NOTES ON THE NEWS OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1404, 26 January 1899, Page 34

NOTES ON THE NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Whatever doubts may have been experienced as to the personal sincerity of the Czar of Russia in the matter of the pending Disarmament Conference must be dissipated by the news coming to hand of his interviews with men whom he considers likely to help on the project. His most remarkable interview, so far, has been that just reported with Count Tolstoi, the celebrated Russian heretic and Socialist, who has had the boldness to tell his Imperial master that Russia should take the lead by reducing her own armaments. It will be interesting to learn what Nicholas 11. had to say in reply to that remark. He could hardly offer any reason why Russia should not follow such a course without confessing that he was individually powerless to direct the nation’s policy in the matter. Mr W. T. Stead has given his testimony to the impression left upon him of the present Czar’s deep earnestness in the oause of disarmament, and a member of the International Peace Conference has ,iven corroboration by reminding the world that two years ago the Czar sent a sympathetic message to the annual gathering of that organisation. Dr Talmage, the great American divine, referring recently to the derision with which the Czar’s proposal was received in some quarters, said:—“l know personally that he did mean it. Six years ago he expressed to me the same theory in his palace at Peterhof, he then being on the way to the throne, not yet having reached it. His father, Alexander 111., then on the throne, expressed to me in his palace the same sentiments of peace, and his wife, the then Empress, with tears in her eyes, said, in reply to my remark, 1 Your Majesty, there will never be another great war between Christian nations, ‘ Ah; I hope there never will be. If there should ever be another great war I am sure it will not start from this palace.’ ” When, however, all this is conceded, the doubt remains whether any practical good will result from the coming Conference, so long as Russia leads the way, and the other Powers eagerly follow her, in pushing on preparations for war. Royal Palaces and Courts, even in despotic countries, have little say in the making of war or peace to-day. Queen Victoria desires “peace in her time” even more earnestly than does the Czar; yet even her great influence, resting upon the respect and veneration in which she is held, would not have prevented the British from declaring war a few weeks ago had not France ordered the evacua- ' tion of the Nile Valley by her troops. V The abolition of war must be sought in y- the growth of intelligence, the spread of .•'education, and the development of cos- | mopolitan fraternity. If the Czar’s ConSference should proceed on the same lines : as the Peace Society, and pronounce in of international arbitration, (a> Wgreat stride will be made towards the yfesired end. Such a reform is practicffable, but a general agreement to disarm m ot -

THE CZAB AND PEACE.

■Ripe “ Post,” in its avowed anxiety to secure the defeat of the Liberal Government now in K Sower, has just made a esperate effort to revive vanished courage of the Conservaj, and to incite the leaders of that y to take to the platform “from the of Islands to the Bluff,” in anticipaof the general election now in sight, lingly and despairingly our contemkry is forced to admit that the Opposiparty is asleep and is “ completely •matched in determination, persist- > and fighting power.” As for the ag New Zealand party, whose leaders E promised to “stump the country he recess, it seems to be in the same ht as the Opposition, or even a worse; no call to arms is addressed to it. i to Captain Russell and his followers ; the “Post” looks: it is they whom Sit endeavours to inoculate with some of ittS own fighting spirit; but all the time Kit is felt and admitted that nothing is Ejfcb be expected but defeat. The only 5 glimmer of hope that our contemporary l ean discern is in the Opposition being /persuaded to bring forward a “ progressive programme,” and to tell the elecfejors why they should accept it. This Sfls indeed a forlorn hope. lor four or ’ five years past the •Liberal press of the colony has jfcen calling upon Captain Russell to i’Gciose his policy; the Premier has Sjgain and again challenged him to do so; |tut the Leader of the Opposition has done Ifothing hut smile and declare that “ a physician cannot prescribe till he is called ■il!’ In Captain Russell’s opinion, to jpbpound a policy while he is in opposiHpn would be to confess himself a quack Hid charlatan of the advertising order; Kid so he pursues the even tenor of his Hpy, trusting to receive a “ call ” that will H|yer come. In truth, the gallant Captain B:as poor a specimen of the fighting poliHjifem as ever had the leadership of a Hgfoky. He is a creature far “ too bright ■P good for (political) human nature’s jHpy food ”; and to expect him to bring a progressive programme, one fHftild require to conceive himself living age of miracles. It is doubtful if most progressive policy which ConHHatism is capable of producing, under ■Bibnost aggressive leader, would avail the Liberal principles of the jHfiple and their faith in Mr Seddon’s gHjidership. The trumpet-call to arms probably galvanise the OpgMWinto some show of activity, and will be welcome by way of the prevailing lethargy,

CALL asms.

