The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8. 1912. EUCADOR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 37, 8 February 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8. 1912. EUCADOR.

Dealing tvifih the brutal coupuipt of the ijutjrtrities, in Ecuador, ‘in , ithe ; course,;of tiro latest revolution ion that very revolutionary continent I ,' con-' temporary says that from such conduct an observer is justified in deducing that'the Ecuadorians arc largely an (uncivilised people, and probably containing a considerable mixture of actually savage blood in the body politic. The deduction is wejl founded. Out of a total population of .1,400,000 more than half are Indians. No fewer than 400,000 persons 'are of '(mixed blood—lndian, x nfe&rtj', v -‘ and j/firopcan in varying proportions, and ■there, pro few. ipliahitants of , y pure European ‘blood. - kThe half-breed in l South' America' is an eminently 'undesirable citizen from the point of view oi those who regard the maintenance of ‘order, in a Stale as an ideal of go6d citizenship. With Indians and half-breeds preponderating to an enormous extent in the population of other-South American Republics 'than Ecuador, what chance of progressing

can those countries obtain? Certainly nothing like the same chance, that 'the states of the Union have obtained, and yet the United States has decreed by its Monroe doctrine that a backward country like Ecuador, inhabited for the most part by violent, ferocious people, largely of savage blood, shall not bo developed by being brought under the flag of any European nation. The only alternative, therefore, if Ecuador is to be civilised at all is that it should be brought under the Stars and Stripes, but there is such a strong body of opinion in the

United States hostile to further expansion that there is little chance of ,i move .southward being made for a long time to come. Much territory vill have to he 'absorbed and digested aeforo the American eagle can swoop ‘down upon Guayaquil. The Ecuadorians plainly need civilising. But the United States will not perform the task itself, nor will it allow any European Power to do so. Gan that nnbargo remain in force indefinitely? .in Australian writer asks. HENNIKER HEATON. Sir Henniker Heaton, on whom the honour of knighthood was recently conferred, is a member of an old English family, the Heatons of Heaton, Lancaster, and was born in 184.8, at Rochester, in Kent. His father was i lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Engineers, and the recipient of the present honour received liis education at [vent House Grammar School and iving’s College, London. After leaving school an adventurous spirit attracted him to Australia at the ago of JO. He first followed a pastoral life, but subsequently became interested in newspapers. He was a close personal friend of the late Mr Samuel Bennett, of the Sydney “Evening News,” and with whom lie became associated in many business ventures. The relationship became closer when Sir Henniker married Mr Bennett’s daughter, in 1883. Returning to Europe in that year, lie was appointed to represent the Government of New South Wales at the Amsterdam Exhibition. Two years later he acted in a similar capacity for Tasmania at the Berlin International Telegraphic

Conference, ami was successful in scouring a substantial reduction in tho cost of cable messages to Australia. 'J’liis was his lirst noteworthy achievement in the cliiof ambition of a long and distinguished career—the cheapening of tho means of postal and telegraphic communication between the different countries of the world. Seenring election for the Cathedral City of Canterbury, in 1885, Sir (then Mr) Henniker Heaton entered upon that long and memorable struggle for universal penny postage, which, by his transparent honesty and untiring advocacy, and absolute disinterestedness, aided by a a genial and winning personality, enabled him to triumph. The ■first great instalment of his scheme became an accomplished fact with the adoption of Imperial penny postage, in July, 1898. His efforts do not, however, cease, and his great mind ■and personality is still striving for a realisation of the greatest of all his ambitions—universal 1 penny postage. Amopgst other.noteworthy reforms and beneficial innovations which Sir Henniker Heaton .succeeded in obtaining wore the introduction of telegraph money orders in Great Britain and Ireland, the parcel post to France, the reduction of the postage to India, and the principal dependencies, to one half the former rates, and important concessions in the cheapening of cables. Though not in the most robust health at present he is unsparing in his efforts to bring about what he has long desired—the nationalisation of the cable services.