The Star. FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1897. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5777, 22 January 1897, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1897. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

• The victory of the Tasmanian Ministry at the general elections in that colony will certainly not retard the progress of Liberalism in those parts of the world, though the Braddon Cabinet would hardly be considered a very Liberal one by some of the Progressives of this colony. Party lines are, however, not so sharply defined, nor does party feeling run so high in the island colony as in New Zealand. The Ministry has progressive tendencies and considerable administrative capacity. The chief difference of opinion among candidates seemed to be whether an awkwardly devised income tax should be replaced by a land tax, a property tax, or some combination of both. The Hare system, which is said to have worked well, is not applied to the whole colony, but only to the two largest towns. Hobart and Launceston, which return six and four members respectively.

A candidate at the recent Tasmanian Parliamentary elections, one Mr Fulton, supported female suffrage in a* manner decidedly original, and not, perhaps, altogether acceptable to the advocates of that reform. According to the report of his speech, he said some thought that women were inferior to men. He was not of that opinion. One notable example presented itself to his mmd. Eve, by the simple act of plucking an apple had found employment for hundreds upon hundreds of clergymen, and this would continue till the crack of doom. Mrs Humphry Ward, a Tasmanian lady, had given the reverend gentlemen another bone of contention, and thus after a lapse of 6000 years they had in no way. deteriorated.

Lord Salisbury's speech in the House of Lords on the Address-in-Reply to the Queen's speech seems, judging from the telegraphed summary, to have been one of the most significant utterances made by a British statesman for a long time past. The definite announcement of an intention to occupy Khartoum sounds very like an open defiance to France. The admissions of doubt as to the wisdom of propping up Turkey, and of mistake in the rejection of the Russian proposals before the Crimean war, coupled with the remark that overtures similar to those of the Czar Nicholas I. in 1553 would be gladl}- accepted, appear to indicate an understanding with Russia. Now it is obvious that Great Britain in alliance, or at all events on terms of " cordial understanding " with Russia, and freed, by the arbitration treaty, from all danger of war with America, wouldholdapositionso strong as to bo able to disregard the opinions of France as to Egypt aiid the Soudan,' and evon to ignore tlie Triple Alliance, should that combination object to any of her doings, tt is not probablo that either Italy or Austria would wish to object, and Germany would hardly care to push her objections, should sho have .any, to the extent of going to war, as she knows that France wiil most likely Hy at hor throat the moment she becomes involved in a contest with any other power. For England to exchange her position of " splendid isolation " for that of virtual supremacy in the counsels of Europe would bea triumph of British dijilomacy as brilliant as unexpected. Such a turn in tho state of affairs would be tho best possible guarantee of the peace of tho world, and of the speedy settlement of the Eastern question. Tho Turk would g*et short shrift could England and Russia but agreo what to do with him.