Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, OCT. 27, 1925 THE MAN OF THE HOUR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16870, 27 October 1925, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, OCT. 27, 1925 THE MAN OF THE HOUR.

Now Zealand came through the war with credit, because of the tine stamina and character of Her men in the field and the staunch loyalty of the MasseyWard Cabinet in Council. The retirement of the Liberals after the peace, was a mistake. It was founded upon an error which it is difficult, to excuse. A problematic party advantage was allowed to outweigh a national necessity. That unity, which was essential during the war, was even more essential in preserving the country from all the disorders and embarrassments of reconditioning the lives .of those who had been engaged In the war and in meeting the now financial and commercial problems involved by greatly increased national, municipal, and private indebtedness, and by the disturbance in markets caused by widely differentiating exchange values. . Mr, Massey was left to struggle against, all these problems without the assistance which he was entitled to expect, and which ultimately wore, him down. The stump which did not. spare New Zealand added enormously to the burdens of the Prime Minister and people. The administration faced it all with enur age, relieving taxation, where it was at all possible, and extending the moratorium to such lengths, in its effort to save the settlers, that, tlioso who commanded the liquid capital available in the Dominion began to look for investments which they hoped would be safer than 'securities upon freehold lands. Thi* it is true is history 'which many would now gladly forget. The war, the recovery from its results, the slump and its remedies, have not passed away without leaving an unsettled condition of things- on every side which cannot be. dealt with by. platform platitudes and quack remedies. In the history of almost every country there has been a time whon national difficulties have become so serious, often inter-crossing one another, that there seems to be no way out, and even every remedy appears, not only to fail, but to aggravate the evils it was hoped to cure. Where the able man has not been found, revolution has usually followed the failure to restore prosperity. The people have risen in their wrath, tearing down all that for years had stood for security and protection. The need of the day has in many cases produced the man. Mr. Massey carried through his task in spite of all the opposition lie encountered from the/ twin-headed opposition that unceasingly harried him in his efforts to stabilise the conditions of the country. Stabilisation was his task. It was not possible for jhim to originate tho new road of advance. His whole energy had to be exerted to remove tho hindrances to stable conditions which the two oppositions year after year had placed ip his way. Under a new lender the way is opened for advance. Mr. Coates has no record against him; he is not responsible, for any policy in the past, to weaken his proposals; he has no pot theory to defend. He has courage; he has proved to have initiative; lie is sincere; lie is plain spoken almost to a fault; lie lias been scrupulously fair; he lias no enemies. It does look as if the man and tho hour had met. The only doubt permissible is if tho people of 'the Dominion are aware of the arrival of the man. or whether the local conditions of special electorates will allow of the return of men who will give real.support 1o the only possible leader who is in the field at the present lime. The able man has a driving force. His objective, is the practical and the practicable; he has a genuine insight into what is practicable. The modern world has hardly improved upon Carlyle’s ideal of a perfect constitution. He admitted that such an ideal could never be completely embodied in practice. His ideal was “Find in any country the ablest man that, exists there; raise him to the supreme place and loyally reverence him—you have a perfect government for that country, no ballot box, parliamentary eloquence, voting, constitution-building, or other machinery whatever can improve it a whit. ' Tt is in the perfect state; an ideal country.” To New Zealand, as has so of ton happened in other conntries of longer history, has come a time, when tho economically sound

maintenance of industries is vital to progress and national prosperity. There are great difficulties to be overcome and 1 angles to.be straightened, out. There is no possible way out. but by finding the strong man who is trustworthy and can lead, ' energise, and control his fellows; who knows his own mind; who has courage to enforce what he knows to be right; and with all has balance of mind to be tolerant and alive to prudent counsel from whatever quarter it may come. Above all he must be prepared at any cost 10 overturn all brick walls, built with tin-

tempered mortar, which are built on the platform in a night, and remain, until overturned, a standing menace to the community. Nothing is so easy as to build Such walls. The rules of safe construction are disregarded; plummet and level are thrown away, and as the old philosopher of Chelsea wrote down “the law of gravitation docs'not forget to act upon the builder; he and his wall rush down into confused welter of ruin.” When the man and the hour arrive together and the people know it, the time for recovery is close at hand. As to many of its industries New Zealand is in a state of turmoil. Employees tire banded together to advance their claims without much consideration as to whether such claims arc reasonable or unreasonable. Em- 5

