NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 260, 28 July 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

At Inst the long-promised arterial roads policy has been outlined by the Minister of Public Works. Responsibility for the construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of arterial roads is to be taken ovex' by the State, and control entrusted to a board consisting of “departmental officers and other gentlemen." For a commencement, the arterial roads to be dealt with are limited to two in each island: from Kaitaia to Wellington, via Auckland. Hamilton, Waitara, and Wanganui; from Gisborne to Wellington; and in tho South Island, from Blenheim to the Bluff, vin Kaikoura; and from Blenheim to Hokitika, via Nelson. Finance is to be provided by (1) a duty on tyres; (2) an annual license fee (additional to local body registration fees) on all motor vehicles at a flat rate for four, three, and two-wheeled vehicles respectively; and (3) by a Government grant. The Ministerial statement to-day merely blocks in a rough outline. It is not clear, for instance, whether tho proposed board will merely “control” tho road work or will actfially carry it out with its own plant and staff. Until estimates are available of theannual eum.required, inotorisfs will Ire unable to form an idea of the burden they will have to bear in tyre tnx and license fee. Light is desirable also ns to the incidence of tho total Taxation on Hie various classes of vehicles, including tho solid-tyred motor lorry, the present most destructive form of road traction. Furthermore, a not unimportant point is as to T>ow far revenue raised in. each island will bo spent in that island. Close criticism in the absence of these essential details is impossible. The Government is to be congratulated on pledging itself to a Bill for next session; its initial arterial roads are soundly chosen, and

tlis country will await with interest details of tho financial proposals of the measure.

Britain's economy campaigners in girding at the high cost of the Government Departments since the war contend that Ministers have allowed the bureaucracy to take the bit between its teeth. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a statement to hand this morning, produces figures to show that Civil Service salaries on tho whole aro on a modest scale in face of the present cost of living. It would be interesting to know, however, how the gigantic new Departments formed during the war compare with the old ones in their salary lists. The British financial position in a nutshell is that the revenue for the next financial year is not expected to exceed 950 millions. or 24 millions less than in the current year. To make the Budget balance the expenditure on the ordinary supjily services will have to be cut down Irom tho 603 millions estimated for. tho current year to 490 millions in 1922-23, the debt and redemption charges swallowing the balance of 460 millions. This is a 20 per cent, cut in ordinary Government expenditure, anil the various Departments have been requested by the Treasury to hand in their suggestions for effecting it. The economisers suggest that a general cut of 20 per cent, should bo made in all votes for Departments which produce no adequate plan of their own. Furthermore, tho critics assert that it is extravagantly optimistic to estimate that the Imperial revenue will reach even 950 millions in 1922-23. It is to be noted that after allowing 100 millions for pensions, the proposed expenditure of 490 millions is only about 150 per cent, above the pre-war figure. This is not extravagant in view of the rise in prices, and should still further cuts have to be made a mere checking of extravagance will not suffice.

Herr Stinnes, the German financial magnate, is stretching an octopus-like grip across Eastern and Central Europe. Ho dominates German industry with his various trusts and combines. Recently he was reported l as busily buying vp mines and manufacturing plants in Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia, and now he is heard of with a plan to secure vast holdings in Russia. It is an old maxim that the time to buy is when the bottom lias fallen out of tho market, but as a rule only tho most astute and far-sighted have the means to buy nt suhh times. The bottom has been well out of industry i,n Austria and Hungary for the last year or two, and apparently Herr Stinnes is of opinion that tho communistic ora is on its last legs in Russia, and the day of the capitalist about to dawn. American financiers have been hunting for concessions in Russia of late, and it is obvious that when the turn of the tide comes there should be openings for speculative investments on a colossal scale in the re-creation of Russian industry. It is a work that is vitally necessary to reconstruction in Europe, but it is not pleasant to contemplate too much of it falling into the exceedingly efficient hands of Herr Stinnes. If a new Germany is to arise, filled with a thirst for revenge, it is the Stinnes enterprises that will be the backbone of it.

