The Dominion. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1918. "NOT AFRAID OP THE FUTURE"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 100, 21 January 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1918. "NOT AFRAID OP THE FUTURE"

Ik the course of his speech at Petone last Thursday Mr. Massey. declared that he was not afraid of the future. It is good to know that the man who carries the chief responsibility for leading New Zealand through the war aud into the new eta which is to begin after the British Empire and its Allies have established a victorious peace has i firm confidence in the ability of New Zealand to bear the'great financial burden that the war has placed upon her shoulders. But confident words cannot of themselves make our future safe and sure. We must think and plan and act. Wβ must prepare now for the new age. We cannot afford to let tho futuro take care- of itself. The new and better world which we are all hoping for will not make itself. We will have to make it. In the whole history of mankind there! has never been a greater task or a grander, opportunity for courageous and constructive statesmanship. . No country in tho world has less reason to fear the future than this Dominion of New Zealand, but we havo no right to expect that all will ho well with us unless we are ready to do all that human energy and foresight can do to ensure our national well-being and prosperity after the war is ovor. We must never forget that it dopends upon ourselves whether we make or mar our future. Mn. Massey realises that when peace has been restored wo are not going to step right into a ready-made promised land. He showed his hcarora i,t Pctono both sides of the picture. He reminded them that for years to come wo will have to find interest and sinking fund on an enormous sum of borrowed money. We will also havo to provide pen-' sions for our wounded and for tho dependants of the fallen, and wo must have the necessary finance to enable the transition from a state of war" to a state of peace to be made as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

It is only fair to state that the Government lias already made a considerable amount of preparation for the future. Ifc has put much thought into the problem of reabsorbing our soldiers into the ordinary civil and industrial life of the community. It has devised plans for settling returned soldiers on the land, and for finding suitable employment for those who prefer to make their livelihood in other ways. It is taking steps to ensure that tho disabled shall have opportunities of fitting themselves as far as possible to earn their own living. It is preparing a scheme of public works to do set in operation as soon as the war is over with the object of providing useful employment at remunerative rates for tho purpose of tiding over the difficult time when our soldiers will como back in thousands and tons of thousands. Much has been done, but much more will havo to be done before it can be justly said that all that can bo done , to ensure a prosperous future has been, done. As regards the public works schemo the Government should take measures—probably it has—to secure the co-opera-tion of local bodies in all parts of the Dominion so that there may be a maximum amount of co-ordination and a minimum amount of overlapping and waste. Tho Efficiency Board might well take this matter in hand. This Board might be- expected to approach the problem from the national point of view without regard to political, sectional, or party considerations. It would_ be a splendid thing if the votc-catchinjr element could bo banished once and for all from our public works policy_ and every proposal 'could be dealt with strictly on its merits.

Tho ability of tho country to boar the enormous war charges that it has incurred depends mainly upon the maintenance and increase of its export trade. There must be greater efficiency in all departments of industry. In order to attain this increased efficiency better use must be made of the vast stores of knowledge which modern science has placed at the disposal of the in-' diistrial world. The average man is at last beginning to understand the value of education, and to realise- tho urgency of giving science its

proper place in our schools and universities. Education systems arc at present in the melting-pot. The experts are in agreement as to the necessity of drastic and far-reach-ing reforms, but the reconstruction programmes arc bewildering in their number and variety. In England Mn. H. A. L. Fisher's bold scheme of reform appears to have touched the public imagination, and there is every indication that before the present year has gone by it will have received the sanction of Parliament. For years past there has been a continuous torrent of talk in Now Zealand about education, . but the amount of pv ogress actually made is comparatively small. Everyone admits that our schools are not in vital touch with the life oCthe community. The present Minister of Education never tires of telling us what should be. done and' what he is going to do. But the country is still waiting for courageous action on a scale commensurate with the needs of the nation at this momentous crisis in its history. If this education problem could be sat isfactorily solved a long step would be taken towards the attainment of that increased national efficiency without which our prosperity in the new era cannot be assured. Until we have placed our education system on better foundations and have made it a more effective part of our •national equipment we have no right or reason to say that we are not afraid of the- future. We will have to compete in the new world with nations who are going 10 make the fullest use of the instruments of commercial and'industrial progress which science is ready to place in their hands, and wo will not bo able to keep pace with them if we neglect to familiarise our younjj people with the scientific point of view and fail to utilise the discoveries and, methods of modern science in the practical affairs of life—in our trade, our agriculture, and our manufacturing industries.