THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1928. THE NEW YEAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19834, 3 January 1928, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1928. THE NEW YEAR.

In the dying hours of the old year retrospection is appropriate. As the new dawns, anticipation must take its place. Farewell has now been said to 1927, and 1928, with all the legacies, good and bad, it has received from the year it has succeeded, must now be faced; The people of New Zealand have been given a message from the Dominion's leading citizen. Counting all factors, the Prime Minister can still be optimistic in the greetings he offers to his fellow countrymen. He is justified in striking such a note. It would be foolish to suggest that all the difficulties last year brought, have been overcome, that every cloud which showed above the horizon has been dissipated. The country is climbing up from a slough of depression into which it had fallen. The journey is bound to be slow, and stages of it to be painful. The winning of the summit is, or should be held, sufficient reward for all the effort spent in reaching i'C. Indications of progress are reliable enough to support the hopeful tone Mr. Coates adopted. New Zealand's troubles were attributable in part to conditions in the overseas markets on which the country depends for the disposal of its produce —conditions which could not be controlled from this end —and in part to undeniable prodigality in a people who do not always realise how fortunate their lot really is. The new year sees those oversea conditions improved, and it also comes in with the too lavish expenditure on imported luxuries curtailed. The reward should accrue in 1928. New Zealand, like every other country, has had its cyclic periods of depression, when the demands of the people for work and sustenance seemed greater than the wherewithal to meet them. In the past there has always bee# a safe issue from them •, there are still the material resources to be utilised in making good the deficiency, and with enough energy and enterprise applied to the task, there is no reason why the history of past recoveries should not be repeated. Prosperity depends essentially upon success in the great primary industries. In both dairying and sheep-raising the outiook is promising. A good clip of wool has realised, so far as already marketed, prices which assure the grower a substantial return for his labour and for the capital his flocks and holdings represent. For dairy produce the prices have proved satisfactory without being sensational. The great feature of this industry has been the steady and gratifying increase in the bulk of output. Despite the exceptional dryness of the early summer —more noticeable because it followed a spring of unusually abundant rainfall —district after district his outstripped previous records for production. This is a good augury ier the future, as well as an achievement of the past year. The credit for it must be given to better herds and better management of pastures. The system of regularly fertilising grass lands is bringing its reward. A result assignable to such causes brings not only satisfaction iq the present, but certain hope for the future. In a word, the land now devoted to pasture, and especially to dairying, is being farmed better ; it is reasonable to believe that new land developed in the future will be handled with similar ability and enterprise. In that possibility lies the best nope for the economic future of the Dominion, for sound farming is an asset which endures, making the best of good soaoon and bad season alikp It is a splendid indication for 1928 that it opens with such a tendency in evidence. In public affairs New Zealand is facing a year of importance, for there will be another general election before its close. The session of Parliament which must come first will be affected to some degree by the subsequent appeal to the country. It is always so. The "election session" has its own features, well known to the student of Parliamentary ways. One characteristic is a certain reluctance to touch highly contentious issues. These may be handled with some boldness early if! the life of a Parliament, in the hope that time will dull the sharp edge of feeling in the

country j but when an election follows hard on the heels of a session there is no such comforting possibility. Legislation affecting several social questions on which feeling runs high was left over from last year's programme, and it will be of interest to observe how the representatives of the people will face the task of dealing with them in the coming session. In one sense it would bo an excellent thin;? if the country -were thoroughly roused over some issue—indeed, almost any issue. It would help to dissipate the apathy which has ruled over politics for years past. A certain amount of excitement and interest accompany an election campaign, though the voting figures generally show that far too large a percentage of the population remains untouched. Thereafter the country settles down to three years of very perfunctory attention to public affairs. New Zealand remains fortunately free from the open and unabashed conniption which flourishes in some other countries under the shelter of such indifference to the duties of citizenship. Other ill-effects are not avoided in the same degree. A prosperous people tends to be contented and apathetic about public life. The year opens with good indications of general prosperity. If it could also be characterised by that active concern in public affairs which hard times bring it would be a combination of circumstances making a splendid augury for 1928.