NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13095, 7 February 1906, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE FRANCHISE IN GERMANY. Is Monday's Herald we published a cable message to the effect that the House of Burgesses of Hamburg had adopted a Bill restricting the franchise, with a view to keeping the Socialists in a minority. The Berlin correspondent of the London Times, writing on December 28, throws home interesting light on the matter. In one of the three German Republics, the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, the governing class, he writes, has determined to lake time by the forelock and to meet the remarkable increase of the Socialist vote by revising the electoral system of the city in a reactionary sense. At the last general election for the German-Reichstag the three constituencies into which the city of Hamburg is divided returned under the system of direct, universal, and secret suffrage three Social Democrats including Heir Beb.d, and cast a total.of 100.000 votes as against 60,000 votes recorded for other parties. The popular assembly in Hamburg known as the Burgerschaft numbers 160 member.-, hut of these under the present civic .system of election the Socialists only return 13. According to this system 40 members of the Burgerschaft are elected by the ground landlords, 40 by the so-called notables— i.e., the present and former members of the Courts of Justice and of the administrative bodies: while the remaining 80 members are elected by those of the citizens who for at least five successive years have paid taxes upon incomes of not less than £60. It ought to be added that the ground landlords and the notables enjoy a second vote among the general body of the citizens, and that some of them even vote three times in their threefold capacity of ground landlords, notables, and ordinary citizens. Notwithstanding these restrictions and privileges, It would appear that, according to the preamble of a Bill which has just been introduced by the Government of Hamburg, feaif. arc entertained lest the Social Democracy should increase its representation in the Burgerschaft to an extent which would imperil the interests of property and of

commerce in the most flourishing of tb« Hanseatic cities. The Socialist* themselves anticipate that at the next elections they may double their numbers, while the civic government apprehends that by tbft year 1910 the Socialists might return 40 members. Now 40 Social Democratic members would be sufficient to prevent any reactionary alteration of the electoral &-i. tern, einco a two-thirds majority in {]> Burgcrschaft is. required for any constitutional change. The new bill retains "the privilege of the owners of city property and of tho notables to elect, half of the popular Legislative Assembly ; hut the other half is no lunger to Lie elected bv tin- equal votes of the remaining citizens. Forty-eight representatives arc to be elected by citizens who pay income tax upon incoined of over £125, eight representatives by country parishes, and 24 v repre£>entatives by citizens who pay income tax upon inunder £125. It may he added that only half of the popular Legislative Assembly is renewed by election every three years. The preamble to the Bill frankly states that "the contemplated alteration of the franchise, is intended to prevent the Social Democracy from acquiring in Hamburg, ajjd that not merely at some distant period, but, in the near future, a position of decisive influence." The preamble goe> on to argue that a man of liberal opinion would be making a mistake if he rejected every scheme for differentiating the franchise on the ground that it was reactionary. It is urged that, on the contrary, Liberals ought conscientiously to consider the p.. culiar circumstances of Hamburg and to ask whether the electoral system proposed by the Bill is calculated to assure and promote " the free development of the citizen's personality, freedom of speech, toleration of opinion, and protection for the advancement of these who are industrious and capable."

GREAT BRITAIN* AND JAPAN.

The Berliner Tageblatt publishes, wit) what the Berlin correspondent of the London Globe describes as " unconcealed satisfaction.." a long letter received from its Tokiu correspondent, under date of November 12, in reference to "Japanese opponents of the alliance with England." This opposition is said to be led by Viscount Tani, Mr. Fukamoto Sel, a young politician, and Mr. Ozaki Yukoi, the Mayor of Tokio. Viscount. Tani savs in the Conservative organ. Nippon, that the war with Russia was due to the first alliance between Great Britain and Japan. His opinion of the British navy is curious : —"England's navy in Nelson's days was the best on the seas; a long peace has weakened it : it is perhaps weaker than was the Russian navy. The English army is the worst in the world, and its military system has reached the summit of decadence. Its officers are the sons of rich parents: they regard their service as a. means of passing the time; they lack education and zeal. Their arrangements are wretched, and could not be improved in case of war. To throw ourselves into the arms of England is to commit suicide. Moreover, England is not noble-minded. It pardoned the horrible deeds of the Russian Baltic Fleet in the North Sea for a paltry million of money, and allowed the Russian vessels to pass down the Channel. If England had really sympathised with Japan, then it would never have allowed the Russian warships to sail through the Channel."