NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 20, 19 October 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

South Wales is the storm centre in the English coal strike. It is there that the most fstreme views arc held, and it is mainly the South Wales rote that carries the Miners' Federation • farthest alone; the road of militancy. In yesterday's cable messages it was announced that the miners' executive in South Wales threatens to agitate for the withdrawal of all men from the mines if the strike is not settled by October 31. This would mean the stoppage of the pumping plants and the flooding of many mines, with a consequent prolonged dislocation of the coal supply and hardships innumerable for the entire population throughous the winter now setting in in Britain. Wales is a stronghold of Methodism, and it is interesting to note the testimony as to the mental attitude of tho miners there given by the Rev. AVilliain Kitehing, of Rhondda Valley, at the English Wesleyan Conference recently. Mr. Kitehing said he represented a district which was a centre of inceudiarism aiid materialism, and from which any British revolution that might come would probably arise. No artisan population in the land was better served with churches, but iu Mr. Kitching's opinion they Were ineffective because too self-central. Another speaker at the conference said ho Miad been in close touch with prominent Labour leaders, and the fundamental thought in their minds was revolution. In his view, if times were bad this winter they would find tlve margin between strikfc and revolution was very slight. The revolutionary clement is undoubtedly strong,, in the miners' unions particularly so. Exactly what its strength is the next few weeks will probably disclose, as they will reveal whether the desire to effect changes by courses of violence and disorder has any solid backing among British trades unionists generally.

The efforts of-the Government to encourage the growing of wheat in New Zealand are not meeting with conspicuous ' success. Tho interim statistics for tho 1919-20 orop are now avail--able, and give the yield as 4-J million bushels as against tho G! millions of the previous harvest. As the Dominion requires 7 million bushels to meet its normal requirements this means heavy importation from outside. The area under crop in 1919-20 was only. 139,001 acres, as compared with the previous year's 208,000 acres. Tile Department of Agriculture in its roport this year tells us that 300,000 acres at a normal averago 1 yield will meet the Dominion's requirements, and thtit "with reasonable encouragement this area can be readily .grown." ' Unfortunately the Department does not define its idea of "reasonable encouragement." Since 1911 the 300,000-acre mark has been reached once —in the 1915-16 season, in response to urgent appeals 'made on patriotic grounds. ' Tho fact of tho matter is that wheat-growing is too highly speculative a venture altogether for the average farmer, to say nothing of increasing labour (difficulties. Experienced Canterbury growers declare that the lips and downs are such that it is only by taking an average over ten seasons' crops that n farmer can tell whether wheat pays him. Tho statistics show an increasingly adverse decision, and this despite the guaranteed prices of the Board of Trade. As long as Australia can supply us from her bountiful harvest we have no great need for concern, but* when next the shoe pinches we shall have to hear more of the "reasonable oucouragement" of which the Department of Agriculture talks.

A bias in favour of imported goods in preference to locally made still exists in tho minds of many people. Auckland manufacturers have decided to combat it with an extensive campaign. This is a wise step, but the movement should not be confined to Auckland. In bygone days local manufactures, though almost uniformly sound and serviceable, wore too frequently crude and clumsy, and often dear to boot. Theso defects have disappeared in most cases, but tho tradition persists, and with thousands of customers the choice is almost always for imported articles simply because they are imported. This prejudice will die out in time. Already it is not what it was by a long way, but the process is slow if left unaided. Altered conditions in wages and prices abroad have 'placed the local manufacturer iii a fir more favourable position than ho has ever been in.before, and he should strike while the iron is- hot. and educate the public to the merits of his goods by systematic propaganda work. Auckland has initiated the movement, and the industrial associations in other centres might profitably extend it to their districts. New Zealand's next big. move forward must come from tho development of its secondary industries. •

In putting forward its ense for a butter bonus tho Trades and Labour Couuoil computes that the working-class housebold consumes one pound of butter per head per week. Averaging; households as comprising five persons each it thus reaches the conclusion that a special bonus of 2s. Gd. a week should be paid to all workers to meet tho increased oast of butter that they and four dependants a-piece—which they may or may not possess—may or may not consume. Bread and butter, we are tojd, is the main article of food at two meals a day in working-class households. If tho Trades Council statistics of consumption are representative we should say it was not bread and butter, but butter and bread, that is eaten. The general consumption shows an average of half-a-pound' of butter per head per week for the Dominion, but the Trades Council protests that this does not apply to the families of trades unionists. We should like to hear how much bread goes with this pound of butter per head per week. It is not a case, we hope, of Falstaft's balfpennyworth of bread to two gallons of sack. Britain has got along in good health on a ration of two ounces of butter, a week, but the Trades Council wants provision for the • consumption by ono New Zealander of e.iirht Englishmen's mtioiis. There is moderation in all things, but not in Trades Council appetites.

It tabes all sorts of iicoplo to make a world, and doubtless Uie water-cyclist who has crossed, the Straits of Dover on Inn crazy machine fits usefully somewhere into the scheme of creation. The public has become used to piano-plnyinj? records and acoepts those who embark on them if not as entirely normal, as not necessarily menially unsound. Early in the year the English newspapers recorded tho fact that a Bristol hairdresser, who up lo that time hod lived an apparently areproadlmble life in command of his scissors and razors, bad become seized with an ambition to shcot the Niagara Falls in a barrel. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have

greatness thrust upon them. Mr. Charles Gordon Stephens, of Bristol, at the age of SG, determined to achieve it. He was reported in April to have booked his passage from Liverpool to Quebec on June 18, and already he bad placed an order for his barrel with a firm in Tottenham, expending on it a sum of £U, which included a special breathing apparatus. Mr. Stephens denied that ho was doing the feat for a wager, but said he hoped the kinema rights would more than defray his expenses. He thoughtfully announced that if successful lie would present the barrel to tho Bristol Museum. These arrangements were made iu April. This 'is October, and there is no word of Mr. Stephens shooting the falls alive or dead. Perhaps on mature reflection he decided that it is better to be a live barber in. Bristol than a dead hero at Niagara. The mention of the kinema rights makes one wonder if the idea originated when watching some sensational film, and whether this venerable Bristol barber has to be written down as one more victim of the "movies."