PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17758, 30 January 1926, Page 8

PUBLIC OPINION.

WHAT OTHER WRITERS ARE SAYING. A VICTORY FOR PEACE. An event of great promise to the world at large is reported. After long and bitter debate, the American Senate has ratified the resolution authorising the adhesion of the United States to the World Court of the League of Nations. The decisive vote of the Senate represents a triumph for President Coolidge and those who share his view that there is no way in which the United States can repudiate and escape its international obligations. A defeat of corresponding magnitude has been suffered by Senator Borah, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and those who maintain with him that the World Court resolution represents a veiled attempt to carry the United States into the League of Nations. The hope at all events is entertained that in adhering to the World Court the United States will be brought insensibly as time goes on into much the same relationship with other nations as if it had actually joined the League. Much more undoubtedly is to be hoped on this line of progress than from any attempt to rush the United States into actual League membership.—“ Dominion.” EMPIRE MIGRATION. A pronouncement on Empire migration, as stirring as it is practical, has been made by the Prince of Wales. The text of it is worth examination, not merely because the words were spoken by the Prince, but because it has intrinsic merit. No one in the Empire can claim a wider knowledge of its vast size and multifarious features than the Prince of Wales enjoys. He, speaks as one who knows, because his travels have been extensive, and everywhere he has shown a keen desire to learn all that could be learned of each country as he visited it. Now, in consonance with his traditional motto of service, he has utilised his knowledge to make an appeal for the vigorous prosecution of a system of migration which will aid in the development of the Empire and coincidently help to keep alive the sentiment which has so successfully preserved its unity of spirit in the past. By a happy coincidence, just as the Prince's words arrive, Lord Allenby has been testifying to what the Empire spirit meant in the war, and expressing his faith in its power to overcome all the difficulties which war has left as an unwelcome legacy. Each of these great Empire figures has emphasised the value of unity of thought and sentiment. The Prince of Wales, using the opportunity w’hich came to him, offered suggestions for perpetuating that link of blood kinship which has kept the Empire one in the past, and, properly safeguarded, will be strong to do so in the future. Selfinterest has its unifying power. The need for strength in self-defence, the bonds of commerce, and the links of economic interdependence all help to keep the Empire united. None of them is incapable of variation by circumstances. The bond of sentiment, seemingly the frailest of them all, has in it the greatest promise of endurance.—“ Ne-w Zealand Herald.” « A VETOED PURCHASE. Men with money to invest will not be greatly drawn to an industry in which there is a substantial risk of their being refused the right to realise their assets in the open market. The Government’s refusal of a license to Borthwick’s is in effect a notification that no freezing company in New Zealand has this right of realisation. It is true that the law that has been invoked has been in operation for eight years, but the act of refusing a transfer of license to a British concern will give it a significance it has not had before. Capital will be discouraged from forming new companies or coming to the rescue of old ones. The willingness to make bank advances will also be affected. The Wellington company is heavily indebted to a bank, which must have lent the money on the security of the works as a going concern. The great overseas companies, how’ever, have plenty of capital alreadv. The Government’s veto, im- , posed with the best of intentions, may > in the end have the very opposite effect to what is intended.—“ Auckland Star.”