For a change, the luck of tho game in a Test match has turned in the favour of tho English team, and the Australians have been forced to play on tho defensive. What a pity it is that the match just concluded was the fourth instead of the third Test game! As it is, “the Ashes” had already been won, and neither this week's game nor the fifth Tost to come could' have affected the position. Still it will be heartening to the Englishmen to find that their formidable opponents arc not invincible. The), play so far as it went was altogether in favour of the Home players; bowlers, batsmen, and fieldsmen all showing fine form. For the first time in tho present tour the English bowling seems to have had the Australian batsmen thoroughly puzzled, and forced them to resort to stonewalling tactics. It is good for tho ganio that tho victorious inn of the visitors should have been checked. Though they could not score a win, tho Englishmen should benefit from their improved showing, and face the final Test with greater confidence than they appear to have shown in their previous essays.

Nine-tenths of the criticism of New Zealand’s administration of Samoa, the Hon. E. P. Lee has informed an interviewer nt Sydney, is due to piohibition. Other visitors to tho islands have formed a somewhat similar opinion. There is no doubt that an easing of the drastic liquor laws now in force would do a great deal to allay discontent amongst the white residents, but the difficulty is to reconcile any concession of this kind with tho obligation Now Zealand has accepted under tho Samoan mandate of prohibiting any trade in liquor with the natives. People who are familiar with the conditions of life in Samoa have stated that if white people are permitted to obtain supplies of liquor a certain amount will inevitably fall into tho hands of the natives. The point has been made also that to allow people ofmixed blood to purchase liquor would be equivalent to opening an indirect source of supxily to full-blooded natives. Ono of' the proposals mooted some time ago was that liquor should 'bo sold to white residents in ap open bar onlytime is to say, with a prohibition of supply or consumption off the licensed premises. # *

Interest in the Davis Cup contests should begin to warm up now that the earlier rounds have been disposed of. The Australasian team has succeeded in the first round, having already won throe out of the five games against (Canada. It cannot be said that the winners in the singles events wero impressive, but Todd and Anderson won the doubles decisively enough. Their next match will bo against the English team nnd their task will then be a more formidable one than that they have just accomplished. It is quite possible, however, that they might win, for the English team is not, on paper, ns strong as it might have been. The two other teams remaining in the contests for the right to challenge the American holders of the cup are the Indian team and the Japanese. The Indian representatives recently defeated a strong French team and apparently are in good form. Unfortunately the fire on tho big Ilnar

Mauretania has delayed their departure and they may not bo able to reach America in time to play. It is probable in any caso that the Japanese team would beat them, but it should lie a good contest if it eventuates. Tho position, therefore, now is that the winner of Australasia v. England will meet the winner of Japan v. India; and whoever then wins will meet the American team in tho challenge round for the Davis Cup. The British Empire, it will be seen, has three out of the four teams in the semi-final of the preliminary rounds —England, Australasia, and India. On form none of them appear to be quite equal to the Japanese pair, Kumagee and Shimidzu, but we shall know all about it within the next two or three weeks.

Farmers undoubtedly will consult their own interests if they follow the lead given by fho president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union (Mr. Leadley) in whole-heartedly approving the establishment of the Forestry Department. It is perhaps not yet as clearly recognised as it ought to be in this country that where forestry is neglected a handicap is imposed on all other forms of primary industry. This applies with particular force to farming industry, and not by any means only with reference to the vital influence of forest growth on climate and water supply. There are in this country not tens of thousands, but millions of acres of land which as time goes on will cither carry forest or become or remain barren. Farmers are particularly interested in having the greatest possible ayea of land in this category retained in forest or planted. Apart from the question of timber supply, as forests are improved and plantations extended they will alike contribute on nn increasing scale to the cost of roads and other transport routes serving the areas'fn which they are located. The load thus imposed on other forms of primary production in maintaining these facilities for transport will be correspondingly lightened. Another very material consideration from tho farmers’ standpoint is that forestry makes profitable use of land which otherwise in many cases would be a breedingground for noxious weeds.