HOME NEWS SUMMARY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1695, 24 August 1904, Page 65

HOME NEWS SUMMARY.

(From ‘‘Public Opinion.”) LONDON, Juno 24. THE WAR. Tho Avar record is still of Russian disaster. At tho battle of Wa-fang-kau, of, aa it is now called, Telissu, which came of their efforts to relieve Port Arthur, tho Russians lost ten thousand men, and in another battle at Haicheng this week, rumour says they have lost another five thousand. Japanese military science, reinforced by Japanese devotion, is irresistible. The only successes which attend the Russians a:e such not very glorious episodes as the sinking of Japanese transports by the Vladivostock squadron. For some days the strategist who studies the great conflict from afar, was much exercised aa to whether the Vladivost-ock squad-, ran, having done all the mischief in its power, would not be captured .by Admiral Kamimura., and whether the re- - treat of General Stackelberg, who was in command at Wa-fang-kau, would not be successfully cut off by the victorious Japs, In both instances the Russians managed to escape. There is little news as to what is happening in the neighbourhood of Port Arthur.* It is reported that the Japanese have captured an inner fort, and that two Russian destroyers in their attempt to leave the Port have been blown up by mines. FINLAND AND RUSSIA. The assassination of General Bobrikoff, the Governor-General of Finland, last week, has revived interest in the Fin= nish question. General Bobrikoff was tha representative of Muscovite despotism : he was the embodiment of the hateful system which Russia in defiance of her pledges imposed on the people in Finland, and tho murder was no doubt entirely political in character. The assassin, Schaumann—who committed suicide—was formerly a Finnish official of some importance, and the upheaval due to Russia’s wanton superoassion of Finland’s constitutional rights must be held responsible for the outrage. The point which now arises is. will it show Russia her mistake, or will she seek to avenge Bobrikoff? If she. makes existence harder for the free-dom-loving Finn, grave trouble must ensue, and already there are reports of attempts at insurrection ; if, as is hardly likely, Russia decided to forego some part of her pretentious scheme of absorption, a dangerous precedent would have been set. Reverses in the Far East will not predispose Russia to a lenient view; and it is to be feared that the murder will only rouse her to a still more stringent regime in Finland. BRITISH ARMY AND CABINET. Much lias been made- of the alleged differences in the Cabinet ever the question of Army and War Office reform, and journals which could not be in the secret have talked of tire possibility of .Mi Arne’ 3-Forster's resignation. A Cabinet meeting was held on Tuesday to discuss the question, and what has happened is apparent from the debate in the House of Lords on the subject. Mr Arnold-Forester, in seeking to give effect to the Esher report, made demands on the Treasury which the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not tea his way to grant. The hitch was promptly put down to the opposition of Mr Brodrick and Lord Lansdowne, whose resentment of some of tho Eslier criticisms was fairly obvious in Lord Lansdowne’s speech in Tuesday’s debate. The real difficulty in the way of reform is financial, and the Government have now decided to save expense by somewhat reducing tho numbers of the Home Army, They undertake to eliminate the least desirable recruits, and increased efficiency will compensate in quality for lose in quantity. A BYE EILEiOTTON. Mr Philip Stanhope has been elected for Market Harborough by a majority of 1733, and Mr J. W; Benn for Devonport by a majority of 1040. These two great triumphs have sent the Radicals into transports of delight, and once again the Government are told that if they have any sense of self-respect left they will'bow to the obvious- will of the country. In the case of Devonport, the Radicals have recaptured a seat lost by a very slender margin in 1902. But they have not triumphed by attracting support from the Unionists. •On the contrary, the defeated Unionists polled nearly 1500 more than the successful Unionist in the previous contest. In the same way with Market Harborough. Mr Stanhope’s victory was due not to the falling away of Unionist supporters, but to the rally of new men to the Opposition. When we remember how many, things the Government have done or had to do that were apparently entirely opposed to . the general view of the country—-the list given by Mr Stanhope of points that lielped him is a pretty long one, from temperance reform to taxation, from Chinese labour to Education—it is astonishing that the numbers who voted for the Unionist candidate did not show a serious diminution.

THE JEWS IN EAST AFRICA. The prospect of an incursion of Jews into East Africa, on account of which Sir O. Eliot has resigned bis Cmnmissionership, seems likely to cause the Radical! as much concern as the decision to introduce Chinese coolies into South Africa. Failure has attended the efforts to defeat the latter, and this week the first batch of Chinese serfs, as they are called by the party responsible for a much less defensible scheme in British Guiana, has arrived in the Transvaal. By a curious coincidence tho two Houses of Parliament were engaged on Monday in discussing the merit l ! of the Jewish and the ’Chinese questions. In the Upper House, Lord Coleridge introduced a motion o-n the latter, which, as Lord Onslow, said, has been debated ad nauseam; and the Duke of Marlborough defended the Government from the wholly ridiculous insinuations which are the stock-in-trade of the Opposition. In the Commons, Mr Wason protested, on a motion for the adjournment, against.the alienation of any. part of East Africa to Jewish settlement; but no stronger argument against meeting the views of the Zionists was advanced than Lord Grey’s, when he suggested the possibility of dangerous complications arising from new settlements. Both Lord Coleridges and Mr Wason’s motions were rejected without a division. THE INCOME TAX. Mr Chamberlain was present at a banquet given on Friday night by the Lord Mayor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and tho bankers and merchants of London. The speeches were all of a trade and tariff order, and some of the guests seemed to anticipate that Mr Chamberlain would seize tho occasion to deliver a little economic homily te City men. Mr Austen Chamberlain suggested that new taxation is inevitable, and expressed bis confidence that the wit of man would find some means of broadening its basis, without injury to any class ‘or any trade. This hint gave the Governor of the Bank of England a cue, and he proceeded to rebut the “sinister prophecies” of tho.se who regard British trade as in a parlous condition. Great as the temptation must have been, Mr Chamberlain refused to bo drawn, and was content not to go outside personal pleasantries, except to point out incidentally that new sources of taxation alone can prevent permanent additions to the Income Tax. If the bankers who listened to Mr Chamberlain would study the accounts of some of their clients, they would probably have no difficulty in understanding how hardly the Income Tax presses upon the majority of commercial and professional men. DUNDONALD’S DISMISSAL. Bitter recrimination has followed the dismissal of Lord Dundonald, • and it w iU be long before the last is heard of the affair. The Canadian Government have got rid of Lord Dundonald, and are so satisfied _ with the unhealthy arrangements which he has exposed, that they will in future appoint their own officer to command the Militia. Sir Wilfred Lauvier’s reference to Lord

