Omaha daily bee., 1901-01-05
OTHER LANDS THAN ours.

'hS commonwealth VI huSlIdilh Dttdhit
a fact at the beginning of the year through
the proclamation of the union of New South
Wales, Victoria, Queensland South Aus
tralia, West Australia and Tasmania by
Earl Hopetoun at sydney. New Zealand
still holds out and will not join the common
wealth and IL, to a certain extent more
or less hostile to It, having an ambition
to form an island federation of its own
out of all Great Brtains scattered islets
in OceaniDa. This project. however, the
new commonwealth has put its foot down on
with great vigor, and New Zealand will
doubtless be forced sooner or later to join
its sister states. AS organized the Aus
tralian union has q population of $780,
900, a little over half that of Pennsylvania.
and its chief cities, Melbourne, with popu
lation o. 45s,610. and Sydney, with
426,95O, are each nearly equal to
Pittsburg and Allegheny combined The
new commonwealth is patterned after the
American rather than the Canadian model,
and its ideals are more American than Brit
ish, The first federal elections take place
next week, and it will not be long before
the full machinery of the union will be
in operation. Australia took to the fedora
tion idea slowly but there is now general
recognition of its benefits and its tremen-
dous significance for the future OF all Aus
tralasia. as well as its bearing on the or
ganization OF other groups of British COL
onies, such as those of South Africa.
novel odtcome of the agitation in Great
Britain over the discovery that some kinds
OF beer contain arsenic enough TO poison
drinkers is the offer Of the Ocean Accident
and Guaranty corporation 10 insure brew
ers against any judgments for damages as
result OF drinking their beverage, in the
sum of 5000 for each and every death
proved to be due to the presence of arsenic
In beer bought at any hotel, inn or public
house." This is, of course, perfectly legiti-
mate insurance enterprise, but the direc-
tors OF the company certainly disclose
lack of the sense of humor when they pro-
pose further to provide illuminated show
cards for display in hotels, etc, announcing
the fact that beers supplied by brewers
availng themselves OF this offer are so
guaranteed" The Economist observes that
1t seems an odd way of restoring con
fdence In the public MIND" and suggests
that the illuminated show-cards might very
properly, by way of further inducement to
conviviality and complacency OF soul in
would-be beer-consumers, be accompanied
by the traditional undertaker's card, why
live and be miserable when you can be de-
Gently buried for G2 1852"
1t is probable that England will soon be
engaged in another little Indian war this
time with the Mahsud Waziri tribe, inhab-
| iting the country to the west OF the Indus
| between the Gomul and Toch valleys. Brit
| ish outposts have been attacked. mail carts
| waylad, escorts ambushed, travellers mur-
| dered. villages raided and flocks and herds
| carried off with impunty. For these various
| offences the civil authorities on the from
| tier have from time to time inflicted fines
| on the tribe. But this does not matter
| much, as the fines are never paid. A
month or so ago, matters came to climax
in raid in which Lieutenant Hennessy a
| promising young officer, was killed. A
jirga of the headmen of the tribe was sum
moned, and was informed by the frontier
| commissioner that a fine of lakh of rupees
| would have to be paid at once, or a block
| ade of the tribe shutting them off from all
| intercourse with India, would be put In
| force. The jirga returned to the villages,
to return, again with its answer at the end
| OF The month. Should the headmen of the
| tribe profess their inability to pay II will
be necessary to put the blockade into opera
ton. This the Waziris will certainly re-
| sent. There will be more raids more am
| bushes, more murders, more harrying Of
! outposts Many officers with frontier ex-
perience believe that it would be the short
est course to move force into the heart Of
| the Waziri country at once, although no
one Is anxious for a Waziri expedition.
There is little honor to be reaped In those
| inhospitable wilds, where the enemy never
| stands to fight, and where the native soldiers
| fall easy victims to pneumonia. The pres
| ent outlook however, Is that It will have to
| be undertaken.
NJ. de Lanessan, the French minister Of
marine, delivered a long speech In the
French senate, in the debate on the naval
BILL in defense of his plan for building
line ofbattle ships as a main defense, In
preference to a numerically larger feet OF
swift cruisers, constructed to prey upon an
enemy's commerce. He argued that line
of-batte ships, or ironclads, must be the
most powerful instruments of offensive or
defensive warfare. 1t would be their duty
| to keep the enemys battleships from the
coasts to fight naval battles, or attack or
blockade the enemy's arsenas or ports.
Moreover, they were necessary to keep open
| communications with Algeria and Tunis.
AS for preyng upon the enemys commerce
with fast cruisers, that was a &, cd scheme,
but the cruisers themselves coulL not keep
the sea unless they were supported by
heavier ships. II France were not provided
with the latter her cruisers, in the event
OF war with great naval power, prob
ably would be shut up in their ports OF
refuge. Even II they did succeed in get
ting out and In capturing cargo boats II
would not he eGsy to decide what to do
with them. II would be an extremely difh-
cult matter to get them into port and TO
sink them would be to incur terrible re-
prisals. The government program, he
added, provided for as great technical
and financial effort as. at the present time
France was capable OF.
Paris has a municipal debt OF $3.50 900 900
nearly half that OF all the cities oi
France. twice as great as that OF Lon
don and one-thrd OF the local debts OF
all England Every Partisan owes Sloc