CURRENT TOPICS

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 40

CURRENT TOPICS

His Excellency Admiral Fawkes has been saying tactful things at the the admieal Bluff, and the southern seaAX THE bluff, port has evidently been very pleased to have the opportunity of entertaining the commander of Ihe squadron which serves as a reminder to the rest of the world that Britain can itill find ships to spare for the protection of her oversea dominions. To the patriotic Englishman nothing is dearer than the prestige of his country's fleet, and he Bas more than a passing weakness for an admiral. It would doubtless be good for . the encouragement of tho maritime spirit in our youth that the young New Zealander should be more often accorded the opportunity of seeing ships belonging to that fleet, but the reason why certain, parts of the Dominion .so seldom give anchorage to my of the grey-sided cruisers on the .station are sufficiently obvious. Admittedly every time New Zealand or the Commonwealth lifts an over-loud voice as to what it will expect of the world at large, the reminder of its utter dependence for pro- ' tection on the Imperial navy'makes it look a little foolish, and is appropriate. At prefeent the colonies contribute but a most insignificant fraction of the cost of protecting the shores and borders of the Empire. They are beginning to realise, however, that it is not entirely to their own Snterest to put so much faith in a protec- . Jtion to which they have in one' sense so a claim. The sentiment expressed Wot long since by Mr Deakin, "Heaven Ihelp the Empire, or any part of it, if it ■breaks away from the Imperial navy," h part of the national creed in Australia and New Zealand, and! it is a good sign that not only do these countries realise the inadequacy of their naval contributions, but that they are accepting the principle that they should do something more than help to pay the wages of the men who man the ships, and do the fighting if need be. Australia proposes to substitute in part for her present subsidy an offer of a thousand seamen, paid by the Commonwealth, for service with the navy on the Australian station. The practical value of such an offer is obvious. In his remarks at the- Bluff this week Admiral Fawkes again emphasised his approval of the practice of training colonials for the navy, and there is undoubtedly room for these colonies at least to go much further in this direction than they are doing ,at present. New Zealand has made a beginning with a small training ship, and Sir Joseph Ward's comment on the much-more-extensive provision of this kind the 'Dominion should be prepared to make ia entirely welcome, and doubtless prophetic. It is satisfactory to think that Admiral Ifawkes will carry away from the Australian station not only on intimate . personal jioquaintance with it as a testing ground % for ships and a school for. seamen, but a ' stroDg impression of the warm loyalty to the Crown everywhere shown. Prominence is again attracted to the f " • two great American murder THE idaho trials of the past -"-ear, the U order Tbial. cour3© of justice not having yet allowed their jensationalism to sink into oblivion. Considerations of peculiar importance were involved in "the trial of William Haywood for the murder of 'the ex-Governor of the State of Idaho. It was part of the case .■which the prosecution set out to establish that the murder of Mr Steanenberg was executed in accordance with a plan that aimed at the assassination of a number of influential men who were regarded as inimical to the unionist miners in Idaho. The leaders of the Western Federation of Miners employed, it was alleged, . desperate criminals from time to time to' do away "with those who, running counter to their interests, were selected for disappearance. Mr Steunenberg was elected Governor of Idaho more than II years ago, and, though he was warned that he was marked, for assassination,, he . had immunity from attempts .upon his life until -bis tragic death at the close of 1905. To William Haywood was ' attributed the suggestion that if Mr Steunenberg were "got" after such a lapse of time, warnings addressed to other individuals regarded as enemies of the Federation would carry peculiar effect. Charles Moyer, president of the Federation, was indicted along with Haywood and another official named Pettibone for complicity in the crime, which was actually carried into execution by a man generally known as Harry ,Orchard, who, planted the bomb by khe ~ explosion of which Steunenberg was killed. It will be remembered that after fc remarkable trial, lasting - nearly two months, Haywood found acquittal at the hands of the -jury which had the task of weighing the extraordinary evidence given by Orchard. B was judged at ' the time that the acquittal of one of the accused would probably be followed by that of the - other two, and the conclusion seems likely to be borne out. According to a cable message, Pettibone has now bsen acquitted, -" end it remains to be seen if tho prosecution has any more success in its case against Moyer. As for the so-called riddle in criminology, Orchard, who, according to his own unblushing account, committed Jnurdcr as a trade, ai?d whose story of a Score or such crimes was tV.o raost startling feature of the Idaho Vial, his astounding confession is presumably tha standard by Which the public will judge of his deserts. i!t was stated that the trial of Haywood >?ost the State of Idat.o £13.000, and that G30.000 was spent on the defence. Its convlu&ion was. however, followed by a Dro-

mise of a rigorous prosecution of the cases against the other two accused.