THE OLD COUNTRY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 20, 19 May 1909, Page 6

THE OLD COUNTRY.

Less Hours Lean Fay. Consequent on tl.e coming into operation of tbe Eight Hours in Mines Bill, tbe question of wages is now being dia-

cussed by various conferences of mIM owners and employees. The Scottish Miners’ Federation has refused to accept the proposed reduction of 12J per cent. The eoalmastcrs* and men’s delegates afterwards discussed the matter, but failed to agree, and adjourned the conference till the 22nd. Eight thousand men are affected. The South Wales coalinastors propose a reduction of 71 per cent. The men have declined to accept this, and the matter has been referred to the chairman of the Conciliation Board (Viseount St. Aldwyn). A joint conference of the employers and employees in the steel trade, at Swansea, decided upon a general eight hours’ day in the trade. A Safeguard. The strangers’ and ladies’ galleries of the House Of Commons, which were closed in consequence of the suffragette disturbances, have been reopened. No ladies other than relatives of members are for the present to be admitted to the ladies’ gallery. Dreadnoughts Discounted. Liberal newspapers declare that Adi miral Lord Charles Beresford, Vice-Ad-miral Sir Reginald Custanc-e, his second-in-command of the Channel Fleet, and some other officers are sceptical about the value of Dreadnoughts in naval warfare. They are anxious that the prc-Dread-noughts should be distributed in the best possible manner and equipped in instant readiness for war. Some of the Dreadnought defects s referred to by Mr Herbert Russell ■’ a "Daily Express.” He says:—" A ai lieutenant who has lately eompl a commission in the Dreadnought to i me in all seriousness that he. gave the officer of the present era an average of ten years in which either to clear out of the service or seek refuge in a lunatic asylum. The result of every gun practice in the ship, he assured me, was to unnerve officers and men for 24 hours. Let not this term be misunderstood. The bafck-blast of the guns is so violent and the concussion so prodigious that eyes swim, ears sing, the brain seems softly to seethe, and limbs twitch for a long spell afterwards. If this is the stage reached in the Dreadnought, with her guns of 45 calibres, what is it going to be like in the St. Vincents, with their guns of 50-ealibres? For every’ additional hundred feet of muzzle velocity is attained at the cost of greatly accentuated violence of back blast. Nor are we going to stop here. A new pattern of gun, or unparalleled potentiality, with a bore of 13.5 in., has long been talked about, and notwithstanding official reticence upon the subject, there is no doubt that it will come into service before very long. The charge of such a weapon will probably be something like 40 per eent. heavier than that of the existent Dreadnought gun. The ratio of increase of concussion on discharge will naturally be correspondingly severe. It comes to this, then, that we are fast approaching the point when tbe devastating power of warships will have become developed to such' a degree as to render it virtually impossible to fight them. For a gun may kill in more ways than one, and the effects of concussion, even if not necessarily severe enough to prove fatal, may leave men unconscious or dazed and in every sense quite unfit to serve a gun. The logical result would seem to be a realisation of the dream of those who hope for the millennium, the abolition of war by the simple expedient of rendering it impossible. But human nature does not progress at tlie same rate as mechanical science, and the world will continue to find a way to fight when the big gun has become too deadly to the aggressor. The question with which tbe naval designers of to-day are, therefore, faced is whethere it is worth while to evolve a ship which men cannot fight, and, since it is manifestly not so, whether the time has not just about arrived to call ‘Halt!’ ” Flag Patriotism, Tn the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for War, Mr R. B. Haldane, in reply- to a question by Major W. W. Ashley (Conservative member for Blackpool), relative to the flying of the Union Jack from Government offices on Empire Day, May 24, said that he did not think the Empire was held together by flagflying. The answer was greeted by Ministerial and Labour cheera. - —"

