DOMINION'S FUTURE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 848, 21 June 1910, Page 5

DOMINION'S FUTURE.

LORD PLUNKET'S VIEWS. CO-OPERATION WITH AUSTRALIA# THE DEFENCE QUESTION. Xord Plunket, the retiring Governoi of New Zealand, arrived in Sydney on ; Satnrday, Jnne 11, in the Maheno, and ivas the guest of lord Dudley at the Federal Government Honse. He has never visited Australia before, except for a call at Hobart.on the way to New Zealand six years ago. But lie is anxious (says' the "Sydney Morning Herald") to take this opportunity of becoming personally acquainted with the country and with a few of its prominent men, and will touch at. every State which he has not seen, visiting Brisbane, Melbourne, and Ado laide before returning to England by ths Macedonia. A matter of vital importance both to Australia and New Zealand, in the opinion of Lord Plunket, is that they should wort together as closely as : ever thoy can. This does not mean that thera should bo any form of constitutional union other than there'is at present, but that wherever the two countries can they shonld work closely hand in hand. Lord Plunket's opinion is that they have not been working nearly closely enough. But such co-operation as is apparently likely to place under the new defence scheme, by which New Zealand's staff officers would be trained at the Australian Military College, he looks upon as a good augury for further co-operation, Defence. . As (o the attitude of New Zealanders towards the defence scheme, as far as Lord Plunket knows, the' New Zealand people are ready and able to join in and back up Australia. When Lord Plunket left Now Zealand it had not yet been heard what the Federal Government's proposals. were. But the citizen army ? whicli is being created at the present m<y ment in Australia and New Zealand u n subjcct in which lie is particularly in"It is not a party question at all in New Zealand," ho says. All partes there are at ono in their support of it. . lu particular Lord Plunket is anxiouf to how Australia is beginning to work out its foundation to the scheme, because he believes that upon tho work put in at the beginning depends its whole success or failure. He also wishes to take note of the way in which tho work of laying the foundation of the new citizen army is undertaken in Australia, and to compare it with the beginnings made in New Zealand. Lord Plunket holds that there is a great futuro before New- Zealand. "I look to it as the Britain of the -south,", ho says. "I am certain that its only hops is to be big maritime country." He holds that if New Zealand is going to be a nation she must bo a maritime nation. To some extent she has shown.', a tendency that way already. The Union Steam Ship Company, for example, is probably the biggest company south of the line. New Zealand has a fine body of fishermen. In Wellington the Italians practically have a monopoly, but that is not so in the south. There is a very fine class of fishermen in the far south, near tho Bluff. Now Zealand has also magnificent harbours. She is very self-contain-ed. She has coal, and should have iron works. / And she is very easily defended, being an island like Great Britain, and far more distant than Great Britain from the rest of the world. Greater Population. Lord Plunket's opinion is that Now Zealand will hold a far greater population than sho has at present. In. New Zealand and her dependencies there - are only about 1,000,000 while people, and Lord Plunket holds there should be at least double . that number. Ho has. travelled over every mile of the country, and his opinion is that it is easily capable of carrying an agricultural population ol 2,ooo,ooo—and how many more in the future he would not venture to say. The country strikes him as ono peculiarly suitable for the British nice. "Tho young' stock is magnificent," he says. "I have never seen anything finer, healthier, more lusty-looking than the New Zealand youngsters" Lady Plunket, in New Zealand, gavo her special support to a movement to promote the health of women and children. It is an admitted scientific fact that tho future health of a man or woman on their condition. during the first 18 months of their existence. If a child between its birth and the time it is 18 months old is properly fed and looked after, it may under ordinary circumstances be expected to turn out a healthy man or woman. The scienco of tho proper treatment of babies has rcached an 'advanced stage in Franco and t)m United States, but not in England or the British Empire. Lady Plunket has been instrumental in introducing into New Zealand a society which will practically spread that science. There aro now 16 "Plunket Nurses," whose particular duty it is to teach and to help mothers to manage their babies according to the rules of health. Lord Plunket says that owing to the press tho knowledge of good motherhood is spreading very rapidly in New Zealand. As to the birth-rato there, iti is not behind tho rest of tho British Empire, though the birth-rate throughout tho Empire is not what it ought to be. . A subject in which Lord Plunket lia3 taken a very especial interest during his term as Governor is education. The New Zealand youngster has primary and secondary education free. That is to say, any fairly bright boy can get secondary education free, and in tho case of particularly bright boys, university education free as well. The Maoris. The futuro of tho Maoris, in Lord ■Plunket's opinion, is not a matter of any certainty. Tho last census gave a slight increase" in their numbers, but there was some controversy as to whether it. was corrcct. However, a good many have adapted themselves to farming pursuits. Some are working hard on dairy farms, and in parts of the country they aro making very fair sheen-farmers. But ,tho Maori question is a very complicated one. Apparently they are not decreasing, though this is not certain. There are some signs that they are showing greatei inergy in adapting themselves to modern ideas and copying their white neighbours.