THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 25, 1907. PREFERENTIAL TRADE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8387, 25 March 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 25, 1907. PREFERENTIAL TRADE.

It is difficult in this colony to form any really accurate idea as to the progress that is being made with the preferential trade movement in the Old Country. In connection with the movement there is one fact, unfortunately—and it is pathetic, too —that seems only too clear, and that is that Mr Joseph Chamberlain will not personally givei much further assistance in the carrying through of a great economic reform, which he was largely instrumental in inaugurating. His health appears to be failing, and it would be difficult to believe that Mr Chamberlain, in any case, owing to his advanced years, possesses the vitality to stand the enormous mental and physical strain that the foremost fighters in such a great campaign must necessarily bear. Mr Chamberlain —to whom the colonies pf the Empire should ever be grateful —is generally looked upon as the Father of the Preferential Trade Party, and he has styled himself as "the Missionary to the Empire;" but, as a matter of fact, all reforms, however quickly they may seem to come about, are gradually effected. The cry for reform arises from the recognition that a certain state of affairs is undesirable, or unsatisfactory, and because it is.believed that a remedy can be applied. It is so with Britain's fiscal system; that system is totally different to-day to what it was before the days of Cobden and Bright, and we believe that before the Chamberlainites have finished their crusade a gi - eat and desirable change—and one which will prove of benefit not only to the Motherland, but to the colonies as well—will have been effected in the fiscal system of the Home Country. An interesting cablegram was published the other day. From it we learned that at a special meeting of the London Chamber of Commerce it was resolved, by a large majority, that the fiscal system was no longer

suitable to the needs of the country. The Chamber recommended the com- ( mercial union of the Empire on a preferential basis, and also the raising of a portion of the revenue on foreign manufactures in order to counteract unfair competition. On the demand of the freetraders for a poll, the whole Chamber agreed to the recom- j mendations. It is unnecessary to commsnt upon the significance and the valua of such resolutions when passed by a commercial body of men like thai; comprising the London County Council. From them, however, W3 may safely infer that the i preferential trade movement is not j merely still "alive," but, also, that rapid progress is being made with it. ' It is not surprising that the Cham- ' ber should agree to the poll demanded by the freetraders. The freetraders, of course, know that they can poll heavily—they can look to the natural conservatism of many people of all classes for support—while the Preferential Traders are prepared to learn their own strength and that of their opponents, and then, again, neither side must show the slightest hasitancy in appealing to the people. IN THE FUTURE. Mr Adolphus Vane Tempest, writing j in the February number of the Nineteenth Century Ptfagazine, on "The Decay of Manners," and, by the way, a man with the names—Adolphus ■ Vane Tempest—ought to be something > of an authority upon the subject, concludes a well-written, if a not very enlightening, article with ■ the following startling observations:— "Dignity, grace, repose, are banished from our midst, and we are, as yet, only at . the beginning of this break-neck race through life. Perhaps some generation yet to come will read the history of our days; some dusty memoirs of our period will cause the men and women of the future to say, 'Those people were very punctilious, very slow, very sedate.' That may be the ,' opinion held in the not very distant days when contending aeroplanes crash into one another without an apology, and myriads of motor-cars sweep over the prostrate bodies of pedestrians without enquiring if they are hurt. But there will be less differenc? between the people of that day and the people of ours than there is between us and the powdered courteous gallants and dames who worthily upheld the traditions of good manners when the first gentleman in Europe was 1 the glass of fashion and the mould of form." THE TEMPLES OF PHILAE. A recent cable message stated that, owing to the proposal to increase largely the irrigation area in Egypt, by increasing the height of the Assouan dam, it was feared that the temples of Philae would become completely submerged. Philae, or Temple Island, is five miles southfof Assouan, and is a small granite rock, fringed' with rich verdure. In area it is about 1,200 feet long and 450 feet in width, and is almost covered with ancient buildings of great architectural beauty and interest. The temples are in the highest state of preservation of any in Egypt. There are eight temples altogether, built at different times, and dedicated to different religions. The most ancient fs a temple erected by Nectanebus 1., the last of the native Pharoahs, about 378-360 B.C. In the eastern part of the isle is a triumphal arch of the time of Diocletian. From the nvmerous inscriptions on these monu-, ments, it appeal's that the worship of Isis was maintained in the island till the fifth century of the Christian era. There was a college- of priests in it in 453. In 577 Bishop Theodore placed ,the temple of Isis under the protection of St. Stephen. Christianity was subsequently replaced by Mohammedanism.