The Star. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1916. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11594, 12 January 1916, Page 4

The Star. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1916. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE WHEAT PROBLEM. The Ashburton County is one of-the most important wheat-growing areas in 'the Dominion, and those who, for business or other reasons, must keep in touch with the market keep an eye on that fertile district. Already those in »' position to form a sound estimate predict a. serious shortage of cereals chiefly to the long-continued spell or 'dry weather. The welcome rains that fell late in December made some improvement in the outlook, but those who know the district well predict a crop .far below the average. This is a •.matter for concern, not only to the ■ grower, but to the consumer, and it is . •' to bo hoped that when Mr Massey pays \ his promised visit to Canterbury in order to study the wheat question ,he ' will take steps to ascertain and ascerr tain accurately the amount of wheat .'- that will be available. Since the war started, the Dominion has paid away ..many thousands of pounds for the purs chase of wheat, only to Jim! that the estimates of our supplies were sadly ,' astray, and that we had ample supplies " ' to last us until the new crop was avail- , able. 1 Because of the erroneous estimates, New Zealand to-day owns 900,000 ■. bushels of wheat in Canadian elevators, yet not long: ago the Government lifted; the embargo on the exportation of

, wheat f ron\ the Dominion, proving, that wo had a substantial surplus. - Had Mr >„;: Massey taken tho advice offered by Mr Btrxton, of Temuka,.and others seized of the position, the Dominion would nearer have purchased Canadian; wheat to sell to New Zealand millers at a loss, and to-day we should not have hat? nearly a million bushels, costing us a considerable sum. for storage and pur- - chased at a figure well above tho market price ruling to-day. The Dominion purchased the wheat at 6s 3d (Idol 2o cents), and what with storage charges ■ and freight it could not be sold here at 7s without incurring Joss, so that, although the Government holds a great quantity of wheat, it will not be in a position to steady the market should it rise in the near future, unless willing to incur a heavy ross.

The Government is in a very peculiar

position. As a largo holder of wheat, Jt stands to gain, or at least to materially reduce its losses, by a rise in the market price. As the custodian of the country's foodstuffs; it must do all in its power to keep prices d'own to a reasonable level. It cannot do both, and between tho two problems it may find itself in an extremely awkward posi-

tion. Last year, when the position be-

carao acute we wore told that it was im,v possible, or impracticable, to limit tho 'price of wheat, and that" the way to keep the market steady was to import. Growers would be very glad if the

Prime Minister would fix the price at v the figure at whrch he could sell his

Canadian stocks in the Dominion. The consumer would' strenuously object; but if the figure is anything under, say, 6s 6d, the country must make good a substantial loss on 900,CC0 bushels. It certainly is a strange development when the position of the Government nnd the position of the speculator are \ practically the same. The problem is a knotty one, and probably it will be pent along to the Board of Trade when -that body is at-last- duly constituted—and that is a matter shrouded in mys- . iery.

ffiONT-ENECRO'S STRUGGLE. The warrior race of Montenegro. which has known little peace for five or six centuries, is in deadly grips today with the most formidable foe that ever has menaced its mountain strongholds. The cable messages toll of desperate fighting at various points, in particular on the north-western side of Mount Lovchen, facing the Austrian harbour of Cattaro, where a most intense cannonade and the use of gas enabled tho Augtrians to reach the defenders' first line, a portion of which was abandoned. We may imagine the tierce and determined fight that the mountain men will make for Lovehen, l .he. key of their capital, Cettinje, and the Olympus of thoir race. It has been .veil fortified during the last twelve months, and cablegrams some mouths ago told of the bombardment of Cattaro harbour with long-range guns from the slopes of Lovehen. This menace the Austrians are making the strongest efforts to remove, and their eagerness to win the mountain will be redoubled by tho knowledge that its capture would make the way to Cettinje fairly easy.

