THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1909. LAW IN VENEZUELA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3082, 2 January 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1909. LAW IN VENEZUELA.

There is at last a fair prospect of the establishment of civilised law and order in Venezuela, that great South American State which has for so long bidden defiance to the civilised world—under the shield of the Monroe Doctrine —while itself subject to one of the worst forms of despotism. Venezuela is nearly as large as New South Wales arid Victoria combined, and [has a population of about 2,750,000, while its pastoral, mineral and agricultural possibilities are extraordinarily great. There is no country of similar size in the world which has more varied products, for on its coast tropical agriculture can be profitably carried on, its grassy

uplands are well adapted for stockraising, and its forest-clad- mountains yield some of the most valuable of articles, including rubber, copaiba, and vanilla, together with gold, silver,, copper, iron, coal, lead, tin, and other metals ar.d minerals. Lying in the north of the great Continent it is conveniently situated for European and North American trade and settlement, but has been so misgoverned that it'is among the least developed and most backward of South American States. Of recent years this misgovernment has been due to the dictatorship exercised by the notorious Castro, who has broken faith with every European company interested in the development of the has come into collision with almost every European Government. His immunity from punishment has depended upon the stand l taken by the United States authorities, who have persistently held that the Monroe Doctrine forbids any European occupation of Venezuelan j territory, and upon occasions have even gone further in their endorsement of Venezuelan claims. A historic example of this was the dispute between Britain and the United States .arising from the claims of Venezuela to the ownership of large parts of British Guiana, a dispute which once threatened to lead to open rupture, a result happily prevented by a remarkable outbreak of feeling in both countries. This exhibition of mutual goodwill, in which pres3 and pulpit enthusiastically joined, led to the reference of the matter to arbitration —and the arbitrators decided mainly in favour of Britain. General Gomez, the leader of the revolution, has now assumed the presidency, in the traditional South American fashion, and is showing every (tfesire to conciliate the European Powers. From this it is to be concluded that Gomez is representative of the commercial interests of Venezuela, as was Castro of the lawless back-country elements, which object to every interference with semi-barbario conditions. Gomez may nrt be individually any better than Castro, but commercial interests cannot bi separated from law and order, and thus make for progress whoever may champion them. Every railway line built in Venezuela, every mine opened un, every European settler established, every industry started, make reaction more difficult anl ultimately impossible. The commercial develop nent of the Argentine Kepublie has steadieo the politics of that once-restless country to a remarkable extent, and is constantly leading to more equitable law. The same influence cannot fail to make itself fplt in Venezuela, which is far too rich in natural resources to be left in the hands of unrestrained barbarians. ■ ')