ECHOES OF THE WEEK

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 117, 9 February 1924, Page 13

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

PRESS OPINIONS ON s NEW ZEALAND TOPICS

All the world eats tinned salmon. The insistent and growing demand for the article has been at the base cf the Pacific Coast, cannors’ avaricious methods. Would it not be an opportune moment for New Zealand to seek to establish a canning industry? Anglers have told us for some seasons past of the big runs of quinnat salmon which may be observed in such, rivers as the Waitaki at the spawning season. The quinnat is unfortunately not the highest grade of Pacific salmon, but it is among the varieties canned in America, and it might be experimented with, at least pending the . establishment of a higher l grade Pacific salmon in our waters, the possibility of which is pointed to by the way in which quinnat has multiplied within a comparatively short time.— “Dunedin Evening Star.” It is quite evident that, if agricultural education is the boon which most people believe that it is, then the present University regublfions are doing a grave injury to the interests of the Dominion by discouraging our young people from taking the agricultural course. The sooner, therefore, that the University Senate can be induced to make its matriculation regulations more equitable as between classical, the commercial and the agricultural pupils the "Belter for all. Until that is done agricultural education must hang fire. —“ Wairarapa Age.” Students of the philosophy of games could no doubt advance reasons why New Zealanders, who have conquered the world in football, have not yet conquered the smallest corner of. the English-speaking world with a cricket bat. There is our climate to be reckoned with, in the first place, though it is a far better cricketers’ climate than England’s. There are our youth (as a community), our lack of leisure, our .small numbers, our peculiar distribution. Above all these, there is our isolation, and if we leave the more subtle causes to the philosophers, we have an. urgent reason here for as many visits from the players of other lands as the foreseeing can arrange for us. New Zealanders are not dull or slow or unsportsmanlike or temperamentally, disinclined to games at which skill is more important than strength, nerve than blind dash, and conscience than cunning. Except for the disadvantages we have mentioned, they have everything that makes for first-class cricket but firstclass cricketers. — “ Christchurch Press.” At the time this moratorium' was applied the country was facing a crisis, and if there had been one serious smash there would have been a great financial slide, affecting the entire commercial structure of the Dominion. The State intervened to.protect itself because the consequences of one big failure would have been so terrible. Farmers who look back on those dark days need only to ask themselves what would have happened to them if the firm financing them had failed, they have only to ask that question to realise that the denunciation of the use of the moratorium “ in the first place” can be explained only as the product of callousness or ignorance of the facts. —“ Southland Times.” The essential deduction to be obtained from trade statistics is the need for the exercise of economy so as to conserve resources and be prepared for anv depression that may arise. Prosperity is always welcome and permits of luxuries in moderation. The dangei is when the spending habit outgrows the bounds of prudence, while the saving habit is a sure source of strength and comfort. —“Taranaki Daily News.” Money is getting dear in Australia, and it is impossible for us. in New Zealand to keep clear of the effect of this movement. A certain amount of money must flow from New Zealand to the more advantageous conditions of Australia. Altogether the outlook for public borrowing is not so good as it was, and tho State and local todies will have to make their plans accordingly.— Auckland “Star.”

The making of main highways becomes a question of the ability and willingness of counties to foot the bill. If the wide view is taken, there should be few obstacles, especially as the board will undertake half the first cost. And if the board shows its earnestness by a bold and progressive policy actively executed, it may expect its example to prove infectious. The Councils, on whose goodwill it is. so largely dependent, will pull with it to the end that New Zealand may not have roads in name but roads in fact. —“ New Zealand Herald.” Mr. Massey now says that “it can almost be stated definitely ” that there . will be a further reduction during the current year—“ a bolder measure of reduced taxation,” although “ to what extent is still a matter of conjecture.” Mr. Massey has always been cautious in dealing with finance, and one need not ask from him anything more definite than the phrases we have, quoted.' They may be taken as something very like a guarantee that taxation, will certainly be reduced. Not less important than the Prime Minister’s, conditioned promise 'of lower rates, is his statement that “it is. the intention of the Government to give early consideration to the whole question of taxation.”— “ Christchurch Press.” For forty years the South. Island had a predominance of population over the North, and the North made tho best of that condition. There are some signs that the tide, is turning again in tho earlier direction, and we may yet have an equality of members in a Dominion Parliament. Meanwhile disabilities can be lessened by an insistence on decentralisation and. the largest measure of local control in all matters that lend themselves to that system, as much wished for by the North as by the South. The South Island must see that newcomers are attracted to it, and its advantages made known to the world at large, with as much zeal as is shown for the North. Its political strength will be used to the best effect if southern expansion leagues and similar bodies take the best care to work together in matters where they can do so for the common advantage, which they have not always been sufficiently, concerned to do. If we fall badly behind the North in this island, our own spirit and vigor will be at fault.—" Dunedin Evening Star.” It has ever been Air. Massey’s way to look on the bright side of things, and there is a bright side to the situation generally. And it cheers us up to hear that there is a good prospect of added brightness. The taxpayers of the country have been treating the Treasury well ;it is Mr. Masey’s intention to reciprocate in kind. He conveyed the glad news that, thanks to the buoyancy of revenue, a further reduction was possible, r.ay, probable. We hope to see that half-promise redeemed when the House meets next June. Big business, in particular, will prick up its ears at the hint.-HL'hrist-church “Sun.” The Government could not afford to take the risk of allowing private enterprise to make the ' wheat- importa--tions and seize the profits. Nor would it probably be disposed to utilise the profits for its own purposes. It wilt, therefore, have to decide between reducing the price of flour ,to the consumers and subsidising the wheatgrowers. There are strong arguments in favour of the adoption of either, course, and the Minister of Agriculture will experience difficulty in arriving at a decision which- will give general ' satisfaction. — “Nortn Otago Times.” Last year’s trading figures convey a lesson, or a-message which ought to be obvious, namely, that New Zealand during tho period made purchases beyond its means as measured by the value of the exports, high as that value was. We hope to see, as the monthly returns for the current year come in, that over-importation is being followed by its natural corrective, so that the favourable balance of trade may be restored to a healthy position.—“Lyttel- • ton Times.”