The Week in Review

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 21, 18 November 1908, Page 1

The Week in Review

The Federal Labour party has succeeded in overthrowing Mr Deakin’s GovernBient, and the three-party system has received. a severe check. .The situation was much the same as that created in the English Parliament of 1885, when the Home Rulers, though in an absolute minority, were in complete control. The actual numbers then were: Liberals, 333; Tories, 257; Irish Home Rulers, 86. By voting with one side or The other as suited them best, they rendered all attempts at party government abortive, and it was only the secession of 93 members from the Liberal ranks that caused the defeat on the second reading of Mr Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill. Queensland has already been forced into a coalition between the Government, and Opposition, and it seems more than probable that the Federal Parliament will be compelled to revert to the two-party system; For AH over the world old lines of cleavage between Conservatives and Liberals are rapidly disappearing. We are face to face with problems that go far deeper than those touched by old-time politicians. The principle of Liberalism can never satisfy the extreme section of the Labour party. For the one side believes in evolution and the other in revolution. Let an employer be never so-just, let him be never so fair and considerate in all his dealings, there will be' found those who grumble and who consider themselves the victims of oppression. They aim at the complete subversion of the existing state of things; they indulge -in wild, impracticable schemes of nationalisation of all industries; they- se'ek to reduce- all men to a dead level of uniformity, limiting all ambition and crushing all aspiration. Should men with sueh ideas ever come into power, it is impossible to forecast, what the result would be to the nation. The Australian papers are urging that all anti-Socialist parties should close tip their ranks and present a united front tothe foe, and there does not seem to be •any good and’sufficient reason why this should not be done. J* <$S The London "Times" has been publishing an exceptionally- aide series, of articles on “Australian Ideals,” and these possess a peculiar interest at the present time. The writer sketches the progress ■of Australia, which has grown hitherto in almost cloistered isolation, and peace. He shows how no foreign country threatens its frontiers, and no shadow of any neighbouring Power, possibly hostile in policy, falls upon-it, nor has it any- native question such as confronts South Africa. This being so, Australia has been left free to exploit the natural resources of the continent, and devote itself to material advances- and social development. The rise of the Labour party- brought to Australian politics a force with definite ideals, fervid beliefs and passionate convictions. “The Labour propaganda,” says the writer of the articles referred to, "is the only definite political creed, articulate, efficient, and organised, that has yet made itself felt in Australian polities.’” For the Labour party is united by class interest, and it hopes by the solid vote of "a class to obtain through the ballot box, and by means of legalised spoliation, the success others achieved by personal energy-. It has become a machine, crushing all individuality, and the tyranny of the trades union is more dreaded by many workers than any tyranny exercised by the private employer. One lias only to read Francois Coppee’s fine poem, “La Greve des Forgerons” to realise how ruUiiess and pitiless a lalmur Organisation enn be in enforcing obedience to its behests. The intense hostility displayed by this parly to personal freedom and liberty has alienated outside

