THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 43

THE WEEK.

Goou ufcture .lad goot hgm** mint ever joid.'*^Popx. Mi S.ild<>n. as he di'iiaited fiom Wellington on Monday last on bi.ud A Proud the Diayton Orange, en Premier. route for the Coronation, via South Africa, hud every iea-'-on to be api ou d man By a foituitous suecchMou of chcuiii.-tantes he leaver- the colony for the Home land under exceedingly hsippv aniline- During the past few weeks he ha-, been honoured by a sei les of banquets and demonstrations in his tavour such as fall to the lot of few public men. People t>f all -hades of opinion, including many of his foiemost political opponent"-. ha\e joined in the choiun of appio\al. And thf leason for «uch un unpaiallcled sendotl was not th<* Premier's politics, which, to quott Sir John Hall, aie wrong, nor hi"legislation, wh'ch is woise, nor hi* administration, which is woitt of all, but simply because he ha.i had -ufticent foresight, not cmlv to voice the Imperial idea, but what h i> be«.n of far inoie moment, to find \ent fin iliat \on c in pioiiipt and vigorous mliiin. 'Ihi- \ i-n f.iiA thai Mi htddon is ••<iilui^ to South Afiita in company with the Tenth New Zealand Contingent tells its own story To use a somewhat hack iie\pd quotation. "There is a tJ'le in the a Sails- of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to foitune," and thete can be no doubt that, so far as Mr Sedd.m is conterned. the South Afnuiii uiitbieik has |uo\ul a MTitable flood-tide of opportunity, of wh'ib he lias not been Mow to avail him-i'lt In fortunately, human n.it ii'e. especially the type ot which the Premui is the (lnbodimeut. is not pi oof a o r ain>t too urn li tiiumph, and unless the vu_\ age auosihe <;ceaii ha.s a Mibdunxii eflect upon — to put ; politeh — In- -lightly inflated state of it l- to be feaied that upon his ainval m London he may piovt the truth of the old pro\erb that " pr'de goeth befoie a fall " Were the Premier pioceeding to London pureiv in a private capacity, we incline to tli : nk that a little "letting down lightly w oiil<l be extiemely beneficial in helping him to descend fioin the cloud- ot ambition to sober mothei eaith; but it cuiiiot be foigotten that any wiub -which J)A may rsceive as the result oi too vieat

aggression is bound to recoil upon the colony which he is commissioned to represent.

It has been announced that the Premier intends to return to New ZeaA Prodigious land in time to deliver the Programme. Financial Statement at the close of the coming session of Parliament, but in the meantime the programme he has mapped out for himself is s-imply prodigou*. His first call is at S3'dney, where he has a score to settle with the Drtily Telegraph and a few hints to give to Mr Barton regarding the future policy of the Commonwealth. As soon a* he leaches South Africa, he will take a run up to Pretoria via Durban to see Lord Kitchener. Doubtless Mr Seddon will in passing lefer to the fact that it was owing to a letter w hich he wrote in 1900 to Lord Roberta recommending the use of blockhouses that that system was adopted to subdue the Boers. He will probably follow this uy by quoting, — vide his speech at Wellington, — lm memorandum with refeience to the settlement of the Transvaal on a militniy basis, and will thus succeed in impressing Lord Kitchener with a sense of his own importance. Having satisfactorily settled the terms upon which peace may be concluded with the Boers," Mr Seddon may find time to inspect the Orange River Colony a<! a possible future residence. He will then hie him to London to grace the Coronation ceremonies with his presence, prior to which, however, he will find time to give the War Office an awkward quarter of an hour on the subject of those lost ten commissions, the meat contracts, and one or two other little matters which indicate the need for sweeping reform. Natural!}*, wihile in London much of the Premier's time -will be occupied in conferences with the Secretary of State on the blessings of expansion and other kindred topics, in the course of which the question of the annexation of Fiji will be settled, and the area of Greater New Zealand definitely defined. It is understood that our Premier will initiate the other Premiers into the art of manufacturing surpluses, and it is also on the boards that he will deliver two series of lectures under the auspices of the Colonial Institute— one to the Home manufacturers on thp advantages of State industries as a check to the combination curse, and the other to the workers of the old country on the " secret of success," or " how to rise to the level of their New Zealand brethren."' All this time, be it remembered, the national purse of sovereigns will be accumulating at compound interest, and the determination of its future destination will consequently become a matter of inciea«ing difficulty. At any rate, if Mr Seddon succeeds in carrying out the programme which he has mapped out, the world's verdict will be "Cheap at £1500."

