The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1919. THE CANBERRA COMEDY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16820, 27 May 1919, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1919. THE CANBERRA COMEDY.

It is easy to imagineinconveniences of the South African, system which makes Pretoria the seat of government of the Union and Cape Town the seat of Legislature. The founders of the Union had to make concessions to some local sentiments before they could get four self-govern-ingl colonies into one Federation, and this was one of them. The South African. Senate has just out a motion to abolish this dual system in favour of a siaeie central capital, whether a present city or one yet to be built.is not However the problem of a capital may be solved finally by the South Africans, 1 it is- reasonable to suppose that they will avoid the absurd position, into which Australia has got itself as the result of its Constitution Act and the opposing interests of those who framed it. With strong indignation the Sydney "Daily Telegraph," in a recent leading article, tells the story of "The Federal Capital Fraud," and while something may be allowed for Sydney's bias against Melbourne in its presentation of a rTew South "Wales grievance, the position it describes is sufficiently ridiculous. When, the Federal Constitution Act was framed the rival claims of Svdney and Melbourne to enjoy the advantages of governmental pre-eminence were met by a compromise which each hoped at least to disappoint the other. It was provided that, though the seat of government must be in New South Wales, it must not be within a hundred miles of Sydney. To make .the capital of anv State the capital ■of the Commonwealth would be to give too nrach control to that State in the Federal system. So it was contended by the opponents of Sydney's claims. It was agreed therefore that the Federal Government should reside temporarily in Melbourne, and a new site in the wilderness at Canberra for a new. capital, to be the last word in town-planning-and scientific suitability, was in due course chosen. It is twenty years since the Constitution Act was passed. The Federal Parliament still sits in Melbourne, and the walls of Canberra have scarcely commenced to rise. Victorian vested interests will be entirely satisfied, according to the Sydney organ—and the statement is entirely credible—if they never' rise. The objection to a State capital as the capital of the Commonwealth does not exist for them when the favoured city is Melbourne arid not Sydney. At Canberra about a million pounds have been spent, of which more than, half has. gone in the purchase of a -site on which stock are grazing, while Melbourne enjoys the prestige and the commercial advantages inseparable from the seat of government. Plans have been prepared for something resembling a new Paris or Babylon on the site of Canberra, but the Sydney paper eonrDlaiiis with strong show of reason that if the Government is to stay at Melbourne till those plans are realised it may stay there for all measurable time. The Victorian legislators will not be impatient- Already there are jeers from Melbourne at the whole project of a "bush capital," which, it is said, should s never have been commenced,

and, therefore,-- the inference would seem to be, need never be completed. Meanwhile the' Sydney journal protests against the neglect and, scorn with which ]New South "Wales is said to be treated by a Government ensconced in Melbourne, and ruied chiefly by the influences of the southern State. Into those complaints we need not follow it. ; It will not be strange, however, if even New South "Wales politi-; cians, in their heart of hearts, prefer Melbourne to Canberra u& a place for spending nearly half the year for a great many years, to come. Pleas that the Government should be transferred to Canberra, ready or unready as a place of attractive habitation, as soon as parliamentary and departmental building's, which it is suggested should be hurried, can be supplied there, are not likely to appeal with special force to them. More progress anight have been made with the- new capital if the war had not caused work to be reduced on it for five years, but at present if is costing £50,000 a year in interest for no return, and. it does seem probable that it will cost.much more than_ that before any value > from it will be received-

The latest summary of German (counter-proposals, which is not official, but is probably well inspired, suggests that the German Government is preparing to swallow the Peace Treaty despite all the fuss it has made about it. The objections now outlined do not refer to much more than details. Since it is always well to know the worst, the Germans cannot be blamed for wishing to know at) once the total amount of reparation they will have to pay, though the reason advanced for that desire, that without such knowledge they cannon draw up their Budget or fix taxation easily, is not one that has any immediate relevance. Our enemies have been told how much they must find within the next two years, and the Treaty states that the total sum will be fixed within that time by an interAllied Commission, after a fair hearing of any German representations. They have also been assured that their burden will not be made heavier than they can bear. The Belgian Government were in a different position when, after occupation of their entire country by a ruthless enemy, who made it Ms policy to inflict the maximum of destruction upon it, .they required that the amount of the indemnity which would come to Belgiumshould be announced at once to enable them to regulate their finances.

The Germans probably will make counter-claims on account of damage . done to German property, though. • they took care to protect their own soil by fighting from the commence--' ment on their neighbours', and cried peace just as soon as it appeared that their own coun-.' try was about to be invaded by something more than aircraft.-"For purposes of insult, they may demand ' the trial of Allied "criminals." But.,' those claims will not be persisted in. It seems to have been part of the policy of the new "Republican" Government, all through the Peace negotiations, to show themselves as truculent, as offensive, and as impenitent of past misdeeds as possible. If their object had been to convey the impression tliat the "new" Germany is. not changed in any essential aspect/, from the old, they would have behaved just as they have done. Behind the new Government there is still Hindenburg, at the head of his army. Ludendorlf, in Berlin, apparently is a power still, since he talks upon all occasions. And Count Berhstorff, whom the Allies refused to accept as a plenipotentiary, has to be with the Peace delegates, though he is not one of them. The Germans have their, own way "of making an impression which might cause the Peace terms to be lightened.

Russian wireless messages published to-day leave no doubt of the connection between Bolshevism arid the trouble in Afghanistan. One wonders first of all what sort of overtures from M. Lenin's friends could have been addressed to an Ameer to make him declare that "Russia, by .raising -.the standard of Bolshevism, had earned the gratitude of the whole world." The former monarch of Afghanistan was a good friend of the British Empire, but he ruled his wild clansmen and punished their offences, against him in an extremely summary I maimer, ' which, being the manner of I the country, is not likely to have been changed by his successor. The Bolsheviks might admire his methods of punishment, which were very like their own r but they prefer to confine such privileges to the proletariat, and no Ameer would be likely to show much patience towards a committee of soldiers and cultivators. on~' wonders also at the adaptability of the Koran, capable of supporting the autocratic pretensions of a Kaiser and the theories of the latest "new" democracy with the same ease. Tbe Afghan plot might have been serious, however, had it occurred during the war.