The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1914. OUR DUTY AS PRODUCERS

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LXXIII, Issue 4422, 18 August 1914, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1914. OUR DUTY AS PRODUCERS

The traditions of tba British race have earned for us an envious name for coolness in times, t>f great stress*, and during the pvesa nfc grear with which the wholn mighty British Empire is facad we can only hope tnat a continuaaee of British stoicism will pertain. It is this cold forceful demeanour of tha British race that bas struck fear inco its enemies when displayed by its army and navy. The whole Empire "will have to brace itself for this surpreme test, and we in New Zealand would do weß to strive to emulate the. (mirit of a great Bngjisb POnM-I'i "f H<i.y--V'V:i». ; hv.- ■■■!' '■•!;■ m if, is sitiii »■ Ij it»■ '>■ >.vfi " uut;b>i"g a,-/ c 01 purpo.-.e, crafty at couusei, in triumph most sobej?, in failures of endurance beyond moi-tai man." There are many among us who perhaps have not endurance in failure, but the panicky element ie the mo3t harmful. We in New Zealand have our duty to the Homeland- ptrnigbfc-forwardly ou& lined hnfore v.- <>>- Govern has node-taker! ! .o o<"j..--, 'i-iMweun 70QCj and 8000 men for :oi'?iga fafervi' ce wherever the Home authorities do.ir e them, and already the volua/.eers offering have reached the strength re quired. The Promier and D efence authoiitie? havo tiia;ie it cla'ar that the services of married men ; will not be required, and they will dejw as far as possible upon the ran'ka of the Territorials. To us this ajr>pears only right and wiee, as mea who leave behind them a wife ani?. family are putting a burden on Ibe State. It appears to us that every volunteer who leaves our country should go with the assurance that those lett behind him will be properly eared for, and this, we believe, will be the case. The men who are going abroad are Mostly young men of a fine stamp, i

with few depfindants upon them, and ; in many cases, as in the case with bank clerks, civil servants and the employees of many mercantile'firm?, the volunteers will be on full pay during their absence.

But quite another feature of this great crisis is New Zealand's ability to help the Homeland with her food suppliers, and should the Dominion lose its effectiveness as a food producer it would be neglecting its most useful function. The Premier's advice in the House of Representatives last week, encouraging New Zaalanders not to let trade stagnate, but to push on business as before is sound common sense, for by making our producing powers still effective as heretofore we will serve our Empire the more nobly in the end. There was certainly reason for every citizen in the country to stand aghast at the development of the war in Europe during the past two weeks, and it i 3 little wonder that the war fever secured many victims- But the rtassuring news of the Bank of Eng land's solidity, and the reported cable news that England commands the North Sea will soon tend to put commerce in motion again. 80 far as New Zealand is concerned, it has to be remembered that, as a producing country, she wiil be in a much befcte 1 ' position after the war than those countries that are more dependent \ upon manufactures. It is shown by ] history that war increases the price of foodstuffs, and that producing coun } tries, for this reason, rapidly recover from the effects of such disturbances.

What we have chiefly to fear in the' neir future is the effect of the war j upon the wool market. France and Germany, Belgium and Holland' arej by far the largest buyers of New Zea land wools-. " The drain upon live stock upon the Continent to feed the immense armies in the field must be considerable," say 3an exchange " and the ultimate result of the war is likely to mean open markets for frozen meat for some years to come at least. The butter and cheese markets may be effected to seme extent, but in their case, as in the case of frozen meat, there are stiil four or five months to go before exports in any quantify will be available for .shipment," We on the Peninsula should not suffer to any large extent, except in wool In fac 1 , dairy produce should bring a bet tec vnice than that ruling recently, r.:-.l ,vo can confidently hope that by *b». r \ v> <?,ny of our produce is rendyf't , --hi ■< "»nb Home the trade ronton will be perfectly safe. We -here' > r ", ' trive to carry on our w irk on the ••'•rn; with every possible effflotivpoHS!.! fin' the welfare of the

w'lnlo B'iti?h n<:'ion, not hesitate in o re lad in • 1) c>ll o Europe is ablttzeT ice ; 3 n v (]->;.b' G'-eat Britain's industry has petti il back into its stnic everyday iif'. , af or a week's feverish suspense, and we should follow euit. We hope our Peninsula 'people will [ook at the position from the calm reasoning point of view, and keep in mind that all they produced is not going to impoverish, but rather enrich them. We hope the coming dairy season will be one of record and pros perifcy, and there appears every likelihood that it will.