The Oamaru Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1911.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10957, 23 December 1911, Page 4

The Oamaru Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1911.

Never was the benign'influence of the Christmas season more The Christmas required by the world - Of 1911. at large than it is today. It is a fact which strikes the most careless reviewer of the year now drawing to a close. It has been a year of wars national, civil, industrial and political, and rumors of wars of all sorts and conditions. The most momentous of all these upheavals for-the world in general is the rebellion hi China which is the logical sequence of the Boxer rising in 1900. The century opened with the fight, of the Legations for bare life; the second decade begins with the first move in a game designed by the Chinese people to clear their country from the dominance of the unscrupulous foreigner. When the rebels rose and got possession of Wuchang and Hankow, with the great arsenals, arm factories, and coal mines, it seemed invpossible for the Manchu court to escape with its life, but tho court discovered that it had spared the life of the greatest in China, JTuan-slii-kai, for just such an occasion, and at once sent for him. He, after some coquetting and plain speaking, took command of the situation, and the army which he had created, and which would not obey anyone else. He had posession of the great railroads, PekinHankau (800 miles) and Tientsan-Ching-kiang (about the same distance), and he organised a campaign. The rebels had some successes at first, but, being undisciplined by comparison with the Imperial - troops, were worsted after some appalling massacres. A peace conference was arranged, and is now sitting, with the probability of a Chinese republic looming in the foreground. The Manchu dynasty may be considered as done with. It has Tailed to preserve the national territory or the national resources from the unholy grip of the covetous foreigner; it has, in Other, words, committed the unpardonable sin, hence all classes are united in their desire to see it uprooted. England, and Japan seem to-be standing sponsors ' for the new state of affairs, which must end in the consolidation of all Chinese interests in Chinese hands .for Chinese purposes. After that there will be probably a Yellow deluge for the world. At the same time Italy and Turkey are at'"war in a manner which • threatens to embroil the rest of mankind at no distant date, making the world feel as if playing a game of chess ron- a phantom board at the-bidding of invisible powers. It is a sad story of massacre and misunderstanding, vainglory and petifogging ignorance. The •.figure of Britain looms large as : the Xmiis season approaches. Kitchener is the .Santa Claus of the situation, with a force of Egyptian troops sent up at the request of Turkey to take possession of some of the Cyrenaiea country claimed by Italy. One realises thankfully that'at this time the rest of Europe has just finished a very prolonged snarl over tho, Morocco question, which began with the attempt of Germany, to; pick .-a quarrel with France, arid elided with the apologies of Germany at the command of Britain, '■France getting a free hand—the hand of the Morocco, Britain being confirmed in Egypt, and Germany obtained some territory in French Congo which nobody seems to consider valuable. ; But the outlook is not encouraging, for Turkey and Bulgaria : may at any moment, in consequence of ;the crime of some fanatical troops on either side, cause a rush of warlike •feeling;; and Austria and Italy are such bad neighbors in nnd about the Adriatic thfft any time-there may be trouble ..of .the worst sort. At the same moment .'it'iis .evident,'..that the. command of the /Pacific" has advanced into the first rank of world.problems, and it is equal-[ly-cieaivthat the solution of that question ■ l^eSjtin.^the;hands;of Japan,: The Ameri-.^ns?^}iink-ft;:]ies^on~the knees:of the ;^^s^\an gods;as beVqif j America. Wthey may ;fihdf'tKat"' the interpretation is more than anything ;.else. ■ An i'liiminating; rbopk.by General Homer, of the American Army, throws, much light i;On.? : ihe" situation, and interprets the J "Knees; of, the' gods" against his. coun;trynien. ? The. cloud over .the Pacific has ;be<?orhe very dark, and is deepening in ' color. Industrial war - has convulsed Britain in a way absolutely stupendous 'for suggestiveness, and there is a threat of its revival, with a main probability of the realisation of a big proportion of the awful programme indicated. The same industrial unrest is aggressive in France; it has contributed to the American history of the year the appalling story of the MacNamaras, being the worst development of the '■rattening" for which Sheffield earned so bad a'name in the early days of the industrialism of our time. Side by side I

with'this industrial upheaval we have political revolution in-Britain of epochmaking character. This has restored power to the representaives of the penpie, and may be regarded as likely to soothe the industrial disquiet, which is well founded if badly directed. The fruits of that great political conflict — destined to be far-reaching, and beyond the dreams of the most advanced Liberal though already been gathered. 'An Act establishing prudential assurance Jjas been passed, and a Bill for manhood suffrage,is announced, with a probability of '-becoming'; the statute of adult suffrage.- Some sort of echo of this political conflict was heard in the Dominion in the general, election, by which—Labor going wrong—the Government was deprived of its hitherto vast majority. If Liberalism is not to be 'seriously set back'among us—if it is to hope for some such fruits from the just partnership between Liberalism and Labor as seem probable in Britain—it will be imperative to invoke the spirit of the season. It is an additional reason for the annual revival of mutual forbearance, respect, and friendly sentiment which gives its special charm to the Xmastide. For the rest,, let us all remember that it is the time tor kindliness all round and substantial.help for the weary, the afflicted, and the struggling. In this spirit we wish our : readers, one and all, A Mehky Christmas and . A Haity • •'" New Yeah.