THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 42

THE WEEK.

" Xnnqmi) thud nttun, iliai .ipienti* dint."— Jotihil, "0*« l nature and ;«oJ kik must crcr join."— Por«, The first move has been made in tiat reconstruction of the Cabinet Cabinet which for some time past Reconstruction, has been expected, owing largely, it is said, to the) demands oi the Ministerial party themselves. The resignation of the Hon. W. C. Walker and the a-ppoincment of Colonel Pitt is certainly a step in the direction of strengthening the present Administration. Two things may be said in favour of the new appointment — first, that the colony will once more possess an Attorney-general, the last Minister to fill that office being tie Hon. Sir P. A. Buckley, who, it will be remembered, was appointed to tho Supreme Court Bench in December, 1895, since which time the office has been allowed to remain vacant, an anomaly which haa often called forth remark. Secondly, it may safely be said that, Colonel Pitt being in every respect a stronger man than Mr Walker, the business of the Legislative Council is likely to be conducted with greater efficiency and more despatch. On the other hand, if the late Sir Patrick Buckley's elevation to the Supreme Court Bench be taken as a precedent of what all Attorney-generals may expect, it may reasonably be doubted whether Colonel Pitt possesses the needed qualifications for such a responsible position. The immediate result of this change, however, is that the Premier has taken over the fortfolios of Education and Immigration, kid down by Mr Walker, and it is difficult to see how he can copa with these additional duties, when his existing responsibilities are considered. Thus at the present time Mr Seddon is Prime Minister, Colonial Treasurer, Minister of Defence, Minister of Labour. Minister of Education, and Minister of Immigration, besides being charged with the direction of the Land for Settlement policy. It is impossible that any one man can long stagger under such a load, either with justice to himself or his manifold duties, and we do not think it likely that Mr Seddon will essay such a superhuman task, especially in view of the long and arduous session which confronts him as leader of the Lower House. Indeed, everything points to the imperative necessity of further Cabinet reconstruction, but here the Premier will find himself on difficult ground. Rumour points to the retire- 1 ment of Mr Duncan and Mr Mill?, but apart from the evident unwillingness of these gentlemen to be so shunted, there are the numerous claimants for the vacant posts to ba considered, and in the readjustment of portfolios the Premier runs the risk of alienating some of his most steadfast supporters.' Messrs J. A. Miller and R. M'Nab are regarded as likely men for Labour ar.d Education respectively ; but such a selection, would give grave offence to North Island members. At present the North Island! has only two repiesentatives in the Cabinet, and in the event of two seals becoming vacant the northern constituencies* would/ put in v. forcible claim for one, if not' both, of the vacancies. Thus it would appeal- that Mr Seddon is in a tight place, but' he has found a way out of tighter ones, and it would be passing strange .should his proverbial good fortune deseit him in the present instance. Some strange Nemesis surely do=is the pati' , of the South African directAn 111-fated service. Its at-art was deSerTiee. layed until patience was weLl-m^h exhausted ; the conditions :>f contract have been severely .md justifiably criticised ; and the length of lime occupied fiom port to port by many of the subsidised steamers has been the cause of much vexation and los?. At first we were told so little cargo was offering from New Zealand that it was necessary to call in at Australian ports to fill up^ but latterly tihe tune changed, and tha Essex, which left our shores recently, carried the largest consignments of produce ever entrusted to any of the subsidised vessels. And now comes the news that the K^sex has .vprung a leak, which will not only involve her detention in Sydney for ?ome tin.c, but also the discharging of a considerable portion of her cargo. We are informed that all the frozen meat will requirs to be landed, and unless could storage is available the process will be attended with much detriment to this portion of the cargo Nor ig this all, for ib is also reported tli.ifc a quantity of the grain on board is damaged by water. This is not tihe only bad news concerning our trade with South Africa. The London Financial Times of recent date reports th.it excessive importations into South Afuca have brought about a species of financial crisis in that country. Heavy overstocking in anticipation of v, boom in tmde which did not eventuate h.i.s caused n commercial congestion in Cape Colony, and South African traders are unable to meet their bills due to London merchants. It is stated that the banks in South Africa, realising the hopelessness of attempting to ri^hit matteis all at once, are renewing the bills for three and six months, whilst London, merchants and shippers are retaining some of them. It is estimated that in a few months' time the accumulated stocks will to some extent have been dealt with, «fter which better timei may bo expected. All of which goes to show, however, what many people are apt to forget, that Sout'i Africa \b as yet only sparsely populajtec, Mr T. K. Sidey, M.n.11. for Cavci&hnm, was married on WedoesJay to Miss Baxter, daughtoof the late Mr David Baxter, who was for men;, years a well-knawn merchant in thia city.

