HOME NEWS SUMMARY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4871, 24 January 1903, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOME NEWS SUMMARY.

(From "Tho Spectator."; RUNEON. iJocfj'tu bu r G, 1902. THE RRESIDENTE MESSAGE. Tiio President's Message was read, to Congress ou December 2nd. It was Rot very long, and,Uiough it contained some sinking sentences, ie had been to a great extent anticipated by Ri esident R-iose-veil’s recent speeches, it begins by a statement that Uie period of "unbounned prosperity' still continues. “Mover belure has material well-being been ,vi dirtimed among Uiu people." The "events of the past lour years have decided that the place of tin; United States must bo great among the nations." They ‘‘have deliberalely made their own certain foreign policies demanding the possesion of a first-class .Navy," and there should bo no halt in its construction. The Isthmian Canal, for example, would without an adequate navy ho merely a hostage to any Power* of superior strength, while it would be worse than idle to assert the .Monroe doctrine unless it were intended to hank it up. No independent nation in America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United Slates, but the coineplcxity of international relations lenders the proper policing el the world imperative, and each independent State must maintain order within its own borders and discharge its Just obligations (o foreigners. At present there soerns not 1 ho slightest chance of troubles with a foreign ’.Power, lu other words, the Repnhlic will protect American States, but they must not lioliavo as Venezuela has rccwilly done. There is a sufficiently lofty lone in the Rri’siilenl's utterance, but there is nothing aggressive in it. PROTECTION OR RECIPROCITY. The greater part of the Message is -taken up with businea affairs. The President wishes for a Minister of Commerce with a scat in the Cabinet, and demurs to any ‘‘dislocation" of the Protectionist system, under which, he says, the country lias always prospered. There must always lie a duty r/n imports sufficient to cover the difference between wages abroad and wages at home, and there must "never he any change jeopardising the comfort and wages’ of (lie American worker." Nevertheless, he favours "reciprncilv," which may sometimes be obtained by" lowering duties by internal legislation. As to trusts, it Is folly, be says. In suppose (hat (here will not bo great combinations; but ‘‘monopolies are unjust discriminations preventing or crippling competition." Trusts, therefore, must be regulated, and publicity could do them no Inarm. The ta*k of regulation belongs to the National Government; or if it does not. then the Constitution should be amended so as to confer the power. The trust managers, who wore alarmed, are. it is said, greatly relieved bv these utterances; but it is quite possible that tho plans of the Presiden t are nioro definite than they think, (hough more moderate. He says himself that ‘‘insistence on the impossible means delay in achieving the possible,"—a very wise apophthegm which will bo quoted hereafter. AMERICAN PROSPERITY. The report of tho American Secretary of tho Treasury contains a remarkable account of the fiscal prosperity of the Union. Taking tho dollar ns four shillings, tho revenue receipts of 1001-1902 were .£136,800,000, and tho expenditure .2118.000,000, leaving a surplus of .£lB,200.090. Tho Navy cost .£13,560,000, and t he army, including the war with the 'Philippines, only .£22,400,000, but we have to add to this the astounding sum of .£27,600.000 for pensions, chiefly military. A surplus of .£8,600,000 is expected for next year, though the war taxes have been repealed. ‘The gold reserve in the treasury amounts to =£30,000,000, and the total reserve to ,£72.490,000, probably file largest ever held in tho treasury of any Slate. Tho National -Debt amounted tn little more than H 197,000,000. No wonder that foreign Chancellors of Dip. Exchequer are envious, or that Continental Governments, loaded down with deficits, are ready to lend credulous ears to wild stories of American designs. If they had half such a surplus at disposal, they would multiply fleets and armies till war would bo a necessity merely to justify Ihem to their peoples. It is. they say, the wealth of thp United States which is such a danger to Europe. GERMAN POLITICS. Tho contest in the German Reichstag has entered upon a new phase. On Friday week the Emperor ended a speech at Gorlita by saying that he desired for his people intellectual freedom, freedom of scientific investigation, a-nd freedom of religion, “but not freedom to govern themselves as badly as they please." Count von Billow is apparently of the same opinion, and helms made a "transaction" with the Agrarians, the Roman Catholic centre, and tho National Liberals by which he secures, on conditions, a majority in the House. The conditions are an increase in tho duties on cereals, and that the tariff shall be passed at once en bloc. The bargain has created furious excitement among the Social Democrats, the Radicals, and the Industrials! generally, who perceive that with the limited powers of the Reichstag voting en bloc means the practical extinction of Parliament. The Reactionaries arp delighted, and believe that the Social Democrats will now be putdown by a sharp repressive Bill voted en bloc. Their hope is probably fallacious; but it is certain 'that the Emperor's power has been aggrandised by tho Parliamentary coup d'etat, which will probably not be resented by tho people. The agricultural majority approve the Bill, and even the urban electors, while disapproving it, are sack of the months of veiled obstruction by which it has been delayed. The near elections take place next June. "A CRY FROM MACEDONIA." The accounts of what is going on in Macedonia would produce a ghastly effect if only we could bo absolutely sure that they are true. They amount to this, fa at tho Sultan is pursuing in Macedonia the policy of slaughter, ravage uud torture which he pursued in Bulgaria, and afterwards in Armenia. That is a priori probable, but proof of tho facts, proof from impartial witnesses, is needed before Europe can act. Apparently the stories aro partly believed both in St. Petersburg and Vienna, for the Austrian ’and Russian Governments have seriously remonstrated with the Sultan, so seriotisly that ho has issued a whole series of promises of reform. There are to bo new Valis, Christians and Mahommedans are tr. be equal, new and just Courts are to be established, and there is to be a new and civilised police. We all know these promises - of reform, which are only intended to gain time till cries of discontent are suppressed by the slaughter of those who cry. It jg just possible that n decent Governor-General may be appointed but he will be powerless against the soldiers, who are neither paid nor fed, and, who, therefore, in their eagerness for plunder and their certainty that they cannot bo punished, act as French soldiers acted in the old Dragonnades. A SPANISH CRISIS. A crisis of some sort appears to be approaching in Spain. The Liberal Dynastic party was broken up. and Senor Sagasta. deserted by many of his followers, and betrayed, as hq complains, by many friends, bos handed an ‘‘irrevocable" resignation to the King. Groat efforts will be made to construct a Ministry of Affairs, but it seems inevitable that the Conservatives should be called in and Parliament dissolved, so that the row Cabinet may nominate a Conservative majority. The result will be, of course, that all attempts to deal with the clerical question will bo abandoned, and -that tho army will bo left unre-

foriucd. Whotlicr the Republican Parly, which still exist.;, wilt bear this is doubtful, but we c'.iiceivo that the desire <.* I in; people is still to wait until the young Ring is old enough to show whether he has or has not the capacity to govern. Tncy ask for moie efficient government, and at heart believe that a change of Ministries is onlv a change of men — which is. in Spawn, for tho most part true. No parly in the country now po.-> mp scs a leader to whom the i>eoplo at Jaigo look with hope. FROM SOMALILAND. The news of the week from Somaliland has not been favourable. The garrison of Jioliotle ha.s been stricken with malarious lever, and the Somali levies have shown .such signs ol indiscipline, and, ac-

cording to the messages, ol “cowa i time —-more probably ol unwillingness—that they have been disbanded. The won, will now havo to be done by Indian troops and the African Regulars, and as more preparation will be needed, the campaign, may be delayed till mid-Janu-ary. \Vo have not quite caught the secret of managing negro levies. Individual officers succeed with them admirably, and the tribes differ greatly, but in all there is an element of savage levity, and if.wo may use tho word, whim, which is hard to work out. This is apparent now and then even in the Soudanese regiments of Egypt, who aro .on most occasions excellent soldiers. Wo shall hit tho right method by and by, but meanwhile everything depends Upon a most difficult operation—picking the organising officers, out of numerous qualified officers who apply for employment in Africa, perhaps 0110 in three possesses Uie something which charms black .soldiers; and unfortunately neither tho Goneral who selects him nor tho aspirant himself can tell beforehand whether ho possesses it or not. it is .so in some degree oven with Indian Irregulars, though, an experience long enough to constitute a tradition hits made selection easier.

ouuia -a X The Afrikander parly in belli Houses of tli e Capo Parliament lias recommended a largo widening and improvement if its programme. The."Afrikander Bond” is to call itself "The South African Party,” and admit any person born in Bondi Africa. Its objects are declared to bo tho fusion of nationalities, the federation of Smith Africa, and idle establishment in foreign relations of a policy like that of Canada. Tho programme sounds well, and tho supremacy of the Britisu Grown is formally acknowledged; but we note a tone in the resolutions which suggests that South Africa is regarded as a separate place ffom tho Empire, and wc see that it is intended to keep the old Afrikander Bond embedded in tho larger and liberalised party. The change mad* does, however, indicate that the Duton of the Capo being to recognise facts, ana that is tho condition precedent to all pacification. Till you have admitted that two plus two is inevitably four arithmetic is only a useless puzzle. MARTIAL LAW. The Blue-book containing the report of tho Commission appointed to inquire into sentences passed under martial law ip South Africa was issued on Monday. The Commissioners (Lord Alverstone, Mr Justice'Bigham. and Sir John Ardagh) having recited the terms of reference, state that 79-ii cases of penal servitude and imprisonment and of fines unpaid were submitted to them—72l in Cape Colony. 59 infho Transvaal and Orange River Colonies, and 14 in Natal. These are dealt with in three separate schedules, full particulars being given in each case. The great_ majority of the Cape Colony cases consist of single or combined cases of high treason, murder, attempted murder and marauding, and in a great number of cases the death penal- j (y had already been 'commuted by Lord Kitchener, long terms of iraprisonmoir shortened, and fines reduced. ■ The Commissioners have carried this process a good deal further. In no fewer than HU cases in the Colony they have ordered tho immediate release of the prisoners, in the great majority of life sentences they have reduced the term of imprisonment to two or three years, and the other punishments ar» dealt with in the -same spirit. Of the 59 cases in the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies, 25 relate to natives, and hero, as in the Natal cases, the reductions of the sentences are fewtr THE LORDS AND THEIR POWERS. The debate’on Monday in the House of Lords with respect to the capacity of the Upper House to propose amendments to the Education Bill raised a question if considerable moment. Lord Spencer asked the Government whether they intended to adhere to the view expressed by the present Lord Chancellor on April 2nd, 1897. On that occasion Lord Kalsbury stated that had he tho power luwohkl have decided that a certain group of amendments to’the Voluntary Schools Bill was out of order as being inconsistent with the Resolutions of the Mamie of Commons of 1671 and 1678 relating to Money Bifis. As he had not the power, no asked the House -whether it was possible to say that the amendments were in order. Lord Herscbell replied that lie considered the matter doubtful, and pointed out that if amendments could not be moved, there was something wrong in a method of procedure that on a grear educational question rendered the House of Lords impotent to take part in deciding it. The same difficulty clearly exists with respect to the Bill now before the House of Lords; but it can be avoided, ns Loud Halsbury explained on Monday, by the House of Commons consenting to consider amendments sent down by the House of Lords. Despite tho fact that Lord Davey thought that if the amendments of 1897 were contrary to the Constitutional rule, tho amendments of 1902 could not be distinguished from them, it would appear to be tho practice for the House of Commons to waive their rights. It is almost a Constitutional rule, where non-consideration of amendments from the Upper House would exclude the of Lords from the practical consideration of an important Bill, for the House of Commons to consider such amendments. THE EDUCATION BILL IN THE LORDS. The debate on the Education Bill Lithe Lords opened on Thursday. The Duke of Devonshire described tbe genesis of and need for the measure, and laird Spencer, in moving its rejection, relied on arguments already all too familiar from their reiteration in the Commons. His best point was made in connection with the appointment of teachers in voluntary schools. He objected, he said, to an official of th.e State—for these schools would be practically State schools —being placed under a religious disability. Eor the rest, he promised his strenuous support to the Kenyon-Slaney Clause if the Government maintained it. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who, we regret to learn, showed sign s of increasing infirmity during his speech, earnestly appealed to the Lords to pass the Bill and "let us see how it will act when it begins to work”; and Lord Gosehon eloquently vindicated the fitness of the clergy for carrying put the sacred duty which they had hitherto performed—the work of moulding the hearts and souls of the young. The remaining speeches call for no comment. A TRIBUTE TO NEWSPAPERS. Sir E. Monson, British Ambassador in Paris, delivered on December 2nd a most striking speech to the British Chamber of Commerce. A change, he said, had crept over his profession. When he entered it ho still believed that there was a secret diplomacy, that its control rested in very few hands, and that personal ability conld effect everything. Bnt since then the Press had altered all things, especially by collecting information. Few political secrets were now to be picked up in society. Diplomatists cannot compete with tho newspapers in

the transmission of intelligence. Moreover, tho commerce of tho nation.-, ana particularly of ;.ua;at iJritain. lias; extended itsr If, commercial questions have become mure important, and gradually diplomacy has become even the “handmaid/'' of tra.de. As “commeicial agent-’' ’.British diplomatists do not give universal sati.-taction ; but Sir L. Monson maintains that our country arc at no disadvantage in mo respect, lor though they sometimes ask impossibilities, their diplomatists are never remiss in pushing their interests while at the same time '‘carefully assuring the integrity of their action from all imputation of un a vowable motives." We have discussed this speech on another page, bur wc- may remark' here that Sir L. Alonson rather carefully abstained from an opinion jib to tho effect of commercial enterprise upon diplomacy. J } os-ibly lie approves it: but more probably he would agree with us in accepting the nece.-.-rily of the change, but regretting its effect upon tho tone of the Service and of international relations generally. Tho trader is at once suspicious and crafty. NORTH PACIFIC EXPLORATIONS. Tho Now York correspondent of the ‘'Standard” telegraphs, 031 the authority of the “New YorK Herald/’ a statement which, if subsequently verified, is of unusual historic interest, r Morris Jt.ysup’s expedition, ho says, Iras returned from its explorations rn tho North Pacific, having travelled “from Marinsk, the most northerly military post in Russia, through tho mountainous interior of the Arctic regions, to L'slyansk. i ho northernmost inhabited point in Siberia.” Parties of the expedition reached points never before visited by wnite men, and obtained much evidence of a connection between tho inhabitants and the- Japanese. and also—this is tho irfterestrng j»o in t— ‘'fou lid iri be s whoso lan g u ago. legends and customs resembled those of tho North American Indians." The chiefs of tho parties, Sir Jochelson and

Mr Bogorras, seem to be men of some scientific standing, and if this account is well, established, it will almost 1 prove the hypothesis that the American Indians came irom Asia, spread southward, and developed iu the south, civilisations of their own, being possibly iu the Peruvian case helped by Chinese accidentally thrown upon tue coast. The process must have occupied ages, but of tho substantial unity of fill aboriginal Americans there is now. we believe, exceedingly little doubt.