that it was inspired by the supreme necessity of saving the country which was being ruined by political and administrative corruption, and that the armed forces had no desire to establish a military Government, or enthrone a dictatorship of any sort. A few days later a new Ministry was formed containing both military and civilian elements, with General Altarmirano at its head. The new Ministry was well received by the public, which looked to it to effect a general cleansing of the administration.

The Military Council at first advised President Alessandri to take six months "leave of absence," but afterwards accepted his definite resignation. On September 12 he reached Buenos Aires, and thence proceeded at the end of the year to Europe. The new Cabinet constituted itself a Junta de Gobierno, or Government Board, and issued a decree announcing that the presidential election would be held on May 10, 1925, by direct vote, and not, as hitherto, by electing electors. At the same time there would be a General Election to Congress on a new electoral law. The newly elected Deputies and Senators would on July 25 act as a Constituent Congress to ratify or reject the reforms proposed by the Provisional Government; on August 25 they would assemble in full Congress to proclaim or elect the new President; and on September 18 the constitutional régime would be in full force.

MEXICO.

At the opening of 1924, the forces of Señor de la Huerta, who had raised the standard of revolt against President Obregon a month previously (vide ANNUAL REGISTER, 1923, p. 312), were more than holding their own, and the issue of the conflict was doubtful. The United States, however, which from the first had openly favoured Obregon, on January 17 took a step which enabled him to secure a decisive advantage. It gave him permission to move Mexican troops from Sonora through United States territory to a point in Texas from which they could re-enter Mexico. By this means the Federal troops were able to take the rebels in the rear, and within a couple of months Obregon had succeeded in practically suppressing the revolt.

At the beginning of the year a Mexican representative, Señor Nieto, came to England to negotiate for the recognition of Mexico by that country. British bondholders made representations to the Foreign Office against recognition being granted till certain liabilities of the Mexican Government should have been met. Recognition was therefore refused for the time being, but Mr. MacDonald took steps to send out a British Mission to Mexico under Sir T. Hohler to examine the possibilities of recognition. Meanwhile an acrimonious controversy took place between President Obregon and Mr. H. A. C. Cummins, the British Chargé d'Archives, whom Mr. MacDonald had commissioned to watch over British interests

in Mexico, on the subject of armed attacks which had been made by brigands on Mrs. Rosalie Evans, an Englishwoman who owned property in the State of Puebla. President Obregon accused Mr. Cummins of interfering unwarrantably in the internal affairs of Mexico and of insulting the Government, and in June expelled him unceremoniously from the country. The British Government thereupon cancelled Sir T. Hohler's visit, and broke off diplomatic intercourse with Mexico (vide English History, p. 70). President Obregon retorted by withdrawing soon afterwards the Mexican consular representatives in British cities.

The attacks on Mrs. Evans continued, and culminated in her murder on August 2. They were symptomatic of the agrarian unrest prevalent in the country, due to the action of the Government in expropriating the owners of the haciendas (large estates) in favour of the peons (land workers). The latter in many cases resorted to brigandage, which the Government made very feeble efforts to suppress.

In July the presidential election took place, and General Plutarco Calles, the nominee of General Obregon, was elected. For the first time in many years the accession of a new President to office took place unaccompanied by any disturbance or display of violence. General Obregon, in his final message to Congress on September 2, vigorously attacked the policy of Great Britain in breaking off relations with Mexico, and reiterated his statement that the expulsion of Mr. Cummins was due not to the fact of his having made representations on behalf of British subjects in Mexico, but to his discourteous attitude. towards the Mexican Government.

The new President, like his predecessor, belonged to the Labour Party, and was suspected of leaning even more strongly to the side of Communism. His first utterances and actions after his assumption of office, towards the close of the year, did not support this opinion. On Christmas Day a strike broke out among the railway workers in Vera Cruz, of the lawless kind. common in that city, but the Government took such firm measures that it collapsed after a single day. In his first public statement on December 28, the President declared that the greatest and most urgent problem was that of the economic condition of the country, and announced his intention of abolishing the practice of illegal commissions among public employees, the chief source of political corruption in Mexico.

OTHER COUNTRIES.

Revolutionary movements have taken place in Peru, Bolivia, and Honduras, analogous to those which in Spain and Chile substituted a military junta for the civil power. In Peru a military rising took place after the presidential election on July 6. It was soon quelled by Señor Leguia, who then announce

that he had received 200,000 votes for re-election as Presidentthe largest vote ever recorded in Peru. In Bolivia also Señor Saavedra restored order without difficulty.

CHAPTER XI.

AUSTRALASIA: THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND.

THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.

DURING the early part of 1924 Mr. Stanley Bruce, the Commonwealth Prime Minister, was in England in connexion with the Imperial Conferences, and Dr. Earle Page, who represented the Country Party in the Coalition Government, was acting Prime Minister. When Mr. Bruce resumed active office, he addressed the Commonwealth House of Representatives on March 27 upon Australian aspects of the Imperial and Economic Conferences. Mr. Bruce said that it was imperative that such conferences should be held at the shortest intervals and, if possible, annually. But, in view of the vast distances separating the different parts of the Empire, the best that could be achieved at present was a Biennial Conference. Continuity was desirable and could best be accomplished by the substitution of an Imperial Secretariat drawn from Britain and the self-governing Dominions for the present purely British Secretariat. Australia made a tentative move in this direction later in the year when Mr. Bruce appointed Mr. R. G. Casey as liaison officer in London between Australia and the British Government. At the same time Mr. Alan Leeper, an Australian in the employ of the British Government, was loaned to the Commonwealth Government to prepare the way for a similar liaison between the Commonwealth and the Mother Country. As a result Dr. W. Henderson was appointed liaison officer in Melbourne on December 31.

