NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14836, 13 November 1911, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

AUSTKIA-HUNGAKY AND ITALY. Whiting before the actual outbreak of hostilities between Italy.and Turkey, the well-informed Vienna correspondent of the London Times pointed out that although Austria-Hungary, and Germany would doubtless act to come extent in concert, both as the allies of Italy and as tho allies of each other, it was necessary carefully to distinguish between the interests and the positions of the two countries. As far as can be judged (he went on to say), tho bearing of Austria-Hungary is, and is likely to be, somewhat more sympathetic towards Italy than that of Germany. If it bo truo, as is suggested in some wellinformed quarters, that Signor Tittoni was requited in 1908 for his previous assent to tho annexation policy of Austria-Hungary by an undertaking from Baron von Aehrenthal that the Dual Monarchy would not oppose the eventual realisation of Italian aspirations to the control of Tripoli, this circumstance would in itself approximate the position of Austria-Hungary to those of France and England. Austriagary, moreover, had no part nor lot in the recent German initiative in regard to Morocco. Since tho despatch of the Panther her attitude towards her ally has been one of benevolent neutrality, but none the less of neutrality seeing that the Hungarian Premier declared in Parliament soon after the arrival of the Panther : at —Austrp-Hungary, while wishing Germany all success, was not immediately concerned in the Franco-German dis- ! pute, since under the terms of the AustroGorman Allianco the casus foederis could not arise from it. There is besides reason to believe that throughout the critical phases of tho Franco-German controversy Austro-Hungarian influence has been not only negatively, but also positively, pacific. The Dual Monarchy, therefore, bears no immediate responsibility for the rapidity of Italian action, which, pace the.Cologne Gazette, is a direct, albeit unforeseen, result of the action of Germany in forcing on a hasty solution of the Moroccan question.

THE COLOUR QUESTION. In the storm of protest against the John-son-Wells tight, which was raised in England,'' no voice carried greater weight than that of the very able special correspondent of the London Time*, lately in Algeria. Writing to that journal, he'pointed out how, if permitted, it was likely to weaken the prestige of the white man among the dark races of Africa. In West Africa, he said, racial feeling cannot be described as acute. But it exists in some of the coast towns, and, in a certain measure, ■ in the Western Province of Southern Nigeria, where it appears to bo on the increase with the growth of elements both internal and external making, if not checked, for the break-up of native authority by irresponsible factors .and the consequent weakening of the supreme authority, viz., the British Administration. There can be no doubt that in this part of British West Africa, and in such places as Sierra Leone and Cape Coaet, the news gashed over the wires that ft physical

struggle between a white man and a black man, attended by thousands of spectators, has been waged in the capital of the Empire, would have a thoroughly mischievous effect—especially, if the black man won. Respect, not in a grovelling but in a manly sense (mutual respect, indeed), is the bedrock upon which we carry out our task. If that sentiment is undermined, the complexities of the position are increased to an extent little appreciated at Home. Intelligence travels wide and fast in West Africa, and one can imagine few things more calculated to do us (and them) harm with the powerful native rulers of the interior, far beyond the zone of racial friction, than the, to them, astounding incident of masses of Englishmen assisting at tho public thrashing— it so turned —of an Englishman by a negro. These responsible and dignified persons have not yet risen to our heights, or sunk to our depths, according to the point of view, and must be pardoned by the superior intelligence of the man in the London street if their appreciation of " sport" be somewhat lacking.