In the course of his .speech at Clnistchurch, Mr Seddon outlined the proImperial position which he proposed Trade. to lay before the Conference of Premiers in London. He fiist dealt with the question of the granting of prefeiential tariffs by way of rebate of duties on British-manufactured goods cariied in British-owned ; and also so far as the mother count ry is concerned, the concedintr of a rebate of dutj on colonial products now taxable. This proposal is very different to the Impeiial zollverein advocated by Sn- Joseph Ward. Mr Seddon's proposal is likely to be jumped at by the Home manufacturer, and strenuously opposed by the other colonies. To see howit would woik it is only necessary to refer to a few facts. The United Kingdom sells to foreign countries twice as much as to British possessions — the colonies are not its best customers. Moreover, at the present time the colonies have every opportunity to send their goods into England, for the Home country does not impose the duties against the colonies that the colonies do against her. Foi instance, last yeai. the value of New Zealand's exports to the United Kingdom were neai h double the value of the United Kingdom's spoils to New Zealand The exact figure* aie as follows- — 1901. IS'ew Zealand to United Kingdom £10,56-1,524 United Kingdom to Xew Zealand 5,601,379 In favour of New Zealand .. .. £4,962,545 Canada hells England three times a.-> much as England sells to Canada, as the following figures for 1901 will show: — C'jnadu to United Kingdom .. . £10, 774,580 United Kingdom to Canad-i . .. 7,796,C60 Balance in favoui of Canada ii 1,977, 926 In 'he cd'c of Auiti.iii.i. the diHeience is not so marki-d, but nevertheless it tends in th same direction . — Australia to Un ted Kingdom 21,118,503 United Kingdom tc Austra'ia . 21,'J29,%5 In favour of An-tralia i' 2,788,5.38 J h<=st.- oKiddl litruifs plainh show that in the iiiattf) of commi-icf the- colon cs have the besL of tb» - b.M/ain aheady. and any alteration in the diiection indicated by the Piemier would be all in favour of the old country. At the same tune, it must be remembered tint Canada h.is already granted England a preferential t a i i ft", but in her pre.sent mood the AusUalian Commonwealth l- likely to stieniiously oppose a similar policy. An Impel nl zul'veiein is far more likely to suit Xew Zealand's book, for it provid'-s- >ome soit of a quid pro quo.

The confeiencc 1 of thu Boer leads. is at Pietoiui Ills been interpreted as Prospects of .in indication tiuit peace i.s Peace. <it h.ind hut the London 'I line-- has declared that the meeting of the diliinet. (onceinin^ which m> many sensational leports have been circulated. \\a% in no ".n lonntetrd with any pfvct- prouos.d. and that the King'b lettnn to London was on account of Coronation liu-ine^s ,-\t the tune, tin \er\ t.ict that Mich .sluxlel tmcads dif- mi cattily .seized upon as foundations ioi the teiuuiidUou of hostilities skowi kow idudlv

the news of the conclusion of peace i?.'"*- 4 ili be hailed by the British nation, who ar? war-weary. Not that there is any sign: of departing one whit from the terms laid down. The news of the preparations foi the fresh force which is proceeding to Souti Africa for the winter campaign should con< vince the Boer leaders that they must no? expect any yielding on Britain's part. There must be complete and unconditional surrender, and an entire dependence upon the clemency of the victor. Apropos of th« Boer war. the further details published concerning the execution of the two Aus-' tralian officers, although s>till somewha( contradictory, seem to show that the cou« duct of the Bush Veldt Carbineers is a dark blot upon British arms. It is to ba hoped that in the interest of all concerned,' the usual procedure will be departed from.' and the full report of the Morant-Handcock court martial made public. No matter how, base has been bhe conduct of these Australian oihcers. the secrecy surrounding the whole affair serves but "to let imagination 1 i*un riot.

