NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

It is pleasing this morning to have the report of the first Napier wool sale supported by the optimism of a leading Bradford merchant, Mr. J. P. Parkinson, who landed at Auckland yesterday. .His summary of the world position tallies well with that of the closest. New Zealand observers, and justifies the hope that prices will hold, if not harden. Also—and this is possibly the most valuable part of his comment —Mr. Parkinson remarks on the lapse in quality that has been noted in some New Zealand wools. Up to a point this can be traced directly to low prices, and to that extent should be arrested now. But experience teaches that once quality has been allowed to slump, from whatever reason, extraordinary effort is often necessary to restore it. Mr. Parkins.on intends to move about freely among woolgrowers in the Dominion. It may be hoped that he will speak his mind freely on this question; for now of all times we must be jealous of the high quality of every one of our exports.

The Prime Minister interprets the mind of the country aright when he says there can be no two opinions in regard to New Zealand retaining her membership in the League of Nations. Althoug • League’s public achievements in the last year or two have been disappointing, it remains the embodiment of the one political ideal that can save the world from untold misery in the years ahead li e money which member States are called upon to find foi the ought to be counted more as an insurance premium than as an investment for immediate return. It is an investment, too, but over a term. While the services of the League to New Zealand ate not worth £lB.OOO this year, their ultimate worth may be.beyond the power of money to measure. * * * ♦

The music of hundreds of thousands of bellbirds, heard at dawn on a summer's morning, is a treat of Nature for which many peop e would gladly travel the length of New Zealand. Tt is available, according to a naturalist-surveyor, in an easily accessible block of the laupo bush. The place is one, he adds, where a motor camp could be established with advantage. Possibly; but better to give first information of the precise locality to the Native Bird Protection Society. It cannot yet be said with certainty that motor camps and bird sanctuaries go together; and this avian fairyland ought unquestionably to be made a sanctuary if Mr. Sicely’s estimate of its extent is borne out by closer jfivgstigatjoß.