RE POSSIBILITIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 April 1916, Page 3

RE POSSIBILITIES.

1 (To the Editor.) Sir, —T consider it only logical that a young country like New Zealand should be preparing for means to keep and employ the millions which she is naturally fitted to keep; that she should li<; laying the foundations for utilizing tin; enormous potentialities that all are agreed she possesses—that she who is recognised as the Britain of the South could with her exceptional climatic conditions endow her future generations in a manner that would perpetuate the feeling of the British as evidenced by the quotation: "What we hold we keep!" All must have a stake in the country—must be interested in every development. "Oh, that would mean nationalisation of all tilings," some will say, and of course it is; and if the system of nationalising jthe production or Britain for the common good can 'be done for the protection of the whole •during war time, I claim it ean and must be done when war is over —it is nothing more than the acme of cooperation, and only when a country is wholly devoted to such principle will we have a fair and just system of living. If we of to-day laid the foundation whereby an equality of condition can he attained, we should have a country tliat every person in it would gladly lay his life down to protect. We would not need conscription then—they would tumble over one another to get to the firing line, because all, knowing they had a certain interest in everything, would most certainly protect such.

The English who produced the wool in the reign of Edward 111 only wove coarse fabrics, the bulk of the raw material being used for export trade—how similar to New Zealand of to-day—and rich people used to purchase fine cloths from abroad made from English wool, just as we of to-day go on! To Edward the credit must be due of pulling together a languishing business, for he encouraged Flemish weavers to take residence in England, and production in evei'y way progressed from the time of the Flemish immigration, cloth instead of wool became the basis of wealth, and finally the export of wool was entirely forbidden. It is needless to mention how the expansion of other industries relied on the working up of the raw productions of the country, or how population increased; but it would be as well to bear in mind that the profits of all such expansion went to the few, and 'surely our educational advantages over those of hundreds of years ago should ishow that it should be the people's objective as a whole to receive benefit from the working up of their raw production or their natural advantages; therefore, true co-operation entered into by all per medium of the State should be something to work for. If England found it necessary, and also of benefit, to import skilled labor (even though foreigners) to develop her raw material, and thereby increase her importance as a nittion, how can anyone deny the ultimate benefit to New Zealand as a nation of the future in adopting the some means. It behoves New Zealanders of to-day to see to a proper foundation for the opening up of- the dormant possibilities if this grand country. But let the mass of the people benefit! What is a patriot?—l am, etc., . JOE B. SIMPSON. April 23.