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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144669, 1 May 1915, Page 2

There has been no news of Into of tbe doings of cither the British or German navies in the North Sea. From neutral sources wo heard recently that German warships and torpedo destroyers wore cruising "in the neighbourhood of Norway and Denmark. A Berlin message stated that British submarines hud been soon near Heligoland, and an Amsterdam cablegram announced that all shipping between Holland and Britain had been stopped for a time. This last information has been confirmed since by the statement tbe women delegates who wore going from England to the Peace Conference at The Hague cen.’d not do so. owing to the fact that boats had ceased to run to Holland. From these data it is impossible to arrive at any certain conclusion as to whai is going on, even with the aid of the deduction that the German submarines which were attempting to blockade Britain have leturncd home. This may reasonably bo supposed to follow from the fact that few British vessels have been reported as sunk for some days. It seems evident that some Gorman vessels have left port for a time at least, but what their object was has not been revealed. The crews of mcn-of-war which havo not been to sea for months must certainly be in need of exercise if they arc to be fit to meet British ships with longservice crews who hate been t.t sea whenever it was deemed nocc-ssaiy. W bother the, recent German excursion was a mere training cruise, or whether it was hoped to tempi out a poi lion of the British fleet, oaunot bo known yet. bin wo may hope that the silence of the past week is the prelude to some non- activity which will be to the advantage of the Allies.

Some time after the Advances to Settlers Office was established, it will be remembered, it was found that some clever people were taking advantage of the opportunity of obtaining cheap money to lend out again at an advanced ' rato of interest. Something of the same nature is now occurring under cover of tho .Mortgages Extension Act,, which established a moratorium shortly after tho outbreak of war. Tho Hon. Air. Hcrdman. intimated a day or two ago that amendments of the Act will bo submitted to Parliament to put a. stop to a practice which has been unearthed. The Act was passed to make it impossible for mortgagees to take advantage of the financial crisis brought about by the war to call in their money for the purpose of exacting higher rates of interest or to foreclose whore tho mortgagor was unable to meet their demands. It was, in a word, intended to protect the mortgagor against tho mortgagee. It hat; been found, however, that in some cases tho mortgagor has made u&o of it in a manner not intended,' for, while in a position to pay off his mortgage, and bound, except for the Act, to do so, he has invested his own money at a high rate of interest and refused to pay the mortgagee, who is compelled to bo content with a low rate. It is tho mortgagee instead of the mortgagor who is being exploited in these cases. Again, there are inert- j gagees who lent their money, perhaps several years ago, at a lower rate than was ruling just before tho war broke out, and in tho ordinary course of events would have been able to reinvest now at the rate which was current just before tho war. But the Act prevents them taking a perfectly legitimate advantage of the market to obtain tho higher rates which would almost certainly have ruled had there been no war.' Tho capitalist has not many friends nowadays, but he is just as much entitled to higher rates for his money as the .manufacturer or the farmer is to higher prices for his products, or the labourer to Higher wages,

Tlie Hawcra Star commenting on the results of the polls dn the half-holiday question says that New Plymouth and Wanganui are better guides to public opinion in the intermediate towns than aro the cities; and therefore it seems as if a mid-week holiday is likely to prevail on this coast for some time. But it is certainly very desirable that all should arrive at an agreement as to the day. Half-Wednesday and half-Thursday mixes up things in very undesirable fashion, and to a great extent'spoils the holiday. The curious thing is that almost everybody recognises this and grumbles, but that no general effort is made to secure a better arrangement. Ono explanation of the failure is that when spasmodic’ efforts have been started it has Usually boon too lato in the year. Business arrangements affecting the interests of various towns have usually been made for the ensuing year when action is commenced. If a start wore made now by getting a conference of representatives of tho various towns, probably in a few weeks some satisfactory conclusion could bo arrived at, and tho scheme could be worked out at leisure and made applicable to next year.’’ The suggestion is a good one. There is no good reason why Hnwera and Now Plymouth should observe different days, and all that is required—or all that should be required to obtain uniformity throughout Taranaki is well-timed effort within the. next few months. One obstacle met with in former attempts 10 secure agreement was that auctioneers ux thoir sale dates a long way ahead and cannot alter them at short notice, or after they have printed and circulated their cards and notices covering a whole year. An early move should be made if anything is to be done for next year.