PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17229, 21 December 1923, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION.

WHAT OTHER WRITERS ARE SAYING. ' DOMINION’S FUTFRE. The immediate future in regard to the produce of this Dominion—with the exception of beef—is. we think, safely assured. There can be no ques4fan but that next year the Empire Exhibition at Wembley? will attract enormous crowds of overseas visitors, and Britain should witness a, record consumption of ovei seas produce. When the Exhibition is over. New Zealand’s produce should be better known and more highly appreciated than in the past. But now is the time for the authorities to eommnece to boost this Dominion’s products. The produce should not be left to boost itself.— Gisborne “Times.” A WEST COAST CRITIC. The politician of to-day, whatever he may be in private life, and however splendid he may appear to his relatives and friends, is a sorry spectacle. He combines in his political actions hypocrisy and insinceritj*. He can never be wholly trusted and his capacity for mischief is immeasurable Responsibilities sit on him lightly, for there is no retribution for his errors of omission and commission. The average colonial politician believes in borrowing and squandering public funds, and the squandering is mostly in the nature of political bribes. The want of honesty and sincerity is the besetting sin of Parliaments everywhere, hence the manifestations of political unrest and political chaos.—Hokitika “ Guardian.” THE BEST CUSTOMERS. Overseas countries ,eager for preference from the Homeland, should be consistent and grant it in return, and even if the Baldwin proposals are ultimately rejected, the duty is still clear to buy British articles whenever possible. The Homeland’s present industrial crisis is partlv the result of her war efforts. She undertook the greatest share of the tremendous burden, and th© most practicable recognition of this fact by other Empire countries would be to determine that they will assist her to restore lie* financial and industrial status, by being her best customers. .Nothing is more likely to strengthen the cause of preference for overseas products by the Motherland.—“ Grey Star.” THOSE WEATHER PROPHETS. Our foremost prophets speak of cyclonic and anti-CY'donic influences haunting our neighbourhood only a few hundred miles distant, or of the crests of high-presure and low-pressure waves or of dispersions and coalescences. And they do this in graphic though matter-of-fact and confident ways, so tht we can in imagination, follow the storm as it skips about, generally just out of reach. All this is very interesting, but it is also very exasperating when grain and pastoral’ farmers are longing.to angle the storm into their own parched paddocks and cannot land it. When the drought is cracking our soils and our complexions, our temperts and our credits, we are sometimes fed on dailv doles of expectations. “ Indications of rain,” delightful when first mentioned, become by reiteration as unappetising as cur ried entree served in similar perpetuity.—“ Guardian.” Ashbbrton. THE REFUSAL OF VENIZELOS. Tho Greek problem is bristling with difficulties, because tho country is seriously embarrassed and jt has not yet forgotten the tremendous cleavages of the war and the post-war period. M. Venizelos is an old man and if he tackled the job of rescuing Greece it would be with the knowledge that time is against him. Modern Greece owes more to bin* than to an> T man. but the people have no liking for the vigorous policy of repression which he has sometimes followed in his effort to carry through reforms. He has twice pulled tho nation out of perilous situations, and that is why the Greeks seek him. In him they see a chance of a grand re-union -. in him there is some hope of rescue, but the Cretan does not trust Greek political opinion ; fae has had an experience of its fickleness. Venizelos’s refusal to return is a serious rebuff for Greece, but this is not the end of Venizelism.—“ Times,” gillTHE FIRST TO SUFFER.

The specialisation for industrial purposes which begins too soon may bo one of the greatest tragedies when the requirements of general culture are neglected tor it. la any state of society, however, some boys will have less desire than others for education which does not promise direct financial value, and some will Ik? under more necessitj’ than others to begin early to earn their living. To find employment for the hov for which he will be best fitted is the problem confronting parents—a hard one to solve, often—when the “ breakup ” ceremony means the end of school. Mr Stathani has given a. warning which has cause to be heeded. “ Far too many boys,” he stated at one closing ceremony. “are giving up their study for trades and professions to earn high wages at unskilled labour : but for them a day of reckoning will come, and they will be sorry that they took that step.” The unskilled worker who escapes the drudgery of preparation for his life work may flourish for a season ; butv’n time, of depression he is the first to suffer.—’’‘ Manawatu Daily Times.” “ BLIGHT.” During his recent visit to the Gisborne district. Dr Rcakes .the DirectorGeneral of Agriculture, devoted special attention to efforts that- are being made by the locaJ officers of his department to get rid of the sweet-briar which is threatening to overrun large areas of rich lang along the East Coast of this island. On the completion of his investigation he was able to report that experiments made with various methods of handling the problem in a cheap and effective manner had beeu most encouraging and that the officers of the department now thought they had found the solution. They were introducing a blight. Dr Reakes explained. which killed the briar and yet did no harm to any other species of vegetation. They were carrying their experiments further with a view to ascertaining if the blight could he employed in subduing the blackberry pest. This, the Director admitted, was a very* big problem, and further experiments would have to he made ; hut he was very hopeful of success. This all is very satisfactory as far as it goes, but there arc- so many blights abroad already that the man on the land will he a bit. alarmed by any addition to their number.— Manawatu ' Times.” EVEREST AGATN. The British spirit that refuses to 1 accept defeat is shown in 1 ment that- a third attempt will be j made in the nexi northern spring to i

reach the summit of Mount Everest. The expedition will be commanded by Brigadier-General Bruce, who for thirty years has had experience as a climber, and who led last year’s attempt. That endeavour had hardly, failed, it would appear, before the plans of the hardy explorers were being made for a new one! The call of the high peaks, it is very clear, can be as insistent and urgent for those who once fall under their spell as that of the Antarctic has been for men who have returned there time after time, undeterred by-its desolation and dangers. A materialistic age might feel cause to wonder what the explorers see in such discomfort-able adventures. It is not much at this stage that science can. learn from them, and to pant up the steep sides of Everest, a few feet in a day. with the rarest, air making labour for the lungs and the risks of blizzards and deep snows to cause destruction, might seem to be an experience more to be avoided than courted by sane beings. To the spirit of the explorer in is not so. He burns to show that man can do a little more, in despite of Nature than be has done before, and so to win more honour for man’s stature. Hia idealism has its own reproof for the materialism of the age.—“ Star,” Dunedin. A THREAT TO TAX. With tongue in cheek, the same German Minister tells the people of Germany—“ We must rely solely ou taxation to carry on to the end of the tear.” Britain and France, and in particular Britain, have been relying upon taxation to “ carry on ” from the day the war started until now. and are both still carrying on by means of taxation. Why. then, should not Germany be taxed? From the date of the signing of the armistice up till a few weeks ago. when payment- of taxes in real money was demanded, the German people’s burden of taxation has not been one-eighth per head cf that borne by the British people. Even to-day the per capita burden of Germanv is not. one-fifth, of that born* by the British people. The loser of the war has succeeded iu making the victors so lar pa.v for the costs cf tho war. But this is going to be. altered, thanks to France France does not intend to pay for the neoonstruction work rendered necessary bv the wanton destruction carried on bv Germanv as an adjunct- to her methods of making war. She is determined to make Germanv pay. as Germany ought- to pay. What will Britain do c Who dare say? How many T,ord Haldanes are there in Britain to-day. hut without the honestj- he lias shown in openly* confessing that he always has beenj and now i«= a pro-German?—Napier “ Telegraph.”