The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1918.

Evening Star, Issue 16628, 10 January 1918, Page 4

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1918.

Sib Joseph Waud has opened the new year with a special appeal Appeal to to the patriotism of the the Schools, children. It is embodied in a circular addressed to the head school teachers throughout the Dominion. The appeal is based upon the need of national economy and the urgency of transferring all surplus spending power to the State for employment in the prosecution of the war. There is ’a further object, which is to inculcate in the minds of the children a sense of personal interest and personal responsibility in this tremendous struggle. As implemental to tl wo .ends the Minister of Finance has issued folders containing spaces for sixteen Is stamps to be distributed among the <h:ldren. They are urged to use their stare money in buying stamps, and when the folders are filled to surrender them at the Post Office in exchange for a £1 wat certificate. We are satisfied that the parents of the children will heartily commend the scheme. These are days when sacrifice should be universal. The spirit ,of self-denial should bo cultivated, if for no other reason than that multitudes of men are giving their lives for the great national cause. But there are other reasons, and. they cannot be given too much prominence on the threshold of this new year. Men, women, and children during 1918 should make .it a matter of conscience to avoid all unnecessary consumption of wealth. The longer the war lasts the more cogent will bo the economic factor in deciding the issue. The cables announce that' Great Britain has now been driven by the exigencies of food shortage into compulsory rationing. Right through belligerent Europe this system of feeding the people is in vogue more or less. It is a sharp commentary npon. the waste of material resources and the drying up of the sources of productive energy caused by the prolonged conflict. New Zealand’s salvation from similar conditions is due to the shortage of shipping. Were vessels available in sufficient numbers to carry away the produce of the country, it would be the Dominion’s duty to pinch itself in order to maximise the surplus for export, with a view to relieving the distress in the Old Land. Unfortunately—for we refuse to regard it as a fortunate circumstance—the New Zealand people are hindered from making that measure of economic sacrifice which, we believe, they would cheerfully undertake. There is abundance of food here because that abundance cannot readily be shifted to meet the acute scarcity in the United Kingdom. Every patriotically-minded person will regret this. ’ Notwithstanding this relative abundance, the practice of economy even in the matter of food should be regarded as obligatory by all classes in the country. The Dominion should hold itself ready at all times to take advantage of any easing of the shipping problem to pour its material wealth with the utmost generosity into the markets of Britain. But, whilst the people in this favored land are unable for the present to bear their full share of privation in the matter of food, they can do so in the matter of imported commodities. Great Britain has no labor or capital to spare for making drapery, millinery, or confectionery for the inhabitants of New Zealand. A real service is rendered to the Empire' when the child transfers its* pocket money from the sweet shop to the war certificate shop. A service of greater magnitude is rendered when the adult puts into the War Chest the money commonly devoted to expensive articles of apparel. With a seriousness begotten of a very deep appreciation of the gravity of the economic situation in the Empire generally, we recommend to our readers much more rigor of economyin 1918 than was practised in 1917.