NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11691, 28 June 1901, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

There is a small section of young Tories in the present Parliament which it will fc«e well worth while watching and studying (writes Mr. T. P. O'Connor in the Loudest Express). Whenever I see its members together I don't know why it is, but I at once think of that othei young Tory party which was founded by Lord Randolph Churchill,. which destroyed the old Tory leaders like Sir Stafford Northcote and the great Ministry and majority of Mr. Gladstone, and which gave to all future generations of young Tories lessons in the methods by which the young can force themselves to the front and oust the worn-out respectabilities and the pretentious nonentities that in time come to the head of all political parties. Mr.. Winston Churchill —with his eager face, l*nfc' shoulders, as though stooping before giving a panther spring, his restlessness, his audacious self-confidence, bis lordly scorn for —is the foremost of the group; and either he will be one of the Ministry before many years or lie will have helped to dig its grave. Mr. Murray Guthrie—a handsome, young man, belonging at once to theworld of finance and of fashion, with plenty of ability, practical experience, and an am-* bitious and clever Irish wifeis another.' These two are new-comers; but there are a/ number of able men who, though not. new to Parliament, are eager, ambitious, and capablemen like Sir John Dickson-Poyni der, who went out as a Yeoman, leaving behind some £40,000 a year, a beautiful young wife, and two young children; Mr. Beckett —one of the great banking family of Yorkshire—a man of very fine abilities; Mr. Yer* burgh, the husband of one of the very richest heiresses in England, and a man of cultivation, of considerable information, of unused Parliamentary power. I don't know that all these men are enemies of the leadership of Mr. Balfour; indeed, I believe that! Mr. Winston Churchill, on the contrary, is cits ardent friend and admire?. But, all the same, there you have the nucleus oftsthe men! who, by-and-by, will drive out the older set of Tory leaders, and will put themselves in their places. They are the youths whose > knock at the doors is always frightening the • old and the prosperous.

In an interesting article in the Melbourne Age on "America's Policy ot Expansion,'* the writer discussing the effect of the con-' struction of the Isthmian Canal, says: — New York is distant by sea from San Francisco 14,840 miles round Cape Horn. The Isthmian Canal would reduce the distance to 4760 miles, saving 10,080 miles, or nearly two-third the journey in time mileage. Of the trip from London to San Francisco the canal would save 7200 milts, and enable the western States to pour into London and Liverpool Luge quantities of food and goods which cannot now be sent thither because off the heavy freight charges. Further, the new canal would project the entire Pacifio coast into the heart of America. Vessels from Chicago and all the great lake systemi could then sail down the Mississippi,, through the Caribbean Sea into the Pacific. A serious want of the Western States and of the Western shipping is good coe.l, which, now comes from Japan, Australia, and British Columbia. Through the canal, the State of Alabama could alone supply the* whole present dtmand for good coal, and; double the quantity, both cheaply and easily. Think what a market is awaiting such an article as raw cotton in China and Japan if it can be taken there cheaply enough? The canal would bring the Southern cotton States into close proximity to these great countries, and the blow to the growing cotton manufacturing industry of India would be severe if not paralytic' It should always be remembered, "too, that the United States, with only 9 per cent, of the world's population, produces 34 per cent. of the world's food. Picture ioi an instant the trade openings in Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, and all that East Indian Archipelago, with thousands of fertile islands and 35,000,000 of people. Add to them the Philippines, now part of America, with its unknown resources and 8,000,000 inhabitants. Then there is Oceanic, with its myriads of rich islands' whost illimitable resources we Australians so faintly realise. And the Australian nation itself would become a bettei customer of the Sates once the Isthmian Canal was opened. Here, then, is the summation.. The Pacific connects vast continents capable of sustaining swarming populations, and much of the land is still sparsely settled. All these countries will in time be forced to provide the raw material for restless, energetic millions of Americans, and the millions of tons of machinery, which is the true white man's burden, of America. The Americans regard the overcrowded countries of Asia as future customers, and they will work eagerly to capture these Pacific mar-i kets and consumers by means of the Isthmian Canal. Do we Australians thoroughly raelise this? Should not we buckle oo our armour and make an effort to share in the overwhelming volume of trade within our easy rea.ek directly the Nicaragua!) Canal converts tie Pacific Ocean hit i the twentieth' century new Mediterranean

