ECHOES of the WEEK

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 221, 14 June 1930, Page 19

ECHOES of the WEEK

PRESS OPINIONS ON :: NEW. ZEALAND TOPICS

Empire Trade. The dependence of a country like New Zealand on Great Britain for the livelihood of its farmers, and its existence as a nation, seems to be curiously lost sight of at times. It cannot be said that it is offset by any equivalent measure of benefit derived by Great Britain in the extent in which she finds a market for her manufactured goods in this Dominion, nor is a quid pro quo asked for. The dominions have to consider the well-being of their secondary industries. That is recognised, but not necessarily as an insuperable obstacle to a movement towards greater trade reciprocity within the Empire with its contribution towards progress in the direction of the goal of Imperial economic unity. There is the question of what Mr. Baldwin has called “Imperial rationalisation,” involving the extent to which the dominions may be prepared to adapt the development of their industries to suit the general interest. That introduces no doubt difficult considerations, but it will be interesting to see what the Empire Economic Conference may be able to make of these and other kindred questions.—“Otago Daily Times.” Arapunl.

The public has by now had every opportunity to grasp what is the cause of anxiety and an interruption of working at Arapunl. As the trouble developed at the week-end, rumours of course were rife. The authorities have taken the wise course of revealing exactly what has happened, and what is to be feared. It is an occasion for telling not only the truth, but the whole truth, and this has been done. With the facts revealed it has appeared, as always, that rumour suggested all kinds of terrible things that may be dismissed as improbable. This does not mean that what has happened is not serious. It is indeed serious, but there is no justification for suggesting a major disaster is to be feared.—“ New Zealand Herald.” Canterbury v. Britain.

If Canterbury won by holding a distinct margin of advantage in most branches of play, we should remember that, though it was a distinct, it was not a wide margin; and Canterbury’s credit will not suffer if this is borne in mind. It was not the least pleasing aspect of the win that it was gained by a side which was fit enough to press as hard at the end as at the beginning of the game, and that it pressed very steadily, except in one period, whatever advantage it had. It is another memorable feature of the match that the Englishmen refused to be cramped and overborne into playing any but their own attractive, aggressive, and open style of football. It may very well be true that tighter, more strictly defensive methods would often have served them better; but whoever enjoys football will always admire the free and open style of play and the sides that persevere with it, even to their own downfall. —Christchurch “Press. The Railway Slump.

The Prime Minister says of the Railways Commission that “its business is to investigate the whole position of the New Zealand Railways.” Does this mean that it will be allowed to express an opinion about new construction in general and with reference to particular projects, or will it be confined to advice about existing lines? It is quite impossible to separate such questions as the completion of the South Island main line from the general consideration of railway finance. The Commission may be compelled to visit various parts of New Zealand, but it will find the bulk of its data in the Department’s offices in Wellington, and it should be able to report within a few weeks. The need for expedition is urgent, for the railways are drifting to leeward rapidly, and having appointed the Commission the Government must wait for the report—Auckland “Star.” “Undermining.”

The problem is not so much to discover how and where the railways are wasting money, but to discover how to induce the Government of the day—and it makes no difference what Party is in power—to make the railways pay on their own merits. It will be remembered that Mr. Forbes paused in the middle of his otherwise admirable statement on May 29 to point out that Sir Joseph Ward had already, in his last Budget, spoken of “the irony” of “undermining [by the construction of good roads] the earning power of £57,500,000 of State capital already invested in railways.” If this does not mean, it at least suggests, that the Government intends, if it can, to put an end to that joke by doing a little undermining on its own account. We have much evidence that the Department’s purpose is to protect the railways i-ather than to serve the public, and the public must remain on guard. —Christchurch “Press.” The Cost of Education.

The public expenditure on education in New Zealand for the year 191 S-19 was £2,072,000. It has now risen to £4,000,000. During the decade ending with March, 1929, the school population increased by 17 per cent., but the expenditure on education per head of mean population increased by nearly 60 per cent. The Executive of the Educational Institute hazards the view that “the people of New Zealand probably present the most highly-cultured citizenry that has ever been seen in the world.” It is an estimate that should make the bosoms of all loyal New Zealanders expand with pride. We should be glad to think that absolute conviction of its justification might be fearlessly entertained. The outward evidence of high culture in the products of our education system is not invariably impressive. It does not follow, at all events, that every penny that is being spent upon education in New Zealand is being spent to good purpose. The subject is a big one, full of controversial by-ways. —“Otago Lally Times.”

