HOME NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 514, 22 May 1909, Page 3

HOME NEWS.

PRESS AND OTHER OPINIONS. Problem of the Franohlso. 1 The House of Commons nas passed the second reading of a Bill, injtroduood by Mr. Howard, which practically gives adult suffrage, by 157 to 122 votes— a majority of 35, in face of tho Government opposition to the Bill. "The Bill proposes to do three things," says the "Manchester Guardian.'' "It establishes adult suffrago. with a three months' residential qualification for men, it confers the franchise on these terms also on women, and it abolishos plural voting. That the Bill should have been carried by a majority of 157 to 122, in spite of the opposition of the. Conservatives as a body and of a good many Liberals .who are supported of women's suffrago, but who regard this Bill as a red-herring drawn across the path, is a remarkable evidence alike of tho strength of the women's suffrage movement and of tho growing feeling in favour of a widq extension of tho basis'of the franchise. 5 So far as. the Liberal party is concerned, these two currents to a largo extent run together, and it is now;pretty plain that if women are over to -be enfranchised by a Liberal Govornment it must be on tho basis not of the existing but of a wider franchise. Mrs. Fawcett has written to tho press about Mr. Geoffrey Howard's. Bill. To this she is opposed. She says: "As this Bill has been represented as being in the interest of women's suffrage, may I be allowed to state that this view of it is repudiated by tie whole body of : women's suffrage organisations ?' The National Union, comprising seventy-one societies, protested against it in the strongest terms. They supported with all their strength the very different Bill introduced by Mr. Stangor last year, which would leave the . basis or tho francbißO untouched and only remove tho disability of sex. The. total number of women added to the electorate of 'tho United Kingdom by Mr. Stinger's Bill would bo something betweon one arid a half and : two millions. That is to say, the present electorate of seven and a half millions would become an electorate of from nine to nine and a half millions." . .. The Postal Strike In Franco. | It' is difficult for us to realise the extraordinary'situation which aroso. in Franoe, owing to the postal strike, which ended in a virtual victory, for the men. Telephones, tedegrams, arid lobtera alike wore held Hip by the servants of the State, becaiiso .they object to the methods' and' manners .of the Under-Secretary of. Stato, M. Simyari—"becanse he is a. cad," they say. The Paris correspondent of tho '"limas" states vividly the:immense danger of such a condition of things.' Nearly 6000 omployees in Paris wero on strike, and soldiors wore sot to do their work. "There ran bo no doubt that this strike oasts a very sinister light upon certain aspects of the national life, of Franco," he writes; "Tho cult of (liberty, equality, and fraternity tends constantly to. assume forms which imply a. purely arbitrary conception of tho civic responsibility of tho individual. For two days not only the public, tho Chamber, and tho Senate, but even tho Ministers and tho representatives of foreign States have been deprived of anything like adequate information .as to the development of. a great crisis in foreign affairs. If tho European crisis had suddenly assumed a warlike form tho efficiency ox France as a military Power would in these days have been reduced to a minimum. A great national disaster would have been almost inevitable. A body of publio servants who in an hour'of international strain and anxiety do riot t-ako these considerations into' account must be wanting either in ordinary intelligence or in the elements of pitriotism. This is a groat ovfl against wheh M. Clemonceau has repeatedly. protested, and which he earnestly dosires to remedy." M.'Barthou, who is Minister for Publio Works, declared in the French Chamber that: "Over our heads theiso officials have revolted against you and against the entire nation. These are serious hours when the Government needs perfect facilities of communication with its Ambassadors and Consuls ; and in such hours a strike is an- upon tho national sovereignty, and, what is worse, it may ,becoriie an attack on tho national defence. In these'circumstances I cannot reenter into negotiations with tho General Postal Association. If I did so, that would mean abdication., The Government has shown a .perhaps excessive leniency. Wo want to givo the staff a chance of coming to its senses. If it does not take advantage of that chance,.wo will take rigorous and final.measures from'which nothing will make" ris go back. I would sooner resign." Ready for the Tost. . v Now testimony has been added to that of the prophets of China's coming greatness. There lies tho quarter, says Sir Robert Hart, to which the world will look more and more as the years roll on. As Sir Robert . probably knows more about tho. 'Far- East than any other white man, his words are worth weighing., He has made anothor statement, to which those who aro by tho ; "yellow peril" idea may attach special significance; Ho recalls a warhing "issued to him long ago by a former Chinese Minister, who said it might bo well to. let : Asia sleep, for if she:-wero. roused she mkht make Europe'move-faster than, she. wished.This, is no. doubt true; :but . the primary virtue of •'Western civilisation has always been that it never shrank from such a test. Behind all our land-grabbing and continual search for new markets there always lay a .root idea that Empire was a duty as well as an honour; and a. privilege. It is but the political expression of tho great scientific principle of tho mastery' of. the fittest. . Tho awakened East must and will bring to the white raccs, the clash of now ideis and new ideals. We will do'our.best to meet and better them; but if we prove too frail our great thinkers will bo tho first to admit that it is only in .accordance with the fitness of things that yre should. go under.—"Weekly Scotsman." Football Clubs as Employers. How far we have got from tho simple days when men played football simply because they liked it is illustrated by a curious case in the Merthyr County Court'.- A■■ woman, sought compensation from the Meythyr Town Club for tho death of her son, who sustained fatal injuries in a mateh. The implication is that : the relation between the club and the player was just that of employer and employed, and that implication appears to be correct. For,'although t^he' woman lost her case, that was merely, because' the accident, .happoned in a trial match, which came off .before the, season proper,. and therefore be-, fore the actual engagement of "the player.. If it had been a business match in tho . complete sense, sho would have got her compensation. —"Pall Mall- 1 Gazette." . Tho Only Way. Mr. Asquith can avert tho-misfortune of; a party division upon tho Navy, and rehabilitate the Government enormouslv in-the estimation' of the public, by frankly' giving the country the explicit and unequivocal assuranco that.the whole of tho ships, domandod by tho Admiralty shall bo put in hand during She financial year and carried to'completion as rapidly as possiblo. In that way lie will not only'reassure the nation, but lie will got rid of a great deal of unemployment, will koop skilled worlcmen, of whom we have nono too. many,, from accepting tempting offers to go abroad,' and will enable our building'yards to proceed with confidence to the. expansion of their capacity for. rapid out-put. But. as things are now, nothing.short of a distinct and unequivocal pledge to this effect will •suffice'to-impress-oithor .the nation or tho world; .and nothing less, wo may add from' a lower standpoint, will do the Liberal party any good at tho polls.—"Tho Times." INTERESTING ITEMS BY MAIL London, April 9. The week has been rendered important from tho point of view .of aerial navigation by two notable events; tho meeting at the Mansion 1!OU5-C held under tho auspiccs of the Aerial League, and tlio acceptance by' the Aero Club of yet. another, prize for tlio encouragement of British flyers. The meeting at the Mansion I louse was attended by several well-known men whoso names are prominent in the world of scionco. Tl;-;v jnckided VaifussorlVlo Shaw, KriEram 'iXLotd