sympathy and support, and the coming battle will be between all lovers of liberty on the one hand and those who would crush all personal freedom on the other. We may yet see a new Runnimede and a new Magna Charta of the people’s rights. «S! JS The incoming Moderator (the Rev. J. Chisholm, of Roslyn), of the Presbyterian General Assembly in Dunedin, delivered a very striking address on the subject of “ Back to the Home.” He deprecated the tendency of parents to shift the responsibility for the up-bringing of their children on to others. He pointed to the growing lack of parental control, and urged that the Church’s energy should be directed towards a new revival of family piety and home training. The Lambeth Committee on Education dwelt with special emphasis on this all-import-ant matter. It said in its report: “ Last, but most important of all, is the testimony of the Church to parents in all conditions of social life as to their tXsponsibility and privilege in respect of the religious instruction of their children. None have endeavoured to discharge this duty wisely without earning love and gratitude from their children, long after the days of childhood are over. None have discharged it without untold spiritual benefit to themselves.” The ancients regarded family life as the basis of national prosperity, and no virtue was placed higher than the virtue of filial piety. They treasured the Trojan tale of how Creusa had placed the child lulus in his father’s arms, and, lo! on the child’s head there played a lambent light of flame. The mother and Aeneas would have sought to extinguish it, hut Auchises recognised it as a sign from heaven. The two noblest of the Greek tragedies centre round the filial piety and devotion of Antigone. One of the best known passages in Cicero is that in which Cato the Censor refers to the death of his son: O, glorious day! when I shall set out to join that blessed company of the departed. For I shall go my way to my son, than whom was never better man born, nor more full of dutiful affection.' In days when there is an ever-increasing tendency to rely on the State for everything, there is a danger, and a very real danger, of our overlooking the claims of the home, and the decay of home life has ever been the first and the surest sign of the decay of national greatness. JX JX The present session of the Auckland Supreme Court has witnessed one of the most sensational incidents in the criminal annals of the colony. A power fid-I coking man named McLean, with several aliases, was tried for a murderous and brutal assault on a constable named Maher at Taumarunui in July last. From evidence it was quite clear that the prisoner had intended to murder the constable, and it was only the timely arrival of others on the scene that prevented his doing so. As it was, he inflicted injuries of a very serious nature, there being three severe cuts on tlie scalp, whilst the constable’s left eye was closed for three days, the upper and lower jaws were badly lacerated, three teeth were knocked out, an oar was torn, and a rib fractured. The prisoner had a bad record, having served several previous convictions for crimes of violence, and the judge passed a sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment with hard labour. Then followed %’ the most extraordinary scenes wvw- •. end in a court of justice. Tbe.ipnsAdrt* -.4 lust seemed

stunned, then, realising the position, he made a bold dash for freedom. He let out at the warders on both sides of him. brushed them aside, and darted towards the centre of the recess at the back of the dock. Here he was met by a solid line of constables, who threw him back, while more police came in from the other side. Nevertheless, the prisoner, a man of Herculean build, more than held his own, and it took fifteen constables and warders to overpower him, this being accomplished by means of applying a hold known as “the bridge,” by which pressure is brought to bear on the eyes. McLean was then safely conveyed to Mt. Eden gaol. To find a parallel to this extraordinary exhibition of human strength one must turn to the Old Bailey during the trial of the Muswell Hill murderers. On that occasion two men, Fowler and Milsom, were placed in the dock on a charge of robbing and murdering an old man. After sentence of death had been passed, Fowler tried to strangle his fellow-prisoner,. whom he suspected of having turned informer. Several policemen came to Milsom’s assistance, but Fowler threw them about as if they had been so many ninepins. One was hurled bodily into the jury-box, another was sent crashing against a window, whilst a third was thrown amongst the ink pots and papers on the barristers’ table. It took eleven members of the city police, men picked for their strength and physique, to overpower the prisoner, and after the struggle was over the court presented the appearance of a shambles. Fowler and Milsom died on the same scaffold, and precautions had to be taken by the authorities to prevent any repetition of violence during the closing scenes. JX JX The King has conferred the Order of Merit on Sir Alfred Russell Wallace, ami has thus honoured one of the foremost and most distinguished men of science of the day. Wallace in early life devoted himself exclusively to studies and researches in natural history. He spent four years on the Amazon, and eight amongst the Malay- Islands, making extensive zoological collections. It was while living in the East. that, “unaware of Darwin's cognate researches and speculations, he formed and committed to writing a . theory of development bynatural selection, though not using the term. His book on the Geographical Distribution of Animals practicallyfounded a new science, and the phrase “Wallace’s line” has passed into our scientific vocabulary. He is keenly interested in occult phenomena, and attaches great value to the teaching and philosophy, of spiritualism, which he sums up in the following words: “The universal teaching of modern spiritualism is that the world and the whole material universe exist for the purpose of developing spiritual beings-—that death is simply a transition from material existence to the first grade of spirit-life—ami that our happiness and the degree of our progress will be wholly dependent on the use we have made of our faculties and opportunities here.” In his later works, Dr. Wallace considerably modified some of his earlier views on evolution, and he is often referred to as the lost apostle of Darwinism. JX Mr. Henniker Heaton, having lived to see the almost universal adoption of his scheme of penny postage, has now turned his attention to a scheme of PennyCables throughout the Empire. He pointed out in a recent speech that English merchants spent five millions a year in cabling, and only three millions were spent on inland messages by the whole of the United Kingdom. Ho characterised cheaper rales as beinj> one of the greatest of humanity's need-. The Canadian Postmaster-General is favourablydisposed towards the scheme, and Sir

