Topics of the Day.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 19, 8 May 1912, Page 56

Topics of the Day.

By Our London Correspondent.

ENGLAND’S INVITATION TO GERMANY. LnMOK. March 23. n\ST M- t: liy night Mr. Winston t hun-hill made the first impn'.mt s‘..it-ir.ent of naval policy he bus had the oppor tunity of delivering in the House of (.’oniinon- e he assumed supreme control at the Admiralty. He was on his feet for th- b•< part of an hour and a hah, but his spee h bristled to such an extent with inlet-eating information that the attention «?i a full House never seemed to dag i«»r ;* moment. The portion of ’.he speech which was listened to with the keenest attention was that relating to the naval competition between Grv.it Britain and Germany. Mr. Uhurvhhi apologised for having to deal mainly with one power, but claimed that perfect >penne-s. combined with perfect co irtesy. w.i< not only desirable but nece-sary. He brushed aside S appropriate b’ *. iv adequate if applied against Europe s’ »re. “I he lime has come.” he affirmed. “to readjust our standards in e*.*<<••<■ a -cord with actual : . .. tinge - ” Having explained that the Admiralty had 60 | w ‘ r cent. superiority in ve-sels of the Dreadnought ty ’ O' ?“ the German navy, he sl it I rGr tt Britain was i sent I ihere t ard 1 ise of 1 vessels >f the > ' : • But, 1 s s thes " - . decline in r righting value, our ratio of new • l: >n v ill have to rise above the 60 yer cent. Applying the *5O per eent. standard to the exist ini’ Ger.nan Navy Law of two ships a year for the next s : x years, and guarding airs b. - against developments in other mnt'Jus. it is nc’-essary, ir. the opinion of the Admiralty, to construct fur the next six years four and three capital ships a year alternately. But Mr. < htiixhdl fears it is certain that we shall be confronted with an addition of two -hips to the German programme during the next six years — two additional ships spread over the six years, he explained In reply to a q;ie>t:->n. If his b -lief proves well founded. ’hr Admiralty propose to meet the addition upon a higher ratio of superb rity by laying down four Great Britain will idd six i • her programme. The Fir-t I. rd »f the Admiralty’* dear and pre i: *uent o» this point w -s greeted v ?.h warm cheers. IL' wag also t h-ere ! u h n he idded that German consiru.-ii »n w : <n certain limits would be promptly f dlowed here by large and fully proportionate reda- ti ua<. “1 apprehend.” he said, “that in 1913 Germany will build three c oital -hips, and we shall have to build five. If Germany built none that year she would *ive herself between £»» ai d £7.oOfh660. She would al- • wipe out five potential British Dreadnought*. That is more than I think -lie would expect to do in a brilliant naval action.” Mr. Churchill claimed that h- was suggesting a perfectly plain and simple plan where by without any diplomatic arrangement without any bargaining, th? present keen and • >stlv riv dry could at any time be avoided. “It i- better. I am sure.” he remarked, “to pul it quite frankly to the Parliaments and the people-* to judge for themselves. Taken as a while. Mr* Ch’irchill’s spec, h seemed to satisfy the great majority of the menil>ers of all parties, and he was >rdially chveret by both sides of the IL>u«e when he resumed his seat. Lor ! ( harle* B» r »rd, however. t«»ok exception to the reference t > Germany by name as likelv to cause irritation. Judging br the cabled summaries of German new«*paper opinion, it se?re* to have done in snn»e quarters, whilst in others Mr. <hurvhil!’-» frank invitation ♦ o Germany to modify her naval policy his met with unqualified approval. Whether Mr. Ghurehiß mentioned Germany by name or not, “Germany” would hive been read into any speech he made on naval affairs in which reference tn a “etandaril of superiority” figured both in

England and in Germany, and whatever said was certain to be misinterpreted by a portion of the juress in the Fat herland. WHAT IS INCREMENT ? The peculiar mctliods of LloydGeorgian finance have been well-exposed by a case under the Finance Act, now in force, which was before the Official Referee a few days ago. The admited facts were as follows: — A man bought a property for £-’O>: he left it to his daughters, who in 1910 paid death duties on it on that sum. and then sold it for £5OO. Somehow the Government valuer managed to discover that, just on April 30, 1900, the value had fallen to £3BO. By some miraculous process of reasoning, the drop .n value is consilcrei to be due to depreciation of the “site value.” Therefore the whole “increment” was adjudged liable to duty, and the ladies were called upon to pay duty ai '* > per eent. on the difference between £5OO and £3BO

Twenty-two pounds did Government propose to exact a tax upon profits from people who had not made one penny by Che sale- Furthermore, when the ladies tried to appeal, the Commissioners meanly raised a purely technical objection to their doin’ so on the ground that sixty days had elapsed »inee the service of the valuation. Happily the ladies were not without friend-. The l.and Union inquired into their case. The matter was raised in the House of Commons, and the Government were forced into allowing their appeal. It has now been heard, with the result that the Official Referee has decided that the property was undervalue! by £SG 13', and that not £22, but le e than £5. is the sum really due. The case hae aroused a great La! of indignation throughout the Kingdom, especially among small tenant-owners, who want to know how the Commissioners of Taxes can reconcile the facts of th“ case with justice to owners. How. they ask. was it possible for a piece of land which, with buildings upon it. was at no time worth more than £3OO, to have increased from £3OO to £5OO in the period that elapsed between the April 1009 valuation and the death duty valuation of 1910, seeing that there was no appreciate rise in the value of lan 1 in the district between April. H*X>, and the date of the sale upon which the Commissioners fixed the “increment duty.” They also want to know where, in any case, the alleged increment c-ame in. seeing that the property was originally bought for £ooo, and was also sold by