plovers also are organised in defence of their interest. Co-operation between employer and employee, which is essential, in the day of close competition, is impossible. Looking at the condition of tilings and the inability, of the Arbitration Court to satisfy labor or to balance the diverse elements of the basic wage and the.' cost of living, full recovery,-from .the/ war, its fatal aftermath, and the, slump, are seriously handicapped. The' hour for arrival of the strong mail has certainly come. Mr. Coates can bring to his administration great force of character, and administrative talent, that, should bring together the best working Cabinet New Zealand has had for some years. If, as is sincerely hoped and expected, Mr. Downie Stewart is able to take, up the duties of Colonial Treasurer, a weak spot in the present Cabinet will be removed. What is Gisborne going to do?

This journal has no personal objection to any of the three candidates standing. It has not hesitated to point out that since fusion proved to be impossible, to return a supporter of Mr. Forbes is' now to return a member in actual opposition to Mr. Coates, who the country everywhere is accepting as its chief. To support Mr. Holland would he even more fatal to the district's credit and future advancement. While Mr.,Holland’s expressed aspira--1 ions, just now, are soft as velvet, we must, have short,, memories not to remember that the claws are there, though withdrawn. His destructive talent has been proved; his construe-, live talent is wholle wanting. New Zealand cannot prosper if its .peoplo give power to those who in order to gain their object are prepared to wade through the morass of Communistic Socialism.

A STATE SHIPPING LINE. It is a plank in the Labor platform that New Zealand should have a State shipping line. Although the Dominion is made up of isolated islands, tho young New Zealander is not. Inking very readily to the water. If we had -a, State lino it. would have for the most part’ to be manned from foreign sources. It is worth while inquiring liovv the experiment? made by Labor In Australia has turned out financially, We may agree that direct profit, is not everything, yet a shipping line cannot be kept going when the drain upon the national purse is excessive. The war gave the Commonwealth Lino an initial success. Large profits wore made then. Sinco the war the failure has been continuous. In 1921-22 the loss inclusive of interest and depreciation was £1,200,000. In 1922-23 the loss was over £ 1,000,000. “.Round Table,” from which wo have taken our facts, slates that, in 1923, “hoping that nonpolitical management might do better, (he Commonwealth Parliament, transferred tho lino from the control of a manager, who took his orders from the Prime Minister, to the Commonwealth Shipping Board, an independent body of three members. ” To give the Board a chance the capital value of the ships and of tho dockyard at Cockatoo Island in Sydney harbor was written down from £12,770,000 to £4,700,000. This eight millions accounted for some four millions previously received by the Federal Treasury as profits, and about four millions taken off capital provided by the Treasury, when the ships were acquired. The first seven months under tire Board’s management resulted in a loss of £245,000. For the year ending September 30, 1924, the total loss was £480,000, exclusive of depreciation in value of 1 lie ships. In reporting these losses the Board stated, “that in its opinion Ihe line could not run without n serious loss while the ships were on the Australian register and were subject to Australian awards.” They also stated ‘that the ships were of an unsuitable character. Of the 54 ships la ken over by the Board, 22 had been sold; but 21 of the remaining 32 were laid up, as this resulted in less loss than in running them.’ The Australian Prime Minister defined the position as presenting three alternatives. First; to transfer to the British register and man the fleet under British conditions; second, to sell the fleet unconditionally; third, to sell conditionally so as to ensure a continuing trado between Great Britain and Australia and to guarantee regular and effective service. The Cabinet chose the third of /liese alternatives! T enders were invited for a conditional sale, but none were received. >So tho matter stands. The loss is continuous and unmeasurable. It should be adiieo that the dockyard was not accountable for any of the loss, as in 1921, alter allowing £2(5,000 for interest and depreciation, it gave a profit of about £OOOO. The. whole record of llie Commonwealth's attempt to found a State line of ships lias been a dismal failure. A similar experiment if made ju New Zealand must equally fail.