CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 201, 23 February 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE STRONG HAND. Viscount Kitchener's strong hand has ••cured a satisfactory settlement of the vexed question of the religious endowment of Egypt. It lias only just become known that this settlement was not obtained without serious friction with the Khedive, and the presence of a strong British fleet in the Mediterranean, too, may have been a strong influence. The Khedive returned from a journey to Cairo, and Lord Kitchener opened negotiations with him, inviting his consent to a thorough reform or the Vaudkufs. Tim Vaudkufs are the estates left for the maintenance of the Moslems in Egypt, and the Egyptians tried throughout to have them" placed under a responsible Minister. Lord Kitchener supported the proposition, but the Khedive showed hostility to it. and h Ministerial crisis appeared imminent. Finally a compromise was arranged, the Khedive agreeing to refer the question to the Sultan, who in ordinary circumstances has control of all Moslem endowments, mid to abide hy his decision. Before referring the question to the Sultan, however, Lord Kitchener took special precautions to ensure a favorable reply from His Majesty. This arrived within twenty-four hours. The Khedive instantly concurred, and the affair ended.

CRIME. Judging from records published the people of Great Britain are becoming very law-abiding citizens. According to the report of the Committee of the Howard Association, which makes a special study of crime, and has access to all the criminal statistics avAible, all the indications to be found in such figures point to a most satisfactory

diminution in the volume of crime. During I OKI the number of convicted prisoners in lOiiglaml and Wales went down by nearly 10,000—Scotland, it seems, is less fortunate—and this decrease is all the more striking since, the figures of the previous year were the lowest, on. rocowl, with the exception of .those of IUOO-1. This evidence, which seems to point to n growing respect for law and order among the people of the United Kingdom, is strengthened by statistics supplied by the Prison Commissioners. In their report they state that the number of persons tried in tiie Courts of summary jurisdiction has decreased during the last ten years by 100,000. Other figures snowing the proportion of criminals to every 100,000 o? the population also support the conclusion that the sense of honesty among the mass of the community is steadily incli'asing.