NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10018, 3 January 1896, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

The now poet laureate, Mr. Alfred Austin, is a \orkshireraan. He was born at Headingley, near Leeds, in 1835. His father was a merchant and Magistrate of the Borough of Leeds, and his mother was the sister of Joseph Locke, the eminent oivil engineer and M.P. for the Borough of Hoinfcon, of which ho was lord of the manor. Both his parents being Roman Catholics he was sonb to Stonyhurab College, and afterwards to St. Mary's College, Oscott. From thero he took his degreo at the University of London in 1853, and in 1857 ho was called to the bar. On the death of his father in ]SGI, he abandoned the law and wont to Italy. Thencoforth he devotod himself to literature. In that year his first acknowledged volume of verso appeared. He represented the London Standard during the (Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, and was spocial correspondent of that journal in the Franco-German war., In addition to many poetical works Mr. Austin is the author of several novels and a vasb quantity of miscellaneous article?.

We are not surprised to learn that great dissatisfaction exists among the European residents in Samoa regarding the manner in which that country is being governed. lb would indeed bo surprising if they were nob dissatisfied. Everybody knows that the Government of Samoa is nothing better than a farce. The tripartite control has provod a complete failure. It is nob denied in any quarter that it has hopelessly broken down so far as achieving what was hoped from it is concerned. The difficulty, howover, is to find something better to put in its place. Neither Germany nor England iB likely to agree to the other exorcising supreme power. America would not care very much which it was. Bub in Germany thore is a strong party in favourof a vigorous colonial policy, while wo do nob suppose thab any responsible British statesman would have the hardihood to hint that we should wash our hands of the whole business and cense to bother our heads about Samoa. Thore does not therefore appear to be any prospect of any change in the government of Samoa, which is to bo regretted, for the present system is destructive of all confidence and progress, and is proving most injurious to trade

Thore is an important phase of the industrial position of Melbourne to-day (says the Argus) which demands consideration. lb is tho decadence of the large engineering establishments, and their inability to secure so large a share of the intercolonial orders for plant and machinery as thoy enjoyed some years ago. Doubtloss somo causes for this unfiourishing condition of affairs arefirst, the growth of similar concorns in other colonies, as, for example, at Maryborough, in Queensland, and at Gawler, in South Australia ; second, the lessened attention given to the intercolonial connection while our boom was creating an active local demand, the hold on thab connection thus being weakened; and third, the discouragement to enterprise engendered by the feeling of being hopelessly indebted. Yeb there is more than one concern which would probably pay once moro if it passed into fresh hands and under new control on reasonable terms, and the want ,of spirit and enterprise now so conspiouous would pass away. V lb is nob re-assuring, adds tho Argus, thab to some extent capital is prevented from finding eraploymenb In the direction indicated by the uncertainty which exists as to the possible attitude of labour in the future, and unfortunately, there are few porsons who. would willingly go into any onberprise in which their personal control of a large body of labour would bo required. In the moantime, work which might be secured for Melbourne is passing id by; and if ib can be boasted that labour is more highly organised and more self-assertive here than elsowhere, there is the groat drawback that ib is less well employed. Still, as wo have alroady suggested above, there is the important consideration thab the debtsubmerged condition of more than one concern has tended to discourage effort and to extinguish enterprise. Bub is Melbourne to gradually lose whatever position ib formerly, occupied us an intercolonial manufacturing centre in certain departments, as well as its intercolonial mercantile trade? The publio do not want rojoindora of doubtful truthfulness, to the effect that, after all, under the supremo blessings ofjProbeotion, things' are bettor than they look, and .that therefore everybody, may be 'content, and esulb in the vasb advantages enjoyed by Melbourne as: compared with the rest of the world.,, Bub hey do wanb to see all the'; industrial and

trading ability of Melbourne once mora foil? engaged In directing and controlling a really prosperous state of 'affairs. W<

. The feeling of the Turks in regard to the Armenians is thus expressed. They say -.- " We have nursed this people in our arms for conturios. ■ Wo have protected them and conferred all sorts of favours upon thorn. They have lived with us and grown rich among us, and now, without reason, thoy turn upon us and wish bo murder us and destroy the Empire in order to setup ttWnßdom for themselves. Such ingratitude deserves the severest punishment. As they have created a state of war we are fully justified by our religion in killing fchom and seizing their property. In almost all th places where massacres have taken place the Moslems have acted in self-defence. In the others there was great provocation. England has roado ft pretext of these things to interfere in her own interest and for her own aggrandizement. In fact, she has been at the bottom of all this trouble, and used the Armenians as hor instruments. The Armenians have risen by order of Mr. tone."

' Of course, Ministersand higher officials who say such things know better, or at least ought to know better; but the great mass, evon of eniighbened Turks, and still more the common people, say them in all sincerity and their feelings follow their belief. To explain this it must be remembered that it is based upon absolute ignorance of what is going on in the Empire. Twenty years ago there was much truth in what the Turks say of the treatment of the Armenians. They were more in favour than any other Christians. They were generally trusted, and in intimate relations with Turks in business and in the Government itsolf. They were regarded as an inferior race and as inGdols and made to feel it, bub in general the Turks regarded them as a kincihoartod slavo-holder would regard his trusted slaves, and they were in hob submissive and loyal subjects. The Turks know nothing of the fact that since the last war the Sultan has adopted an entirely new policy in regard to the Armenians; that he gradually abolished almost every right and privilege garanteed by the Hatt-i-humayunj that he ceased to listen to the official complaints of the Patriarch, and ignored the Constitution previously granted to the national Church; that in nome parts of tho Empire he was exterminating the race, and everywhere treating the Armenians' as enemies whom any official could imprison and plunder; that it was made a crime even to use the word Armenia. They do nob know thab the Armenians have thus been driven to desperation.

Tho crisis which has orison in the Transvaal may blow over without bloodshed, bub tho policy which President) Kruger is persistently following must sooner or later brings things to a head, That policy is aimed at erecting futile barriers to the natural course of trade, President Kruger, as a writer recently pointed out, has every right to endeavour to keep the customs regulations of the British colonies in check by making the best conditions with Portugal that be can get for the passage of Transvaal goods, and, had ho confined himself to fair measures for insuring the success of the Motherlands Hallway Company, he might have earned for himself a very considerable measure of unofficial approval throughout South Africa. The consumer of the Capo and of Natal would have had something to gain, and competition, however inconvenient to the railway management of the two British colonies, would at least havo been followed by some of its usual benefits. By arbitrarily closing his south-western frontier and assigning a practical monopoly to the Netherlands Railway Company, he has alienated overy sympathy, and united the public and the Governments of the States and colonies external to his own in a bond of indignation with the outraged mining communities of the Transvaal, whose industry is checked, whose interests are gravely injured, and who find themselves at once without redress and without constitutional protection from the imposition of further burdensome decrees. The action of Dr. Jameson however is none the less extraordinary. The British Government are doing everything in their power to counteract the effect of his rash and unauthorised proceed(ing. Feeling in Germany over the matter is very strong. Owing to the telegraph wires being cut no news has been received from Johannesburg, although it is reported that a rising has taken place there. Venezuela is making a groat show of resisting the British demands, and there is a moveraont in that country in favour of a 1 Central American allianco against England. The Armenian Bishop of Brzeroum has been arrested, and is being sent to Constantinople The financial crisis in America is subsiding, and the New York Exchange has greatly improved.