The Star. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1916. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11730, 21 June 1916, Page 4

The Star. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1916. EDITORIAL NOTES.

. WITHOUT DISCUSSION. With the debt of the Doniinion mounting up by millions yearly, and tho prospect of further heavy increases, Urith the resultant taxation, the subject A finance is ono of paramount importance. Proposals of a new order were f placed before the House last week by the Minister of/Finance, and matters such as the cost of living were also referred to. The Budget was one of the most important oVer brought down, and the House, without a-murmur, waives its right to criticise. jPoubtless later tin the members will• en3eavou r to place their views on record, but this wafs the timo for Mr Nosworthy to state the case for the farmers, for the Labour members to attack the primage duty, for those who believe in the graduation of taxation in order to place the heaviest burden on the broadest shoul- ■ dere to protest against the imposition of a special income tax v that is not , graduated' at all. Many members will bo very angry if their constituents take f Wdns sudden silence to mean consent to fill that is in the Financial Statement, but it is diffioult to see how they can exenso their failure to give expression to their views. v fla© members know very well that the proposals in the Budget will affect the bamixuon for years to come. They know that the more war expenditure \ we can meet out of revenue the'lighter our financial burdens will be in the future. An honest attempt to raise the excess profits tax from 45 per cent to 6p per cent—the standard adopted in Britain and Australia—would have been strongly supported, and the result might < easily have been the transference from private pockets to the State Treasury of a million or more of profits, matfe out of war conditions, and an annual saving of at the very least, nearly £50,000 in our interest bill. An earnest debate would probably have • drawn from the Minister of Finance an undertaking to meet, say, a third of our war expenditure out of revenue; an undertaking that would liavo been Xery welcome indeed*. Last night's performance leaves the Cabinet- in tho dark as to the views of the House and the constituencies .ignorant regarding the attitude of the representatives, furthermore, it gives xm impression of carelessness as to financial affairs, although finance is of tho very greatest importance now, and after the war will ctominate all other interests. The* excuses put forward for the col* lapse of the debate are futile to a degree. The member who was expected to open the discussion was absent, we are told, and apparently others, "primed" or - " inwardly bursting to voice them- ' selves on the Budget," -were suddenly struck dumb at the remarkable failure of their expectations. If members desired to speak, what was there to stop them? If they felt it their cfuty to criticise the Budget, this was the timo for them to do it; and if, as is stated, the majority of members desired to speak, then the majority stands convicted of dereliction of duty. We do I not advocate speaking for speaking's sake, but, with so much to be atone, an earnest debate would have been productive of good. As things are, one of the most important Budgets ever laid before the House is passed by in silence, and, judging by the report, the whole ftffair is treated as a good joke. THE MEXICAN TROUBLE. The bitter confliot with which tho American world is threatened as the result of Mexico's declaration of trar against the United States may have been hastened in its development by German intrigue and German gold; - that, indeed, is extremely likely, in the light of the hints of Teuton influence in Mexioo City convoyed in recent despatches. But the most powerful impelling force behind President. Oarranza's defiance of Washington is undoubtedly the intense popular hatred of Americans whioh exists from one end to the other of the Mexican Republic. Rightly or wrongly, the average Mexican is firmly convinced that the great capitalists and mineral-development trusts of the United States havo designs upon the oil and golct and other underground wealth of his country, and 4*<nh these schemes, unless frustrated by force, will mean' the ultimate practical

