NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 32, 2 November 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Although Mr. Lloyd George returned from the polls only two years as*o with a thumping majority at his back, many rumours have been afloat of a now general election at an early date. In Parliament the Government is as secure as ever, but it is contended that tho Parliament of December, 1018. is far from reflecting the opinion -of the country in November, 1920. The poll was taken just after the armistice when the nation, after four years of war strain, had tasted the elation of victory, and the disillusionments of peace had yet to come. The Prime Minister appealed for a newmandate from the people to enable him to go to the Peace Conference and speak with the undivided voice of Britain. In this spirit the doctors gavo their answer by returning 478 supporters' of tho Coalition as against 229 Non-Coalitionists, It U this "snecial-jiurucse" Parliament which has to deal with the post-war problems of the United Kingdom at home and abroad. In'the House itself the old DoUtical parties are in a state of disorganisation and disintegration. In the country the Government haS to face vast trade union organisations and almost rebel groups,- some of which annear to regard the House of Commons as an effete anachronism. It is these facts which form the strongest argument for a. now appeal to tho constituencies. The' prestige of Parliament will not be maintained by & House of Commons which has. ceased to reflect Iho opinion of the country.

Parliament has endeavoured to en courage the iron industry in New Zealand for so verv many years with so very little result that no one will build much on anything coming of the present Iron and Steel Industries Amendment Bill. Stiin hope springs eternal in tho human breast, and thirteen of the fifty years required in the estimation of Br. .f. Macintosh Bell, in 1907, to exhaust tlm world's visible supply of iron ores have already elapsod. J)r. Bell estimated that in the Parapara field in Golden Bay there are at least 22.G91.7C2 tons of iron ore in one block alone, to say nothing of the othor two of which the contents cannot bo so readily estimated. The iron Is on tlio 6urface. it is adiaccut to the sea coast, and there is every natural facility for economical handling. The analysis shows ah ore of Inch grade, ana the possibilities of tho field appear to be immense. So far, however, it has paid New Zealand bettor to bring its iron from overseas than to touch the enormous deposits it possesses in its own territory. This stato of things cannot last for ever. Some day tho now •unfrequented shores of Goldon Bay will be the centre of one of the chief industrial districts jn the Pacific. Australia, by a bounty, has brought. about tho production of 163,000 tons of iron per annum by private enterprise, and the New South Wales State iron works turn out 15.000 tons in addition, * « t • Six million pounds is the amount which the Government is calling on the public to subscribe to its Discharged Soldiers Settlement Fund. The money is wanted for twelve years, and 5i per cent, interest will be paid for the use of it. Tho fact that the money is rouuired to establish returned soldiers on farms of their own should be sufficient to ensure a ready subscription to the loan, but should there be any slackness in the response to this deserving appeal compulsion will be applied to the backward ones. It is worth noting, too, that whore compulsion is necessary the rate of interest to be paid for the use of the money, will bo only 3 .per cent., instead of oi p?r cent. The public have froni the Ist to tho 25th of tlm present mouth to make up their minds as to the amount of the loan they are prepared to apply for. # • t * Not 60 very long ago President Wilson's policy of "watchful wailing" in regard to Mexico was the subject of a great deal of scornful comment, but it seotns to have been remarkably justified by tho course of events. One of yesterday's cablegrams announced that the United States' will shortly recognise the Obregon .Government, and this is no more than was to bo takon for granted in view of the extent to which tho internal condition of Mexico has recently improved. General Obreßon i$ installed as President by an overnholming popular vote, and American commentators are agreed thai: his elevation presages brighter and nioro peaceful days .for Mexico than it had onioyed for a long time past. "We want loss war and m&re work," is reported to be Obregou's motto for Mexico. "1 would rather teach tho Mexican peoplo the uso of tho tooth-brush," he has said, "than to lmndlo ft gun. I would rather see them in schools than upon battlefields. I prefer any day a good electrician, maohinist, carpenter, or farmer to a soldier." These maxims, with the popular favour their author onjoye, certainly suggest that peaceful days in Mexico are likely to Oxtend. Obregon has given that tho existing foreign debt will be honoured and that no moro money will be borrowed except for public works. Tho army of 100.000 men is to bo cut down by half, tho fifty thousand men retired being aided to go to 1 work on farms. These things promiso well. The "Wash, ington Post" observed recently that not ono .American interest in Mexico had aided Obreaon's election financially, but this may bo anything but discreditable to tho neiy President. As another American newspaper pointedly observes, real peuce with Mexico cannot bo found in making that oounbry a playground of dollar intrigue.

