Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, FEB. 16, 1925. A CENTURY OF FRIENDSHIP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16662, 16 February 1925, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, FEB. 16, 1925. A CENTURY OF FRIENDSHIP.

Despite the oatlven.k of the wild men of the House of Commons, the Prince of Wales will shortly proceed on his tour of South Africa and Argentina with the benediction of the whole nation. If is idle to depreciate the part played by Royalty in building up good relationships between nations and between the component purls of the Empire. The Prince of Wales is rendering good service to his country in these extensive tours. He is not, as the Socialists suggest, an Imperial bagman touting for trade for the capitalists. There is a great deal more in if than that. Any movement that brings the nations into closer amity is a movement for the world’s peace and the betterment of humanity. The Prince’s recent visit to America must have had great influence in promoting a

greater sense of unity between the two great sections of the Anglo-Saxon rare, whose destiny it is to play so large a part in the maintenance of peace, the promotion of commerce, and the great work of reconstruction and financial stability amongst the nations of the world. The Americans found in “the Prince chap” a man to their liking, and pieconceived notions against. Royalty and the stand-oil'islmess of the British aristocracy went by the board; the Prince as the representative of his people being everywhere acclaimed “a regular fellow.'’ Surely it must he seen by even the most obtuse of Labor representatives that it is,. in the words of the Psalmist, <f a yood and pleasant thing” for nations to dwell in amity: that thereby benefit goes out to all sections and classes of the people. The Prince’s visit to the Dominions has had: more value than most people think in enabling British people everywhere, and possibly the people of other lands, to visualise the extent, the importance, and 1 the boundless resources of the British

nonunions. ir nas nrougm, me people 'of there dominions into closer relationship as one of the British family, and has led in no small degree to such movements as are now afoot for the development, of the Imperial estate. So, too. we believe the Prince’s coming visit to Argentina will have important results. It marks the completion of a century of friendship between the two countries. One hundred years ago there was signed at Buenos Ayres a treaty whereby Great Britain became the first of the nations of the Old World officially to recognise and welcome the birth of the young Republic, which was destined to become a beneficent and powerful factor in the world’s affairs. Recognition of the hard-earned independence of the Spanish colonies, the London Times explains, had long been withheld bv Europe, in consequence of the strength of ancient prejudices and political intrigues, at a time when the pride of Spain was more susceptible, by reason of her decline, than it would have been in her halcyon days. The recognition accorded by King George IV. was the result of one of the wise acts of statesmanship of Canning. “The treaty of 1825 was the first of its kind, and, in marking a definite departure from the old system, it formulated a new one. from which there was to he no looking back. It. was also the first international agreement made by the Argentine TRepublic, and it inaugurated - a friendship with Great Britain which has endured to the present day. The treaty is lmnortant net merelv heeanse of the

friendly relations .with the Argentine to which it set a seal, but also because it has served ns a base, if not as a precedent, for the relations of 'Great Britain with all the Republics of the South American Continent." Great Britain not only took this prominent part in the emancipation of South America, but it has consistently stood by Argentina, mediating in :ts disputes with neighboring States, and supplying most liberally capital for its development. Canning, when presenting the first South American Minister accredited' to the Court of St. .James to his King, said : “Sire, I bring to >o.i the representative of a New World." Mow wonderfully that new world in the succeeding century has developed ! Last vear the population ot Argentina, passed l the ten million mark. Argentina ha’s now behind it. a long record of development which many far older nations may well envy Its vast

aieu of 1,103.0u6 square _ miles grows enormous n lanlities of grain and cotton, sugar and toba-v, and its meat exports have for many years been on a colossal sca.e. It is a serious competitor of New Zealand, in many respects, but nevertheless its importance as a factor in supplying food and raw materials for Europe cannot be ignored. The bonds between Great Britain and Argentine are strengthened by many well-known commercial activities arising from, and fostered by, the Treaty of 1825. now. important' those activities are may be judged l from the fact that last year the Argentine imported l British goods to flie value of over 1128,000,000 and sold to Great. Britain £66,000,000 worth of exports. That they can be developed is shown from the amount, £70,000,000 worth of textiles and £50,000,000 worth of metal goods, imported by the Argentine of that class of wares which Great Britain is capable of supplying. The financial position of the Republic is good, its exchange is nearly at par, half

lilt*- minify ill uu.umuuu ivnvi ed by gold in reserve, arid as the Argentine. exports of cereals have risen from 5,860.0J0 tons in 1922 to 9,SGQ,OCQ in 1924, there is every reason to suppose that the Republic will have ample funds for still further developing its commercial prosperity. With the assistance of British capital 20,000 miles of railway have been laid, its harbors improved, and! great cities established. Last year the population increased by 346,C00, and as immigration is still flowing in to fill up the waste spaces and develop the resources of the country, it is quite evident that Argentine is a country to lie reckoned with and on which it is highly to the British interest to be on the best of terms. If the Prince’s visit leads, as we expect it will, to the cultivation of a stronger friendship and the extension of business relationships between Britain and Argentine the result must reflect itself in Increased prosperity to the industries of the Homeland, with consequent diminution of unemployment in Britain. It is idle, therefore, for the Socialists to pretend that the mission of the one, who next to the King is the bestloved man in th.e British Empire, a true representative of his people, and who by his fine personality is capable of performing more than half a dozen d'plomats or business representatives could do, is not honestly worth whatever cost may be entailed.