Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, SEPT. 13. COMMUNITY OF SENTIMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16533, 13 September 1924, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, SEPT. 13. COMMUNITY OF SENTIMENT.

In one of the most practical speeches, which have ever beeh made by Mr. Bald win on a great occasion, he characterised “community of sentiment” as the great est bond pf all between Great Britain and the Dominions. Mr.. Bnldwin was speaking at Manchester, in the very heart of the trad a of England, and protesting with all the force he could command against the Labor Government’s neglect to deal with unemployment, and he charged it, by its actions, ns aggravating, instead of alleviating, that great evil. In the Dominion markets we had, ho said, the power by friendly negotia-r tions, to obtain terms for our goods tha‘ no other country in the world would givei, Positively the Government, not content with a policy of negation, “first of all slapped the face of Australian opinion, then they went back pn what thelast Government, and the last Government but one did in proceeding with the Singapore base, for thei protection of our Dominions in case of war.” In telling the merchants of Manchester, that the time ‘must come, if such a policy is pursued at Home, when the Dominions abroad, in following out their . own development “will be obliged to look to 1 countries who will receive their proposals morel favorably than the Mother Country,” he was only saying what Mr. Bruce has publicly' said in Australia, If that day does ecme, it meant, Mr. Baldwin said, putting up the shutters so far as the export trade of Great Britain is concerned. Mr. Baldwin’s conclusion is so important that we quote it in full: “Therefore it is that- I lay down, as one of the most important parts of the policy of the Conservative Party, and of ali those who will work with the Conservative Party, that, while there is still time, we should make every arrangement within our power with the Dominions to keep all these advantages which we have so far got, and to endeavor, by every means in our power, 10 extend them for the benefit of our own trade, and to help to secure for our own over-industrjalised population markets and work which we cannot hope to find elsewherei” Mr. Massey at Mnngere approached the subject of the depression in England from noother angle of view. He, equally with Mr. Baldwin, sees that the road the Eng lish Labor Government is paving with good inter turns is leading straight to disaster. The huge loans, being arranged, in England herself, and in America, for the rehabilitation of Germany must result in a pressure of competition against all established manufactures in Great Britain, which that- country, enfeebled by unemployment and the diversion of her capital to foreign and competing nations, cannot hope to meet with the success with which she has tided over difficulties in past years. Mr. Massey’s speech was almost a post-mortem over the trade of Great Britain. “Sixty years ago England was the leading industria 1 country in the world. That is a thing of the past.” There is more than sentiment in the position. There is economic danger. New Zealand is deeply concerned. She is increasing her public and private debts upon an unsound assumption that therei is to be no disturbance of her markets. Not content with the huge current advances through the State Advances Department, the Government has had to give way to pressure, and is raising another two millions in aid of loans —the great bulk of which we fear are for non-productive purposes and

could not be raised upon business principles. Indirectly, this policy carried to excess is keeping up inflated land values, which in themselves are a serious menace to sound trade. , "1 feel very uneasy about it." says Mr. Massey. No doubt his pessimism was for .England. He reserves his optimism for New Zealand. Yet Mr. Massey is altogether right and I)is courage is inspiring when he says: "The only way in which Britain can get hack to- prosperity is by utilising the* waste, spaces of her overseas possessions, thus widening' her markets and building up strong, vigorous communities of British peoples. The orly hope I can see is for industrious men and women to come out to the Dominions and piake homes for themselves, and so strengthen the markets of the Motherland.” Community of sentiment helped materially to build the Empire. 11 is no insurance against disintegration. The invisible bonds, which keep families, nations, and empires together, are only operative as adjuncts to action .inspired by mutual consideration. If danger of disruption of the Empire is at- all proximate, it will bo. because the leaders of Great- Britain sacrifice the strong ties of the Dominions’ loyalty to outworn shibboleths of the economic schools of yesterday, and the people would have it so.

ARTERIAL ROADS. Every day we are'receiving some- fresh evidence of the recognition of the value of good arterial roads. The growing volume of overland traffic between Gisborne and Napier and Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty attests to the appreciation of thti public in being able to secure regular and convenient means of ingress and egress to and from this district. All the world over, ns lias frequenty been pointed out in these columns, there is movement- to develop and improve! the highways to meet the changed conditions brought about bv motor traffic. In Britain, according to that interesting publication, the Road maker, .a. big “push” is beginning for tho construction of arterial roads. The Government has given the word and the Minister for Transportation is to carry it out. Great new 7 road schemes are to be launched within the njext. few months. Hitherto schemes have been letardcd for want of money—that is for want of sufficient State aid. Now the money is to be forthcoming for, as many schemes as can be justified in themselves. The new impulse is political. The Government has been pressed both by ihe Opposition and its own supporters to proceed at once with its schemer of works for unemployed. Just before Parliament rose, the Cabinet Committee on unemployment schemes, the chairman of which is the Chancellor of tho Exchequer himself—the man who provides or refuses to provide Hie money —mot the executive of the Labor party and some very big schemes we,re decided upon. There seems to be now no obstacle in the way. The Government are prepared to ask the House of Commons for the money, and the Op position parties are not likely to refusei it. “Tho truth is,” says the Roadmaker, “that the roads have won their case in Parliament two ways, both as a means of transport urgently needing development- and improvement, and as the readiest moans of absorbing into useful labor large numbers of the unemployed.” The growth of intelligent and critical interest in roads and roadmaking in the House of Commons during the last year or two has beon remarkable. Further evidence was given of it in the deputations and discussions in connection with the Motorways Bill introduced by Sir Leslie Scott last April. The -scheme is part of a larger scheme outlined by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu for a toll road constructed by private enterprise! from London to Liverpool via Birmingham and Manchester. The present proposal is for a motor road from Coventry to Manchester, taking in Birmingham, Wolverhampton. the Black Co-untry. the Potteries and ending at Salford Docks. It would be 108 miles long, with fifteen junctions with the general road system of -t,he country at, intervals averaging about five miles. These would be the, siding to every farm and factory, indeed to every door. A model of part of the road was shown in the House of Commons bv the promoters, to explain its construction. It is to lie partly concrete, partly of reinforced concrete. It is to be 40 feet wide, with enough land to allow of future widening. It is to go under or over roads, canals, and railways, so as to have no cross roads but its own. The estimated cost will be a- lit-t’e over £6,000,000, and ’t i« reckoned that it would employ directly and indirectly over 40.000 people for two or three years. “The point of interest,” says the Roadmaker, “is that the expressions *o which the scheme gave l rise in Parliament and elsewhere show 7 how widespread is dear understanding of the position of the road in national economy and of the richt principles of roadmaking.” The Bill introduced by Sir Leslie Scott did not, concern any one project. It was to enable any such project to get sneadv Parliamentary sanction, without the delay and expense of private Bill legislation. Sir Leslie Pointed out. that motor traffic, now’ about 95 per cent, of the traffic on the road 3, increased between 1911 and 192? at the rate of about 22 per cent, per annum. With such advancement in tbo modern-form of traction it is imperative that the roads should be put in -order to meet it. Will New’ Zealand— and the East Coast counties in particular—lncr behind?