THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8150, 26 May 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1906.

The Soadan United Mission, says the Pall Mall Gazette, asks "All Christians in Great Britain and Ireland" to aid in checking the spread of Mohammedanism ia the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. The negroes there number at least ten millions. Until late years the territory was closed, and now, when it has become safe, under British rule, Moslem traders and missionaries, full of energy and zeal for the faith, are pressing in so fast that it seems likely they may convert the whole population in no long time. The first impression of those who read this circular may probably be surprised. Most of ua hear so little of the Mohammedan oreed that we are

apt to forget its importance in the world. But its devotees number a fifth part of the human race and they multiply fast. The proportion of Moslems in Ohina was imperceptible 50 years ago; now they are seen in all parts. A little iroideut during the war is not forgotten by those who concern themselves with this matter. As the fleet of Admiral Roshdestvenski steamed through the Straits of Malacca to its doom, the native passengers aboard a British ship crowded to the and spat at it. They would be Ohinamen, Malays, Javanese, Bugis and bo forth, Mohammedans, indeed, but men who would not have dreamed of making such a demonstration a few years ago. The Moslems not only increase in num ber but in zeal. The change is speoially striking in Malay lands. . . , . One might suppose that young men studying at Christian colleges and univeiaities, no inconsiderable number at the present time, would be shaken in their faith. . , . But if the educated jfouth of Islam conceive doubts of their creed, 1 they do not publish them. And they show no inclination to desert it.

A German military attache ia responsible for the assertion that espionage has, in Japanese hands, reached a degree of perfection never before equalled in war. The Japanese knew, for instance, long before they embarked on hostilities that their weakness lay in their cavalry. They knew, too, they were opposing themselves tu an army, whose strength in the mounted arm was one of its moat remarkable features; and they could not possibly foretell that the Oossaoks would fail so hopelessly in. actual campaigning. Taking these conditions into consideration, the Japanese reoognised that they could not rely entirely or even to any great extent on their cavalry to get information for them, and for years apparently they had been elaborating an alternative soheme. Every army in the field had a central bureau of information at headquarters, with numerous branches' administered by offioers all along the front, and each of these branches administered a small organisation of spies. They employed, for the most part, Chinese agents, who themselves sent their own men into the Russian lines in every sort of capacity, as coolies, transport followers, and even as mess waiters. The information thus obtained was conveyed by means of speoial messengers to the Japanese headquarters with extraordinary rapidity. A story, told in "Vanity Fair," and attributed to Sir lan Hamilton, illustrates Japan's habit of sending trusty men they are likely to acquire useful' inform ation. A British offioial in Port Arthur before the war engaged a Japanese "btjy" as a "nursemaid." The "boy" became the most trusted servant of the household, and it was with regret that his mistress allowed him to return to Japan at the outbreak of the war. The British official next saw the "boy" leading a viotoricus oolumn into Port Arthur. The "nursemaid" was, in truth a very distinguished Japanese ( general.