"POOR OLD BRITAIN."

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14222, 13 June 1910, Page 3

"POOR OLD BRITAIN."

ANOTHER VIEW. Thousands of Britons throughout the •world are in a constant slate of sneer at the decadence of the race, its lack of common sense, its wretched state of trade, its miserable physique, its fear of everybody and everything, and its general sphielessness, "idiocy.' and Jecay. Professor Osborne, of "Melbourne, .seems to bo the latest detractor of Britain. He has lately been sneering at "the contemptible position'' occupied by .Britain in relation to Germany and the United States, and her indilieronee towards the Higher Education and science. The "contemptible"' position occupied by Great Britain is evidently reached because the majority of Britons have not the scientific knowledge of Professor Osborne, and because Englishmen feel rather anxious when Australian cricketers beat them. The latest figures available show tbe '•contemptible" position of British trade. If one cares to look at a proportionate man of the British Empire one will find that the small blots lost in the immensity are Gr°.;vt Britain and New Zealand. Th" tiny splodge from which the ••contemptible'' trade emanates, although it is a little concerned about cricket, and attends a football match while Germans ' are buried in their laboratories, exports j four hundred million pounds' worth of I goods and raw products (apnroximafehi ev?rv year. and. owing to the snia!!ne:s «>f the splodge, imports six hundred million pounds worth of goods ivr annum. , and receives from her brainless offspring overseas-a total of one hundred | and fourteen million pounds' worth per 1 annum. Unfortunately, we are unable I to find in any Blue Book the total exports or imports resulting from the Higher Education of Professor Osborne \ or his work in the Melbourne laboratory. The Professor showed that Britain had lost the Indian indigo trade because Germans had beaten her hi the laboratory. The obvious retort is that Professor Osborne should have used his own Higher Education in bis own laboratory in order to prevent Britain losing the trade. It is of little assistance to the indigo trade to blame the people who have lost it. Our friends the Germans, who are entitled to all the trade they can honestly get for their immense patience, their wonderful application, and their marvellous expansion of technical education, mav be going to beat us for the world's fv;tde. We don't know any better than Professor Osborne. Mr LlovclGeorge, Chancellor of the Exchequer, lately mentioned tlje following facts:— '•Our eximrt of manufactured goods is £83.000,000 above that of Germanv. which is £290.000.000. That of France is onlv £118.1100.0110, and of the United States £10G.000.000. Our export of manufactured goods is greater than that of France and the United States put together."' While Professor Osborne was talking of tbe stupidity of Britain and her "contemptible"' position in regard to Germany and the ("nited States be might have mentioned that both in New Zealand and Australia the people use a very large proportion of both American and German goods although there never was any comparison in the manufactured by the astute and brainy foreigners to those of the slow. i'l»epy "contemptituV'Briton. The fact that Oermany has twenty million more people than Great Britain is probably no reason, in the opinion of the Higher Educationists, for the expanse of German trade, and the fact that the fewer people of Britain produce infinitely more than our friends the Germans cannot be counted to them for righteousness in the minds of the school and armchair logicians. When this sort of person talks of tbe decay of his owu flesh and blood, the only thing to hit him with is fact. We get into quite a fever of admiration of the United States of America, mainly for the reason that that country makes many millionaires, proving that much trade at lucrative prices is done. The Englishman may be very rich and very successful, very clever and of great business acumen, but his reserve will not allow him to talk about it. He plods along. The United States of America is a very large place, and it contains over seventy-six millions of people. Unless an Englishman saw the figures in regard to American trade, he would be the last to credit the fact that his thirty-six million people "licked" the whole United States "hollow" in regard to manufactures, and that it shows no disposition to permit the United States. Germany, or France to approach tho magnificent totals. We do not think that the torrent of blame that is poured on Britain from Britons all over the world disturbs the great British traders in the heart of the Empire one bit. We do riot think that John Bull fears either competition or the skill of others. We do not think that the fate of the Empire's' trade hangs on the loss of the Indian indigo trade, or the fact that somebody has let a contract to Germany for a railway in China. We believe that John Bull is as clever as his German or American" cousin, that his weaknesses are exaggerated, and that the strength of his competitors is over-estimated. John Bull refuses to be panic-stricken, and continues to calmly beat all comers at most of the things that matter. It must not be thought that when Ger- j mank began its splendid manufacturing ; expansion in 1800 that Britain went j out into the football field and left the ' factory to Jake care of itself. Britain

is still the most dogged, most persevering, and most honest trader in the world. Britain's uoods are the best Roods in the world. Oilu-r nations, in a desire to do trade, uilfullv lalW their floods '-Made in Britain.'' "Windo these clever, superior, brain'v Hicher Educationists do this sort (if thm<ry "Why must our superiors ropv us Goodness only knows. Perhaps Professor Osborne and the innumerable other Britons who sneer at Britain cmi toll us. Let them all get down to facts m dealm- with their "contemptible" headqua: l ers.—("Taranaki Xews.")