, and bearing a 1 liability of £9 per share. The business of the company was sold at such a figure as would, in liquidation, yield the holders of paid-up shares £25, and holders of shares on which £1 had been paid £2 10s. That is to say, the concern was disposed of for something like £70,000, which was, for the sellers at any rate, a very satisfactory piece of business indeed. The liquidators were placidly proceeding to distribute the assets of the company on the basis already mentioned, when a sharp 1 lawyer discovered a flaw in the agreement, and bought as many £1 shares as he could lay his hands upon- They were selling like hot cakes at and under £2 10s. The law really is, according to a recent decision, that the assets of a company are distributed, not in proportion to the amount paid up, but in proportion to the shares held. It seems, therefore, that in the case of the Kaitangata Company the capital paid np will be returned to the shareholders, and the surplus assets will be divided among them in proportion to the number of shares they hold. In effect, this will give the holders of fully paid-up shares £7 or £8 over the £lO they have paid up, and it will give holders of the other shares also £7 or £8 in addition to the £1 they have paid up. It appears from these facts, which are fully set out by our Dunedin contemporaries, that there are, after all, rare occasions on which the law comes to/the assistance of the poor mar-: