HOME NEWS SUMMARY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5288, 28 May 1904, Page 9

HOME NEWS SUMMARY.

(From tha “Spectator.”) nrSSIA’S .MONETARY DIFFICULTY LONDON, April 9. Tha Russian Treasury is beginning to feel the drain of war upon its finances, and tiie Czar lias been induced to sanction certain large economies. They are to be arranged upon a principle familiar to Anglo-Indians—viz., the suspension during the war of all expenditure on'new public works, and the delay of all reforms which will cost money. It is officially calculated that by these means the Budget of 1904 may be relieved of outlays to the extent of £14,200,000. The Government is harassed by the difficulty in raising loans which results from its previous extravagance and from the hostility of all Jewish financiers; but it has a very large sura in hand, perhaps six mouths’ expenditure, the war will not greatly affect the prosperity of the older provinces, and it is always possible to begin reissuing inconvertible paper. In the worst times the paper rouble has never been rejected in Russia, and its value has always recovered in time of peace. Russia, in fact, is in the position of a great proprietor whose extravagance, being intermittent, takes a long time in producing rum. Her most real difficulty at the moment is her unpopularity in the international market. ANGLO-FRENCH AGREEMENT. The Anglo-French agreement has not yet boon signed, hut all the omens are most favourable, and we may, we think, safely conclude that no unfortunate incident will now occur to spoil the good work of the diplomatists. The best insurance against a breakdown is that not merely the two Governments, but both nations, are eager for a complete understanding in regard to all tlio dangorpoints. The detailed rumours as to the nature of tho agreement are probably only guesses, but several of them will, we expect, prove correct, especially those in regard to Newfoundland and West Africa. The problems concerning Egypt and Morocco are more complicated ; and as regards the latter, surprises may be expected. Here, however, we must not expect anytuing very sensational. France has no intention of taking immediate action in Morocco, or of entering upon a scheme of annexation. The Vienna correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle,” telegraphing to Friday’s paper, states that the “Wiener Tagleblatt,” which publishes what professes to be a precis of the agreement, declares that tho African shore opposite Gibraltar is to be subject to certain re-’ etrictions. We shall be curious to see, when the text is published, whether the ‘Spectator’s” suggestion that this territory should be placed within the “sphere of influence” of Spain—provided that she does not fortify it—will be followed. FIGHTING IN THIBET. The details of the fight with the Thibetans on March 31st show that it was a most untoward incident. On that day Colonel Younghusband was met at Guru ono hundred and seventy miles from Lhasa, by a Lama of rank accompanied by a general with two to tliree thousand badly armed soldiers. The Thibetans ordered Colonel Younghusband to retire, and on his refusal planned the slaughter of the members of the Mission, General Macdonald, either suspecting this intention, or simply as a measure of precaution, directed tho disarming of the Thibetan soldiex-s, who, though apparently willing to. yield, at a signal from their general poured in a fire of matchlocks, whilst a few desperate swordsmen charged our staff. The British force, of course, retaliated; and as the Thibetans were nearly surrounded by our men, and were huddled together like a mob, the slaughter was very great. Some five hundred fell; hut' they fought on with sullen gallantry, and when forced to retire refused to disperse, and marched away under a storm of shrapnel in perfect order. They have, it is reported, reformed at Gyangtse, seventy miles off. whore they will be reinforced by numbers of monks from the great monasteries, and may offer a fierce resistance. If the’ Thibetan authorities continue to refuse to treat on reasonable terms; there is, we tear, nothing to be done except to go on to Lhasa; but oven there, if the Great Lamas fly, or simply refuse to negotiate, tho position of Colonel Younghusband will tax all his experience and ability. It is of no use to kill mules when you want them to carry. BRITISH PEACEFUL OVERTURES. It would seem from the latest accounts that Colonel Younghusband is by no means anxious to be compelled to go on to Lhasa. He has again offered, through the Chinese Amban, to meet Thibetan envoys''at Gyangtse, and there settle all questions without further bloodshed. The Amban himself writes rather despairingly, of Thibetan obstinacy ; but neither ho nor the Lamas had beard at tbe time of the defeat at Guru. The latter may think it expedient to preserve their capital from a hostile visit at any cost: and in that case they will probably sign any treaty which does not compromise their independence. They will not be asked, we fancy, to concede very much, me Indian Government wants to check Russia, not to humiliate Lamas, and , in this country there is no desire for a conquest of Thibet nor. indeed, for any severe