TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

It is a right and proper senbment that the daughter Dominions should buy from the Mother Country, and it is business policy that a borrowing country shtuld give preference—other things being equal—to the industries of the lending country. But neither the sentiment nor the policy needs to bo breathed over-loudly ,pr stated in dictatorial terms. The preference shown by the Victorian State Government for a local tender for four tank locomotives, as against acheaperLeeds tender, could bo offset by many eases in which preference has been given in the Dominions to British goods even when competitive foreign goods were regarded as representing better value for the money. But all such concessions or differentiations need for*their functioning a free and spontaneous atmosphere; and that atmosphere is disturbed when private members of the House of Commons, in minatory mood, threaten a curtailment of Britain's Austra-lian-advertising grant as retaliation for the preferring of a Victorian to a Leeds locomotive. Had a foreign article, been preferred the members' comments would have been less out of orderthough even then they would have lacked tae.t—but in this case they bear the complexion of an attack on the Australian policy of local manufacture. If it is becoming uneconomic for Britain to lend money to Dominions that spend it in their own instead of in British factories, the thing ought to be made clear in an economic rather than in a political way. But the official statement that 91 per cent. of "Victoria's locomotive imports come from Britain seems to answer the economic complaint; the political one answers itseie. All considerations of public policy require that tho obligation to buy in the lender's market bo not too rigid. The British Empire does not run on the tied house principle.

If, as is reported, the biggest trout that quitted tho Tongariro, to lay itself at tho feet of Royalty, was "'only a seven-pounder," it is still something of a giant if judged by the standards of the country from which the f-iir ■MKh-y (the D.u-hess of York) comes. Scotland is, or used to be, thß home of small trout. Tho late Captain <>. I). Hamilton, one of the greatest of New Zealand anglers and one of tho earli-

est writers on Xew. Zealand fishing, records (hat when he was a boy in Scotlaud a day's catch might run "into three figures. "The largest number taken by me in a day with artificial fly was over 13l!. (W'ccounted trout in Scotland by the dozen.) The weight would probably be about 301b to -101 b. This is not given as a proof of skill, for the trout were there in great numbers, and rose freely. . . . "With much greater skill since, .the bag has not been

over 90. in a day, cither in river or lake." AVith ascending individual weight, the day's catch automatically reduces in number, provided that the tackle is flue enough to meet the sporting principle of a fair mil for the iish. Streams differ widely in the number and average weight of their trout; frequently what is gained in weight is lost in number. But New Zealand is rich enough in lakes, rivers, streams, and brooks to supply all classes of trout-fishing provided a more efficient freshwater fisheries administration is

secured; and increasing oversea attention will compel the Government to move in that direction. * * * Questioned in the House of Commons on the problem of special taxation of bachelors, Mr. "Winston Churchill carried tho war into the enemy's camp by suggesting that tho bachelor's burden should be shared by his "accomplice in this malpractice." There is no doubt that the improved economic situation of spinsters has produced many accomplices. There are women who have the chance of marrying men earning less money than they themselves earn. Shall they many, surrender their bigger wage, and be content with married life on tho mail's lesser wage? Or shall they marry, and continue in their positions, thus giving tho household a double wage, with all the disadvantages implied by such a mode of life? Or shall they refuse to marry, thus qualifying to become what Mr. Churchill calls an accomplice in a malpractice?It is estimated that Britain t.o-day contains two million bachelors over 25 years of age; and certainly the number .oi:'. .VPP!™. oypr 25 who remain single for tho purpose of enjoying, individually, a-salary equal to a man's, must be considerable. Can a well-paid bachelor girl present any better case against being specially taxed than a well-paid bachelor can present? Tho girl _ will answer "Yes," pleading that with marriage she too often surrenders both

salary and freedom, "while the man gives up nothing!" There is an obvious retort—but that is another story.

In American eyes, Franco commits the double am of not making satisfactory arrangements to pay the American ■war debt, and of continuing to pi'.e up fresh debts for new war armaments. A debtor who spends but pays not can hardly lji? popular with his creditor and frigid little correspondences about naval limitation do not tend to improve the atmosphere. Consequently, the United States Government will no; only not lend money to Prance, but has put an embargo on private loans to that country, with the object of starving the French of American capital. Whether the object is being achieved is

open to doubt. American money is still American money if it \nerely passes as a formality through London, and apparently France can obtain money in this way, although at ■ a higher rate of interest than would be paid for direct loans. Private financiers in New York do not like to see anything pass them by, hence the request to the United States Government to lift the embargo. The situation

is interesting, even if only as demonstrating the difficulty of keeping international finance in water-tight compartments. Lenders have a right to be paid, and it is logical that a borrowing country should buy the lending country's goods. But when lending countries start out to secure their rights by restrictions or prohibitions, nnlooked for consequences sometimes follow, not wholly favourable to the object that the lender hod in mind.

An indication of the importance of the movement to improve the taking of health statistics in this country—and in. other countries, too, for that matter is found in the contrasting of maternity death rates in country and in town. Figures for two years quoted by tho Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young, show a much higher death rate in rural .districts, and if a statistical measurement over a longer period gives similar results, the fact should servo as a beacon light to scientific research. Mr. Young points out that health "gonerally is bitter in tho rural than in the urban districts, wherefore the unfavourable maternity death rate in the former must bo due to a particular cause; and he appears to suggest that the cause is lack of facilities for treatment, particularly preventive treatment; for, even where maternity wards exist, tho safety provision is not complete without ante-natal clinics. Reduction of the maternity death rate, as well as tho infantile death rate, is a direct means of increasing the best kind of immigration that a country can invite. And the flattening of the curve as between country and town will remove one of tho principal family objections to rural residence.