CURRENT TOPICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1196, 1 February 1895, Page 17

CURRENT TOPICS.

A NOTABLE PAPER. Miss Shaw’s paper read at the Colonial Institute on the 13th November, is, as everyone will suppose who has read the brilliant letters that lady has contributed to the Times, worth reading. Coming across it yesterday in the pages of the December number of the Journal of the Colonial Institute, we found it very fascinating. Written with power, mastery and comprehensive grasp, it is in every way a most remarkable paper. The title “ Colonial Expansion ” speaks for itself; and indicates that upon a subject of such importance the writer, who is so well qualified by expei’ience to speak, must have a great deal to say that is worth saying. The expectation so formed is not disappointed on perusal of the paper. It is a very succinct and admirable review of the numerous dependencies of the Empire. It describes briefly and picturesquely the self-governing colonies, those possessing representative institutions in a degree, and those simply which are “ Crown ” colonies. The introduction is historical, and the line of treatment shows the vast difference between the policy which lost the American Colonies and the spirit which is retaining the great colonies of to-day. We begin by reading of the condition of things in England 300 years ago, when expansion was the thing most avoided and repressed. How the export of wool was prevented, how labour was confined by enactment to its narrow parishes, how later the navigation laws extinguished the carrying trade, as the least valuable, according to the notions of those dark times, in which any country could engage —from the dark picture all these things make up we come to the stage naturally following, in which the American colonies were ruled for the benefit of the Mother Country exclusively. From that we pass to the reaction after the declaration of American independence, which gradually brought a more true appreciation of the value of the dependencies of the Empiie. The next stage is the great expansion of Great Britain, which has made the Empire what it is, and we see how the colonies, in the enjoyment of liberties which the Mother Country did not enjoy in earlier times, have increased and multiplied, and made themselves necessary to the United Kingdom by the vastness of their exports and their prodigious commercial and industrial activity. We enjoy the picture of growing countries possessing the utmost freedom, relying on the Imperial connection, growing daily prosperous under a treatment which from day to day is reducing the friction inseparable from dependency. We realise that in the case of the self-governing colonies there is no friction whatever, and wo see how in all the others the friction existing is lessened by timely concessions found necessary by the progress of events, until it has come to be acknowledged as an axiom that any colony which shows a capacity for selfgovernment is perfectly certain of getting it for the asking. It is • a position perfectly unique in the history of mankind, due to the well directed spirit of selfgovernment, which is the chief characteristic of the great Anglo-Saxon race, by which it is enabled to expand over its vast possessions. The conclusion is that as the expansion of the Mother Country has made the Empire, the expansion of the dependencies will consolidate it. The ribs of the great structure are the great self-governing colonies, and when they expand the fabric will be perfect. As they expand they are showing the way in many departments of political progress, and the result of their experiments is making for the unity of the Empire. The leading note throughout the paper is the testimony of the loyalty of the outlying dependencies to the Empire as a whole. It was re-echoed t emphatically during the discussion which followed. On that subject the Hon Duncan Gillies, the Victorian Agent-General, said the most notable thing, when he asked what is there that any one of the selfgoverning colonies can hope to get by separation which it has not already got within the Empire ? All admitted that in this connection the Ottawa Conference was the most notable event of our time, or perhaps in the history of colonisation. A very important contribution to the discussion was supplied by Mr H. H. Johnston, H.M. Consul in Nyassaland, who pointed out that there are vast territories now in process of acquisition which are proving eminently suited for colonisation by the various races of the Indian Peninsula. His remarks light up the subject of African annexation primarily, and-they draw attention also to the future of the Pacific islands whose populations are dying out. "Who is to take their place ? It is a question for the Empire to consider and answer ; and it points unmistakably to the great part which our Indian population is destined to play in the expansion and consolidation of the Empire; and it shows the necessity of acquiring new territories, and, if possible, conserving the native populations from the decay with which they are threatened. It shows us, in fact, that the Samoan proposals of our Government struck as true an Imperial note astheCape-to-Cairo Policy on which the Right Honour- I

able Cecil Rhodes has embarked with so much vigour. Miss Shaw’s paper is on the whole one of the most masterly ever read at the Colonial Institute, and the discussion it met with is one of the most practically useful as well as far-seeing on the records of that energetic body.