punishment upon tho Thibetans. .. Englishmen rather respect pigheadedness, and the fact that the Thibetans, ‘with shrapnel pouring into their ranks, retired slowly, has distinctly raised popular opinion of their character. It is guile, not obstinacy, which exasperates British opinICONGCLASM IN FRANCE. The intensity of anti-clerical feeling in France may he gauged by an Order just issued by the Ministry of the Interior. From time immemorial all Courts of Justice in France, including even the Courts of Justice of the Peace, have' been adorned with a crucifix or some religious picture. These emblems are all to be removed, even when the picture or carving is venerated in the neighbourhood as a work of art. This is t ; no ”very fury of iconoclasm. It is true our own Puritans in many instances did tho same thing, but then they had a distinct belief that all such representations tended to idolatry. The Radicals of France who in the Chambers sanction the Order are, we fear, moved rather by general hostility to religion than by any desire to cleanse it from a superstitious ■, overgrowth. Tha Puritaus did not remove the emblems of a creed yet leave that creed the recognised and endowed faith of tho State. The southern peoples are more moved by emblems than the English ever were, and the agnostics of

France will one day, we fear, cause a bitter and dangerous reaction. CATHOLICvS IN GERMANY. The Etorlin correspondent of tho ‘Times” declares that Protestants throughout Germany are much irritated by tlie decision of the Imperial Government to readmit tho Jesuits. They are ■ not so much moved by dislike of the famous Order —which is not. we may remark. confined to Protestants —as by an impression that the Government, in its desire for a reliable Parliament majority, is, becoming “clericalised.” It keeps making concessions to obtain the votes of the “Centre,” which is Roman Catholic, and will in the end admit a Nuncio with supreme authority over his church. The semi-religious literature published in Germany at Easter is, it is said, full of complaints, and there can be no doubt that there is considerable irritation. It can hardly, however, bo very deep. The Protestants have a clear majority in the Reichstag, as was shown when the Falk Laws were passed ; and if tho Liberals or the Agrarians are ready on occasion to barter their Protestantism for support in their .secular projects, the deduction is inevitable that their faith in that creed is not very fervent. Our German friends would, perhaps, do well to recollect that Jesuits are most free in Britain of all European countries and it is in England that they have -least power. Nothing heljis any society to find its level so much as to I lot it alone. Compressed sand becomes stone. JEWS IN RUSSIA. Tlio position of the Jews in Russia grows worse and worse. The Governors of provinces, in their abhorrence of popular movements, seem willing to protect them; but organised bands of incendiaries have been issuing proclamations calling on all true Russians to celebrate Easter by. massacring Jews, who are described as, “the murderers of God,” in fact, Satan himself he having assumed their shape! These proclamations, though they read like the outpourings of lunatics, express much latent Russian feeling. The central Government moreover, gives little encouragement to its subordinates in maintaining order. M. de Plohvo, the Minister of tho Interior, has quite recently informed a Jewish deputation that tho Government fears the Jews, as tar cleverer than Christian Russians, and that they are tho life of the murderous organisations. “Yon Jew's are murderers.” The.police, he says, have assured themselves that every recent assassination of an official has been planned and arranged by Jew's •—a statement which will reverberate all through Russia. There is no probability that it is true. That the Jews of Russia are disaffected may he taken as certain—what else, after Kishineff, could they be ?—but they are far too clever to believe that the murder of isolated officials can by any possibility benefit them. ‘ THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE. The “Times” Paris correspondent published on Thursday a remarkable memorandum on the condition of the Turkish Empire, drawn up, it is said, or at all events sanctioned, by “some very prominent personages” in Turkey itself. The writers admit that the present regime is nearing its close, believe that the patience of the people is exhausted, and recommend as a remedy a complete scheme of decentralisation. Each district should have the control of its own affairs, while the government of the whole should be supervised and regulated by an elected legislative body. That, it is said, was Midhat’s plan, and “members of the Ottoman Imperial family hope to attain that end”—the destruction of the present system—“as, imbued with a sense of their sacred duties towards a State established by their ancestors, they are determined to devote their whole strength to the promotion of its safety and welfare.” The proposal is, we fear, much too Western for acceptance in Turkey; but what does the quoted sentence mean? Is there a palace revolution coming, or is tho Sultan about to employ his sons in