D.e»l Gift. Th* Duke of Norfolk has presented Norfolk Park, valued at £60,000, to the city of Sheffield. Effective. The "Times” states that tests of Admiral Sir Percy Scott’s invention for electrically directing gun-fire, showed 50 per Cent, of hits in excess of ordinary battle practice. Imperial Defence. Reuter’s Agency has been informed that the conference on Empire defence, Which it was proposed to hold early in 'July, has been postponed till the end of the month, in the hope that Sir Joseph (Ward will be enabled to attend. Lieutenant-Colonel Seely (Under-Sec-retary for the Colonies), replying in the House of Commons to Mr. Cecil Harmsworth (Liberal member for the Droitwich division of Worcestershire), declined to include Asiatic immigration to selfgoverning colonies as a subject for discussion at the conference. Colonial Meat. The Foreign and Colonial Meat Bill, introduced by Sir Rowland Hunt (Liberal Unionist member for the Ludlow division of Shropshire), has been read a first time in the House of Commons. It provides that- all selling foreign and colonial meat must affix a notice in ■hops and vehicles used for the supply of the goods stating plainly the country of Origin. " British ” Beef. The shortage last- year in the supply Of beef, and the consequent enhanced prices, together with the assertions that the British supply was controlled by foreign capitalists, resulted in the appointment in August last of a Departmental Committee, which was commissioned "to inquire how far and in what manner the general supply, distribution, and price of meat in the United Kingdom are controlled or affected by a combination of firms or companies.” The chairman (Lord Robert Cecil) has now presented the report of the committee, which states that the combination of the Armour, Swift, and Morris Companies, of Chicago, is not a serious danger at present, but that they appear to be endeavouring to acquire controlling interests in Argentina, and there are also inquiries on the part of the United States firms in Australia and New Zealand. Estancieros (graziers) in Argentina were, the report continues, opposing the United States invasion, fearing that the price of their cattle would be affected by the absence of competitive buying. Though it was unlikely to arise in the near future, the extension of the Beef Trust’s operations to England, if it did succeed, might exercise a determining influence- on prices at the Smithfield market, and largely affect the prices in the Whole of Great Britain. The evidence that United States firms controlled the Canadian live cattle trade was too vague to allow of a definite Opinion being formed. The Budget. Mr. Herbert Samuel (Under-Secretary for the Home Office) estimates that as * result of the new taxation the liquor trade Is fastening on the public an increased price of £20,000,000, to meet taxation which amounts to no more than £4,000,000. The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Davison) states that if the Budget becomes law, £50,000 annually will be lost to the ecclesiastical commissioners’ funds for the benefit of the poorer clergy. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Lloyd-George, is daily receiving deputations against the Budget proposals. (Mgarmakers complain that the reduction in the size of English cigars, rendered necessary by the increased duties, will necessitate new moulds being used. These are obtainable only in Germany, and it will take three months to Obtain them. Mr. Lloyd-George estimates that the total annual produce of the additional spirit tax will be £9,224,245, of which £4,539,083 will come from Scotland, A Collector Raped. The executors of the estate of the la<s Mr Charles Dickins, of Dickins, Jones, Md Drawers, have been awarded £10,345

damages against Arthur Ellis, of Bondstreet, dealer, owing to fraudulent misrepresentations in connection with the sales of chinaware. Dickins, who was «n octogenarian, spent £130,000 upon Sevres and Dresden ware, and after his death it was discovered that the articles were largely forgeries. In one case he- paid Ellis £I2OO for a piece worth only £lO. Mr Justice Grantham hinted that a criminal prosecution against Ellis would follow. A civil action against another dealer is pending. Watching the Navy. The Navy League is being reorganised. Lieutenant C. W. Bellairs, M.P., recommended as its simplest formula that the League demand that Britain lay down two keels to every one laid down by Germany. Wrong Colour. The Nationalist party in the House of Commons has refused to enrol Mr Maurice Healy, the recently elected member for Cork City. Mr. Healy stood as an Independent Nationalist at the by-election, and roundly defeated the party's selected candidate. He is more a Devolutionist than a Nationalist, hence, perhaps, his exclusion from the fold. Another Injustice to Ireland. Mr. C. E. Hobhouse (Financial Secretary to the Treasury), speaking in the House of Commons, stated that since January 1300 old age pensions had been -withdrawn in Great Britain, and 1200 in Ireland. The inquiry was unfinished, but so far any suggestion of fraud on the part of the people of Ireland was without foundation. Mr. Birrell (Chief Secretary for Ireland) stated that out of 12,776 appeals 10,891 had been rejected, and 1885 pensions granted. The Nationalists hotly attacked the Government for ordering the investigation. Mind Unhinged. George Brown, a collier o Conisburgh, Yorkshire, who had been ouc of work for 11 monflis, attempted to murder his eight sleeping children by turning on the gas in their rooms, after closing the windows and doors. He then committed suicide. The children, when discovered, were almost asphyxiated, and f.re still in a serious condition, but will probably recover. Strong Argument for Peace. The battleship Temeraire, one of the improved Dreadnoughts, has been placed in commission with the Home Fleet. She has searchlights of four million candle-power, while her wireless telegraph plant has an effective radius of iICO miles. Unionism. There are now 1173 trades unions in Britain, with an aggregate membership of 2,406,746, including 201,000 women. Daring Name. "D. S. Windell” and Francis King, a clerk employed by the London and SouthWestern Bank, have been charged at Bowstreet with committing frauds upon the bank. The prosecution alleges that King forged the advice notes relating to the paying in of a sum, on which his fellow swindler drew. Windell, whose real name is Bernard Isaac, in a confession, admitted obtaining £l9O from each of eight branches of the bank.