It cannot be gainsaid that the site for a | Town Hall and municipal offices proposed by Councillor Luke, on the block lying between Cuba, Dixon [ and Manners streets, answers in most respects the requirements of an important city like Wellington. The fatal objection to it is that the land there is so valuable that a large municipal building could only be made to pay by devoting the ground floor frontages to business premises from which rents would be derived. This would necessitate a very large outlay of money, probably greater than the Council and public would sanction. Another objection is that the adoption of that site would necessitate the purchase and removal of the buildings now on it, which would probably, with compensation for relinquishment of leases, run into £IO,OOO, as over half that value is placed upon the charred walls of the Royal Oak Hotel. The lessees would not, we feel sure, be so ready to relinquish their leases as Mr Luke supposes. They would want “ compensation for disturbance,” and in the case of the licensee of the Royal Oak Hotel that would be a very substantial amount, for Mr Gilmer could have no guarantee that he would obtain a license for premises elsewhere. For these reasons, Mr Luke’s proposal, excellent though it is in many ways, must be rejected. It is gratifying to find a Councillor of Mr Luke’s energy and public spirit taking up the question of a Town Hall and municipal offices, which was advocated in our columns a good few weeks ago; and wo trust that tne debate on the motion which he has tabled will result in the City Council resolving to take the preliminary steps towards the realisation of the project. There is really no necessity for incurring wasteful expenditure in order to get a first-class site for a Town Hall. Such a site the City Council has ready to its hand on the reclaimed ground just in front of the Education Board’s premises, possessing all the advantages of centrality, accessibility, and opportunity for architectural display. That site is now lying idle, and instead of the erection of suitable premises on it involving the Council in possible loss, it won’d lead to direct profit, as the present municipal offices would, if vacated, bring a large rental to the Corporation coffers. We would once more urge upon the Mayor and Councillors the importance of promptly proceeding with the erection of new municipal offices, with a ha'l suitable for concerts and other public gatherings on its upper story. It will be culpable neglect of an imperative duty if the Council allows the present year to go past without having such a building constructed, or at anyrate well in hand.

TOWN HALL SITE.

While there is much writing and talking in America, Great Britain and the colonies about spending some millions in the laying of submarine cables, electricians are patiently experimenting with the new system of wireless telegraphy, which may bo destined to entirely supersede the present method of transmission, and send down with a rush the shares of the cable companies. It is just about two years since the Italian, Guglielino Marconi, who is only twenty-five years or age, startled the scientific world by the announcement of his discovery of ethereal telegraphy; and considerable pro gress ha 3 already been made in developing his idea. Under the inventoi’. directions operations have been conducted in England for a distance ot nine miles, with the Bristol Channel intervening. Later, he kept in electrical touch with a vessel twelve miles out from land, and his invention was used to connect the Prince of Wales, travelling about in a royal yacht, with the English shore. Towards the close of last year regular stations were established. and are now working, between Bournemouth and Alum Bay, fifteen rnile3 apart, and between Durlston Castle near Swanage, and the Isle ot Wight installation, eighteen miles apart. These achievements, wonderful as they are, are viewed by experts as but foretastes of tho greater things yet to be done One scientist avers that a wire a mile and a fifth high would lend

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

power for the transmission of ethereal messages from Ireland across the Atlantic to the United States. Assuming that to be possible, there would be no need of submarine cables, for messages could be transmitted without wires from point to point, all round the world. The practical use to which wireless telegraphy is now being put is the protection or saving of ships off coasts in stormy weather; but there is no doubt that in course of time the invention will bo commercially exploited for the sending of ordinary messages for the public. The consciousness that that time is probably near at hand may do something to damp the ardour of the projectors of new cable lines.

