The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1965.) THE WEEK

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 51

The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1965.)

THE WEEK

' " Xaaf&am «liv* ostars, aiind'sapienti* diiit."— JarzxxL. "6ood Datura nad good sense mascervr join. ir — Po*t.

An important item of news cabled during the week is the particulars The of the Anglo-Japanese Alli-Aii-10-Japanesc ance, by far the most sueAlliance. ceasful piece of diplomacy of the century, and a stroke of statesmanship which adds further lustre to the triumphs already achieved by Lord Lansdo\rne. It is safe to say that nothing will contribute more effectually to international peace and the permanent settlement of affairs botn in Europe and in Asia than the agreement just concluded between Great Britain and Japan, and which is to remain in- sistence for -the nest ten years. This coalition will not only secure the maintenance of peace in the Far East, and preserve the integrity of the Chinese Empire^ but it will facilitate" a good understanding between the Great Powers in Europe. It is significant of the peculiarities of the Bx-itish Constitution that an arrangement of such far-reaching importance should have been possible ol conclusion without any reference to Parliament or the people. In its brilliant unexpectedness it recalls the purchase ' of the Suez Canal shares by the Earl of Beaconsfield. The reason of Japan's sudden acquiescence in the Russian demands is now perfectlyexplained, for the alliance with GreatBritain assures her position as one of the Great Powers. One immediate effect of this alliance must necessarily be a differentiation on the part of our colonial Governments in respect to Asiatics. Already the State Governments in the Commonwealth are beginning to recognise the position, and there can be little doubt — although the British Columbia difficulties bar the way— that the time is at when the Japanese will be admitted freely into nil parts of the British Empire. Of course we shall hear much talk of the Yellow Peril and the like, but the Japanese have now such opportunities of expansion in Korea and Southern Manchuria that so far as Australia and New Zealand are -concerned there need be no eerious apprehension of a great influx from that quarter. The Japanese have by their valoru- and industry won the rigbi to stand on a level with European nations, and even the extremists of the Laboui party, who would like to keep out immigrants of all kinds, whether of General Booth's selection or hailing direct from Japan, will find themselves forced ere long, by the march of events, to bow to the inevitable.

Altliougli the Russian plenipotentiaries, at

it now appears, owe more The Triumph to the diplomacy of. Lord of Count Lansdowne, than to. any, De Witte. astuteness of their own, yet the Czar would be the last to admit the fact. There is policy., therefore, in the adulation which ha?« greeted M. De Witte upon his return to St. Petersburg, the Czar overwhelming, 1 him with marks of favoui and creating; him a Count of the Empire. The Ports-

Jiouth Peace Conference has been aptly compared with a repetition of the contest between David and Goliath, the modern Goliath .going by the name of Sergius (or as he calls it, Sergei) Witte. He is a Russian, but his ancestors were Dutch. He began life as a railway porter and a • ticket agent. So far as physical appear--anoes indicate, he is a long way from Ending his days, yet in a land of inveterate prejudice and hidebound custom, he has, at fifty-nine years of age, become finance' Minister and President of the . Oouncil, and has now, by a strange turn Jof the wheel of fortune, become the man Jabove all others whom the Czar delights Jfco honour. Somehow the feeling seems -(Universal that Slavs ought . to be black sand swarthy, but iSergius Witte is a big Iburly blonde, large-limbed, thick-set, muscular, arid' proportionately tall. He seems £ia little patriarchal in manner, but he hdoes not' look like a patriarch; he does tfaot, even show his years. Not wrinkled, 'and somewhat inclined to stoutness, he iseems almost a kind of grown-up infant, «sto b*^ sure, but father undeveloped — a Atthinooerous bulk indeed, with correspondIfing -grace. Both in physical movement Jmd speech- his- -manner is unsteady and Ifull of - the unexpected — you might think Jhim almost ,unused to<- the world's ways : 3in other -words, "a big seemingly helpless jsjhild. .And like a child, too, he can 'teling bis stick about, and throw it down ! :Vpetulantly. But his is a fine face, with ''Sts big liquid earnest, sometimes eloquent, [>syes, high forehead, sandy hair and jbeard, and -an expression now of acute'lhess, now of benevolence, now of capriVjiousness, • now of appealing despair. For JfchiS modern Goliath is a man of moods: nne day effervescent, the next lethargic, Sthe next fatalistic ; he reminds the observer of the ever-changing sea. Sergius -jWitte-ha-s-a Huff, hearty manner, but at ■'Portsmouth his lumbering form moved ~; uneasily to and fro, and he seemed ill at' ease, as if the .world of diplomacy Twere not made for the- somewhat harsh

manner and tactics he has used in his own ;world of -finance. In that world h© has ,won- a brilliant success, and he is a splen- . 'did example of the self-made man. . And the present moment 'constitutes the- crowndng triumph in the self-made man's life.

