Omaha daily bee., 1911-01-28

many years. Premier Asqulth ana his aeeo-
ciates come back to the ministerial benches
with popular mandate for the removal Of
the obstructive veto OF the House Of Lords.
The liberal party plan Of, drawing the sting
Of the peers veto, which the electorate
approved, deprives the peers OF the power
Of amending a money bill Any other
measure passed by the Commons at three
successive sessions and rejected by the
House Of Lords is 20 become a law on
royal assent being given, provided two
years elapse before the first and last APP
prevail Of the act by the House OF Com
mons BY the two-year delay on contested
measures the danger OF hasty legislation
is largely obTated and due consideration
assured. In addition the life OF Parliament
is TO be limited to five years. insurins
reasonable frequency in consulting popular
sentiment At the outset the peers are
brought face to face with the issue of
diminishing their power. virtually reduc-
ing the House OF Lords to the position OF
an advisory body. without power TO give
effect to its advice. The situation is an
unprecedented one for the peers, differing
radically from the crisis of 1882 when the
great reform measures were forced through
the upper house by the effective threat Of
'swamplng the peers" Then only one
obstruction is TO be opened permanently.
Resort may be had again to the threat Of
'swsmping the peers" and its execution
may be attempted, but whether King
George will assent 90 the extreme step OF
creating 500 new peers to overcome the
Tory majority, is question for the coming
weeks TO answer Many signs point TO a
fierce fight in the last ditch and a final
surrender
The worlds stock OF fighting ships now
under construction involves an aggregate
outlay of 500, 600 according to statistics
compiled by British authorities. Great
Britain has fifty-nine fighting craft on the
stocks comprising six battleships, four ar
mored cruisers, six protected cruisers, and
scores of minor craft During the last
year Great Britain completed three battle
ships and two cruisers. Germany two bat
tleships and one cruiser. Italy and Austria
one battleshp each. Great Britain took
first place as regards the launching OF
ships In the spring there we're launched
the Hercules and Colossus, battleshlps OF
q. $50 tons. each armed with ten 12-inch
guns; August saw the launch OF the record
breaking Orion, displacing 226sO tons and
armed with ten of the new 1875 guns: and
also of the battle cruiser Lion, which is TO
dlspIace &c. 800 tons, to steam twenty-eight
knots and TO carry eight OF these same
powerful weapons. Germany launched two
ships (Oldenburg, battleship, and Moltke
armored cruiser }; France, the battleship
Vergniaud, and the United States the bat
tleship Florida. Japan, Austria and Greece
also launched one armored ship.
The proposed ship canal from the sea to
Paris, making the city a seaport. is under
consideration by the Chamber OF Deputies
NJ. Leboucq, one OF the representatives of
Paris, and chief promoter of the project
thus sums up the probable outlay: 1T is
difficult to establish the cost. NJ. Bouquet
de la Guye estimated the total expenditure
at f6.e4s,OO0. NJ. Resal, the inspector-gen-
eral, found this estimate too low, and gave
I'll, 100000 as the approximate total cost, in
Guiding 81, 100000 to be spent on a canal to
allow boats TO avoid passing through
Rouen, thus doing away with the necessity
OF reconstructing the famous stone bridge.
| But to this we may add further sum OF
| f1,0O0O 900 in order to provide a minimum
depth of twenty-five feet seven and one
half inches. With this inclusion, accepting
many OF the estimates supplied by those
who oppose the scheme, we believe that the
cost would not exceed fl2.oOO,OOO."
|
Officials figures supplied by the Trans
vaal Chamber of Mines place the total gold
exports from that country in 1910 at 1884 100
ounces, value S16O,O1456O. Both are record
amounts. the production last year exceed
| ing that OF 1909 by about 10000 ounces.
But for labor scarcity and the inefficiency
of many of the newly recruited natives
the 1910 results would undoubtedly have
made a still better showing The expecta-
ton Is that the labor supply which during
last month experienced some recovery,
will further improve as the result Of the
assistance being rendered by the union
government and that the extended use Of
machines will tend to reduce the compensa-
| ton for labor to some extent The number
of natives employed at the end of Deem
Der in the Transvaal gold mining industry
was l7s6O2,.
Necessity is squirting the dormant am
bition Of the exlled king Of Portugal. Catu-
pulled on the throne by assassin's bullets
young Manuel cut loose from his tutors
and essayed a role for which he was
wholly unprepared, a condition chiefly re-
sponsible for his involuntary retreat from
the job. In his retirement In England, with
ample time for reflection, he concluded
there was much to learn and has taken tc
his books sgain. Two tutors are guiding
him through the mazes Of the English
language and preparing for a college
course at oxford. As is often the case
adversely may prove the making Of the
man by fitting him for work
Vienna by its new census has 2OOl, 2s1 IN.