Surprise has been expressed at' {ho nonappearance in Court of bookmakers and their clients to answer charges under the new Gaining Act. The prevailingi impression when the Act was passed was that it would greatly strengthen Uio hands of the police and enablo them to make the bookmaking business a very, unhealthy and unprofitable occupation. So far as we can gather the bookmaker has not been driven out of business, but his activities have keen materially curtailed- He is still accessible to Sid and well-known clients, and presumably to their friends, but he does not take Hie risks it was customary to take under the law as it stood prior to the passing of the present Act. Nor has he the' same avenues for the transaction of business. The new law in fact has been effective to some extent in restricting betting with bookmakers, whioh is probably the most that anyone who knows anything about tbo business expected of it. The Ministor of 'Justice says that the police liavo now received instructions to enforco tho law against both the bookmaker and his client, and he appears to be hopeful of results. A conviction or two would certainly bring homo to the public the risks they, as well a* the bookmakers they do business with, are running, and would probably lead to a further falling off in this method of betting. But the task set the police, under existing conditions, is not as simple as tho scale on which bookraaking iB conducted might suggest.

Butter in Britain has been a' luxury reserved for tho \vell-to-do for a considerable time past. Plain people there eat and thrive on margarine, and the unsophisticated stranger is hard put to discover either by sight or taste whether it is butter or the popular substitute hp is consuming. In our correspondence columns this morning, Mr. It. S. Abraham makes a plea for the removal of t'ho restrictions on the manufacture of margarine in New Zealand. Margarine is already being made in tho Dominion, but it is not the palatable and up-to-date article of the British market. The hnndi* cap to the industry is the Act of 1595, which forbids the colouring of margarine to resemble butter or the mixing of a percentage of butter with it. In these days when parity with the world's markets would give .us a- local price for butter of 2s. 9d. per lb. wo are a long Way from the state of things existing in 1895. As a matter of cold, hard fact it would be much more profitable if the ,£COO,UOO por annum which the Government is about to spend in reducing the price of butter to 2s. 3d. Jo the consumer were spent in erecting margarine factories. We should then have a palatable article on the market at' Is. a lb. which-' few. people not experts would be able to teil from butter, and which would be quite capable, as Britain has proved, of maintaining the population in full efficiency and vigour. And our farmers could also secure abroad the full market value of their butter. • • • * When Britain ceded Heligoland to Germany in 1890, in exchange for Zanzibar, the Heligolanders, in an address to tho departing British Governor, said it was with! a heavy heart that they saw, the Union Jack hauled down. Tlio intervening thirty .years has confirmed them in this sentiment. In yesterday's Dominium it was stated that the islanders are again agitating for British rule. Last year they petitioned tho Supremo Council seeking a transfer, claiming tho right of YVilsonian self-determination as "tho very smallest nation which for centuries has maintained its'-independ-ent and its Jocill customs." There aro about 2500 Heligolanders, and they sj>eak a Frie-sian dialect of their own, almost unintelligible Ito the other Fricaian islanders. Their principal source of prosperity js the 30,000 sea bathers from Germany, who in peace Umo annually invadq tho islajid. The islanders' love- for Germany was not increased by their do-' portation- to tho mainland in a. body as soon as war broke out, nor by the conversion of thoir little ie'e into a liwiustrouis fortress, now ha'ppily dismantled. Although Germ-any- spout ■£2,U50,000 on the fortifications, they did not fire a shot in the war. It says something for the justice and tact •of British rule that this 'litUo alion community should prefer our flag to that of their much closer kinsfolk, the Germans, who are at the same time their best customers.

With coal as .scarce ami dear as it is, the question of securing the most economical use of such supplies as arc available ought to be woM worth going .into. Measures to this end have been much discussed of late in the United jStfttcdJ'Svhove a lowering of the coal output to a point ten per cent, below normal is at present occasioning a good deal of hardship and inconvenience. According to the United Stales Bureau of Mines, on an average thirty-five per cent, of tho coal used in industrial establishments is wasted up the chimney, and some authorities assert that this estimate is most conservative. It is stated that while some waste is inevitable, in very efficient American plants the chimney waste is less than fifteen per cent. A wido margin of possible economy is thus disclosed, and if the economy were effected coal supplies, of counse, would go considerably further than they do at present. Relatively to coal consumption, the saving to be .effected in this country is probably at least- as great a;» in the United States. The economical consumption of coal is accomplished primarily, according to an American writer, by burning it with the correct quantity of nir. Maximum fii'o temperature requires a definite amount of air for every pound of fuel burned. Too much air reduces the temporature to an astounding degree, and is responsible for most of the heat wasted up the chimney. It seems strange tftat such obvious openings for economy should bo neglected, but it is notorious, tlmb they are, here and elsewhere, and this is a particularly suitable time in which to repair the neglect,