administration. POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. A Router’s telegram to Friday’s papers states that the United States census estimate for 1903 shows the population of the United States, excluding Alaska and the annexed islands, to amount to 79,900,000 being an increase of 3,906,000 since 1900., .The estimated populations of the principal cities are; New York, 3,716,000; Chicago, 1,874,000; Philadelphia, 1,368,000; St. Louis, 600;000. A population of 80,000.000, of whom 70,000,000 are white men, and tor the most part white men of exceptional energy and intelligence, speaking the English language and living under the Anglo-Saxon institutions is a tremendous fact. If the Union, as wo trust and believe she will, escapes internal convulsions, she must rise in tho next quarter of a century—that is, before middle-aged men alive to-Bay are very old men—to a .position of power and influence to which history hardly affords a parallel. CHINESE LABOUR IN SOUTH AFRICA. Though a “Times” telegram from Pekin published on Friday states that the local arrangements are nearly completed, the Imperial Government have not yet concluded their negotiations with the Chinese Government. Before the final step is taken, is it too late to make one more appeal to the mineowners bo hold their hands? We are by no means enemies of the mine-own-ers, and do not regard the making of large fortunes as a crime. Indeed, wo believe that the accumulation of capital is a positive benefit to the community. Further, we recognise that among the South African capitalists there is as large a proportion of sound and patriotic citizens as in other classes. We would ask them, however, to consider whether they are acting wisely and in the true interests of the industry which they represent in insisting upon making use of their victory in regard to Chinese labour. Can it be wise to make the British democracy regard them and their industry with aversion? Again, can it be wise to risk tbe establishment of the plague in the Transvaal as a permanent evil which risk they certainly are running ? If the plague were once to spread among the natives, the industry would be thrown back twenty years. Again, are they not, by declining to use white labour, refusing a great insurance,? What could give a better security to the mines than _ the presence of a great white population? ■While the mines are worked by so vast a majority of coloured labour, there is always the risk of an insurrection which may destroy the industry.—Archaeologists tell ns that the gold mines of Zimbabwe were destroyed by snch an

insurrection. —Every extra white man employed diminishes that risk and increases the security of the mines. Are not these considerations worth taking into account? Trade-unions among white labourers may be annoying, but what about secret societies that end in revolt? If the labour problem is solved by a groat reinforcement of white labour coupled with labour-saving machinery, as it can be. tho mines would bo infinitely safer than they will he with an indefinite increase of the use of coloured and semi-servile labour. If tho actual mining is done only by coloured men, the coloured men will some day realise their power. SUBMARINES FOR BRITISH NAVY, The “Times” of Thursday has a leacU ing article pointing out that the Admiralty is committed to an expenditure of nearly a million and a half on sub-marines—twenty-nine submarines are either completed, completing, or on order—and asking that the Admiralty should take the country into its confidence in regard to the behaviour of these craft, upon whose success or failure such momentous issues depend. We agree, because wo believe' that in such cases publicity is far more likely to lead to tho perfecting of a novelty than secrecy.—The policy of concealing improvements from foreign Powers seldom turns out very practical.—At the same time, we should bo very loth to see any slackening in our efforts to loam how to build and uso submarines. While other Powers are pressing on in the uso of submarines, it would bo most foolish for us to abandon our efforts. If the submarine is ever to become of practical uso in war, we must be the Power, or, at any rate, one of the Powers, to make it so. But we cannot tell whether it can be made of such use unless we experiment, and experiment on a large scale. We regret tho now burden, and tho outlay of money on what may possibly turn out a failure, but it appears to us inevitable. With the “Times’s” attack upon tho Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Mr Arthur Loo. for his letter in defence of the submarine we cannot express agreement. Mr Leo may or may not prove to bo too sanguine when he says that these boats are perfectly reliable —remember that ordinary v torpedo-boats have mot with disasters quite as terrible ns that which overtook Submarine Al—but. at any rate, tho general tone of liis letter, and of his speech at Gosport on Thursday, in answer to the criticism of tho “Times,” seems to us the right one. The nation, quite as much as the navy, would object to seeing members of the Board of Admiralty showing anything approaching panic or discouragement because of a disaster, however piteous the loss of life.