THE WORLD'S PRESS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 169, 22 August 1914, Page 8

THE WORLD'S PRESS.

ECONOMIC DOOR TO GERMANY. The only port through which German trade can enter appears to be Rotterdam, whence it may be carried up the Rhine into the heart as Holland has announced her strict neutrality. German- shipping, however, is warned off altogether by the British Fleet, and therefore the supplies that can reach- Germany by sea—except through Austria, all the way from the Adriatic—are reduced to such commodities as may- be non-contraband, while, even must be carried, in, neutral vessels. But as almost all the nations iii Europe which possess 1 mercantile marines - are engaged in the war as .. belligerents, * and as .America has practically no seacarrying trade, where are the neutral ships to come from?—" Daily Telegraph." A BROAD NATIONAL DUTY.

We come now to a broad national duty which Britain has just undertaken in her own regard, and has thereby indicated to the Dominions. It is that tlie naiioh sltoulil provide for' tli6. needs "of its disabled-soldiers, arid for;the necessities of the. both, of the disabled and.the dead. When" a man goes out to fight, and. to risk his life for his country, lie does the uttermost he can for the naticfti that requires and gets his services. Does not this fact point a reciprocal and special duty in the nation? Who can doubt it, or doubt the nature of that duty? "Age." PRESIDENCY OF U.S.A. - Mr Roosevelt can win, if at all, only by getting the nomination of. the Republican party. But how the Republican party could accept him, and what his Progressive followers would : think of such an alliance, after the crufeade Mr Roosevelt has taken the credit of leading against the Republicans no man could predict. Nor is it clear that a deal of this kind could be effected between now and November. If that consideration induced Mr Roosevelt to refrain from contesting ship of New York, it would stimulate him to carry , it through in good time for the Presidential election. The next few months are rich in highly interesting possibilities.- —'' Daily News.''

NATIONALIST VOLUNTEERS. Having made the Volunteers their own, the leaders of the Parliamentary party will naturally desire to make them efficient. But to be efficient they must be armed. Mr Redmond has already appealed for funds for this purpose, and there seems to be very little doubt that he will get as much money as he Avants. But how are the arms to be got? The ,recent proclamation against the importation of . .arms , into Ireland stands in the way. If they are to be got, the proclamation * must be openly violated, as was done ; in Ulster, or it must be evaded. ;In .either case tlie Government and its proclamation—an obviously wise and rigljt measure or precaution —must be flouted or circumvented. —' i Manchester Guardian.'' SUBMARINE AND DREADNOUGHT.

Throughout the whole of the controversy begun by Sir Percy Scott the arguments on either side have never met, because one party has had mainly in mind the" conditions of war in the open sea, whereas the other party has been thinking mainly of inshore warfare. The general question does not seem to us to have been definitely settled one way or the other, but in inshore warfare the disabilities of the battleship against the torpedo, enormous already, are growing. A more concrete form for the discussion to take, would be this ■ —Have the torpedo, submarine, and mine made blockade impossible? —"Express. '' TRADE UNIONS' GRIEVANCE. Of course we know that trade unionists have a grievance against those who refuse to join from sheer meanness and thus reap the benefit of any rise in wages obtained by the union without contributing anything, but as long as there are men who consider that they can do better for themselves outside trades unions we are against any form of compulsion stronger than plain argument. —"Evening News" (London). GERMANY'S SET POLICY. In the last decade Germany's set policy in European affairs has been to rattle the sabre. She humiliated France by deposing M. Delcasse from the French Ministry, and humiliated Russia by the order to demobilise in li>o9. Her ambition, as the Lokal-Anzeiger is now crying, was ro be the most powerful nation in the world, and to arbitrate in all international affairs. But she set about reaching this future so haughtily and noisily that she lost the friendship of all nations. —"Sun" (Sydney).