CABLES.

North Otago Times, 3 December 1910, Page 2

CABLES.

k HOME AND FOREIGN. By Electric Telegraph-Copyright. Per Press Association. Received December 2, at 9.40 p.ni London, December 2. The enquiry into the loss of the steamer Waratah commences on the 15th December.

The Daily News'says the most significant thing clbout the resolutions that New, Zealand and. Australia intend to submit to the Imperial Conference is the deliberate omission) in reference to Imperial preference, and it is equally certain South Africa will not raise the question. It adds: "So much for the great colonial hunger and great colonial offer. The colonies are not bothering their heads -about Imperial preference or tariff reform, and have no intention of interfering in English affaire," The Employers Federation has adopted a resolution condemning Lord Furaess' statement being made at a political meeting without seeling authoritative information, Vienna, December 2.

The Chamber, by 223 votes; to .206, adopted & motion in favor of the unrestricted entry of trans-oceanic meat. The debate revealed that Austria was bound by a secret agreement, which did net permit of imports without Hungary's consent. Austria is now of op}nion| that Hungary has sanctioned the importation of ten thousand tons of Argentine meat, Hungary denies that she lias -agreed to more than two thousand, and it is doubtful whether the Austrian Parliament's decision willi result in meat being imported, Received December 2, at 10.30 p.m. London, December 2. Mr Asquitb, addressing five thousand; people at Wolverhampton on tariff reform, showed that while the House of Lords was being rebuilt and the mechanism of the referen-' duro ; was developed, and with tariff reform on the ahelf, • the Unionists were totally unable to make a Winding bargain with the Dominions at the coming Imperial Conference except with the aid of a referendum. The Liberals object to a referendum, therefore it is pointless to ask whether they will submit Home Rule to a referendum. "My flirtations with the referendum were made 12 or IS years ago in comparative political immaturity. Since then I have had a good deal of experience )f its actual working in Switzerland and some of the Amerioan States, )anada and Australia. Now I have some to the conclusion that tho .•flferetdum has proved in practice a nost disappointing, and unsatisfactory way of ascertaining public >pininn. One proof is the very small lerconlagc of votes polled compared with the •gtntral ckction. Mr Balfour, speaking at the'railway sheds at Reading, said the only sxplanalion of the incoherent fury wherewith the referendum was revived was that the.majority of the >eoplc were in favor of tariff rcorm. He rewmdert his critics that ;he referendum war, part of a -ree cpresentative institution, reverently iven to the great Australian Oomrbnwealth. Since ' tbe referendum (fad actually 'been in operation one of the Sister States of the Empire could not conceive why it was regarded as such a strange, alien piece of machinery. The referendum had not ruined Australia. Moreover, trade unions use the referendum daily, and' it does not ruin them. Every Radical should welcome it as

fulfilling his dearest' aspiration, namely, consulting the people. He was painfully disappointed at the counter challenge on Home Rule, and treated it with silent contempt.

Received Dec. 2, at 11.45. p.m. London, Dec. 2,

The Times' St. Petersburg correspondent reports that Parliamentary circles are perturbed at the Czar's audienca to, M.. Guchkpff, president of the' Duma, wherein the Czar instanced the glow work of the Reichstag.,, and stated that he had no complaint /against! : the German Legislature, therefore saw no cause for' finding fault with the Council of the Empire. The Czar made equally short replies to M. Guchkoffs' complaints rp'gardin*} naval reforms, Russian universities, and Flnalnd. Berlin, Dec, 2.

Lieut. Filohner lias secured a sealing vessel of 530 tons burden, with auxiliary engines. The expedition numbers 30, all Germans, and sails in the spring, Calcutta, Dec. 2.

The Dalai Lamia jhasi renewed hi 3 request to Tie allowed to visit England. The situation in Lhassa is again unquiet.

Ottawa, Dec. 2. In the House Mr Gilbert, who recentlyi defeated Sir W. Laurier's candidate for Quebec Province, in explaining the French Canadian's attitude to the.naval question, declared that a plebiscite ought to be taken previous to the formation of a navy. He wtished to preserve the country's autonomy unaffected, so that the fullest benefit would result from the public expenditure. Other membiars criticised; the existing cruisers, and declared they would be useless in warfare of the future. Hotaebuilt cruisers would not be better, Amendments disapproving of the Government's policy and demanding a plebiscite were defeated by a majority of 50.