The Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1917. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12086, 15 August 1917, Page 4

The Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1917. EDITORIAL NOTES.

YOUTHFUL SOLDIERS. "in withdrawing the proposal to reduce the age of recruits to nineteen years the Government, has shown that it is amenable to reason, and that when the desires of the country are made vocal the Administration U c i uite prepared to accede to the wishes of the public When it was first announced -that, the Government had such a proposal in contemplation there were many who were incredulous, but as day after .day passed and Ministers remained 6ilent, it dawned upon the public that the rumour rested on solid foundations. Whether or not the proposal was one which received shape during the ab-et-nco of tho Ministerial chiefs in tho Old Land for submission to the reunited Cabinet for final revision, or whether it was the idea of a single member of the Cabinet, we do not pretend to know. However, we are fain to believe that it never had the support of the whole Cabinet, and that when it was first, hinted that the Ministry had such a proposal in contemplation it was put forward largely as a feeler. It was soon made clear that the country was practically of one mind regarding the proposal, as from one end 6i the Dominion to the other the voice of condemnation was heard, and ere a couple of days had passed Ministers realised that were such a measure forced on the country it would arouse such a volume of opposition as would quickly overwhelm those responsible for lta production. Discretion is ever the better part of valour, and certainly the government was wise in its day and generation in withdrawing it, or rather in deciding not to bring forward in legislative form a proposal of this kind. The war has- not yet reached a stage when it is necessary to compel mere striplings to enter the fray; there aro, We are told, thousands of the ballotted men- of the First Division who have not yet responded to the call of their country, and it certainly behoves those in authority to round up the recalcitrants before recourse is had to the youths of the country. We have no doxibt whatever but the youths of the country would acquit themselves to the best of their ability were they to go forth to fight, but at that age many would be immature, and would not stand the fatigues incidental to hard campaigning. Better a thousand times that the age limit should be extended and that men of forty-eight or even more Bhould be drafted to the front. The day may come when it will be imperative that even youths of a younger age than that mentioned will require to dioulder the musket, but at present we hold that this is unnecessary. The cor.iitrjr has not yet been drained of its manhood to such an extent that youths •hoiiiar participate. We are extremely pleased to know that the Government has abandoned the proposal with which it was credited, and that other means than that of conscripting the youth of the country will be adopted to secure the necessary men. k ,:THE NEW CUSTOMS DUTIES. Government is... to., be congratulated on, it 3 .-decision -to increase old 'on its, recognition, al|Bough tardyfof the fact th&t the pen-