«nd that the needs of iU people are but normal.

'A question which more or I<?<-s intimately concerns every coiner of the The Optimism Emphe is whellipr tha ImerMr penal Government, of which Charabcrlain. Mr Chamberlain is the chief

corner stone, is likely to sreather the storms by which it is now surrounded and embark on a new lease of life. Spsakng at ch'e Corona Club, Mr Chamberlain is reported to have said 1 : — "While profoundly conscious of the magnitude and difficulty of our Imperial task, I wn confident that iwe are equal to the work of carrying it to a triumphant issue. The ideal Colonial Secretary should visit during his t«rm of office every colony arid protectoraze in the Empire's possession." And whilst this utterance primarily refers to hie preferential trade proposals, there is a sense in which ib may be taken to mean the whole policy of the Government. .Writing in the Contemporary Review ou "The 'Liberal Opportunity," Mr J. A. Spencer thus expresses h-m^elf : "The Government is undoubtedly on. the down grade. The Education Act, the Venezuelan rauddle, the costly, grandiose and ineffective army scheme, and now, finally, the London Education Bill, with its comprehensive cliall-enge to opponents and general air of defying t>(ie lightning, murk the successive stages in the descent. There m, as a rule, no recovery for a Governawnifc wJiich is fairly started on the downward course. As it loses popular support, it loses internal coherence and unity of aim. The consciousness of unpopularity has a subtly demoralising effect." The writer goes on to show that ,=ince the close of the South African irar the Chamberlain Government have been steadily losing support. Since March, 1902, there have been 12 contested elections in the United Kingdom. In 1900 the 12 seats were held by 9 Unioniets and 3 ; they are now held by 7 Liberals and 5 Unionists. The result of che voting in these 12 elections is very striking. In 1900 the Liberal vote was 38,695 and the Conservative vote 58,697, or a Conservative majority of 20,002. In the by-elections this was altered to a Liberal vote of 58,367 and a Conservative vote of 54,871, or a ILrberal majority of 3496. It is a question whether Mr Chamberlain's personal popularity, which is not increased by his avowed '.penchant for pieferential trade, -will be '•great enough to stand the strain. Un"doufctedly his trump card lies in the disunion of his opponents. Indeed, it is more than likely that, should Mr Chamberlain elect to go to the country, he will be able so crushimrly to expose the glaring divisions in the Liberal party thab the Unionists will be brought back to power in sheer hopelessness of any practicable alternative. In whifh rase, preferential trade may be nearer than we wot of.

ffhe f..ct (.hat the twelfth International Congiess against alcoholism German} *s Mas Jield in Biemen in April Battle with lns>t has called attention onoe Alcoholism, more to Germany's fight with what Prince Bismaick, more than 20 years> ago, aptly termed "the demon of dr.nk." It was this gieat f-tates-anan who said : "If it were pow-ibl© to extend the C-eld of k^iskt-'on so that protection could be atfurikd to workmen against the demon of diiuk — tl)is Diabo'.us Gerruanicus — a large poition of the social question would be folvtd at one stroke, and we should have taken a good lonj step forward in political progress." Fieldmarshal Count yon Moltke sra.d of his country: "One of Gonnany's greatest foesas the abu^e of alcohol," and the rcvelaliona made by the writer of an article in ifche latest Conteinpoiary Review, on "Soihriety in Germany ," seem to fully justify that, exclamation. "\Ye are told that '£150,000,000 per annum are spent in the German Emphe on spirits, wine, and beer. a sum equivalent to £2 13s per head of the population. Alcoholic drinks hare become ■so cheap tliat they form part of the daily food of even the poorest classes. Ovm 1 70,000,000 hectoliter of beer are now brewed lannually in the German Empire, oi about 220 pints per head of population ; 40 years ago the proportion was only 65 pints per ihead. It has been calcuLa-ied that Germany consumes per head per annum 1.46 gal of wine, 27.5 gal of beer, and 1.845 gal of Fpirits — or a total of 39.815al of alcoholic drink. Compared with France, Hu>feia, England, and the United States, the consumption of spirits in Germany is just below that of Fiarce, ard coriMderably more than in the other three countries mentioned. Up to comparatively recent years ■water was drunk by most persons in well-to-do families in Germany at table, and servants were not usually allowed bper. This habit is now a thing of the past : even children are now allowed b"cr, and servants everywhere ask for it. The ful3owing is quoted as ilhisirat'.ve of wh.'t a •thirsty Teuton can iinb be . — "On S.L'd.in Day, at a garden resiaurpnt at Btrlin, some few years aa:o, 18.000 victors parsed ■through the turnstiles, and 70,000 litres of B>eer, equal to 123,200 pints, were served out, or an average of nearly seven pints per head." It is $aid that at academical gatherings, from 20 to 30 good-sized mugs of malt liquor is considered by no means an extravagant allowance.

