The Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1916. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11671, 11 April 1916, Page 4

The Star. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1916. EDITORIAL NOTES.

CITY EXTENSION. ]>--,Qguncil last night by the By-laws Com'r,v amttae should remove on© of tho great v'; .obstacles to the extension of the city. 1?,.*" Ei more than one suburb the system of I'.. rating has been a, stumbling block. The are rated on the capital value %-j aiad .the city on the "unimproved value, : -' ■ (-and opposition to inclusion within the 'fj *<s& boundaries centred on the fact that £b mean ' the adoption of the *?, system of rating. The By-laws U* '.CS&aainittee has evidently recognised il-.:.jjib»t" the rating question forms a real j iSi/j&gtade to the extension of the city, £? "'aßcLit" proposes that any area seeking may continue to pay rates on f> ;fcSj£ system in force a-t the time of the r " t«ijia]ganjation, hut provision is made }:'-. -{Sop the ratepayers concerned to take a ■■j "win on the question, should a sufficient * aninnber of them demand it. ;r "'S v : '. -jyß the recommendations of the combecome law they should remove doubts in the minds of the resi- '/: \idflate- v of such suburbs as St Martins. - locality, with a considerable >' Ittriea' used l only for grazing purposes, jiisbe rating question was sufficient to '- {snake many people oppose inclusion in V-'{&*a city- area, but if inclusion should .;; j entail no change, except at the ex- ' ', j pressed wish of a '"majority of the rate- : payers, the - movement city-ivards '\ should develop rapidly. Pie cont'soitteo wisely. , The rapid V • growth of the city, and the increase in ' ?*- population- in these suburbs, -will graduK; .ally- solve any difficulties that a dual system- of rating may occasion. When >-' the' suburbs themselves are thickly -. populated, the need for the compromise j' suggested will have past. , !"" .MINISTERIAL OBSTINACY.

Defence Miuister, marshalling excuses for conscription, says he . "had got ail the men who have come "/toward, hence the necessity for other ■methods. He is directly contradicted; Hby Captain 'Barclay, Wellington's hen'.orary recruiting officer, who told a .' public meeting yesterday that Welling'..tbn' had lost recruits by the hundred -because it ! could not take them into !cimp Wellington recruited more than its share of the Reinforcements, yet it was '"Officially short because men had disappeared. Captain Barclay urged tho Minister to encourage the hope that jwhen a roan wanted to go into camp (hi should be permitted to do so. The jfljnister's reply was that every inIfiuiirymnn could come into camp tomorrow, a statoinent which is indeed remarkable when it is remembered that /for, the last year and more recruits rhave been fooled and discouraged by lithe Departmental attitude of taihoa. fHad the Government gone to work on -{jtho principle of striking the recruiting .{iron when it was hot and taking voluninto camp the day and the hour -.they expressed their willingness to >ibegin soldierly training, there would 'have been no occasion for Ministerial about shortage.

' ..Captain Barclay is in a better posi- . 'txon than Mr Allen to gauge the effect , -upon recruiting of the Ministerial ■ policy of centralisation, because he has , ttf-find the men for the camps, and his blunt' statement that Wellington has ". losV recruits by the hundred because . it cannot take them into camp at onto leaves no room for denial. If -that is the case in Wellington, with its trio huge camps, how much worse must it be in the other centres, to which Mr * Allen denies even the smallest reception camp! Obviously it is perfectly - -futile for Mr Allen to say that he has got every man who came forward. He has not got them; he has lost- hundreds of men because of his inexplicable obstinacy and his indifference to tie -pibblic demands. His methods are rdrrectly responsible for whatever diffi;jcalty he may experience in completing y the Reinforcements, but he fails to : T<liscbver any alternative between his ■': q>vji "cast-iron system and straight-out . "'ooiiscription. Captain • Barclay ha 3 " vcpnipleted the phain which, links up the ' "whole Dominion in a protest against Atho ways, of muddle and delay which

I have disgusted so many New Zealand soldiers and intending soldiers, but wo doubt whether oven this clinching denunciation of an ineffective system will convince a Minister who remains dumb whenever any appeal is made for an improvement in the methods of obtaining and holding men. Mr Allen's attitude has lost tho forces hundreds of men. It would come a lot cheaper in tho end if tho Dominion wera to make up its mind to lose JMr Allen. SAMOA AND ASIATIC LABOUR. Tho hope oxprcssod by delegates from the London Missionary Society's headquarters that Indian and Chinese labour will not bo introduced into Samoa will bo echoed by all who have any concern for the wolfaro of that beautiful group and its fino race of people, and particularly by those who are acquainted with the effect of Asiatic immigration upon tho inhabitants of other South Sea islands. Fiji has been ruined almost beyond hope of redemption by tho introduction of the worst class of natives of India, nearly iifty thousand of thorn, who have established in thoso islands "tho most j depraved features of life in tho vicious, crowded Old World cities. Tahiti has suffered a Chinese invasion, which has embruted its people, and- to the Chinese of Hawaii, tho inhabitants of our own group, tbo Cook Islands, trace the dread menace of leprosy. But even worse than the physical disease is the moral leprosy which the presence of a largo body of low-class Asiatics generates in tho Pacific groups. Already tho Chinoso have gained a footing in Samoa; thero are many hundreds of them there, imported by the big German firm, as plantation labourers. If New Zealand, as it most likely, is called upon to administer Samoa permanently it will be faced with a Chinese problem on a small scale, and it is a matter of the gravest importance, in tho interests of tho Samoan people as well as of the European residents, that the trouble should not be suffered to grow. The labour question cab be solved an other the cheap and objectionable Asiatic must be kept out at all costs. ■ WAR PROFITS. The year's tradd returns for the port of Timaru yield on analysis some significant facts which may perhaps elude general attention. The most striking revelation is the large increase in the value of the business done, despite the very considerable decrease in volume. The exports from Timaru for 1915, at is §hown, totalled 84,501 tons, as against 103,894 tons in 1914, but the value of tho produce shipped for the last year amounted to £1,545,40-1, compared with £1,326,577 in 1914. There. i i 3 a falling off in the actual quanti- | ties of meat and wool and other cargo : shipped of 18,893 tons, but a gain in value of £2l8 3 827. Here is as plain an illustration as any one could desire I of the big profits made by those who traffic in the produce of the land, profits due entirely to the enhanced prices caused by the necessities of war. The needs of our kin across the sea are cur opportunity for filling our pockets. Every other place of export in New Zealand lias the same story to tell. But our leaders go on in the old way, preferring to continue to borrow from the sorely-taxed Old Country rather than turn their attention to the men and the companies which are profiting so hugely by the tragedy of war. ,