THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8127, 28 April 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1906.

The Sultan of Turkey might be deposer! if be were a temporal ruler only. But he is the head of 100,000,000 people in the sense that is religious and many of them are British subjects. Exactly what this authority is worth can only be surmised, as no one so far has been willing to put it to the final test, but the probability is that if the Sultan were to exert himself he could do an infinite amount of mischief. Not because of his authority as a Prince, but because of bis religious status the Great Powers have tolerated and temporised with bun as, probably, they will continue to do till a combination is brave

enough to chance the position. The Khcc.ive illustrates this position to a nicety, as although prepared to fall out witn the Saltan over the disputed territory of the Sinai .Peninsula, he accepts him as his religious chief, and even so is theoretically his vassal, if, in practice, there is no such relationship. The Sultan is the overlord of Egypt just as he is of Bulgaria, but his authority has become a dead better in both while his religious influence has retrained the same. As a matter of fact the Khedive's family owe their title to a former Sultan, and the first few of the line paid Turkey a large 3searly tribute as the evidence of their fealty. Perhaps this tribute is still paid, but bp that as it may the Sultan has to be reckoned with in toe sense explained as long as his flag flies at Cairo, for the Egyptian flag is a Turkish creation and bears the Turkish symbol. In a mere fight between iligypt and Turkey the former would win, only if she had the support of Great Britain, and as this support would be ready and insistent it would be an Anglo-Egyptian fight against the euzoraiu Power. And then suppose the Sultan were able to make much to the anti-Christian cry, as much as Christians fear he could make, wlmt would be tne outcome in Egypt itself between the parties to the Alliance? The whole thing is largely a gamble, but it would have this advantage, if the Sultan as a result of it were fonad-int to have the measure of religious authority now suspected. In all probability a result like that would cause "the siok man" to become a dead man, so far as he enjoys a

statua as a European sovereign. Through suah a demonstration England would be able to seize Egypt outright, and Italy might be able to realise the dream of a generation by taking Tripoli, and thua Turkey would be completely driven out of Africa.

It is claimed that the British Navy is bow the strongest since Trafalgar, and that it has been brought to this high degree of «Sffloiency by the Unionist Government reoently defeated. A Masterton resident forwards to us an illuminating article on the subjeot, and as there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the figures quoted, it must be admitted that the writer proves his case. A comparison between the state of the' fleet in 1895, when Lord Eoaebery's Liberal Govern ment resigned, and in Deoember, 1905, when Mr Balfour's Unionist administration surrendered office, shows that the Liberal Government left the Navy in a most unsatisfactory oonditiOß. In 1895 there were twenty-nine first class, battleships of 376,000 tons, in 1905 there were fifty one of a tonnage of 745,000. In 1895 there were thirty-four large cruisers of 285,000, in 1905 fortynine of 591,000 tons. In 1895 thare were sixty two destroyers, but these were increased to 162 by 1905. In 1895 there were 88,850 officers and men, but iu 1905 there were 121,000. The amount voted in 1895 was £18,371,000, and in 1905 £33,389,000. There is an old saying "if you do not want war —prepare for it." In view of the different European orises that have ooourred of late years there is certainly reason to be thankful to the Unionist Government for the policy they pursued in regard to the Navy.