Joseph Ward long ago told us that it woidd be possible to semi expense-paying messages to Australia for a half penny per word. It is doubtful, however, whether Mr. Heaton’s scheme would be financially possible, as the initial cost would be enormous, but something might surely be done to reduce the present prohibitive charges. Including land charges it costs 41d per word to send a message from Auckland to Sydney, 2/- a word to Canada, and 3/- to the United Kingdom. In view of the immense strides made lately in the science of telegraphy, these charges might be substantially reduced without involving any real loss, and though penny cables may not come for several years, there is no reason why- t wopenny cables should be considered as outside the range of practical politics. J* JX Mr. Asquith’s speech at the Guiidita.. Banquet was an emphatic declaration of Britain's intention to maintain, at all costs, her naval supremacy. He also emphasised Britain's clear attitude on the Balkan question. No alteration of the Treaty of Berlin was permissible with out the consent of the other parties, especially of Turkey-. On the other hand, the Government had done its utmost io promote a general agreement, and re store things to a normal and recognised' position. Speaking of the navy, he declared that the people of Great Britain held with unshaken unanimity that the maintenance, unquestioned and unquestionable, of their command of the seas was the best, safeguard of their national existence, and t he peaceful intercourse of mankind This effectually disposes of the propo.ai advocated by the Labour party that the money for old age pen sions should be provided by curtailing naval expenditure. Nevertheless., thmoney must come from somewhere, and it seems more than likely that some scheme of fiscal reform will be forced upon the nation, and that the increased expenditure will be met by the imposi tion of protective duties. We have received a very interesting letter from a correspondent at Whanga ripo, dealing with a paragraph (hat ap peared in this paper on the hardships of the country clergy, lie instances a case in which the promised stipend was not only never paid, but the minister had actually- had to pay out of his own pocket for repairs done to the church building He points out that a clergyman can never sue for his stipend, as there is seldom any written contract, and the debt is a detu of honour. He rightly observes that manv of those who deplore the alleged paganism of the back blocks seem to care nothing as to how the parson lives, and while continually quoting from the Bible, they do not give effect to the maxim that the labourer is worthy of his hire. We know from various reliable sources that what our correspondent says, is only too true of many of the country clergy. They are expected to live on a sum that a crossing sweeper would scorn to accept , and they are continually hampered in their work by financial anxieties. All religious bodies are deploring the lack of candidates for ordination. Condition* such as our correspondent describes make one wonder that they ever get any candidates at all. For no man. however, earn eat he may be, can live on a salary that is never paid, and financial promises that are never met. J* JX However much opinions may differ as to the merits or demerits of Sir Joseph Ward's general policy, there can be no two opinions as to his success as an administrator of our postal affairs. The post and telegraph revenue for the first six months of the financial yi-«r shows a satisfactory increase of £26.053 over the first two quarters of last year. Towards

this result postal items contributed £12,•185 ami telegraph £ 13,378. The increase would have been considerably larger had it not been tor the 50 per cent, reductions in money order and postal note commissions made last January. The period tinder review shown a falling oft of £4443 ou these items, but there is every probability that in the course of two or three years increased business will more than make up the deficiency. The

