NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 116, 9 February 1929, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

When the team of English cricketers won the first three Test matches against Australia in convincing style, interest in the remaining two matches might have been expected to flag. Nothing of the kind, however, has occurred. The fourth match, concluded yesterday, was full of thrills and excitement was intense, with the final result uncertain until the last ball was sent down. It was a desperately hard-fought match with fortune favouring first one side and then the other. Towards the later stages of the game it looked as though Australia would prevail; but it was not to be. Chapman s men again triumphed, but only by the narrow margin of 12 runs. And now with the Englishmen holding four matches in hand interest in the final game will be as keen as ever. Can the visitors win all five matches ? The Australians have improved as the series advanced, and though the odds appear to be on the side of their opponents, a touch of luck one way or the other may decide the issue. It is good for the game that there should be this measure of uncertainty. It is a stimulus to all to strive to rise to, the heights.

Various members of the hew Government, with excellent reason, have been congratulating audiences during their official tours on the signs of prosperity throughout the country, and, to quote from a speech by the Minister of Industries and Commerce, our “splendid financial position.” These highly satisfactory conditions did not happen over night, nor have they been developed by the recent change in our political circumstances. They are a legacy to a large- extent bequeathed by the late Reform Government’s prudent administration during the difficult period of the recent depression. As the result of the Coates Government’s policy of caution, the ground has been well prepared for advantage to be taken of the turn, of the tide. It is to be hoped that a new Government will not go to the other extreme. There is always a temptation to rely upon a continuance of present conditions to carry through spectacular enterprises more calculated to tickle the ears of the groundlings than bring assurance and confidence to more responsible people. » . *' ♦ ♦ ♦ i An increased demand for British coal in other countries is the one bright spot in the dreary vista of the British mines. Only by increased export can the coal mines of Britain expect to turn the corner. At one time coal formed 80 per cent, of the volume of Britain’s export trade. Other sources of heat and power have been developed to-day, but there have been other factors affecting the export of coal. Delivery of reparations coal by Germany to Italy has considerably reduced the demand for sea-borne British coal. Poland, once an excellent customer, by means of reduced railway rates has captured the Scandinavian coal market, whilst legal restrictions on the importation of coal into Spain have practically reduced Britain’s supplies to a mere trickle. But for large contracts for British coal from the Egyptian and the Danish State Railways conditions would be even worse than they are. It has been known that coal owners have been making frantic efforts to recapture and enlarge their foreign trade apparently, as we learn to-day, with some measure of success. It is no exaggeration to say that the way to better times in the coal mines of Britain now depends almost entirely u£o.i the brains behind the dcyelojonient of the exoort trade.