Montagu of Beauliou, Major Baden-Powell, Sir P. Scott-, and Colonel C. F. Massy, hon. secretary of tho league. Tho object of tlio meeting was to call attention to tho backwardness of this country in the matter of aviation, and to secure and maintain, for tho Empire the same supremacy in tho air as it now enjoys on tho sea. Tho new prize accepted by tho Aero Club is in the form of a trophy valued at £500, which carries with it for five years an annual cash prizo of £500. It is presented by tho Michclin Tyre Company for the longest flight during the yearmado by any heavier-tnan-air machine in England. The minimum flight, to he accomplished in tho first year, is fixed at five miles. The selection of tho (lying ground is left in tho hands of tho Aero Clnb.

Tho groat Jewish Festival of the Passover has continued throughout the week. It opeii'id on Monday, April 5, and tho preparations for its celebration- produced tlio customary scenes of activity and excitement in the marketplace of the Ghetto, of which Petticoat Lane —now Middlesex Street, Aldgate—is the centre. The butchers' shops and tho confectioners' establishments wore crowded by many of the Chosen People endeavouring to procure Passover delicacies. Throughout tho week spcoial festivities wero held at the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel. There have been two performances a day at, this theatre, whore Mme. Feiriman, the celebrated -Yiddish actress, appeared by. special arrangement.-

