The Wide World.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 2, 12 January 1910, Page 8

The Wide World.

CABLE NEWS IN BRIEF.

IMPERIAL. ZTTY R. BALFOUR created a sensa|l 1 *‘ on by a speech delivered on .J I 1 Thursday, in the course of J which he said that statesmen and diplomatists of the lesser Powers unanimously state that a struggle between Germany and Britain is inevitable. “I don’t agree,” he continued, “but they think we are not alive t-o a sense of our responsibilities, and therefore are predestined to suecumb. This depreciation of British virility has gone so far that nomotlicial Germans, men of position and character, engaged in great affairs, have actually the audacity to say, ‘Do you suppose we should ever allow Britain to adopt tariff reform?’ It is undesirable to press irresponsible conversations too far, but such audacity as to say that Britain should not settle its taxation according to its own ideas makes my blool boil. Tariff reform, reasonably carried out, will greatly increase employment.” xhe speech was generally deprecated in Germany. Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Secretary) made reference to the naval position in a speech at Craster, Northumberland, on January 3. “We have kept the navy up to the mark,” he said, "building many ships, because abroad, especially in Germany, so many new ships are being built. It is quite true that there is competition in naval shipbuilding, but it is untrue that we have fallen behind. The navy is equal t'o all probable combinations against it.” The “Times,” discussing the future of the House of Lords, says that Mr. Asquith has definitely disclaimed ending, and the party has sufficiently indicated its objection to mending, which means altering and improving the composition. There remains bending, which seems to mean curtailing of the powers while leaving the composition alone. This alternative, which jurists consider the worst, is chosen by the Government. The South Africans won the first Test match at Johannesburg. England, wanting 100 runs to win and with three wickets to fall, resumed their second innings t'o the bowling of Faulkner and Vogler. W’hen the last wicket fell the total for the innings was 224, South Africa thus winning by nineteen runs. Thompson, 63, made a great effort to save the game, and was the last man out. Faulkner was the hero of the match, scoring 79 and 143, and taking seven wickets for 160 runs. He and Vogler had all the wickets between them, the googley bowler capturing thirteen for 181. During a dense fog the Ellerman finer Arcadian, bound from London to Glasgow ant Basra (India), collided with the Federal-Houlder-Shire steamer Ayrshire, bound from Manchester to Durban and Australia, off the coast of County Wexford, Ireland. A great hole was torn in the Arcadian, which foundered within three minutes. Of her crew of 52 Lascars, 12 who went below to secure their money perished, the remainder being pick-

ed up by tne Ayrshire, which had to M beached to save sinking. COMMONWEALTH. The principal item of interest to the Commonwealth during the week has been the visit of Field-Marshall lord Kitchener, who has come out to advise the Federal Government as to the best means of establishing its military de* fences. It has been semi-officially an* nounced that at none of the functions which he attends, unless they are of importance, must Lord Kitchener be expected to make speeches. While in Brisbane, he visited Lytton camp, where 1,000 troops held church parade. The local military authorities had prepared' a ceremonial review for Monday, with carefully rehearsed effects, but Kitchener of Khartoum is not viewing things that way. He intimated that ho would issue his orders at midnight for the work of the following day. He did not wish to have ceremonial reviews. He gave the troops a hard day’s work over the surrounding country, the infantry covering 20 miles and the mounted forces 40 miles. In Sydney he said that Sydney must always be a naval base. He upset preparations for elaborate manoeuvres at Liverpool yesterday, issuing new orders at two o'clock in the morning. A sensational accident occurred in camp at the close of Thursday’s operations. A Colt gun was being cleared when it discharged. The bullet, passing through a tent, killed a horse, and then struck Mr. Somerville, the “Daily Telegraph’s” reporter, who was standing 100 yards away, in the leg, inflicting a bad flesh wound. He was removed to the hospital. The Newcastle strike is apparently, no nearer settlement, and the miners hav expressed confidence in the new strike Congress, composed entirely of miners. A yachting party of four, which left Ulvershore, Tasmania, on Monday, were all drowned. ‘ Three Brisbane youths were rescued, after clinging to the bottom of their upturned boat for 18 hours, a fourth being drowned. A couple named Power, living at Gunnedah, quarrelled. The wife went to friends at Tamworth. The husband followed, and failing to induce her to return, cut her throat, and then his own. Mrs. Power is dead, but the husband is recovering. FOREIGN AFFAIRS. The German Navy League has issued a New Year mahifesto, in which the League appeals to the people of German not to be diverted from naval expansion by any consideration whatever. Adverting to rumours of a reconciliation agreement, the manifesto declares that it is the duty of every patriot to suppress all endeavours that foreign countries could interpret as weakness. . ,

The Russian Admiralty continues disorganised. The four Dreadnoughts cannot be completed within the time fixed -without recourse to foreign aid. The Government works, which undertook to supply the necessary armour in two years, find it impossible to deliver the turrets and plates for a decade. Owing to America’s growing interests in the Orient and Pacific, the fleet has been subdivided into Asiatic and Pacific fleets respectively. M. Delagrange, the noted French aeroplanaut, who has made many hundreds of flights on the Continent and in England, was killed while aeroplaning at Bordeaux. Professor Percival Lowell declares that two new eanals on Mars were discovered during the observations at his observatory in Arizona, when that planet was recently in opposition. Professor Lowell states that the new canals denote the presence of animate wilL