conquest, of Mexico by Wall financiers and their docilo politicians. Tlhj Mexican seems constitutionally incapable of continued fidelity to one set) j oi rulers or of permanent, national unity; for years tho country has been torn by feuds and has become the prey of ambitious loaders of guerilla armies. But in tlie presence of danger from outside, of retributive attack upon one faction of banditti by tho detested "Gringo," tho Spanish -Indian ranks oloso up, it may be temporarily, but none tho loss determinedly, in the resolve to eject tho invaders and even to carry retaliatory operations into tho enemy's territory. Tho declaration of war followed immediately upojj President Wilson's flat rejection of the Mexican demand that the United States troops sent in pursuit of Villa should bo withdrawn across tho border. It will be unfortunate if, at this critical juncture, the United States should be forced into a war which would bo no sharp, short campaign, but a. long-drawn, costly and inglorious struggle- That there is sufficient causa for stern measures few will deny. American citizens have been robbed and murdered, American fron- { tier towns have been raided and " shot up," American rights have been trodden underfoot, and tho American flag has been insulted time and again. The impudent raids of Villa and his liardriding bands upon border settlements provoked the punitive expedition into Mexioau territory, ft mission of punishment only entered upon with President Carranza's consent. It is reported that the Mexican President still' hopes to avoid a conflict, and many people will wish him success in that respect. Britain least of all wishes to see the American Government committed to a long and costly war in the western world, for the concentration of munitions manufacturing effort upon supplies for tho United States forces and the diversion of other assistance to the Allies to the purposes of a Mexican invasion is bound to put some extra strain upon the resources of the Entente Powers. So far-spreading are j the complications provoked by tho plundering and shooting excursions of a gang of picturosquo ruffians against the unimportant little towns that dot the northern banks of tho frontier rivers. It is not very easy to gather on accurate idea of the strength of the forces with which the United States Amy will havo to reckon. So far as the present expeditionary force under General Pershing is concerned, the number of American soldiers despatched across the frontier is given as seven thousand men. Against this little force there were at least 25,000 Mexican veterans within " striking distance," at last despatches, and this number probably has been doubled by this time. There is a Texan border saying that one American is as good as five " greasers " any time, but every American soldier and militiaman is not a trained border fighter, and should hostilities ' follow the Carranza men and their late antagonists and now likely comrades, the Villa guerillas, may be able to make an advance across the frontier. It seems likely that Carranza himself is relegated to the background in theso latest developments. General Alvaro Obregon, Minister of ,War in the de facto Government of Mexico, is the man who has conducted all the negotiations with Washington and who has made a vigorous appeal to "the national dignity and ( self-respect," as he put it, to vindicate the sovereignty of Mexico and the sacredness of Mexican soil. Villa is likely, perhaps, to strike independently, seizing favourable opportunities to attack. His following is still very considerable, and at last j accounts he was fairly well supplied I with quick-firing guns of an excellent | pattern. In tho south there is the notorious ISmiliano Zapata to be reckoned with. He is a, remarkably able, if unscrupulous, type of Mexican; he has named two Presidents of Mexico and ho has defeated two considerable armies sent against him. lie is said to command an army almost as large as the Government's, and to have the solid support of close on a million people; j and stubbornly as he has resisted au- * thoritv in his own country ho would | more strenuously resist the Gringo ati tempt to subdue and pacify the war-, ridden republic. AMERICA'S SHIPBUILDING. The shortage of shipping produced by the great war and the consequent enormous drain upon the mercantile fleets of tho world by the Allies' necessities and the wholesale destruction of vessels in the enemy's raids has stimulated American builders to exertions unprecedented in the maritime history of the western world. On east and west coasts of the United States every important shipbuilding yard has been working at high pressure for the last year and more. Tho only period of activity at all approaching this building boom was the clipper ship era of the middle of last century, when Americanbuilt wooden ships were in world-wide request as carriers because of their unrivalled qualities of speed and their great cargo capacity. That was the golden age of American sail, the day of the glory of the seas for the United States merchant service, when tlie Stars and Stripes flow from the mastheads of splendid clippers in every harbour of the globe. Since then the American marine dwindled greatly, but the war has helped to revive something of its olden importance, and the next few months will show great additions to its tonnage afloat. A cable message states that the merchant vessels under construction in the United States last month aggregated 1,129,000 tons, which is five times greater than the total on the stocks in 1914. When this enormous quantity of shipping is put in the water the relief to the world's sea-borne business cannot but be very considerable. A San r rancisca journal to hand by this week's mail discusses the approaching 1 increase of the carrying fleets by hun- ' dreds of thousands of tons of new bottoms, and forecasts a reduction of the present high charter and freight rates. " Indications (that liho present high shipping rates are not long to be in i <'irecV it say.?, '' are presented in the

shipping community by the offer for sale of several largo lumber carriers and coastwise vessels during tho past Jew <jnvs. Another incident which indicates tho same thing is that thcio have been no new charters of small carriers for the Orient recently. Among tho other suggested reasons for this relief from tho high tension in the carrying trade is tho possibility of an early end of the l£uropoan war and tho consequent release of all enemy ships tied up in neutral ports.* Tho first fruits of tho building spurt in America so far as Now Zealand and Australia are affeoted will be tho lowering of freights between the Pacific Slope and these countries. Numerous largo schooners, chiefly with auxiliary screw, have been built or aro now on tho stocks in Californian yards; theso vessels are specially adapted for tho lumbor trade, and the fact is of importance to us in view of our increasing dependence upon American timber supplies. Then towards the end of tho year, whon tho bigger vessls take the water in tho Atlantic and the Pacific, we may reasonably look for an easing oil iin general freight rates.