Yet another check is to be put upon tho dangers created by the motor traffic in the London streets. The latest order promulgated by the Assistant-Commissioner of Police lays it down that all public carriages propelled by mechanical means are in the near future to bo fitted with an automatic device, which shall give audible warning to tho driver and the police when the vehicle attains a,speed in excess of.that legally allowed. In liis memorandum on tho subject, tho assistant-commissioner, Sir A. C. Bruce, explains how the danger to the public and the damage to private property, caused by, the recklessness of motor-cab and mOtor-om-' nibus drivers, have rendered this order necessary.- Tho order applies only to motor-cabs and motor-omnibuses, which coroo under the jurisdiction of Scotland Yard, and not to private motor-cars or electric tramcars, the latter coming under the jurisdiction of tho Board of Trade,

What might have proved a serious catastrophe occurred at StAniford Place Council School, Hullj through tho exploding of a hot water pipe m a class-room: Tho room was completely filled with . steam, hot "water rising almost to the ceiling. Two little children, aged four' and three respectively, weroiseriously scalded, and not ono of the sixty children present escaped being, sprayed. Tho misitross was knocked down by the concussion.. She was found by tho head mistress, who appeared at once on tho scene, lying on the floor, trying to open the class-room door to let out the children. Sho was sovercly scalded about the body; Passors-by came to tho rescue, and tlio frightened infants were quickly carried out into the'playground. Fortunately, there was no panic. -Before the water could bo stopped tho whole class-room was flooded.

The continued shortage of wheat will, it is anticipated, necessitate a. further, riso m thfl price of bread. A tew weeks ago tho price of the quartern loaf was increased from 5Jd. to 6d., and a further' advance of Jd., it is feared, will be necessary. There has been a considerable decrease in tho\ quantities of foreign Hour and wheat coming", to this a>un-t-ry, and in consequence, the price of best wheat is now 6s. a quarter dearer, than it ,was twelve months ago. Tho shortage in supplies is due to the bad harvest in the great wheatproducing countries of Canada, United States, and Russia. Tho price of wheat per quarter has increased in six years from 28s. 4d. to 40s. Usually £35,000,000 ofwheataro bought annually by ..Great Britain from the foreign arid .colonial, markets., but it is estimated that this year the figure will be fax short) of this-amourit. ' ' The Magic Circle, a club of wizards,, has held its annual meeting at St. George's Hall. Some wonderful illusions and marvellous new tricks wero performed on tho stago,' which tho audience, composed entirely of professors of the art'of lcgerdermainV ; watcned' with wrapt, attention. Card_ tricks, thimblo-rig-ging, "and so-called spiritualistic phonomena were included in tho programme. Some of the ■ most amusing .items of. 'the performance were contributed by the gentlemen who wero invited on to tlio stago to .'assist" in the performance.. As they wero mostly expert wizards themselves, the results woro sometimes unexpected. Mr. David : Devant's "magic hand" ani Dr. Wilrnar's "spiritualistic" performances were warmly applauded, while somo of the amazingly , mysterious things done by Mr. Herbert J. Collins completely baffled tho audience of exports;

Tho Royal Geographical So'ciety has made an award of a special gold medal to Lieutenant Shackleton, and silver roplicas of it. to his compauions,, for the recent great achievement in Antarctic exploration. Among the awards wero tho following:—Founders' Medal to Dr.' Stein, for archaeological discoveries in Chinese Turkestan; Patrons* Medal to Colonel Talbot, C.S., for work. In India and in the; North-West Province of Egypt; Murchison Award to Captain RawliiiE, for work in tho North-West frontiers of India; Gill Memorial to Commander Whitchottss for his survey work on tho Victoria Nyariza;. Cuthbert Peek Memorial to Captain omm alley, for survey Work in. Northern Nigeria; Bach Grant to Rai Sahib Lai Singh; native surveyor, who accompanied Dr. Stein on his recent journey in Central Asia. Some interesting remarks on tho subject of athletics and literature were made by Sir John Brickwood, who was the guest at the fourteenth sessional dinner of tho Authors' Club. Ho declared that in spite of the attacks that had been lovelled .against athletic sports by Mr. Bernard Shaw and Mr. Rudyard Kipling, there were signs of an entente cordiale commencing between athletics and literature. Literary men, he doclared, had become more virilo,- and in support of his statement ho quoted the case of Stevenson, who when tired of writing, found relaxation in hacking pathways through tho bush'of Samoa. . Great athletes'liko Mossrs. C. B. Fry,, Hcskoth-Pritohard, A. C. Benson, Professors Mahaffv, Andrew, and Balfour, had gained their Blues and international caps before making their successful entry into the literary world.;.