The politics of the Cape Colon y, a,od the politicians (writes a South African correspondent) appear to be at present in a condition that can only bo described as mixed To take the men first, there is Sir J. G. Spi'ii,'£, the Prime Minister, in the saddle, it is true, but only three because in the absence of Mr. Rhodes there is no other ma a on the Progressive side of the Houst with either the experience or the ability to take the reins of Government. Fortunately foi himself, Sir J. Q. Spring is about the only man who is not awarw of the fact. With that awiymoate self-cc'inplacftacj;vrtuck has

Jbeen so marked a feature in his political career, Sir J. G. Spring imagines himself to be the one man able to extricate the colony from her troubles, and reinstate her in the position she occupied before the latent rebellion of more than half the colonists came out and utterly besmirched the. colony for years to come. There in, however, a large section of the Progressive party who desire the return to power of Mr. Rhodes, and an agitation has been initiated with this object; but they are rendered powerless to substitute Mr. Rhodes ex Prime Minister— only possible position for him to occupy ■ without the full and free consent of Sir J. G. Sprigs, for the simple reason that the only possible way to upset the .Ministry at all would bo to vote with the Bond, an alternative too terrible for even the. extremes! Rhodesite to contemplate. The Premier and his colleagues intend to sit tight; and so, unless something unforeseen happens vai shall probably see. a Sprijjt; Ministry in office ■when Parliament meets and when Parliament prorogues. In the. face of an enemy like the Bond, with Merriman and Bauer as leaders, it is absolutely essntial fur the Ministerialists to maintain an unbroken front, even at a. considerable sacrifice of personal predilections. Of Sir J. G. Sprig's colleagues the less said the better. They are all. of course, honourable men and gentlemen, but nobody can rate them as first-class statesmen, even for a colony, a generalisation in which I do not include Mr. Junes. the Attorney-General, for the simple reason that he has virtually left the Ministry in order to become Chief Justice of the Transvaal. The minds of what lam compelled to call loyal colonists are torn with conflicting emotions on several crucial points. First of all. there is the suggested suspension of the constitution, to which Sir J. G. Sprigg and his colleagues are opposed, but which is being clamoured for by many intelligent colonists, who regard it as the only chance of breaking the. power of the Bond and ridding us of the burdens with which they have laden us. Then there is the Bond itself, and the question whether or no it should be suppressed. Again, there is the language question. Many hold, end rightly so, that the surrender of the right to speak English only i" an English Parliament, marked the beginning of the. Bond's power for evil, because it admitted into Parliament a body of men utterly incapable of legislation, and put the colony gradually .into the power of the Dutch speaking colonists, who do not think, and are easily led by unscrupulous and rebel persons in the colony. There are other points than those quoted upon which progressive colonists re divided in opinion, and although Ministers are not likely to introduce them into Parliament, Messrs. Merriman and Saner and their satellites will do so, because they know that upon them some members or. the Ministerial side are get-at-able, and they may by this means overthrow the Ministry. Altogether, there is what Shake-spore calls a pretty "coil;" and I know of nobody on this side of the water who sees a clear wav oat of it.

General Campbell, who is clearing eastern districts of the Orange Riveir-Colony, has captured enormous supplies of stock. Kruger has visited Rotterdam, where he received an ovation. The pro Boer agitation in England is said to be based on sensationally coloured reports, regarding Boer refuge camps in South Africa. Lord Salisbury, in the course of a speech, declared that an early and complete victory in South Africa was imperative to teach the world that British territory could not be violated with impunity. There must, he said, be no faltering. Sir M. Hicks-Beach declares that Great Britain is now capable of meeting and conquering any emergency. Several German banks have suspended payment, but it. is not anticipated that a financial crisis will arise.