Referring to Imperial Defence, Mr. Bruce advised the Australian Parliament to accept the principle of a common scheme of Empire Defence. As a first step, the Australian Government proposed the construction of two cruisers of 10,000 tons each with eight-inch guns to replace the cruisers Melbourne and Sydney. During January Australian public attention had been drawn to the problem of naval defence by the visit of a Japanese squadron under Vice-Admiral Saito. In March, a British squadron, including five light cruisers and the battlecruisers, Hood and Repulse, under Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Field, also visited Australian ports and met with an enthusiastic reception. The sight of battleships which had served in the World War, and conversation with their officers and men,

quickly brought Australian opinion in contact with the basic realities of Imperial Naval Defence. Australia's education in naval affairs was carried a stage further on April 12, when H.M.A.S. Australia, the only battle-cruiser in the Commonwealth fleet, was sunk twenty-two miles east of Sydney Heads under Treaty obligations entered into at the Washington Disarmament Conference. The episode deeply touched the public imagination. The hulk of the dismantled flagship was towed by four tugs to the "burial spot," accompanied by Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Anzac and the destroyer Stalwart, as well as the vessels of the British light-cruiser squadron. The actual sinking lasted twenty minutes and at the end, the Australian fleet fired a salute over the spot and two aeroplanes dropped wreaths. The ceremony was the first of its kind in the history of the Royal Navy. Mr. Bruce said at the time, the Australia was the first great ship of the young Australian Navy and Australia's contribution to the defence of civilisation. "In her passing she symbolises our contribution to the cause of peace."

A report upon the Commonwealth land forces, prepared by the chief of the general staff (Sir H. G. Chauvel), was presented to the House of Representatives on June 20 by the Minister for Defence (Mr. Eric Kendall Bowden). The report revealed a shortage of officers, inadequate training and lack of equipment, which were disquieting. Sir Harry Chauvel recommended that the period of training for the Citizen Forces should be increased from two to three years, and the annual training increased from ten to twelve days. The extra training would necessitate calling up three annual quotas, those of 18, 19, and 20 years, instead of two quotas, and would cost 100,000l. a year more, but, in General Chauvel's opinion, "would render the nucleus of some real value." The present nucleus numbers 37,655, including 31,000 boys aged 18 and 19 years, who receive ten days' military training a year for two years.

Dr. Earle Page, the Commonwealth Treasurer, made his Budget speech in the House of Representatives on July 31, a feature in the statement being the proof afforded of the buoyancy of revenue. Largely owing to unexpected Customs receipts, the revenue was over 4,000,000l. more than the estimates. The accumulated surplus in June was 10,000,000l., of which nearly 5,000,000l. was used for debt redemption and the rest for defence, road development, old-age pensions and grants to produce exporters. There was also a general reduction of 10 per cent. on income tax and 26,000 income tax payers were relieved by increasing the total exemption from 200l. to 3001. Earlier in the year, on February 12, Dr. Page, then acting Prime Minister, advocated a drastic limitation of Federal and State borrowing, on the ground that the national debts of Australia were becoming dangerously large. Dr. Page's proposal was that the public debts should be limited to 160l. per head of population. As there was an annual increase of 125,000 persons, 20,000,000,

could be borrowed annually by the Federal and State Governments, without increasing the existing total debt.

With reference to the schemes for assisting primary producers, Mr. Bruce, speaking on April 17 at the Royal Show, Sydney, outlined certain proposals for the better marketing of Australian goods and, on October 3, announced specific measures for helping the wheat industry. The Commonwealth Government was prepared to co-operate with the States in constituting voluntary pools in the four wheat-producing States, which would operate for three years. A single selling organisation would be established for the disposal of wheat sold overseas, and all shipping and freight arrangements for wheat exported would be controlled by the organisation. A levy would be made on each bushel handled by the pool in order to build up a fund to finance a similar wheat pool when the Government guarantee ceased to operate.

On October 1 Mr. Pratten, who had succeeded Mr. Austin Chapman as Minister for Trade and Customs, announced that the Government had decided to increase from 25 to 75 per cent. the proportion of British material or workmanship that must be represented in the cost of goods which claimed the tariff preference accorded to British goods. Mr. Pratten said that the 25 per cent. condition pressed hard upon such Australian industries as textiles, iron, and machinery. When goods were imported direct from Europe, dumping duties prevented detriment to Australian industries. But, when goods of continental origin were first imported into Great Britain, the addition of only 25 per cent. to their value by British labour on materials entitled them to admittance into Australia at preferential rates. Such goods not only gained immunity from dumping duties, but benefited by the lower duty on British goods. The change from 25 to 75 per cent. was made in agreement with the Government of New Zealand, which made a similar change in its own tariff at the same time. Another important tariff change was the negotiation of an agreement between the Australian and Canadian Commonwealths, under which certain tariff preferences were extended to leading articles of Canada-Australian trade. After protracted negotiations Australia agreed to give Canada preference on twelve items, seven at British preferential rates and five at intermediate rates. For her part, Canada offered Australia British preferential rates on fourteen items. Fish, gloves, printing machinery, cash registers, and printing paper were the chief Canadian goods which received the benefit of the British preferential rate, corsets, rubber goloshes, and vehicle-parts receiving the benefit of the intermediate rate. Canada offered Australia the benefit of British preferential rates on such goods as meat, tallow, cheese, butter, dried fruit, canned fruit, wine, honey, eucalyptus oil, and brandy. In his speech to the House of Representatives on September 26, announcing the agreement, Mr. Pratten said that for the first time two Anglo-Saxon