NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13084, 25 January 1906, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

LORD KITCHENER. Mr. Arnold White contributes an interesting article on Lord Kitchener to Cassell's Magazine. Of his act in desecrating the tomb of the Mahdi and throwing his ashes into the Nile, which created so much searching of heart in England, .the author writes: How Kitchener got to Omdurman in due time need not be related here,, but his act in desecrating the tomb of the Mahdi and throwing his ashes into the Nile, which created much searching of heart in England, deserves comment. Nobody can suppose, however hostile to militarism, that Kitchener could receive any personal enjoyment from an act so barbarous, so certain to be resented not only by Christians but by agnostics and freethinkers throughout Europe and America. If, therefore, Kitchener derived no personal advantage, what were the public reasons for this extraordinary act? Kitchener understood the Moslem mind more thoroughly than any of his critics. All war i." barbarism. Kitchener was the man who for nearly a score of years had lived hardly and forsworn pleasure to recover Egypt from the night of barbarism to the light of day, and he was the man who in the heyday of triumph asked the English public to reward him by opening a college at Khartoum for the sons of sheiks that they might learn the secrets of English progress and ' enlightenment. This was the man who threw the Mahdi's head into the Nile. Why did he do it? It was done in the interests of the peace of Egypt and the world. It was done to prevent the fermentation of disorder tliat would cluster round the nucleus of a shrine; it was done to evaporate the exhalations of a fanatic poison that would linger as long as the Mahdi's body remained to Islam. Kitchener may have been mistaken. The present writer is not competent to express an opinion, but of the essential nobility of the act enough has not been made. The man in high place. who for a sense of duty will dare not only the criticism but the angry disgust of millions of his, fellow countrymen is a moral hero— a rarer product of human nature than a Inan of physical courage, of intellectual acuteness, or of charm and distinction of manner.

TRADE IN CANADA. j The extent to which Canada is " boom- ! ing" cannot be better illustrated tlian by j some of the figures' respecting her trade, j Thus, while the increase in the trade of | Canada in the 20 years from 1?73 to 1892 1 was only 30 millions, the increase in the ! 12 years from 1893 to 1904 was an enorm- ! ous sum of 230 millions, the trade of 1904 j being 50 millions greater than in 1902. In I a word, the volume of Lrade has doubled ' in 10 years, the aggregate for 1904 being 464 millions. Canada's imports for 1904 were 253 millions, and her exports 211 millions. Britain is Canada's best customer, buying 85 per cent, of her exports. The capital invested in manufactures in Canada is con- : siderably beyond 440 millions. Her fac- ; lories number 11,126; number of employees, 306,000; wages bill, about 90 millions; and the value of manufactured products, 452 millions. Canada's relative

percentage of . commercial growth for seven years, 1895-1902, was 107 per cent., as against 47 of United States and 26 of Britain. It will thus be xen that while Canada is bound to give special attention to the placing of a population on her enormous areas of agricultural land, she is not neglecting all the other departments of trade which are essential to a prosperous and progressive nationality.