The extraordinary anomalies that exist in tho Old Age Pension system wero emphasised by. a remarkablo case that came before tho Lancashire Pension Committee at Preston. They had before them an application by a man who possessed £125 lying in a bank at 2 per cent, and producing him an income of £20 10s. per annum only. The Local. Government Board advised; the committee that the money must be considered-as "invested'or profitably, used," and as a consequence there was no option but . to grant the pension of ss. per week. The caso was' characterised bv monitors of the 'committee as "scandalous.'' In spite of their reputation for being careful and close whqro money is concerned; lie Scottish people, it has transpired, are the most prompt taxpayers in the ..United Kingdom.- According to a White Paper, 93.7. per cent, -of tlio total. Scottish taxes, to. bo collected for tho current year have been paid. This figure compares with England's \ G3.7 and Ireland's 54.0.' The proceeds of tho income tax, inhabited house duty, and land tax. show that Scotland has already, paid £3,235,467, England £21,917,314, and Ireland £658,959. During the last thrc'o years Scotlaud has always stood far ahead of tho two other, countries in her prompt payment,of taxes.

Mr. Asquith made a sympathetic and pleasantly reminiscent speech at the annual meeting of tho Barristers' Benevolent Aasocia-' tion. "I am old enough,"! he said, "to remember, not, indeed, tho origin and actual beginnings, hut the very early days of the Barristers' Benevolent Association.' I at that time occupied chambers not very far from this hall, in Fig Treo Court, where tho advent of a County Court brief, marked 'one guinea,' and bearing tho liamo of a client whoso timo of payment, and, indeed, whoso ability to pay, were, to say tho least, ■ problematical, was a welcome and a not very frequent phenomenon."

Tim splendid palaccs and grounds at Shepherd's Busii no longer lie deserted, for an army of painters and carpcnters are at work preparing for the opening, 011 May 22, of tho Imperial International Exhibition. The forthcoming exhibition will ho afar wider undertaking than last year, as''ltaly, Portugal, Russia, 'Austria,; Germany, ■ Holland, licigiutu, Spain, IreLmd, and Now Zealand are all loprosantod. Thewliolocf tbo axliibita

will bo now. Nothing which was shown last year will bo exhibited again, rbo that the various soctions should bcCinteresfcing. Tho alterations and improvements include tho erection of two new band>ipaviliona,. the laying out of a terrace, which will bavo'upon it a two-story colonnade and' a colossal statue of tho King, and tho improvement of tho garden before tho Machinery Hall. Thcro are to bo Scirtoh, Irish, Swiss, Dahomey, and Portuguese villages 'and new and thrilling side-shows, including, the scenic ' aeroplanes and Alpino railway, which will go as high as 90ft. in the aii^—a. height which will only bo surpassed by : the flip-flap. Ono of tho special fcatnrefl. in the Machinery Hall is to bo the .section relating to British and Continental watering-places, of which about one hundred will bo represented. The variouß resorts will bo depicted on huge illuminated panorama.

The strike a{ Raskin College'is at an end; Tho Executive Committee of' the Collego Council decidcd-that the only course was to close the for a fortnight; and the students have submitted to the' authorities. At a mooting of the "strikers" it was de- i cided to inforin the Executive Committee that they .could not leavothe oollege for the period named unless they were provided with their railway faros;tq,.their homes, and money for their keep until, {hey returned. To this the council has agreed,-, deciding : to pay ISs. a week for maintenance.

Lord Charles Boresford has received invitations from no fewer than nineteen constituencies to becoino a candidate for Parliament, and several membors have offered to resign imniedfately to give him an opportunity of entering the Houso of Commons at the earliest possiblo moment. It is understood, however/that Lord Charles, while appreciating the spontaneous and cordial character of the invitations, has no intention of seeking Parliamentary-honours-at present; although ho may, if, invited, becomo a candidate at the next general election. .

A sensational rising among tho convicts at Dartmoor' Prison" has been, fortnnately, frus-: fritted by the. authorities at the last mo< ' merit through one, of the conspirators inform* ing the' officials of what was oontomplated. The plot originated with one of the parties engaged in reclaiming the bog. It was intended to have taken the nrin6ipal warder and guards by surpriso, ana to nave disarmed them ; others were to attack the subordinate officers , with spades and pickaxes. TTio ringleader, named Jonee, was, however, taken away from tho party before they wore sent to tho bogs, and the convicts were ovevi awed by. tho guards, who had been . augmented by a considerable force.—"Standard of Empire."