sion which was perhaps sufficient io keep body and soul together in pre-war J times, is altogether insufficient under the conditions which have prevailed during the last) three years. Since the war began, those who have been dependent partly, if not entirely, on their pensions have been passing through troublous times, and their position must have been a very unenviable one. It was hi the power of the Government, under the numerous Acts which find places on the Statute Book, and which are designed to thwart the predatory instincts of the profiteers, to have done much to, prevent the unjustifiable advance in the price of commodities, but, sad to say, it stood idly by, unwilling or Unable to raise a hand against the rapidly advancing prices. In this respect, alone the Govtrnrr.ent quite failed to realise expectations. When the Bill to set up the- Board of Trade was before the House, Ministers were loud in their declarations as_ to how it would safeguard the interests of the wage-earners and nullify the efforts of the heartless profiteers who are to be found in every country, and who appear to become more ravenous under war conditions. Many of the public men of the country, from their places in the House, have for more than two years 'urged the Government to take the step which it has now taken, whilst the Press of the Dominion has been almost unanimous in its demand for additional State aid to pensioners. For a long time the Government failed to respond, but at length it. has capitulated to a general demand, and a deserving class is to receive some relief. The Government's proposals to raise the necessary funds do not commend themselves to us. inasmuch as they imply increases in the preferential, surtax on goods other than British made. At one time,, when the nations of the world were in open competition against one another in all walks of life, the position was very different from what it is to-day, when the world is ranged into two camps, for the- neutrals are so few and so insignificant that they need not be taken into consideration. The present is clearly a very unfortunate time to impose additional taxes on the manufactures or produce of our Allies, and the revolt cannot be other than to raise douibtisi in the minds of the public men of the countries with which we are in alliance whether we are not worthy of the designation which Napoleon gave us—"A nation of shopkeepers." As we have said before, we heartily approve of the belated increase of old age pensions, but we maintain that the revenue should not be derived from a special tax on the products of Allied countries, but from the Consolidated Revenue, without distinction as to whence it came. The practice of earmarking certain sources of revenue for specific purposes is l ,, we think, a pernicious one, and in the case under notice we feel that it is particularly unfortunate. We would suggest that if it is necessary to imposo additional taxation on the wares of our Allies in the field, the revenue derived from the new impost should not he earmarked for pensions, but paid into the Consolidated Fund, and that the perP sions should be paid from the same" Jaukl. We are suro there is no desiro on the part of the people to saddle our : Allies with the payment of pension's which the people of this Dominion ar£ only too pleased to pay. THE CRIERS IN SPAIN. Tho cable message printed to-day announcing that a general strike has been declared in Spain and that the Government has established martial law may. bo taken as indicating that the country is practically in a. state of revolution. The recent resignation of the Liberal administration and the return to power of the Da to party were notoriously tho result of German manoeuvres, particularly the intrigues of the German Ambassador at Madrid, Prince Maximilian Hohenlohe. The position to-day is that Spain is violently divided into two parties, proAllies and pro-Germans, a division which extends to the army, and which is further complicated by the labour troubles. The growing unpopularity of the Datb Cabinet among the majority of Spain's population is reflected in recent cable messages, and the incapacity of the Government to deal effectively with industrial problems will probably prove a powerful factor in ousting it from its place and in bringing about such a- radical alteration i|n national policy that Spain sooner or later will be found actively aiding the Entente Powers. A newspaper correspondent writing from Madrid a few weeks ago made it clear that the dissensions in the army and among the civil population were largely due to the machinations of German agents, headed by the Ambassador from Berlin. "Those who know Spain best and who have kept themselves abreast of conditions there are convinced, not without good reason," he wrote, " that the land of the Hidalgos is on the very brink of a revolution. For the first time since the restoration of the Bourbons to the throne, in 1874, military prouunciarnentos, which even much more than Carlism were tho blight and curse of Spain during some six decades or more of the nineteenth cenirary, have loomed up*again as a political factor, largely through German manoeuvres and instigation. The revolution, if it takes place, will differ from that at Petrograd in that it will be in no sense aimed at the King, who is personally very popular, nor even against the dynasty. But it will be directed against the present Government and against the army. To-day Spain is divided into two camps. On the one side there is.the new Cabinet, the greater portion of the Court, all ihe higher ranks of the army, most of the territorial aristocracy, and much of the rural population, who all favour the cause of Germany. On tho other hand, there is the entire industrial and commercial element of the population, the working classes in the cities and towns, what are. known as the liberal professions, such as lawyers, physicians, scientists, etc., the business classes and bourgeoisie, and the liberal element in the aristocracy, who are bitterly opposed to Germany and who lean toward the Allies. King Alfonso's sympathies, those of his consort, of His brother-in-law the Infant Carlos, and,of his masterful aunt, the old Infanta Isabella,

are strongly mth the Powers of the Entente." If the business interests, the mercantile and the industrial population of Spain are so savagely incensed against the Kaiser, it is because his submarine activities have had the result of bringing their activities to an almost complete, standstill. Matters reached a climax so far as Spain was concerned last year, when the Germans proclaimed their intention of sinking all vessels, hostile or neutral, found within zones the ocean-wide delimitation of which virtually prevented all access to Spanish ports. The reaulti of this is that to-day Spain's sea-borne trade is almost entirely suspended, and that her industries and her commerce are temporarily ruined. The vessels which brought sorely needed coal from Great Britain and from the United States, coal whicn is a necessity for Spanish industry, and the ships carrying back ores and other products in demand abroad, have ceased running, and hunch eds of thousands of Spanish people are out of work. These conditions, together with the discontent of the majority at the Government's foreign policy, are working for a wild upheaval in Spain with the almost certain result of tHie fall of the existing Cabinet and thy addition of 'die country to the ranks of our Allies.