The Message of the Winter Show.

Our oldest industries are those connected with the soil, and yet the tendency of recent years has been such that whenever the term “industries” is used the last thing to be thought of is the soil. Few think of the industrialist as anything but a townsman. Winter Show Week, with its variety of farmers’ meetings and conferences, gives the country an opportunity, for the brief span of a few days, to come into its own and receive its mead of recognition in the general regard, but it will not be until the country comes permanently into its own that the community will become possessed of the fullest consciousness of its own many-sided assets. Once every year this display is set up, a symbol of what is going on from June to June, and the optimist’s sincerest hope must be that more and more people will remember and appreciate that silent continuity instead of indulging that universal habit of taking for granted some of life’s richest possessions.—“Otago Daily Times.”

Sunlight. Although we are beginning to realise the effect of sunlight on health, we still have much to learn about the use of glass in building. In opening the new open-air unit of the Woolston School one of the speakers pointed out that the difference between the old type of school building with its row of cold rooms on the south side and the new type, built to catch the sunlight This tendency to a new form in school and also in domestic architecture is but the beginning of more radical changes. We are gradually eliminating the sunless rooms, and building as far as possible with our rooms to the north, but when we really appreciate the benefits of large windows and the *alue of vita glass in letting the sunlight into living rooms there will be even greater changes. — Christchurch “Star.”

A Boost for WooL New Zealand possesses to-day twenty-nine million sheep. The number has been added to in the last five years at the rate of a million a year. Wool makes the second in value of our exports, and in New Zealand itself the manufacture of woollen goods is an important industry, employing several thousand people. But wool as an article of apparel has had strong competitors in recent years in silk, artificial silk, and like products. It is thought that wool has suffered because it has not been advertised—the public has been left to take its merits for granted—whereas the advertising of artificial silk has been elaborate and constant. Commonsense demands that, in New Zealand’s interests, something should be done to repair that disability. Sheep are our own product; we do not grow either silkworms or mock silkworms. Whether the woollen goods are manufactured here —as to a greater extent they should be—or at Home, preference for wearing them in New Zealand will increase the demand for them. —Dunedin “Star.” Piling up the Tax Burden.

Immediately it assumed office, the United Government set out to accelerate railway expenditure, and though the total for 1928-29 was only a few thousand more than in the previous year, it has now achieved a record increase of £450,000 to a new high level in annual expenditure. In addition, a large amount was spent on additions and improvements to open railways, the total increase in railway capital for the year being £3,097,000.- Since not one mile of the line has been transferred to the Railways Department during the year, the whole cost of the new construction represents an immediate addition to the debt burden on the Budget; even at the conservative estimate of 5 per cent., the extra interest will be £73,000. That is entirely distinct from the prospective increase in the loss on the working railways, which presumably includes provision for inter st on the cost of improvements which is charged against the railway accounts from the outset —“New Zealand Herald.”

A Maxim and a Reservation. “Trust in God and keep your powder dry,” says Brigadier Gard’ner, ought still to be New Zealand’s motto as far as national defence is concerned. Apart from the doubtful morality of such a half-hearted trust in God as is sug-' gested in the motto, it should be pointed out to Brigadier Gard’ner that the present defence system is attacked not on the efficiency or otherwise of such units as it turns out, but on the question whether greater efficiency in national defence could not be assured by more economical means. Public opinion is emphatically in favour of scrapping the present compulsory system, which is ludicrous in its inefficiency . from many points of view, and our military officers would be doing a greater service if they drafted a workable alternative instead of trying to bolster up a system that has quite outlived its usefulness. —Christchurch “Star.” Farming in Otago. The hope of increased production from Otago rests chiefly on the success of irrigation in Central Otago. The rewards of dairy farming, taken in the aggregate, are not imposing. The Government Statistician places them at £270 per annum over the whole dominion; and. when water has to be paid for, ever on the reduced scale which the present Government instituted after the exhaustive investigation of a short time ago, it is doubtful if dairying on irrigated land is capable of yielding profits in excess of that modest average. Even then it will, for a time at least, be in receipt of what is equivalent to a Government subsidy. But it is encouraging to see the new Prime Min; ister so interested in the subject, for, the principle approved, there is the more reason to hope for serious consideration of a proposed scheme beside which the largest of the present ones would be dwarfed, and which would do more to bring Otago into line with other provinces in the matter of production foi export than anything w» have yet heard of.—Dunedin “Star,”