Death has been busy of late. Scarce had ceased the world-wide sorThe Death lw so fittingly expressed by Roll. the weird and 'thrilling wailn i ™ , ing of tlle na tives around Cecil Rhodes's lonely rock-bound grave on -Matoppo Hill, tiian the decease" "was announced of two such notabilities as th« J^arl of Kimberley and Dr Talmage.- Both statesman and divine had passed rlie 1 allotted span of three score years and ten, wherein most men are content to compress the work which is given them to do and although their departure causes a more than momentary pang, yet, after all, it is felt that they are only paying NatuieV debt But when, as in the case of Captain R. G. lubman. of the Seventh Contingent, one is raken who had the promise befoie him ol a long life of usefulness, the regret is keen indeed. Captain Tubman was well known in educational circles throughout Otago. and his death is a severe blow not only to his immediate relatives, but to the community at large. Thus another name has been added to the rapidly-growing roll oil our brave boys who have laid down theii lives in defence of King and Empire.

Thei is a project on foot in Sydney for the establishment of a new, A Mvr morning daily newspaper in Newspaper the Protectionist interest.. Project. The meeting called to floafcl the scheme was presided over; by Mr Barton, the Federal Prime Minister, who moved a resolution to the effect that it was absolutely essential that there should be forthwith established in Sydney a daily morning newspaper in the interest of the Federal policy. This resolution, supported by Sir George Dibbs, was carried unanimously, and it is stated that J capital of £100,000 has been guaranteed.. But a large capita' and an influential directorate are not sufficient to secure the success of a new newspaper-; neither will the advocacy of any particular political views alone command the pationage of the public. The success or failure of this nevproposal is problematical, for Sydney would' seem to be already well supplied with daily papers. Its promoters, no doubt, are ei!coui aging themselves by remembering the two great newspaper successes of recent; years. — the Daily Mail, of London, and tha American, of Chicago. The Daily Mai 1 , established four or five years ago' as the pioneer of London morning halfpenny dailies, has now a circulation at least twice as 1 large a» that of any of its contemporaries. The American was started in Chicago two or three years ago by a millionaire who already owned two other paper? in San Francisco and New York. The shrewdness of its propiietary was evidenced in tha clause inserted in its advertising contracts setting out that no accounts would be collected for six months, and if at the end or that period the circulation was not larger than that of any other Chicago paper, nothing at all would be collected. Its sneces-s from an advertising point of view was thus secured, and the "popular taste was catered foi by the introduction of new features and the lavish expenditure of money in the endeavom to get all news and to get it first. As a consequence, the American to-day i.s a splendid property, and m ield« an immense influence. Whether Sydney '> new daily will emulate the American remains to be seen.

The wotkini/s of the law of compensation, are but dimly understood, on as but a lemarkable llhisuaFuel. lion of that law is afforded in the fact that with the in-crea-inii cost and threatened seal city of coal ha- come the iliseo\ery in many parts of the woi Id of oil admirably .id iptrd for fuel Tlui" the attention of the indtistiinl woild has been turned to the merits and advantages of liquid fuel, with the result that gicatly impioved methods have been perfected for utilising it foi the generation of ste;un and other puipo-es. There are manifest advantages- in the use of liquid fuel It costs just about one-half as mi'ch as its equivalent in coal ; it is much easier to handle in bulk : and it occupies, in i_ompai'*on with coal, about one-thhd a-- much <<p;tce for the service required. A steamer burning oil can be supplied with .sufficient fuel for a voyage in a fraction of the time iequired foi loading the equivalent in coal, with comparatively no labour and haidly any dirt. But it is in the actual furnace woik that the advantages of oil fuel are most apparent. In place of the laborious >hoveling of coal, and the raking and lemming of allies, there is nothing to do but tin n a< valvp, and in <i few seconds, tliu file i> in full blast, almost smokeliss. and far more diiect in its <nict- than the best-managed coal file 'I he he.H can be regulated to a, mcei\ . and without dtlaj — no waiting for fius to si. i ken. no utce-sitv for ilrawinjr, etc . — wlnle. when the woik desired is accoTii]fl|sh(d. a tuin of tl.e hand extinguishes the fin, an.] the conMimptio.i of 'uel ano genu itioii of Ik it immediately ceases. Ii i .\ii'L.ica we hear that the use of liquid fue .' liav passed tne experimental" stage. Thf? Standard Oil Comuany lias equipped one of.it!>'

