PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. 



559 



London, over which was borne a ban- 

 ner inscribed, " Give Me Liberty, or Give 

 Me Death." Mrs. Pankhurst appears to 

 be getting weaker and weaker as time 

 and again she is reincarcerated in 

 prison, where she refuses to take food. 

 Mrs. Pethwick Lawrence, Lady Sybil 

 Smith and Miss Sharp and others man- 

 aged to force their way into St. 

 Stephen's Hall, at the entrance to the 

 House of Commons, and were arrested. 

 Mrs. Lawrence separated from Mrs. 

 Pankhurst last year because of the lat- 

 ter's too militant methods. The three 

 ladies were released after a few days' 

 imprisonment, during which time they 

 hunger-struck as a protest against 

 male disturbers of the proceedings in 

 the House of Commons being allowed 

 to go unpunished. Many other "inci- 

 dents " are reported, but there does 

 not appear to be much prospect of any 

 Bill being introduced to confer the fran- 

 chise on women. The Bill abolishing 

 plural voting has again been rejected 

 by the House of Lords — as was only to 

 be expected. At least 25 Unionists 

 hold their seats in England pureh- by 

 virtue of the plural vote. Tariff "re- 

 form " and conscription alone are 

 enough to defeat any party, but this 

 would be made doubly sure if over 

 500,000 men who at present can exer- 

 cise their vote at least twice were 

 limited to one vote onl\". 



The Maltese for Australia. 



The industrious Maltese are just the 

 sort of people who would make a suc- 

 cess of colonising the Northern Terri- 

 tory. They are accustomed to work 

 in great heat, and the small area avail- 

 able for cultivation in Malta has forced 

 them to develop the best form of inten- 

 sive culture. Grain, clover and vege- 

 tables are the chief products of the 

 overcrowded island m the Mediter- 



ranean. Whether the Maltese are per- 

 mitted under the Immigration Restric- 

 ton Acts to enter the Commonwealth 

 or not is a matter for anthropologists 

 and philologists to decide. It is worth 

 noting, though, that until the early 

 eighties Maltese were allowed to serve 

 in the British Navy', and were only de- 

 barred from that exclusive preserve of 

 the white Britisher because they spoke 

 a language the officers could not under- 

 stand. Hindoos and other Indians are 

 not allowed in the navy at all. Malta 

 was originally settled by the Phoeni- 

 cians, who planted their colonies all 

 about the Mediterranean sea-board, 

 founding some also in Cornwall and 

 other places in the South of England. 

 The Phoenicians have no racial connec- 

 tion whatever with the African descen- 

 dants of Ham. Malta was owned by 

 many different nations, but its rulers 

 never displaced the old inhabitants. In 

 fact, Malta generally appears to have 

 shared the same fate as Sicily in early 

 centuries, having been in the hands of 

 Carthaginians, Byzantines, Arabs and 

 Normans at different times. There is 

 no question about the admission of Ita- 

 lians or Sicilians into the Common- 

 wealth, nor ought there to be about the 

 Maltese. The Maltese Islands cover 

 some 1 1 1 square miles, and support a 

 population of over 200,000. That is 

 just under 2000 people per square 

 mile. In the Northern Territory, where 

 at present we have about one man to 

 150 square miles, there is ample room 

 for this industrious race ! 



Murray Waters. 



The Inter-State Committee of Ex- 

 perts, representing New South Wales, 

 Victoria, and South AustraHa, has pre- 

 sented its report on the vexed question 

 of the use of the water of the Murray. 

 On the whole — looking at it from a 