Chief amongst the reasons given for <lii« excessive use of alcohol in «oni? Reasons Germany i? the ccnvpulior Alcoholic s?ion to drink to be found K\cess, on every, hand. In quite a number" of trades, it is tlie ctis'^m to pay vrorkmen part of their wages in drink, or for the inspector him^lf to keep a besr or spirit store, which tlie men are etp-eeU'd to patronis-e. Amorist the educated cla^--ej: ; beginning ■» ith the Btudevit- at the ■universilur", every opportunity of having a ghiss of wine or beer ib eageily taken advantage of; in fact, the whole social life of Gtrma.ny ib based upon tlie enjoyment of spirituous- >i malt drinks. The man who refuses a dunk of wine 01 beer almost inevitably incurs a certa-in amount of ridk'jle, and it is a ■wides-piead dogma that a proper Germaa man,' and

especially a German «tudpnt. mu=+ be a good, safe <]h Ler, otherwise hf i= culled "a soft, slow sort of chnp.'' In Miy of la-jt year Count Douglas brought a motion befoie the Lower House of the P' us-iau Diet, praying the Government io brin^ in a bill "for the prevention of the injtuiuiis consequences of the use of {.pints. ' He told the Diet that alcohol was to a large extent the cau<-e of the leneth of the police list, and oi the ciowdmg of th^ hospital wards in Germany. He said thit on an average ] 80.000 Germans were annually Tial-jd before the criminal courts on account of their consumption of alcohol. The difficulties which face the German nation in their efforts to bring about some measure of temperance reform are legion. The initial opposition is likely to come from the landed pioprietors, -who will steadily resist any measure of suppression sr control calculated to diminish the demand for cereals. Another difficulty in the way is the increased d-emind for water -«hich would consequently spring up. In German i-»stamants it is customary to make an extra charge if water is diunk at a meal instead of wine or beer, ond the same state of things prevails when travelling on tho railways. It is therefore of little u«-e for the State to impress upon the public the necessity of abstaining from alcohol if at every corner where they want food they are forced to drink alcoholic drinks too. Aiid on the other hand there exists the undoubted difficulty that a considerable outlay is necessary before the people can be supplied with * 00l and fresh water gratis. Still more difficult is the ease of the workmen, for whom, in general, there is, on the scene of their labour, €ither no water at ail for drinking purposes, or certainly no fresh ■n-ater. So lately as March la*-t there vrss a discussion in the Prussian Diet a,s to what measures could be taken by the State against the abuse of alcohol. Daring the course of this debate the Minister of Education made the following noteworthy statement: — "It cannot be denied that if the hand of reform be not soon brought to bear on this canker that is consuming the marrow of the German nation, we shall be confronted with conditions that will in sooth be lamentable. I have of late had an opportunity of speaking on the subji ct with doctors who arc specialists on insanity. I have been assured that the increa < -« of the percentage of those persons who have b-e-crme insane from the immoderate cou>nmption of alcohol has become quite terrifying in recent yeai.s." On the otLer hand it is an encouraging sign that, owing to the influence of men of the sr<amp of Count yon ifohke, the practice of excessive drinking lips considerably deerca* d of late ye-srs amonj;s. the ofHcers of tlie German Army ; mul in the German Navy, too, diunlc^nness am jngsb the .seamen ib regarded as a very serious oftVnre, even when committed on shore. The feet that the middle and working classes in Germany havp not as a body grasped to the full the signiJiuince of the present excessive consumption jf alcohol is thus Well put by Dr Wilhelm Boele : — "People (,uite overlook th-e fact that modern drinking hos mthinc; in common v.ith the carousals of Germans of olden time.*. The Germans of olden times never sit in a tavern, never MiioVd a. cigai, ond ntvtr turned mirht into day oi ki'ir.v anything abjut tLe diinli'v that peopi-e like to imbibe nov-d.»ys. llie beer they Jearr.t to brew from tl>°ir Celtic nei^iiboms in tho VTc-t w n no b-i-r in our mi^e of the teim, but nicie to be compiled with the Russian k\\ , ««. Beer rrnde from hops Ivs only beon known for about a thousand vums; br.irdv (br.nntv. ein) was only intrnihicpd in the sixteenth cn'uiy. It is fjirte true that in the days of the ancient Go mans many of them were inclined towaids inteinpti-inee, and in this way brought misery upon tlitmsclves ; but t)iese Germans aught not to he set up as a pattern for us. We should listen to the beit of our nation ; and we shall find that the noblest spirits, the best friends of our race, those who cou^d host judge as to the wants of the people, always stood up against tins 'German' drinking."