SLIGHTLY EXAGGERATED

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9694, 23 June 1917, Page 9

SLIGHTLY EXAGGERATED

OURSELVES AS OTHERS . SEE US HOW PUBLIC OPINION IS PREJUDICED. There is being published in Sydney a weekly journal styled the “Soldier,” which claims to be cho official journal, of the . returned soldiers and sailors

and of the imperial League of Australia. if this journal may bo judged by an article headed “Conscription Hun .Vlad” that appeared in a recent Issue, it can only be regarded as a very untrustworthy authority,' and more especially so in regard to matters in Now Zealand. One of the statements in this article, to the effect that tho three daily newspapers In Wellington are under orders to amalgamate, is, as the late Mark 'lwain said of tho premature, report of his death, slightly exaggerated. As an example of tho unreliable statements that are being made in Australia concerning tho foperaition of conscription in New Zealand, we reproduce tho article in full:

“New Zealand has done many rash things in its history, hut it is doubtful whether the politicians of that country have ever done any thing more disastrous than they have in rushing conscription upon the people without making full provisions for safeguarding eveiy institution with which the internal affairs of the Dominion are bound up. "Nows to- hand indicates that industrially, commercially, and socially tho conditions brought about by illcoyisidered defence administration in that country are chaotic. ' “Tho prime folly, that reacts on every aspect of trade and, development. is the rigorous curtailment of the railway service. This will mean toss of. energy and delay in every branch of activity. Thousands will be thrown out .of employment, not only in tho railways,‘but in the mining and other industries. There will be a tremendous fall in production and a. consequent tremendous loss in revenue.

“Another instance of folly is tho action of tho authorities in ordering the Wellington daily- newspapers to come to an arrangement among them selves within one month to publish only one paper for tho duration of fcho~ war. This means the. closing up of three big industrial concerns, the almost certain ruin of their proprietors, and the throwing but of employment of hundreds of people with many hundreds of dependents, who aro ineligible for military service. Every city- and town in tho Dominion, presumably, will be affected in a lesser or larger degree in - regard t« its press.

“This ukase,bas not only been burled at the gr.eat newspaper industry. Other vital concerns have also been interfered with,, and- trade .generally has been badly disorganised. It appears as if the authorities were determined to raze . the-ivbple civilian

structure in an attempt to hurry everyone into a uniform. ’

“They appear quite oblivious of the fact that it--costs' money, to maintain men, and that New Zealand cannot possibly find the wherewithal to keep an army in the field unless every branch of trade and industry is Kepi booming at home. You canno: paralyse tho earning power of a community- and expect- that communry to - find the money to carryon the expensive game of war. “By going at this groat question in such a buli-at-tho-gatc method, tho politicians of New Zealand have not shown the qualifies of statesmen. They seem badly lacking, in, business acumen. It is, of course, ' an. admirable thing to give ‘the last man and the last shilling,’ hut there is tho right way and the wrong way of going about it. Unfortunately, the Dominion appears to bo traversing the wrong direction, and the result mast be deplorable unless commonsense, business-like administrators, take charge of the situation and insist upon tho productivity of the country being maintained at full tension. In any case, the New Zealand way of doing things in this respect, so far, ought to bo a good lesson to Australia of how not to do them.”