Dundonald a.s a “foreigner,” or, as he said .‘by way of modification, a “stranger,” is naturally resented by Englishmen an an offence of the first water. The French Canadian Premier has now appeared in his true colours, and it will be surprising if he has not done something; to estrange the British and French elements in Canada. Lord Dundonald does not take his punishment lying down. Ho declares that the splendid fighting material of Canada is rendered useless by political interference or political indifference, and that the people of Canada, so far as preparation for war is concerned, are living in a fool’s paradise. Lord Dundonalc] has made his exposure deliberately, and Canada should be grateful to him. notwithstanding Syr Frederick Borden’s counter allegations. Only by sacrificing himself has ho been able to bring to public notice the dangerous state of thing) prevailing in the Dominion. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY. Will Mr Roosevelt win the next Presidential election? The stars certainly seem to fight on his side. He has been enthusiastically nominated by the Republican Convention, which met in New York this week, whilst the Democrats, disunited as thev are, have several pretenders, and are at loggerheads as to whom they should support. At the opening meeting of the Republican gathering on Tuesday, Mr Root, the Secretary for War, nut in an eloquent plea on behalf of the present administration, which lie claims has been far-sight-eel in regard to finance, commerce, and to foreign affairs; it has given civil government to the Philippines, and established the Republic of Cuba, “swung open the closed gateway of the Panama Isthmus,” ended the Alaskan boundary dispute, strengthened the 'Monrco doctrine, and protected tho integrity of China. Nor is this all. When the war in the Far East broke out, the German Emperor recognised the powerful position of tho United States by appealing to them to take the lead in limiting tho field of action. If the note of special pleading is a little obvious in all this, it lias a larger measure of truth than such claims on behalf of American administrators usually have. THE WOMEN’S CONGRESS. Mere man must look to himself after the highly successful International Women’s Congress, which concluded its proceedings in Berlin on Saturday. The finale was an ultimatum from free and independent woman to man, who has so long presumed to control her fortunes. One lady, a Mrs Perkins, made a great discovery. Woman, she says, came first into tho world, the story of Adam’s rib ifj the merest fantasy, and in fact woman was the actual man so far as mankind’s development was concerned. This pretty theory does not -destroy the traditional responsibility of woman for man’s weakness and fall. On the contrary, it confirms it. However, man seems at some remote time or of be” successfully to have asserted his lordly self, whilst woman is only now beginning to realise her strength. Lest the realisation should create a scare among the weaklings hitherto known as the stronger sex, Mrs Perkins bids men

have no fear. Woman intends to put an end to male rule, /hut she dees not wish te put men under any yoke. With, tho assurance that he will be allowed to live on terms of practical equality with-women, mere man may breathe .again, and possibly come to regard the Woman’s Congress as the date, not of her but of his Magna Chart a. i . j IS LONDON PAGAN? 1 Miss Marie Corelli, replying to the clerical attack on Pagan London, suggests that the clergy are the real pagans, and contends that a pagan people are the product of a pagan priesthood. Her knowledge of the priesthood would appear to bo like Sam Weller’s of London, extensive and peculiar. She makes the grave mistake of regarding individuals as types of the whole. Some clergymen, no doubt, are modern Judas Iscariots, prepared to botray Christ, to enjoy the good things of this life if they can get them, and generally to set an example which does much to convince the layman that the -Church is humbug. But priests who take so lax a view of their duty seldom remain priests long. Archdeacon Sinclair’s answer to Miss Marie Corelli is that if clergymen are as bad as she makes out, they are something worse than pagans; As a matter of fact—and he should know—lie says, London is growing more righteous, a view which hardly squares with the Bishop of Stepney’s statements. The truth is, generalisation about vast aggregation:) of human being.! is never sale. London may be pagan, but it would be vastly more pagan if it were ! not for a devoted priesthood, i j CRICKET. I Though there have been some drawn | matches during the past week, their : number has been satisfactorily small, considering .the heavy scoring that lias been to a large extent tho rule. The leaders in the Competition, Lancashire, have drawn one and won one—against Sussex and Kent respectively. Perhaps the most unlooked-for feature of the six days ending Wednesday, so far as the County Championship is concerned, was the marked success of Derbyshire, who not only overcame Essex, but beat Warwickshire by an innings and 24 runs. But the most exciting event was the tie between Middlesex and the -South Africans, at : Lord’s. Curiously enough, no first- ; class match in this country has had such a result since the last South African team were over here in 1901, when they tied with Warwickshire. The excitement at Lord’s was intense when Kotze, the last of the Colonial eleven. I came in with nine runs required to win. Eight of them had been obtained, making the scores level, •. when Trott, for Middlesex, had tho satisfaction of smashing the last coiner’s wicket. i ■' ■' -