the direct heirs of the buyer for the same sum. and angry letters to the papers shown that the general view of the case under discussion is that if anyone but a Government Department had been concerned a charge of attempting to obtain money by false pretences might very properly have been brought. TOO MUCH FREE SPEECH. The arrest and remand in custody of Tom Mann on-a charge of inciting soldiers to mutiny in connection with the publication of an open letter to soldiers in the ■'Syndicalist.” was yesterday followed by the trial and conviction of Benjamin and Edward Buck, the printers of the paper, and of Guy Bowman, its publisher, for their share in giving the letter publicity. Nine mouths’ hard labour was Bowman's portion, and the brothers Buck got six months each, so if Tom Alann is found guilty of the charge preferred against him he is likely to receive a pretty severe sentence. The terms of the “Open Letter to Soldiers” which formed the foundation of the indictment against the printers and publisher of the “Syndicalist” were only open to'one interpretation. It was nothing less than a manifesto to soldiers, appealing to them to disobey the orders of their officers. For the defence it was urged that the writer of the article was entitled to express the oprniou

that armed forces should not be employed against unarmed citizens. But the article was niueh more than a criticism of the justice of using troops in suppressing civil disorders. It was clearly addressed to soldiers, and was a dire t attempt to seduee them from their allegiance. As the counsel for the prosecution stated, the article obviously contemplated a state of things when the strikers, rendered desperate by hunger or by the evident failure of their attempt to hold up society, would set to work to pillage and riot. In such a case, if the police were unal>!e to e.vpe with the disorders, the Government would be l>ounj to call upon the troop- to maintain order. If the “Syndicalist” appeal had produced the desired effect, the soldiers would then refuse to fire upon the strikers, with the result that society would soon !>e reduced to a condition of absolute ehaos. Tlie strikers .would lx- reinforced by all the criminal elements in the country. The Government would find itself deprive! of all power for the preservation of law and order. The mob would be in a position to give itself up to unrestricted licenses and pillaging, and since those who had anything to lose would seek to defend their property, England would he reduced to the condition of Paris in the days of tho Commune. Some of the members on the Government benches hare objected strongly to the prosecution directed against the persons concerned in the production of tbs “Syndicalist.” Their plea is that there

should be no restrictions on the expression of Syndicalist and other political views. The doctrine that freedom of speech should be respected is deeply, rooted in this country, but language which may be harmless on ordinary occasions becomes very dangerous in times like the present and the evil that might be Jone by the attempts of the Syndicalist to implant mutinous ideas among our soldiers is not to be measured by the success they obtain. If their appeals failed entirely much bloodshed and suffering might lie caused by the impression getting abroad among the vicious and criminal elements of society that rioting and pillaging could be indulged in with impunity. THE OIL AGE COMING Gut of evil good may come, and it is quite certain that one of the effects of the coal strike will be an Immediate and vast increase in the use of oil fuel in various forms. Already most of the great manufacturing houses are experimenting with a view to substituting oil fuel for coals as the basis of their power and lighting plants, and many >f the railway companies are taking alvantage of their engines being idle to adapt them for the use of oil either in ■combination with or in place of coal. One new fuel which is now being largely experimented with by London bakers and others is composed of petroleum an t coarse residual oils, mixed with wheat and rice husks in the proportion of about 1 part oil to 8 parts of solid matter. Same severe tests have been made with the solidified oil fuel by Messrs Hills, a very oil-established London firm of linkers, confectioners and caterers, and the results have been remarkable. The fuel can be produced to show a good profit at about 12 per ton. and about two-thirds of a ton of it performed exactly the same amount of work in Messrs Hills’ bakeries as a ton of ' nuts” which in ordinary times cost the firm an average of 17 per ton. Without making any allowance for the wastage of the oil fuel due to ignorance of its heating capacity and inexperience in its use, the experiments proved conclusively that the new fuel «m!d do the work of Messrs Hills’ bakeries at one half the cost- of coal bought under normal conditions in the coal trade, and that with oil fuel a more even distribution of heat could be obtained—a very big advantage indeed to bakers, confectioners, and ths like. Other tests with the same or similar fuel in steam raising have given almost equally good results, both in factories and on railways. It lias been prove! that by meins of oil fw< steam can ie raised a great deal more quickly than with coal, that it is easier to maintain a steady head of steam with oil, and that in many instances one man ca< keep half a dozen b iilers going with oil fuel where two or three men would be required to stoke if coal were used. There is also the additional advantage of the practically entire absence of smoke from -hafts an I funnels where oil fuel is consume! under proper conditions. According to the tests made under domestic conditions, there is no reason why the solid oil fuel should not oust coal from its dominent position for at any rate kitehen purposes, even as elee-trie-heaters and gas fires are gradually depriving it of ascendency in the living and sleeping apartments of the middleclasses. Years no doubt must pass ere King Coal’s world wide empire comes to an enJ. but during the past few years a lot of little oil and electricity republics have sprung up. the areas of which the present national strike will greatly increase. The innate -conservatism of the English people has hitherto been the great barrier to the advent of the Oil Age, but the coal strike is making breaches on :t that will never lie mended—gaps that science and human ingenuity will, indeed. rapidly widen until the barrier finally disappears, and the coal miner is no longer the dominant factor in our industrial life he is at present