THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1907. A FANTASTIC VOLUME.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8359, 16 February 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1907. A FANTASTIC VOLUME.

King Edward has received many tributes for the splendid work he has done as the most pacific sovereign in Europe. The latest comes from M. Flourens, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs in France} who has just published a volume, entitled, "La France Conquise," with the subtitle "Edouard VII. and Clemenceau." Here is M. Flourens' pen portrait of Great Britain's sovereign: —"An attentive and sagacious observer, knowing perfectly the strength and the weakness of all the statesmen of two continents, having pierped from the Orient to the Occident the secrets of all the courts, the mysteries of all the chancelleries, Edward VII., when he mounted the throne, had fewer illusions than anyone else as to the difficulties of the present or the dangers of the future." But the author is less complimentary as to the uses to which King Edward put his acknowledged talents. "His Majesty," he proceeds, as quoted by the Paris correspondent of a London paper, "at once applied his hand to that which was most pressing—to create trouble for France with Germany on the one hand, and with Japan on the other, to set by the ears the Empire of the Mikado, whose force he knew, and the Empire of the Czar, whose secret

weakness and rottennes she was well aware of, and to complete, by an interior revolution, Russia's disasters abroad, thus putting that country for a long time hors de combat —these were to be the signs by which King Edward signalised his accession to power." The present aim of England, now that she has succeeded in putting Russia out of the way of doing any harm for a long time, is to lower the might of Germany, for Germany is "the only Power capable of disputing with England the commerce of the world, and, perhaps, some day, even the Empire of the sea." That is why Edward VII. is so anxious to isolate Germany, and then provoke a European war, in which England has nothing to lose. To accomplish that end, however, it was necessary that England should have a champion on the Continent, and France was selected to play the part. Now that France is hand-in-glove with Britain, says M. Flourens: "Edward VII. reigns in London and governs in Paris. In France his authority has for its interests men whose devotion has been signalled all their lives by their docile alacrity in j serving the interests of his policy. Like Gambetta, Clemenceau is a declared partisan of the English alliance, but he conceives it in another fashion. Gambetta wished to [see France stronger: Clemenceau desires the triumph of Britain's worldwide policy to the detriment even of the interests of France." No wonder M. Flourens is angry with the Prime Minister of France. Referring to the record of the Chamberlain of France, the author says: "His public life is knowq to us all. From the first day to the last by his pen, as well by his voice, he has demolished France to the profit of England. Clemenceau*has been the axe with which Edouard VII. has hewn down the' last ramparts of French independence, the obstacles which stood in the way of his conquest. To-day he is the rod which he uses to lead the politicians who consciously or unconsciously have opened the way to him." There can, therefore, be only one conclusion, and that is that England, which is not only an insular but a Continental Power, having need of „an Army, determined to make use of,the Army of France, and when the time comes she will not he'sitate to use it against Germany or any other Power which stands in the way of her vast ambitions.

DOMESTIC WORKERS' UNION.

The demands, or regulations, of the recently-formed Domestic Workers' Union in Wellington are, naturally, .exciting a good deal of comment, and as the Union is, no doubt, quite determined to see "the matter out," it may reasonably be assumed that there is trouble ahead. That/the influence of unionism ,and Arbitration Court law should be so directly felt in the homes of the people, as promises at present, seems to be regrettable, but by what course can the domestic workers better their condition other than that they have resorted to? There are certainly many domestic workers who do not hanker after unionism, and who will derive no benefit from it, and there are, also, many mistresses with whose actions ' the Domestic Workers' Union has no wish to interfere, but it is the inconsiderate mistresses —to use no harsher term —who, have brought down what has every prospect of developing into a great avalanche of unionism and Arbitration Court law upon the heads of their considerate and unfortunate sisters. The Arbitration Court was, of course, instituted with the object of "bringing to book" unscrupulous employers, and, while it is unquestionably beneficial in this direction, it is not infrequently an inconvenience to employers with whom no fairminded employees would wish to in-, terfere. With a Conciliation Board that scarcely ever conciliates and an Arbitration Court that creates a certain amount of friction between employers and employees, the prospect of the future relationships of mistresses and domestic workers being of the happiest description does not appear to be very bright, not at any rate until the "settling down" is over. There is, perhaps, a more excellent way of settling industrial disputes than by , means of the Arbitration Court,'but it may safely be said that it has not yet been discovered.