" Baron Koniura has been designated the . ; _ ; - David to Count De Witte's - logo Hie Keal Goliath, but undoubtedly David. the real David is to be found in Admiral Togo,, for he it was who cast the stone which ' ■ brought to his knees the Russian giant. Japan has given the world many surprises ] since she entered, upon her " era of enlightenment," and began to adopt the methods and appliances of Western civilisation, but it may well be doubted whether in all the long list of her achieve- f ' ments and triumphs- anything is more ' - extraordinary and astonishing than her \ wonderful exhibition of fighting capacity in ' the "field of naval warfare. If - twenty j years- ago Captain Mahan had ventured: =.fco predict that an Asiatic .. people^a - people almost universally ' regarded as semi-barbarous — would shortly have a ■navy of a :first rank Power, would com- - jjletely crush the sea "power . of one of the ' .greatest States in Europe, and would pro- " duce » naval "commander worthy to take raaik with' Nelson, his would ! Shave been regarded as too wild and j - absurd for discussion. People wduld have j said, " Preposterous !"• The- Chinese' and 'Japanese only thirty years ago, were go- ' "*ing to war in. high-sterned wooden junks, "■propelled -bjr sails. How were they going •to ..create a modern navy, learn the art l of -naval warfare, and produce a com- ■ Ynander like "Nelson in a- single generation? ; The most gifted and civilised nation in j Europe could not do it. It is a long step ' from. , gongs, fire-crackers, and wooden .Sunks to high-class guns and armoured ; battle-sbips ; and as for a commander i -worthy to take -rank with Nelson, "jou might as well look to Asia for- a yellowskinned .^Napoleon. Such a judgment -would have been regarded as perfectly ■ reasonable twenty -years ago, but how altered -the situation to-day! Admiral Togo,- who more than any other man I jhas_ helped to place Japan in her present .position of renown, is described as a -rather small, compactly-built man, from ss 4 to 60 years of age. _He is apparently .' about' oft 3in in height, weighs 140 ' .pounds, has -an upright figure, and good carriage. In. his profession Admiral Togo shows the characteristics that were noticeable in his early manhood, and that have shaped his whole career — viz., great capacity for work, thoroughness in pre- - paration, unshakable resolution, and remarkable steadiness and self-poise. Intellectually he is not a brilliant man, and as a naval strategist he is said to be sur.passed by Admiral Shimamura, his chief of staff. In soundness of judgment and £?rmness of purpose, Togo takes first rank, and as Commander-in-chief of a fleet m actdon he is probably the most capable and trustworthy man that Japan has produced. |

J'fom the contemplation of Togo and his ■victory over RozhdesventXLe Tr«ftlgar sky in the Japan Sea, it is a Centenary. natural transition to Nelson and Trafalgar and the coming Centenary celebrations throughout the Empire. It "is fitting that by heartily taking part in these celebrations New " Zealand should acknowledge the debt she Dwes-to the man who, to borrow Captain Kalian's famous phrase, is the embodiment of England's sea power. Though dearly purchased by the death of Nelson, the victory of Trafalgar has been compared to Lepanto, for it blotted France Dut as a gf«at Power on the ocean, and Napoleon never tried afterwards to meet - England at sea. Trafalgar, to every citizen of the British Empire^ spells the victory which made Great Britain mistress Of the seas, with no one to dispute her Boyefeignty. It is well to look back over the sketch of a hundred years, from iJie day when Napoleon closed his letter to Villeneuve with the words, " England is Ours," until the morning of October 21, 1805. when Nelson, with 27 men-of-war.

fell in with the combined French and Spanish fleets of thirty-three ships under Admirals Villeneuve ancl Gravina off Capo Trafalgar. And to-day the Empire reverently honours the memory of one Horatio Nelson, who, born in 1758, in the little Norfolk village of Burnham Thorpe, a puling, sickly infant, grew into a thin, emaciated man, but in whose frail form burnt a spirit that no danger could quench, and which destroyed the vaunted plans of the universal conqueror, Napoleon, himself. The Witness has planned to do its part in honouring Nelson's memory, and in celebrating Trafalgar's victory, by issuing a special Centenary number, in which by illustration and letterpress every effort has been made to impress upon the inhabitants of this colony all that Trafalgar represents in political ancl religious freedom.

It was a happy coincidence that enabled Mr Seddon to steal a march The Premier's upon his political oppoElectioueering nents, and hie away to Tactics. Dunedin for the opening of the new Maternity Home. The Premier estimates the. vote of the women at its full value, and he i made the most of the occasion to preach 1 an effective sermon upon the manifest advantages to the colony of keeping- the cradles full. For Mr iSeddon's sake, it is to be regretted that this effort did not provoke the enthusiasm which the occasion certainly demanded. Mr Seddon's hurried trip south was also marked by a number of <leputations, one of which at least bore the appearance of having been to some extent engineered. It had been, by most people, accepted as a foregone conclusion that no attempt would be made by the Government to renew the subsidy for the South African service. The results of that service for the three years during which, it has been in existence are so unsatisfactory as to warrant that conclusion. On the small amount of produce shipped from, this colony to South Africa during the past twelve months — ' some 8500 tons in all — the subsidy amounted, to £3 10s per / ton, and this over and above the freight charges. In addition, the salaries and expenses of the Government agent in South Africa totalled, nearly another £1500, and the net result was one steamer load of produce. Yet in the face of these figures, we have the remarkable spectacle of deputations waiting upon the Premier, both in Christehureli "and Dunedin, urging the 1 continuance of the subsidised service. The weak point in the -whole argument is ] the fact that actually the colony is subsidising steamers which must largely be loaded with- Australian produce. It is not contended that New Zealand can keep a> monthly servioe going on her own fj account. The boats must partially load ' in Australia, either before coming to this ' colony or after leaving here. And as ' Australian merchants have to a great ex- ! tent captured the South African trade, ! it.- follows that New Zealand will only get the orders which Australia is unable to supply. It may, therefore, be doubted whether, even if some arrangement can be made for the continuance of tha 'steamers, the benefit, to the colony will be -in any way commensurate with the cost. But the Government's ideas of de- ! veloping new markets have always been j worked out in most unbusinesslike fashion. On the one hand, Mr Seddon is striving to build up a Canned Fruit ' industry, while on the other he subsidises the Steamers which bring the Californian article into competition with the homegrown product. This is a peculiar method ' of assisting local industries, but this is not i the only case in point. The Orepuki j Shale ■works were "assisted" in a very ' similar manner by the removal of the duty on kerosene, to the great advantage, ] not of the people of the" colony, but to i the shareholders in the Standard Uil I Trust.