increase in postal business has been very marked in the Wellington district. In ten years the number of articles dealt with has leaped from If) million to 53 million. In the same period the money order business has more than doubled, and savings bank deposits have more than trebled. But perhaps the most remarkable increase is in the number of telegrams handled, over five and a-half million messages having been forwarded or received last year by Wellington residents, an average of over a hundred' apieee. This speaks volumes for the commercial activity of the Empire City. j* J® The prices realised at the Wellington wool sale came as an agreeable surprise to those who had forwarded consignments, a general advance of ,d a pound being shown on the closing rates of the last London sale. About 1400 ba’es were submitted, mostly Wairarapa and Manawatu clips. The best price realised was 8d for ten bales of crossbred hoggets, but several lots fetched over 7d, and the bulk averaged about Old. This is the more surprising as there was no American bidding, and the quality of the wool was not. so bright and clear as that usually offered at the opening sale. Prices all round were much better than had been anticipated^and a rise at the sales to be held in London this month is being confidently' expected by local growers. Sir Oliver Lodge's latest work, “Modern Views of Electricity,” is a book of absorbing interest even for the reader who is' not professedly scientific. Though much of it is necessarily difficult reading, yet the author gives delightful illustrations to make his meaning clear to the ordinary mind, and his definitions are transparent to the least scientific understanding. "Matter,” he tells us, “is that which is susceptible of motion. Ether is that which is susceptible of . stress.” Here is one of his humorous illustrations: “There are two ways of calling the attention of a dog; one plan is to prod him with a stick, another is to heave a stone at him. There are no other known methods for one body to act directly on another than by these two —by continuous medium and by projectile.” In dealing with figures, the great scientist puts Sir Joseph Ward completely in the shade. What is our national debt or even our anticipated record surplus, compared with the vibrations of an atom of sodium? “An atom of sodium,” says Sir Oliver ■Lodge, “executes five hundred million complete vibrations in the millionth part of a second.” All matter is shown to be simply a modification of ether, “ a. continuous, incompressible, perfect fluid.” We are on the eve. he tells us, of some great sun burst of discovery, and for the scientist the world is at the dawn. To quote once more his own words: “The suspense is becoming feverish, at times almost painful. One feels like a boy who has been long strumming on the silent keyboard of a deserted organ, into the chest of which an unseen power begins to blow a vivifying breath.” What will that great discovery be? The Emperor of China. whose death was reported to have occurred on Friday last, was a remarkable man in many respects. He was keenly interested in reform, and much of the recent awakening of China has been due to his personal efforts in this direction. In IB9G he issued several decrees in favour of the adoption of Weetern ideas, and method of government. He was a great reader, especially of Iwioks dealing with Christianity. In 18118 be sent for 121) different kinds of books, and of these 91 were issued by the Christian Literature Society. He established a University in Peking for the study of English and Western science; he also extended the railways, established a Patent Office, and introduced an Imperial post. He sought to change the Buddhist and Tavist temples into schools lor the education of the people. But his zeal for reform was checked by tbs? sudden and unexpected action of the Dowager Empress. She seized on six of the most

prominent of the reformers whom the Emperor had gathered round him, and she sentenced them to be beheaded. Others she imprisoned or banished from the country. Native newspapers were suppressed, and a new series of edicts were issued exactly countermanding those issued by the Emperor and his party. The Empress gave the Emperor a severe scolding, calling him a naughty, foolish child, and she assumed full con-

trol of the reins of government. It was through her influence that the famous * Boxers” eanne into being, with the avowed object of driving all foreigners out of China. The death of the Emperor is at present uhrouded in mystery, but many allege that he was murdered, and it. is far from improbable that he may have fallen a victim to the bitterness with which his efforts at refornf were viewed by a large section of the people over whom he ruled.