Only one feeling seems to animate the people of these colonies when they contemplate the foul outrage and triple murder recently committed at Gatton, in Queensland, and that is that a painful and ignominious death is the only fitting punishment for the brute or brutes who committed the crimes. In popular phrase, “hanging is too good for them.” An 1 yet, while in the face of su'-h terrible crimes Gu> agitation for the abolition of capital punishment is silent, it is probable that the lesson which will sink deepest is that it is a mistake to impose the death penalty for any other crime than murder. In the Australian colonies certain offences against the person are classed with murder as capital c.nines; and the result is the law places an almost irresistible temptation before the man who may be led by his passions to commit the lesser offence. The working of that temptation was very well understood by Judges and criminal experts in England when the law of that country prescribed hanging for robbery and burglary. The criminal, resisted in hit, purpose and perhaps identified, reasoned with fatal swiftness that “ dead men tell no tales,” and knowing that his life was already forfeited by his deed, he did not hesitate to add the crime of murder to his list. A similar view must be taken in order to account for the murder of the victims of the outrages in Queensland. These unhappy people, in the course of their struggle with the villains who attacked them, were doubtless enabled in the clear moonlight to see the features ot their assailants, and the latter, in order to silence the sole witnesses of their guilt, deliberately killed them. It has been asserted that murders and murderous attacks, as concomitants of burglaries and robberies, decreased in England in consequence of the abolition ot capital punishment for minor crimes; and it is argued in some quarters that if the Austra’ian colonies similarly amended their law, outrages on women and girls would not he so often followed by murder as they now are. The reasoning is not altogether sound, for the miscreant who commits outrages is always a violent person, which is not necessarily the case with the thief. Careful inquiry should, however, be made, and every consideration given to the vnb'c- 4 -. for it is not well to have the ■ - n , L y shocked by recurring crimes " o which have given Queensland a i i notoriety at present.

LESSON. OP THE GATTON OUTRAGE.

It is France that stands in the way ot Great Britain in South Africa, as elsewhere. So far back as 1890 an agreement was entered into between Great Britain arid Germany with regard to the final disposal of Portuguese territories in South Africa, in certain eventualities. Last year, a statement appeared in Portuguese newspapers to the effect that, as a part of the arrangements made, Delagoa Bay would be ceded to England soon after the New Year. France strongly objected to the supposed terms of the agreement, on the ground that Delagoa Bay in the possession of England would be a menace to her position in Madagascar, and pro-

DELAGOA BAY.

ceeded to bring pressure to bear on Portugal. Early in November it was reported that France was putting on strong pressure, and that a group of French banks had offered to finance the payment of the next Portuguese Government coupons due, to give further breathing time. It is pretty certain that if Portugal can find money nothing will take place, for the Portuguese are very sensitive abdut the possibility of any loss oi territory. The Ministry stated during November that “the present Government will not alienate its rights and sovereignty over any portion, wliarevei situated, of Portuguese territory. It will hand on intact the nations' Matrimony ”; and this utteranco is said to have been due to strong representations from Paris. The people of l.iabon nearly broke into open revolution in 1891 when there was talk of ceding Mozambique to England; nor was the reception of a report in 1895 that England bad offered £5,000,000 for all territories south oi' the Limpopo any more favourable. Hence, no doubt, the recent repetition by the King of Portugal of the statement that the country would not part with any of its colonies. France, it is surmised, also throws obstacles m the way of a lease of the territory to Great Britain; in fact, France has taken the place of Germany as the friend and abettor of the Boers. A German resident at Pretoria, writing to the Berlin “Tageblatt” recently, showed how German opinion in the Transvaal has veered round. He pointed out that the Boers do not care a rap for the Germans or their alleged kinship, and he added: “ Yesterday an article of your paper came into my hands, in which the honesty and integrity of the Boers are extolled. The contrary assertion would be more accurate, and it is a well-known fact that even the highest officials can be bribed.” It is pretty safe to predict that neither French “pin-pricking” nor Boer corruption and bribery will stay the negotiations for a change in the control of :Delagoa Bay, which it is necessary Great Britain should have in order that the Government at Pretoria may be effectually taught that it cannot flout its obligations under the Convention that established a British protectorate over the Transvaal.

