The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1927.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3818, 17 May 1927, Page 47

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1927.) THE WEEK.

w Nunquam allud natura, allud eapientia dixit.** -JUVKNAL. “Good nature and good sense must ever join.*** -

Farmers and Finance.

Addressed primarily to farmers, and deal-

ing sympathetically with their present plight, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart’s

speech at Feilding last week contained many points of unusual interest. The Minister of Finance, if scarcely so optimistic in regard to the financial future as is his colleague in the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, is yet far removed from pessimism. He wa s able to show clearly that the existing depression had no connection with party politics, but was the inevitable result of influences of world-wide origin. The immediate cause of the Dominion depression is the fall in export prices—a circumstance altogether beyond the power of any Government to withstand. Yet it promises to render the current financial year a difficult one for all sections of the community. Of those sections the pressure is likely to fall most heavily upon the farmers. As the Minister .of Finance pointed out, when prices for exports fall, the farmer is the first to feel the influence of decreased prices, and from him the influence gradually permeates all sections of society. While, however, merchants and retailers are able to adapt therilselves to the changed situation by curtailing imports and reducing stocks, the farmer is in a more or less defenceless position. He not only is the first to feel the depression, but he is the least able to guard against it, since his capital is not liquid and his market a distant one. The picture painted of a falling revenue, lower bank deposits, and increased bank advances on the one hand, and, on the other, increased expenditure on unemployment, family allowances, and other items, as painted by the Minister, is not an encouraging one. Nevertheless, Mr Downie Stewart was able to close his address on a cheery note. The Dominion is sound at heart, production is being well maintained, there is a promise of a return to a better trade balance, and many manufactures are showing substantial progress. Thus, while there is still need for thrift and economy, there is every reason for a quiet confidence. In which spirit the Minister of Finance

is preparing to grapple with the momentous problem of making both ends meet in the national finance.

A Sign of the Times.

A significant announcement was made

last week by the Associated Banks of an increase in the rate for over-

drafts, this being accompanied by an intimation of an increase in the interest on fixed deposits. The reason for this is evident enough—namely, that the banks are wishful to attract deposits, and at the same time they desire to restrict advances. According to the last quarterly returns the amount lent to their customers by the trading banks totalled close upon £49,000,000, showing an increase as compared with this time last year of over two and a-half millions. On the other side, the deposits over the same period had contracted by nearly two millions. This means that the money lent by the banks to the public exceeded the loans by the public to the banks by over five million pounds. It was a similar state of affairs which in 1921 led to >.n increase in the rates for overdrafts to 7 per cent. While the precaution is doubtless necessary in the interests of sound finance it is likely to increase the difficulties with which farmers and business men are already struggling. It amounts to a sharp warning to everyone to strive to live within their means, and it will necessitate an all-round adjustment, on the part of financial'institutions.

The Menace of the Motor Car.

The alarming frequency of motor accidents

resulting, in only too many instances, in the loss of valuable lives has provoked the judges on the Court bench to enquire as

to the best means of cheeking a growing menace. The most serious offenders are the men who, under the influence of drink, attempt to drive motor cars to the imminent danger of the pedestrian public and their fellow-motorists. It is a moot question whether under such heinous circumstances the infliction of a fine and the withdrawal of a driving license for two or three years is sufficient penalty to act as a deterrent. Indeed, it may ultimately be found necessary, should this class of crime increase, to make the withdrawal of a driver's license lifelong in cases where the man in charge of the motor car is shown to have been in an unfit state, and thereby endangering the lives and limbs of the passers-bv. Moreover, a sentence of imprisonment, without the option of a fine, might act as a deterrent to reckless drivers who become so intoxicated with the delight of speeding as to be oblivious to all else. The motor car has not only come to stay, but the time is approaching rapidly when the motor traffic will monopolise the public streets'and thoroughfares, and motorists must be made clearly to understand that reckless speeding and careless driving will be subject to the heaviest penalties.

