CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11929, 28 June 1899, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

It was thought that the burst of generous enthusiasm caused by Great Britain’s moral support of

UNITED STATES AND CANADA.

America in the late war Would put an end to all disputes between Canada" and the States. Some alarmists even went the length of seeing a danger of a disruption of the British Empire in the possibility of a union between the States and Canada. Neither prediction seems likely to be verified, for, now that the first enthusiasm hfas cooled down, the relations between the two countries are suffering a reaction. A tariff war) has lately arisen over a log and lumber quarrel. American saw-millers, who draw supplies from Canadian forests, take the wood in logs and tax lumber, that is, sawn wood. The Canadians contend that their lumber should be admitted free into the States, as the Americans have the free rise of their forests. But, as a set-off to the American duty on lumber, Canada has imposed an export duty on logs, although in doing so she is decreasing the value of her own produce, America has replied by raising the duty on lumber, and now Canada has passed an Act prohibiting the export of rough logs to the United States. This measure, it is believed and hoped, will close many American mills, though how that will advance Canadian interests is not very evident. Retaliation of some sort is demanded by the American lumber men, but the Canadians are prepared to attack them in another quarter. If necessary, they will prohibit the export of crude nickel, and thus cripple another great American industry, as the United States is one of the largest consumers of nickel in the world. The Canadian demand is free logs for free lumber - ; the Americans are determined to keep their own work for their own men. Canada’s attitude is supported by the “National Review,” which discusses the question fully, and ends with the sad admission that the contest “will embitter the moral relations of the two States, and will certainly inflict heavy material loss on both.” That, of course, is the inevitable result of tariff wars, as the Australian colonies found out to their cost before they could be induced to accept the benefits of Federation.

A TYPICAL ENGLISH NOBLE. .

Those of our readers who “ dearly love a lord ” will be interested in the career of Lord Wharncliffe, one of the

noblest of all the BritishN aristocracy who died recently at Home; and those for whom ,a title has no foscinif lion will still find pleasure in learning something of the private life of one of the most prominent of the business men of the century. The present generation knew him chiefly as the resourceful chairman of the Great Central Railway Company, but be was seen at his best at the fine old manor of Wortley, said to date from' the reign bf Stephen. He would show his guests with legitimate pride an old hunting lodge, built by- one of his most famous ancestors, Sir Thomas Wortley, squire and knight of the body to four kings. There many men of light and leading, after a day’s shooting, have enjoyed a cup of tea dispensed by Lady WhamcMe. Again, Lord Whamcliffe delighted in showing the cave and lair of the famous dragon of Wantley, immortalised in the ballad and illustrated by Poynter, and also the remarkable rabbit warren in which in two days in 1877 no fewer than 2037 rabbits were killed by seven guns. Inside the house were many memorials of Lord Wharnclilfe’s wanderings. Only thirty years ago, marvellous as it seems, his lordship shot bison within a day’s march of the Mississippi, and he brought severaLhome, but they were so savage that it was necessary to kill them. There were to be seen in the hall, together with bison heads, Sioux and Chippewa dresses garnished with abundant scalps, weapons from many, lands, and horns of the great wild sheep of Thibet- -- For the delectation of foreigners his lordship would bring out a birch stolen from Eton ; “ one of our native aids to education ” as he used to say. His qualities as an English gentleman have been expressed very tersely. He rode well, gave excellent dinners, was interested in the volunteer movement, was a warm patron of art, a keen sportsman, and a great traveller.

THE FRENCH SPY SYSTEM.

The investigation of the Dreyfus affair that is being carried out by the “ Figaro ” has resulted in the publica-

tion of some interesting particulars of the French spy system. Its value may bo summed up in the extract from the evidence given by an ox-Minister of Foreign. Affairs before the Supreme Court. M. Develle emphatically declared that in his opinion and that of his predecessors the Intelligence Department of the War < Office was the worst organised . ' service in the whole French

Administration. The witness added that every Minister of the Interior and Prefect of Police had formed the same judgment. The “ Spy” office, which costs French ratepayers nearly £40,000 a year, was founded in 1870. During the Empire the confidential study of foreign armies and their tactics was entrusted to officers in touch with the military attaches in each capital. According to M. Berger-Levrault, the French Spy Service is divided into two categories : —(1) Isolated volunteers; (2) Spies receiving regular salaries. Speaking of the latter he says: —“ The recruiting of salaried spies is effected amongst those who prefer money to honour. Some are impelled by misery and others by hatred. Others are actuated by petty ambition, vanity, and the inability to follow any other occupation. Parallel with this service is another, called ‘ Contre espionnage,’ or, in other words, foreign agents who work for and are paid by two General Staffs.” As for the military secrets, of which we hear so much, the “ Figaro ” considers that they are worthless. The mechanism of the French guns, it states, is known to every European Government, and the German chemists know the composition of the most carefully manufactured gunpowders and explosives. “ A clever chemist need only pass our powder magazines,” it writes, “ and bis sense of smell will detect certain emanations which will disclose many a secret.” From this statement it would appear that international espionage is not a very mysterious affair after all and that the secrets of the French military office have not been placed in the safest of hands. The crime of which Dreyfus is accused is thus probably committed every month of the year by the very men who are paid to pry into the secrets of other nations.