' Mouut Lovehen is sanctified to the Montenegrins by many a grim struggle and by the national memories and poetic legends that halo its dark head. Jt is indeed from Lovehen that they take the ancient name of their .country,

Tzrnagora, the "Black Mountain," with its popular equivalent, Montenegro. Tho naine is derived from the dark appearance of this commanding height, 5653 ft abovo the sea. The northern and eastern declivities, those winch we viewed! from Montenegro proper, are in shadow tor tho greater part of the day, and the dusky pine forests which one clothed the mountain, and of which remnants still exist on its northern elope, heightened its sombre aspect. When Cottinje was captured by the Turks in the seventeenth .and eighteenth centuries the bolder tribes of Montenegro maintained their resistance in tho heights, and no invading army ever really conquered the defenders of the Jbovchen range. When King Peter il. died in 1851, alter a reign that was distinguished by efforts to civilise and educate his people, he was buried on the summit of Lovchen so that, as he expressed it'in. bis dying wish, his, 'spirit might survey his beloved land. Not far away ui the neghbourhood of tho captal, accbidiig to a nationals legend, tho heroic Ivan the Black, who died about the end of the fifteenth' century, still sleeps in a cave near his ancient fortress, to awake when tf'e hour conies,for tho expulsion of the Turks from iiiiropc. These are some of tho beliefs that cluster round tho great fortified mountain and that will strengthen the : resolve of the hard-fighting men of the ! bJaok hills to cling to its trenched and gun-pitted ranges to the very last.

FARMS OR FORESTS. Reference lias been made on several occasions in these columns to the value of the unconsidered pumice lands in the Kotorua-Taupo country not only for tree-planting, but for agricultural and pastoral purposes. The farming, cprrespondent of the "New Zealand Herald," whose views on the possibilities of this great area of'unused land' are eminently sound and practical, has something to say about the district on tho eastern sido of the Waikato River, tho great plain over which; tho main road from Rotorua to Tauno via Waiotapu passes. This section of the pun:iceous belt, he writes is "one of the greatest areas of level or ploughable land in the whole of New Zealand. Li this district the Crown alone owns over 700,000 acres of laud, most of which is unoccupied and unproductive, and so far tho only use which our State officials have dreamt of making of this vast national estate is through tree-planting. The State has already planted nearly 18,000 acres with various kinds of timbers, and has reserved 'altogether .nearly 300,000 acres for afforestation. Now, tree-planting is useful work, but it is of more.importance and of more value to the State to coyer the land with productive farms and farmers than to bring it under forests for half a century or more. A serious wrong will be done to the ■ Dominion if our Stale officials are allowed to go on working under tho imj, -fission that this class of land -is\ only fit for timber trees. If tho rough and: broken country is, planted it will prove a. national benefit, but ploughablo land, land that can bo made into productive farms, should not be buried under forests.''

A similar suggestion has beeen made in the ' : Star," in the direction of putting to fanning use those areas that are at all fit for cropping or for running stock. The country through which the Geyserland motors and coaches rim to-day is desolate enough in appearance, but experience has shown that under intelligent treatment at a comparatively small cost much of this pumice-dusted territory can be farmed quite well, and in a very few years made profit-earning. It must be remembered, however, that a great deal of this unpeopled and' almost untouched land between Waiotapu and Taupo in the one direction and between the Waikato River and the Upper Rangitaiki in the other is quite unsuitable for farming, even for sheep-raising, and that it can besfe be devoted to forest plantations. The Kaingaroa Plain, a huge tableland of fifty miles in length by-sixteen to twenty in width, is the less valuable portion of the volcanic belt, in a farmer's eyes, but all these pumice plains will grow trees, and' the Now Forest that ought to spring up lie re, in extension of the excellent work already done around Waiotapu and on the slopes of tho Moerangi rauge, at tho hack of Whakarewarewa, should be of vast benefit to the well populated Geyserland of tho future. A thorough economic survey of this great district lias yet to be made, and it is & work in which the Department of Lands and the Department of Agriculture might well join forces. j ,• AT BREAKING POINT. Should Bulgars and Turks pour over the Greek frontieV in an attempt to capture Salonika, the Greeks will have much cause for thought. Not three years ago they fought the Bulgars in that very area, and'before that they fought the Turk there. And they have cause to remember both Bulgar and the Turk as inhuman enemies. When the Bulgars were driven back, they committed fiendish atrocities, and on July 13, 1913, King Constantine, in a, message to his Foreign Minister, said: "Protest-in my name to the representatives of the civilised: Powers against these monsters in human form, and declare before the whole civilised world that 1 shall be compelled to take vengeance in order to inspire terror Into these monsters and to make them reflect before they commit any more such crimes, which surpass in horror those committed during tho incursions of tho barbarians." Another incursion by these " monsters in human form" may prove too much for the ardent Greek patriots, and even for their King.