Splendid weather marked the celebration on Monday of the fiftyninth anniversary of the colonisation of New Zealand, started at Wellington by the arrival of the pioneer settlers of the New Zealand Company. The races, regatta and swimming sports, which were the public forms of merry-making arranged for the occasion, therefore came oif in a most successful manner; while the many private picnic parties and excursions that left the city by steamer, rail and other conveyances enjoyed their outings under the most favourable conditions. It is an interesting coincidence that the first sitting of the first Roman Catholic Synod of New Zealand, as well as the first issue of the enlarged “ New Zealand Times,” should have been synchronous with the anniversary of the colonisation of this country. Three anniversaries are thus made to fall upon the same day. The establishment of a Provincial Council of the Catholic Church in New Zealand is an event that marks an important stage in the development of that Church. It symbolises the independence of the Church in New Zealand and its complete severance from Australia. It is a recognition that geographical and other considerations make federation between this country and Australia inadvisable and impracticable. What is true of church affairs is equally true .of State concerns, and the action of the Holy See confirms the wisdom of our politicians in holding aloof from an alliance which could only mean subjection. Reverting to Anniversary Day, it may be noted that next week the people of Auckland will observe what they claim to be the re;'’ anniversary of New Zealand—the date of the assumption of the Lieutenant-Governor-ship of the colony by Captain Hobson. It is regrettable that there should be any dispute of this kind; and it may be hoped that, as years roll by and the national spirit triumphs over the provincial, the whole of the colony will agree upon one day which shad be :■■■:/■ apart as an annual remembrancer of the founding of New Zealand. If agree;.ic: t is not attainable by any other means, it will by-and-by become the duty of the Legislature to fix the holiday and put an end to celebrations which, being provin-

THE ANJNIVERSARY HOLIDAY.

cial, are divisive and opposed to national unity.

When the Hokitika agent of the Press Association telegraphed out what purported to be the Premier’s statement to the effect that Her Majesty’s Government had requested him to allow the landing of Austrians on their way to this country, the Conservative papers promptly interpreted it as a proof of “ the discomfiture of the Premier.” Looking at the matter without party bias, we stated our conviction to be that the Home Government had recognised the validity of the action taken here. The surprising revelation now made, however, is that the report is entirely erroneous—is, in fact, another example of bias or incapacity on the part of the Press Association’s agents. The request emanated from the Austrian Charge d’Affaires in London, and was forwarded by the Secretary of State for the Colonies without any request on his part. This, our Hokitika correspondent states, was made perfectly clear by Mr Seddon, and we learn on inquiry that, on receipt of the cable message, the Government simply replied stating that the Union Company had agreed to enter into a bond for the maintenance of Austrians coming by their steamers, and that they would consequently be allowed to land. Instead of the Government bomg discomfited, it has been upheld and justified in all its proceedings, as we predicted from the first would be the case. Those Conservative journals that made merry over the false message from ITokitka have not, by the W'ay, taken any notice of the fact that Sir Edward Braddon, the Conservative Premier of Tasmania, announced that no Austrians would he allowed to land in that colony unless a guarantee of £IOO per head wais given for their maintenance. ' The out'ry against the illiberal action of the Seddoii Government may well be silenced m view of the fact that the Tasmanian Premier was ten times more restrictive m his ideas than the terrible lyrant who was accused of doing so many iliega! md unconstitutional things in New Zealand

THE AUSTRIAN INFLUX.

M. Pelletan, who has just been criticising the French colonial expenditure in the Chamber of Deputies, is not solitary among Frenchmen in his recognition of how profitless and vain is the attempt to found colonies by France. The only colony of French people that ever took root was that in Canada, and it required to pass under British control before it could prosper. To-day, the many distant colonies held by France are chiefly noted as being regular maelstroms of expense. M. Pelletan puts the total annual cost at eighty millions of francs; but a writer in the “ Revue Bleu ” says it is even higher. According to that writer, “ Algiers has an annual deficit of 30,000,000 francs, and there is a deficit in both Senegal and the Soudan. As to the Congo, it is in such a state of financial decrepitude that it is doubtful if it will ever recover. To sum up, the chief expense on the colonies amounts to 100,000,000 francs, without counting extraordinary expenditure.” Even the oldest French colonies have not reached the point of self-support. Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Reunion, although of adult age, and long since should have no need of subsidies, still receive several million francs a year. As regards South African possessions, the writer says that sixty miles inland it is impossible to find an acre of cultivated land. “Dahomey waits its first mercantile house, Senegal has for centuries had only six business houses, living alone by the trade in gum and peanuts, and other places would be ruined but for these two items.” The sober fact is that the modern Frenchman is not a colonising animal. He has almost entirely lost the reproductive instinct, and prefers ease and selfish luxury to the hard work of colonisation. Hence French colonies are merely looked upon as outlets for military and mercantile enterprise, and as providing “ careers ” tor a few men as Governors. The supreme ioily of France, in such circumstances, allowing herself to be draAvn to the verge of war owing to the unwise zeal of Major Marchs nd to annex fresh colonics, must be apparent to the most casual observer.

FRANCE AND HER COLONIES.