GENERAL CABLES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue XVIII, 31 October 1903, Page 22

GENERAL CABLES.

SCANDINAVIAN EMPIRE. The “Frankfurter Zeitung” states that it is proposed to create Prince Charles of Sweden King of Norway, and then unite Sweden, Norway and Denmark iieto a Scandinavian Empire, with the King of Denmark as first Emperor, the object being to resist the Russian conquest of the peninsula. THE VIC TORY’ DAMAGED. The obsolete battleship Neptune, while being towed out of Portsmouth Harbour, broke adr ! ft and rammed Nelson’s old flagship Victory, which is now used for exhibition purposes, 12ft below waterline. She began to fill and was towed to the docks. DEATH OF MRS SPURGEON. Mrs. Spurgeon, widow of the late Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, is dead. [Mrs. Spurgeon was closely associated with her husband in his work, and took an active part in the well-known “BookFund,” and in various missionary movements initiated by the famous preacher.] r SOUTH AFRICA. Violent language was used at the Synod of the Dutch Church held at Capetown. The exploded charges of barbarities were revived, and some of the speakers declared that the Afrikanders’ day had now come. One minister said that thousands of his “sisters” had been murdered, and that the Lord of Revenge would visit it on the guilty.

WHITAKER WRIGHT’S CASE. The case in which Whittaker Wright, company promoter, was charged with fraud came on at the criminal sessions before Mr. Bernard Bosanquet, K.C., Recorder of the City of London. The Recorder, in his charge to the jury, said that he hoped that the facts disclosed would prove a solemn warning to persons in high position not to lend their names to commercial undertakings without first obtaining a practical knowledge of their scope and intention. The allusion of the Recorder was clearly to the involving of a great diplomatist and statesman, the late Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, in the affairs of the Globe Company, floated by Whittaker Wright and others. DOWIE’S MISSION TO NEW YORK. Dowie’s vituperative attacks on clergymen, Freemasons, journalists, and others exasperated an audience of 5000, and much disorder occurred. A guard of eighty followed the carriage to the hotel, fearing that the prophet would be mobbed. The meetings are a fiasco, and there is little prospect of Dowie’s five millions being fort 1 < oming. Tremendous disturbances took place at Dowie’s meetings. Half of his followers are ill with colds. Dowie has declared that those who were not recovering rapidly would be considered lacking in faith, while others, who recover early will be regarded as “shining lights.” Several wealthy converts have joined the movement. A DASTARDLY ACT. At the Staffordshire Autumn Sessions Ernest Edalji, solicitor of Birmingham was again brought up on sundry charg es of maliciously wounding horses and cattle. The depositions of the previous hear ing, and the fresh evidence, showed that the prisoner, who is the son of the highly educated Hindu vicar of Great Wyrley in Staffordshire, had deliberately planned the mutilation of a large number of cattle and horses. This he had carried out with razors, hooks, and other sharp instruments, the injuries in some cases being terrible. The jury recommended the prisoner

to mercy on account of his social position. Sir Reginald Hardy, the chairman, refused, however, to accept this rider, emphasized the gravity of the outrage, and sentenced Edalji to imprisonment for seven years with hard labour. THE FAR EAST. Preliminary arrangements have been completed for the expeditious summoning or a portion of the two years’ Russian infantry reserves. Many insurances are being effected at Lloyd's against risk of seizure, capture or detention on the voyage to Japanese and Russian ports in the Far East. Much speculative shipment of coal to the Far East is also going on. Lloyd’s officials do not, however, believe in ths imminence of war. Tire “Daily Mail’s” Tientsin correspondent states that Japan has notified China that if Russia does not evacuate Manchuria Japan will likewise take Chinese territory. The British and Japanese Ministers here are urging CoTea to open Yongampho as a treaty port, and include within it the Russian concession, thus overcoming the dilemma in which Corea placed herself when she granted Russia exclusive concessions in non-treaty ports. The Foreign Minister of Korea is favourable to the proposal to open Yongan.pho to foreign trade. The King locks himself in his palace, and consults his fortune-teller at every emergency. THE ALASKAN AWARD. Lord Alverstone and three American Commissioners signed the Alaskan award. Sir Louis Jette and his Canadian colleague abstained, considering that the finding with regard to the islands at the entrance to the Portland channel and the mountain line not judicial. They complain that Canadian interests have been sacrificed because the awarding of the islands of Kannagunut and Sitka to the United States gave America command of the Portland channel, Observatory inlet and the ocean passage to Port Simpson, destroying the strategic value to Canada of Prince of Wales and Pearse islands. They also complain that the tribunal selected a line of mountains northwards of Portland channel, far back from the coast, clearing all bays and inlets and means of access to the sea, giving the United States complete land barriers between Canada and the sea from Portland channel to Mount St. Elias. The “Times” says that the attitude of Lord Alverstone shows that Canadians could hardly have hoped for a more favourable result from an actual Court of Arbitration. The decision is practically a ratification of the status quo. It is an inestimable gain to have

settled a question which offered perennial opportunities for exciting discord between the two great kindred nations. The “Canadian Free Press” admits that Canada must acquiesce without “squealing” in the decision of the Boundary Commision. The “Press” advises the Government to make sure of the Canadian right to the Arctic islands and to the islands of Hudson Bay, and to consolidate their dominion by federation with Newfoundland. The American newspapers warmly praise Lord Alverstone’s impartiality, and declare that the Alaskan was the greatest diplomatic victory of their generation. They urge Americans to make every reasonable overture for improved relations with Canada. Canada is exceedingly bitter over the Alaska Award, and the feeling is expressed that Great Britain’s care is more for friendship with America than for the whole of the Dominion. Mr Aylesworth, one of the Commission, in an interview declared that Canadians felt so keenly that probably in order to prevent a repetition of such a decision they would for the future demand larger powers of self-government-PREFERENTIAL TRADE. Mr John Morley spoke at a great and enthusiastic meeting at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. He declared that the whole weight of authority, both practical and theoretical, was against Mr Chamberlain’s crude, raw and unthinking proposal. Mr Balfour said Mr Morley was the mere shadow of a Premier. It was unworthy of him to resort to' a policy of intellectual shuffling. Cobden and Bright had proved that they were right too often to be overthrown. Anyone acquainted with Lancashire in its days of Protection would know that it was idiotic to declare Free Trade to be a failure. Instead of ruining agriculture it had enabled the farmer to hold up his head, and it had raised the position of the labourers. He pointed to tne enormous increase in the income tax and in Savings Banks deposits, and the increase in shipping. While the aver age price of food had fallen 30 per cent., wages have risen by 5 per eent. He denied that there was any real displacement of trade by the principal foreign competitors. And even if it was a cause for anxiety it was unwise to seize the first remedy. Free imports were the true and only key to national prosperity. Mr Balfour, wishing to gain liberty, was offered a choice of fetters or manacles. The nation must, however, refuse to be bullied into the accepting of a difficult and dangerous policy of retaliatory tariff. Jingoism was the backwash of the war.