#n.ost powerful harbour service tugs with an Apparatus for burning oil under the boiler.s, *.nd on the Pacific coast a. large number of ferry-boats and coast steamers have been fitted witl? similar contrivances. Quite recently one of tue Atlantic liners made the trip from Europe to New York with the Via of oil fuel. But what is of most interest to Otago is the result, of an experitoent tried at Galveston, Texas, with a feredae It is thus described in an AanenC exchange:- 1^ firm employed in the Execution of a dredging contract in the larbour of Galveston operate dredges Locresrating 3050 horse-power, and formerly SfT^OOdol a month for coal, besides fadol fer-firemen. They recently eqmpped kefr boilers to burn oil, wxth the result &at their fuel, labour, transportation, etc., tort only 1700dol per month, and alter Giving 3600d0l for a storage barge, on SK? to kaep a supply of oil ready for use PTheo. wanted, their total firing bill was rmlv one-half of what it cost them when jtkey ueed coal.' Of course, conditions m New Zealand are hordlv identical with bhose in America, but still, on the face of It such industrial revolution as the utilisation of liquid fuel portends seems likely to Sky -bav(Sc with Mr Seddon s State coal Sane, whilst it is all in favour of the flevelopment of the Orepuki oil industry.

I good deal of concern is manifested by by American manufacturers An in a bill now before Con-Hffht-Hour Day grees which proposes to i% America, make it unlawful for any labourer* or mechanics employed in work of any description for the Government to work more than eight hours Sn any one day. The passage of this bill, prhieli is now in the hands of the House jOommitfcee on Labour, is being vigorously opposed, its enactment being regarded as ffche establishment of an unnecessary and dangerous principle- The folio-wing extract tfrom American Trade, the organ of the Rational Association of Manufacturers of the United .States, is interesting as evidencing fcbe stand which American capitalists are teking aga-nrt what they regard as the thin •dge of the wedg« in trying to force an Wight-hour day. This trad* organ Temarks : "The rent-wai of effort* to secure the enactment, of a law compelling strict adfeerence to an eight-hour day in all work for /the Government indicate** a tendency to create in this country labour condition** /which have so sorely hampered British industries in recent years. The domination of trade unions in Great Britain, while ostensibly seeking lo protect and promote the interests of the working men, ha** proved to be a great injury not only to the emplorert but also to the employed. British manufacturers are now so handicapped by the limitations of working hours •mod the restrictions upon labour-saving machinery that they are unable to compete iwith the manufacturers in other countries enjoy gTeater freedom in their opera- ' tions. Tne vast amount of business which baft *been lost by British manufacturers on Ithis account has proved to be a greater loss to their employees, who have been thus Vloprived of work through their own folly ; (but the working men are slow to recognise >this. The efforts to compel manufacturers fin the United States to adhere to an eightfliour day on all Government work are based .upon the same false theory, the idea that [the enforcement of shorter hours will com.jpel the employment of more men to do the game amount of work. There ar* 5 conditions under which an eight-hour day is entirely practicable, and in many ways "desirable, but to establish such a limitation arbitrarily by law is wholly without reason and pernicious in principle. It is simply a phase of rampant and unreasoning desire for domination by the trades Unions."