The Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11332, 9 March 1915, Page 4

The Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

The oft her day Mr Massey announced that he did not intend to purchase any more wheat from abroad because with the new crop coming in we should have plenty on hand until next harvest. He now says " though it is more than 'doubtful even now whether New Zealand will this season produce enough . wheat for her own requirements, still the increased quantity will have a tendency to reduce present prices. That along with the probability of the Russians being able to get wheat ' through the Dardanelles in the not distant future ought to make prices easier all over the world."

j. These contradictory statements emi phasise a fact upon which most people i are now agreed, and that is that the .! Prime Minister is a bungler who ;_V dun no where he are." Of course ) the Chrietclnuch "Press'' attempts to | come. to the rescue of the boss ' 1 rej formar " • and repeats the parrot con'tention that wheat should not b© singled out for special treatment. . Our venerable Tory friend omits to I remember that wheat has been ; ' singJ led out" for protection at the expense lof tho consumer for many years. It j omits to remember also that it was the "singling out" of wheat by a Com- ! monwealth Labour Government which enabled. Mr Massey to get tire supplies from Australia which were sold f ' 1 At a loss" to Mr Massey's friends of ' the Administration. That same when which is bought at a loss to the people of New Zealand is being mixed with the new season's wheat and sold at a Vrofit by the millers who were I'icicy Enough to get the handling of it, and ! bread is up to a record price.

The Government had legnlittre authority to prevent exploitation by the merchants, millers, sugar company ami meat and butter vendors. They did not exercise that autboritr. Why not? Because their sympathies are with the exploiters and not the consumers. Li that not plain enough P

The same tiling has happened with the meat' contracts. The Imperial au- . thorities placed themselves in Mr ' Massey's hands to purchase" meat on their behalf from the local tru.sts. The Prime Minister told an interviewer yesterday that "he had not had a single complaint," and he was of opinion that the producers and the people connected with the meat trade were of opinion that it had been done satisfactorily. Does Mr Massey mean that the Imperial authorities have been "done" satisfactorily. Our biggest looal retail butcher, Mr Dixon, seems to think so. He says that the meat has been bought on "a I very, very liberal scale—a scale that |no local retail butcher could afford to ! look at." This means that the Prime ; Minister was not able to resist the jsqueeee put upon him by the conference of freewng company magnates i-nrhom he called together at Wellington, and who not unnaturally passed a j resolution of confidence in him as a -xmrt of their business. This not onl.v fciefiiis that th© Imperial authorities 'will have to pay & fancy price for their (itoeat, but the advance will he reflected | locally. The farmers and meat comtpany speculators will reap a magnifiItoent harvest—a harvest that could not i*be reaped if the .Empire were not at wax, and the consumer everywhere will •continue to pay, pay, pay.

The CJhri*fccburch Press" and other Reform" journals are deadly afraid jiViat the Government may be forced by | public opinion to get some of the easy I money won by New Zealand exploiters j out of this war back in the form of I •pecial taxation. They need not fear. ! The Prime Minister has boasted of the J. 4 ' solidarity ' of his party at all points Where their vital interests aro concerneel. The journal in question has oven gone to the ext-ent of invoking the example of Mr Lloyd George. It seems to have overlooked the fact that the British Chancellor's scheme included doubling the income tax, bringing the levy up to half a crown iu the pound on unearned incomes, and that nearly 70 per cent of his war ta-x money is to be derived from that source alone.

When the terrible welter of slaughter has b«en cleared up in Europe, and the so-called leading nations of civilisation return to their peaceful avocations, maybe the world will be In a mood to exercise a little toleration and commonaense in international questions. It is permissible when tho pulse of the nation is racing, and the attributes of the ftp© flnd the tiger are io the fore, to invoke the aid of the jjod of Battles in this, our most just but there is no excuse, when Sw wri' h.™ hv,pn sheathed, to conand dangerous

nonsenoe. From the time of Moses downward®, " chosen people" have bean the humbugs of history, and the latest and biggest humbug of all has been the sentimental, hypocritical, jwondo-religious Pruesianism which has provoked the present struggle.

There is a danger, however, that in meeting this menace of force with force we may emulate the enemy in bowing to the doctrine of force and hate eo diligently instilled into Germans of this generation. Wo have seen the fruit of this teaching in the rape of Belgium, but yet there are plenty of well-meaning people who would delight, to seo tho British people a nation of soldiers with the attributes and ideals of a mart nil race. Of course, the present is a particularly receptive time for such ideas, but it is to be hoped" that when tho world returns to p-saco and canity nobler and truer conceptions of a people's duty will prevail.

In plain term*, soldiering to-day is the science and art of killing men, ol srtarving civilian populations, and of grinding to dust the works of art and industry. There is no greater antisocial force outside a hurricane or in earthquake, n.nd people are just beginning to realise that in its blin:i fury, its antagonism to everything of use and benuty war is about on a par with the rude, uncontrolled forces of Nature.

And yet the nations of Euro|ve during the last fifty years have been under the hypnotio illusion that gigantic preparations for war were going to preserve the peace of the world. They had built up great, anti-social forces and they expeoted these forces to hold eflidi other in check. It was as if lions trained and' goaded to the utmost ferocity would stand in awe of one another simply because their trainers desired them to do so. "Si vis pacem para helium,wa-s the half-truth with which Europe dangerously quibbled for half a century with a fascination that thinkers in vain tried to dispel. Then the crash of nations came. A trivial incident, the murder of an archduke, being all that wae required to precipitate a European struggle. Now some people aro asking themselves if the warcloud could have happened' if armaments had been limited. Universal disarmament may appear to some a dream., bnt if there were no big guns and munitions of war it would be a rather difficult matter for one nation to destroy the peace of the world. Just now America is in the position of a nation partially urged to war and yet not in a position to tak<; the decisive step. Is this unpreparedness after all is said' and done, an unmixed evil to the American people?

NEWS FROM EGYPT. The "Star" will bo pleased to receive for publication letters which have been sent by soldiers serving with the Expeditionary Force to their relatives and friends at home. Manuscript will be carefully oopied and returned to the senders immediately.