NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 306, 20 September 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

Tn a. message this morning tho comple-

tion of an oil-engined passenger liner is announced. There have been’ numbers of cargo and oil-tank steamers driven by internal combustion engines, and they have proved remarkably economical. In fact, it is freely prophesised that as the nineteenth century was the age of coal at sya. so the twentieth will be the age of oil. Tn this connection it is necessary to remember, of course, that there is a vast difference between an oil-fired and an oil-engined ship. The British Navy except for a few ships on foreign stations is now driven almost entirely by oil fuel, and the conversion of large liners such as the Aquitania from coal to oil burning is announced from time to time. The cost of running coal ships has increased at an enormous rate. The coal now,is dearer, and generally poorer, than it was, and there is less willingness on the part of the men to fire an increased quantity. On the other hand.

if' oil is to be used it is desirable, in view of the world’s limited supply, that it should be used in the most efficient maimer. If oil is burned in tho furnaces of boilers to heat water to produce steam to drive the engines there is a chain of waste and loss of power that does not exist when, oil vapour is introduced directly into the cylinders of the engine and fired there. The oil-engined ship

has a higher first cost, but the cost per ton-mile of cargo carried is stated to show, on, the records of the Glen Line and tho East Asiatic Company, a saving of nearly 70 per cent, over the coalfifed steamer, of 90 per cent, over the oil-fired steamer with triple expansion engines, ahd of 35 per cent, over the oilfired steamer with geared turbines.

Non-co-operation in India is becoming loss pacific in its attitude ’han it was. Mr. Gandhi, who z used to deprecate violent action of all kinds, declared in a speech «t the end of July that., the sale of liquor should cease even if there were rivers of blood. This morning tho arrest of one of the Ali brothers is reported, apparently while en route to thy disturbed areas in the south. The Afoplahs are ,% non-Indian race of fana-

teal Mohammedans with a strong be-

lief in forcible conversion, and it does not appear that their present disturbances have any connection with the non-co-operation movement, though Mr. Gandhi and the Ali brothers would doubtless like to make use of it, if possible. Tho Bombay “Pioneer” states that Mr. Gandhi has of late been running a rake’s progress along the.road of violence to keep pace with the idealist fanatics who surround him. At the same time the general body of Indian opinion is less and less inclined to fob low him the more violent he becomes. The Ali brothers have declared that thej would do all theyicould to help the Afghans to invade India under the jehad banner, and the Government, after

threatening to prosecute them, decided not to do so after Mr. Gandhi had his •’'inference with Lord Reading, the new Viceroy. Mr. Gandhi, in a subsequent speech, declared that both he and the Mi brothers courted arrest, and would continue to break the laws against sedition until either they were arrested or their demands were granted. Tho Government has responded to this invitation by arresting one of the trio, and tho prosecution about to take place should indicate something of the real strength of the non-co-operation movement and clear the air.

A day or two ago it was stated that le South American Republics by work-

ing together ns a party were practically dominating the League of Nations, and no adequate bloc to equalise matters had been discovered. It appears that the position has been under discussion for some time past. Besides the South American group there is also the "Small Entente” of Central and Eastern European States, which should have a fair voting power in the Assembly of the League, but it is possible there is little cohesion among then}, except where their own interests aro concerned. It has been argued that it would be a convenience if tho nations in Europe and Asia, as welt as South America, joined together in the League to reach understandings on regional matters affecting each group solely. In any case it seems that it has only required two sessions of the Assembly for a parly to appear, but it is to bo hoped the future will hold something better than international party politics on top of the present national party squabbles.

A repori?from Athens that Greek newspapers are talking of the possibility of tho Government trying to get the Asia Minor question settled diplomatically is accompanied by some rather unconvincing attempts to suggest that the campaign against the Turkish Nationalists was successfully rounded off after being carried as far as seemed necessary. It is stated that' communiques reviewing tho victorious advance in Anatolia iii July and August say that it is considered inadvisable to pursue the enemy further. In actual fact, the Greeks have made little headway in their offensive during the past six or

seven weeks. They were brought io a stand fifty miles short of the point at which they might have won a decisive victory, and their present retreatin which, as their own rejaorLs slow, they were closely pressed by tho Turks—is an open confession of failure. It is now reported that tho League of Nations is being asked by the Greeks to intervene in Asia Minor, hut the League obviously cannot be expected ip do so until hgstilitios have ceased. Possibly a truce may bo arranged, but the vigour with which the Turks have repelled the Greek offensive in its culminating phase, after being beaten badly at an earlier stage of the campaign (in the last battle for tho railway junction of Eskislichr), is hardly of good promise in this connection. Hitherto both parties have flouted the idea of intervention, and although the Greeks now seem more amenable to reason, the Turks are likely to bo as obdurate as ever. Presumably the idea of establishing some form of international protection of racial minorities in Asia Minor will now be revived, but it may bo anything but easy to get tho Turks to accept such a settlement unless they have found their military effort exhausting' /

Some interesting particulars of American foreign trade are cited in the "Monthly Review” of the London Joint City and Midland Bank. Figures for the six months ended June last, and June, 1920, show that America’s surplus of total exports decreased this year by 40 per cent., and that gold was imported to the value of 347 millions sterling, as against a net exportation of 70 millions in tho first six months of last, year, "With a diminishing flobcign trade,” the /British banking' journal observes, “America is accepting payment for her surplus exports largely in gold, and, while deploring tho falling-off in trade through Europe's inability to purchase, is apparently about to impose a protective tariff against the import of foreign commodities, thus restricting the only method by which Europe can secure the exports America desires to sell. I urther light is cast upon current trade, conditions in the United States in the statement by "Brqdstreet" that American business failures during July cumbered 1482—the largest nupiber recorded since March last, Tho liabilities of these concerns are estimated at more than 69 million dollars, and exceed tm so of any of the preceding four months. America’s present difficulties aro attributed in part to tho fact that some of her financial concerns went to a somewhat reckless extreme, during tho boom period, in financing foreign trade. \Vith much credit "frozen” in the process of -exchanging American goods for promises to pay, the trade difficulties ot the United States are declared by come. British authorities to be more serious than those of Great Britain. As the London "Times” pointed out recently, America enormously expanded her industrial activities during the war period, and is now faced by the task of “contracting, her operations to the point which is required by the diminished spending power of Europe.