CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13137, 27 May 1903, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

So much has been said about clericalism and anticlericalism in Franco, that the average foreigner tufty be excused for thinking the religious issue

FEOENCH roiaxxcs.

the one of greatest importance in French! politics. Close observers of events and movements, however, regard the struggle about the Associations law as a mere passing phase. If the Republic ever comes to grief, says the Paris correspondent of the “ Daily News,” its fall will bo duo, not to Clericalism, but,-to financial mismanagamenb. After 1870, Franca had an opportunity to become the most free, and prosperous country in. the world. Tho great French Revolution had swept ;- - away tho obstacles to democratic Government. France is free from Court influence, and from that worse evil, the influence of Court backstairs, from hereditary legislators, class distinctions, from any slavish sense of inferiority among the peasantry, from tithes, from religious tests, from an educational system devised for tho benefit of tho ruling classes, and, to a great from landlordism. In France,, as Mr<* Crawford pubs “ tha social pyramid stood on its Iw, not, as in England or Germany, on its apex.” Unfortunately, on account of Alsace-Lorraine the nation has chosen to become a slave to militarism. Gradually the load of taxation and debt has increased, until Franca is now the most heavily taxed country in Europe. The pear pie are living on their capital. Mrs Crawford speaks of recent Ministerial victories at by-elections as being unprecedented in French politics. Tho Nationalists have been losing seats all over tho country, the course of events sheering clearly that the anti-clerical policy of M. Waldeck-Rousseaia ’ and his successor is -not unpopular. The Nationalists have made no progress in the country since the Dreyfus crisis. They posed then an the only patriots, and, in the mixed state of politics, managed Uf capture many scats in Paris and elsewhere. But when the fever died down, tho electors speedily discovered that the man who talks the loudest is not aeces-' sarily tho best patriot, and Nationalism has steadily declined. The term Was invented by a Boulangiet, who once defined it as “tha doctrine of opposition to the foreigner,” but it means very little more ' than opportunism. What the people think of ib may be judgedl from the fact that the inventor, M. Maurice Barres, was one of the Nationalists to suffer defeat in the recent elections.

Great anxiety is now we* pressed concerning tie fate of Baron Toll, a distinguished Arctic explorer, who ia the recognised authority on the geography, geology and general conditions of the Arc* tic coast of Siberia. “ One of the mo&t competent explorers who ever entered the polar regions,” is a description of him by. a fellow scientist. Baron Toll’s latest ex* ■ pedition has , been studying and exploring the New Siberia Islands. Its summer beadquarters were on Kotelnoi, the largest of the islands. In the winter of 1901 Toll took dogs and sledges and set out for . Bennett t Island. At the same time ' Birula, the zoologist of the expedition, went to New, , Siberia, the island that gives its name to . the group. They should both have return* ! ed to the vessel in the summer of last year, ' but neither did so, and the ship, the Zaria,i: was compelled to go south to the Lena! ■ Delta for supplies. This meant that the two explorers would have to wait for the winter andl then make for the ship over the . ice. Birula has returned safely to civilisation. He found a letter in the Kotelnoi camp explaining that Baron Toll had not returned, and as there was no communication from the Baron, Birula concluded that ho had not returned from Bennett Island. l Ho-therefor® waited on Kotelnoi until ths, ; approach of summer threatened to cut hint' off from the mainland, when he set out foU the Lena Delta with his dogs and a native companion. No one knows whether Baron Toll even reached Bennett Island, of which he intended to make a thorough study. Hia equipment.in dogs, sledges and supplies; was excellent, and the probabilities are ; that he safely reached the island. Why hS did not return is a mystery. It is thought , that perhaps all his dogs might have died, in which case it would have been extremely difficult for him to return to KotelhoL As soon as day dawned this year, a sledf* . expedition was despatched from Yakutsk to travel down the Lena and over the ice to Kotelnoi, and thonoe, if necessary, to Bennett Island. At the same time the Russian Academy of Science has sent Lieutenant Koltsohak, one of Toll’s companions, with* a well-equipped expedition to assist in the search, so that news should 'be available before many months. Baron Toll’s latest work' was the mapping of Toimur Peninsula, which is shown even in recent British atlases with a dotted coast-line.

A MISSING EXPLORER.

The. Statesman's Year Book for 1903, wfcldb ha® just 'been contain® ® very Interesting table showing the finance and commeroe of various countries. The editor is careful to elf* plain that the statistics, -which' deal in most cases with the fiscal y»r 1901-1902, are not sufficiently precise for the purposes of exact comparison, hut they are probably accurate enough to give a pretty good) idea of the general position. The particulars of the annual revenue and expenditure show that Russia is an easy first in both departments with £208,117,500 and £198,671,200 respectively. In normal years Franco and Great Britain would be almost level, but the war expenditure during 1901-1902 disturbed’ the finances of the fatten and while its revenue was £142,998,000* some three millions less than that ' ofc France, its expenditure was £195,522,229, some fifty'millions more. The revenue of Germany reached £115,616,750 and its expenditure £117,246,250, while the figure* for the United States were £116,995,600 and £98,007,700 respectively. The public debt, which, as the editor again explains, is in some countries merely a profitable investment fon the citizens’ money and ia others a burden upon their resources, touches high-water mark in France with the huge sum of £1,213,743,000- Great Britain’s debt is £768,445,300, Russia® £684,504,660, Italy’s £506,639,800, America’s £448,991,000, Spain’s £416,407,000, and Germany’s £121,782,500. The annual debt charge per head of population Is higher in France than in any other country, amounting to £1 4>s 6d. It runs to 17s 9d in Spain, to 14s 3d in Italy, to 12s lOd in Great Britain, to 6s 8d in Russia, to Is 7d in the United' States, and to the feamo sum in Germany. Great Britain is a long way ahead! of all her rivals in the volume of imports with £521,990,200, Germany coming next with £285,516,900, and the United States following with £187,890,300. Then come France with £174,768,000, -Netherlands with £170,583,000, Belgium with £88,840,000, and, much lower down on the list, Spain with £35,871,000. . Great Britain and the United States are practically together in their exports, each'sending away rather more than £230,000,000, and they are both well ahead of.: Germany with £225,652,300, France with £160,516,000, Netherlands with £145,250,000, Russia with £75,938,400, and Spain with £27,682,800. . In the vain* of exports per head of population 'Nether- -

TINANCB AND COMMEECE.

lands is first with '£27 13a Id, and is followed by, Belgium £lO 18s 6d!, Switzerland £lO 8s 3d, Great Britain £6 14a 7d, Denmark £6 12s 6d, France £4 2s ,4d, Germany £4.2s Id, United States £3 13s lid, Spain’,£'l.9s 9d, and) Russia 14s 3d. The Mother. Country is still by many millions the largest contributor to the total trade of the world. "