CAPTAIN RUSSELL AT NAPIER. The speech of the Leader of the Opposition is in one respect a healthy sign of the political situation. Captain Russell is the Leader of the Opposition. Of all men living he is the one who, if there is an indictment to be made against the Government, must be expected to make it. All the other criticisms spoken and written on the same side are necessarily subsidiary, preparatory, subordinate, leaving the post of honour in the attack to the chief. We waited for the chief, expecting him to gather up all the threads of criticism into one powerful indictment, and we waited with some little curiosity for the big thunder clap that was to give the eclat of no uncertain sound to the united voice of the Opposition, whose great function it is to watch and shoot. He indulged in a little preliminary exercise some little time ago, when some of the lights of his party met him at dinner in the time-honoured fashion. On that occasion the party leader chose to be facetious. But his humour was not more than third rate. He took for his model Lord Beaconsfield, whose sharp sayings about the Liberal chief used to startle both sides by their brilliancy and point. Need we say that he fell somewhat short of his ideal. His wit was forced, as the wit of one who, to use a famous Scotch phrase, not coined for purposes of compliment, “jokes with difficulty.” Besides being forced it was narrow, and it was poor stuff. But it was post-prandial, and that was the reason for the popular impression that the Captain did not wish to take things too seriously. He got his answer shortly afterwards from the Premier at Napier, and the contrast was not in his favour.His serious effort came later. We do not regret that we cannot compliment him on its success. On the contrary, we are gratified to see that a thing so unsuccessful is the best case that can be made against the Government by the Opposition. The attack of the Leader of the Opposition was largely a defence of the previous administration, tt presented the leader of the immaculates, who are charging the Government with introducing a new system of " spoils to the victors/’ as defending their own transactions—surely a weak position for any assailant to occupy: more especially when, as in this case, his defence is bad. For example, the famous Council appointments of a beaten Government were passed over in a discreet silence. The Premier had characterised that transaction forcibly as “ spoils to the vanquished.” His opp ment said in reply nothing. If he had adopted that plan throughout—that is to say, if he had maintained the party attack the omission would have been in no way remarkable. But as he made a rather elaborate defence on other lines, the omission weakened his case by its significance. Then as to Polhill Gully, which we remember to have seen referred to in a style of indignant denunciation by some writers who are now allies of the party in opposition, it is an evasion of the point to say that the property may sell at a profit now. The point is that owing to the method of purchase chosen, perfectly unnecessary and unusual in various ways, the Treasury had to pay more than the ordinary and open method would have involved. As to the other appointments named, the excuse that the appointees were opponents of the appointing Government does not take the sting out of the charge, because it does not prove that a practice which gets rid of opponents by getting them into the public service is necessarily a good thing for the service, or always a right and proper practice to follow. It will be observed, of course, in this connection that two blacks never yet made a white—and a very proper observation it is, too. But the point it proves is that there is not a new system in vogue. It shows the public that things are done pretty much as they have always been done. It reminds us that though criticism has exhausted itself, no one has ever said that any appointment made by the present Government is a bad appointment. On the contrary, many hostile critics have carefully declared that they are far from alleging that any appointment in the service is a bad one.

But what can be expected of a man who coolly tells us that the country has been packed with paupers for the purpose of improving the statistics of the debt on a population average ? We can expect only that he will either believe anything or say anything. We may from another of his performances infer that he will do anything except read the Financial Statement, which deals in detail with the finances that he criticises. Has he read the Financial Statement ? He denounced the net increase in the public debt as due to “sly borrowing,” whereas the causes of that increase are set||out in detail in the Financial Statement, and shown be due to the working of policies inaugurated for very proper purposes and with the full consent of the Legislature by former administrations. Where is the slyness? Then we ask again, has the Leader of the Opposition read the Financial Statement ? If he has, he has unaccountably become deranged in his epitaphs, as Mrs Malaprop would put it. Again, as to the new financial policy of last year. What is the use of comparing the amount authorised to be raised with the amounts authorised in former years ? The two lines of policy are essentially different, special security and special provision for interest being made in the new departure, whereas , the old system relied exclusively and directly on the consolidated fund, with no special security at all. A statesman would have noted the difference, and directed his

criticisms accordingly in a broad states-* manlike spirit. To simply denounce the millions after confusing the new method with the old is worthy only of a character which seems to have struck Captain Russell’s facetious fancy at the banquet aforesaid. It makes one suspect that the Captain is qualifying himself to be the “ Sequah ”of our political arena. Indeed, his reference to the condition of the Hawke’s Bay district lends additional colour of probability to the supposition; for only a gentleman of the charlatanic persuasion could affect to believe that Hawke’s Bay would not be vastly improved by close settlement. We have not a word to say against the large proprietors who are possessors by perfectly fair means, and are working out their destiny to the best of their power,- in the face of hard times. But that does not prevent our believing that Hawke’s Bay would be the better for closer settlement, and that the general welfare of the community would be increased proportionally. The man who thinks otherwise can only persuade himself to that opinion by a mental process which, when it is consoious, belongs to the charlatan. We will do Captain Russell the justice to believe that his mental process in this matter, is unconscious. His speech, we repeat, is the healthiest sign of the political situation we have seen since last session. He has said the worst that is to be said against the Government, and the worst has left the Ministerial position undamaged.