Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1901. GERMANY AND THE KAISER.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 7 June 1901, Page 2

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1901. GERMANY AND THE KAISER.

The extraordinary utterance of the

German Emperor to his body guard, when he told them they must be prepared at any moment to lay down their lives for their Emperor, has raised no end of adverse comment in G ermany, especially among the Liberal Press, which denounce the utterance in unmeasured terms. The Kaiser is set forth as representing himself as No. 1, the German Empire as a mere secondary consideration —that, in point of fact, Germany was made for the Emperor, and not the Emperor for Germany, The incident has been widely discussed in Britain, and such sound journals as the “ Spectator ” wonder if the deep reverence for the Royal authority which used to mark the Prussian has, as the King seems to imagine, really declined. It was believed throughout Europe until he spoke that it bad not, that all Germans recognised in their Emperor a man of genius, admired his intense vitality, and were hopeful that his projects would in the end make them citizens of a richer land. Foreigners thought that in Germany there was one popular man, and he occupied the throne. It is the Emperor himself who doubts it, however, and there are seme signs to bo quoted in favor of his opinion. There can bo no doubt that the suffering of the landlord class, which has,been almost as great in many districts as the same suffering in the same class in some English counties, has made the ancient supporters of the throne impatient and irritable, especially in considering a “ worldpolicy,” which, as they clearly see, if it benefits anybody, will benefit commercial men and not themselves. The peasantry, though their interests are not quite identical, share the landlords’ prejudices, as is evident from the number of Agrarians returned by them to the Reichstag. On the other hand, the mercantile and manufacturing classes, with the workers who depend on them, and who ought to bo the counterpoise of the Agrarians, are cruelly disappointed. They were all to be enriched by “ industry and speculation ” and “ world-wide commerce protected by a splendid fleet,” and prices are going down,' down, till great banks have been endangered, all shareholders in industrial undertakings feel poorer, and wages are kept down forcibly to their existing point, which is far from a high one. Private expenditure diminishes in Germany, work diminishes, profits diminish, and all the while the Government demands more ships, taxation goes up always, and Count von Bulow pledges himself that there shall be higher duties on food. There is general sense of malaise, which embodied itself in Prince Bismarck’s (Count Herbert von

Bismarck’s) cry for the “ return of our millions as well as our legions,” and which, no doubt, strengthens the hands of German Socialists, as well as of those Liberals whoso complaint is not of this or that project, but of the inferior position of the people in the national life, of prosecutions for hve■mnjeste, and of the partial extinction of freedom in teaching, whether from the professor’s desk or through the Press.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. A table has been furnished by Mr. Benjamin Pickard in his annual report to the Miners’ Federation of Groat Britain, in which he compares the output of coal in 1899 with that of 18-15. In 1815 the output of the principal producing countries was : Tons. Belgium ... ... 1,900,000 Franco ... ... 1,111,107 * Germany ... ... 3,500,000 United States ... 1,100,000 Great Britain ... 31,500,000 , The total world’s output in 1815 was 50,201,617 tons. In 1899 the figures were: —

Tons, Belgium 21,000,000 France 32,000,000 Germany ... ... 101,000,000 United States ... 22(1,000,000 Great Britain ... 220,000,000 Best of the world... 50,000,000 The total world’s output 650,003,000 tons in 1899. A comparison of the productions for the two years, therefore, shows that the output for Belgium multiptied fourfold, that for France sevenfold, that for Germany thirty fold, that for the United States fiftyfold, that for the United Kingdom sevenfold. During the same period the output for the world, as a whole, increased thirteenfold.

The Wellington Post is particulary satarical. Referring to the Minister for Public Works’ address to his constituents our contemporary says ; “ Originality is the last thing that would be expected from Mr. Hall-Jonos as a man, and initiative the last thing that would bo expected from him as a Minister in a Cabinet dominated by Mr. Seddon. It would, therefore, be vain to seek either of these qualities in the speech he delivered at Timaru; and concluding adds : We cannot conclude our review of the speech before us without directing attention to one of its most striking passages, the more remarkable as it shows how careful even a Minister of the Crown may be about small matters that affect his constituents. “He did not think,” meekly declared the Minister for Public Works, “ that ho had neglected Timaru, and he would remind them of the large share of uniforms for the contingents that had been made in Timaru !”