Canberra and the Commonwealth.

There is an element of irony in the fact that, while Australians as

a whole have looked upon

the creation of Canberra as the capital city of the

Commonwealth as a doubtful sort of a boon, and have only proceeded with the scheme grudgingly and without enthusiasm, the opening of the Commonwealth Parliament at Canberra lias been hailed eulogistically by the press of Great Britain. The Duke of York sounded the note when he said : “We turn to-day a n page in history. May it be a page glorious for Australia and the Empire.’’ Apart altogether from the sentiment behind all such utterances, it may be surmised that Canberra will be cited as an example of a new departure in Australian settlement and history. The weak spot in ihe Commonwealth, and which cannot fail to act detcrrentlv against future development, is the degree in which the capital cities of each State dominate the entire population. For instance, 45 per cent, of the population of New South Wales is resident in Sydney; in Victoria 54 per cent, of the people live in Melbourne ; South Australia furnishes a still more flagrant example, no less than 55 per cent, of the population being domiciled in Adelaide. The creation of a capital citv, “far from the madding crowd,” should prove an incentive to the population of Australia to scatter and cover some of the wide spaces at present given up to sheep and cattle. With , closer settlement Australia’s production would increase and rural industry take its proper place in the development of the land. There are tremendous possibilities in the Australian Commonwealth, and in the near future she is destined to provide for the needs of a huge population, rivalling, it may be, the United States of America.

Reflected Glory.

Sir Sidney Colvin has only survived the

death of his wife by three short years: which recalls the fact that when Lady Colvin and Joseph Conrad

lay dying frequent and affectionate messages were exchanged between the two sick rooms. It is probable that Sir Sidnev Colvin would pot have come so prominently before the public eye had it not been for his intimate association with Robert Louis Stevenson. As a matter of fact, with the large majority of literary people, it was a case of reflected glory. Sir Sidney Colvin, who was born in 1845, was five years Stevenson’s senior, and in the closeness of the intimacy he was the chief among the many friends of R. L. S. Stevenson was 23 years of age when chance brought him into contact with Colvin, then, and for the next 12 years, Slade Professor of Fine Arts at Cambridge University. The meeting marked a dividing point in Stevenson’s career, since he was then hesitating between a literary life and the business career favoured by his parents. In the decision taken Stevenson was aided by the sympathy and encouragement of two visitors to the home in Suffolk of a cousin to whom R. L. S.

was paying a visit. Those visitors were Sidney Colvin and Mrs Sitwell, between whom had sprung up a romance. based on true love, which, however, owing to the presence in the background of a Mr Sitwell, could not be. consummated till late in the life of both. Shortly after this meeting Stevenson wrote: “If Colvin does not think I shall be able to support myself soon by literature, I shall give it up and go (horrible as the thought is to me) into an office of some sort.” Just at this critical point Colvin helped Stevenson in many ways—by introductions to friends and editors in London; by candid criticism; and by reconciling the divergence of view between R. L. S. and his parents—in short, Colvin displayed a genuine interest rarely shown by one literary man in another’s work. Stevenson acknowledged his indebtedness when ho wrote: “My dear Colvin, I owe you and Fleeming Jenkin, the two older men who took the trouble and knew how to make a friend of me, everything that I have and am.” When in 1884 Sir Sidney - Colvin was appointed keeper of the prints and drawing in the British Museum his rooms in the museum were Stevenson’s headquarters in London : previously the two men had shared a lodging in . Hampstead. To this friendship is due the “Vailima Letters,” written with the desire to keep the two in touch ; and also the “Letters to His Family and Friends,” the two series being subsequently edited by Colvin with biographical chapters and editorial rotes —thus presenting the most complete picture of Stevenson’s life and thoughts. The Edinburgh edition of Stevenson’s -works is the fruit of Sir Sidney Colvin’s editorial labours; he also wrote the article on Stevenson in the “Dictionary of National Biography.”