NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 60, 4 December 1920, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

Too much cannot be deduced from the British conl output figures for a single week, but the output of 5,210,(100 tons for the week ending November 20 is a real gleam of brightness in the Imperial trado situation. Before tlio war the • United Kingdom produced 267,000,000 tons of coal a.-year. In the first quarter of the current year production was at flip rate of 2i5,000,000 tons per annum. At the beginning of October, jusil prior to tho strike, the output had sunk so low as to be equivalent to only 239,000,000 tons per annum. The week's return now quoted is at ttoo rate of 270,000,000 tons a .Voar—or, allowing for holidays, about 260,000,000 tons-and thus marks a notable advance in the right direction, even if it is still considerably below tho 1913 rate. Thfe terms of the coal sifriko settlement have given , the miners incieases on a sliding scale based on profits, and they hayo thus every inducement to turn to and bring tho output at least up to the pre-war level. The British home consumption is 219,000,000. tons a year. The surplus above this is" available for export, and is badly needed for the revival of industry in Europe. If the increased output now recorded is maintained it will bo a most important' factor in stabilising conditions generally, and opening tho door to moro prosperous days on a really healthy industrial foundation. • a • It'is welcome news to learn from Mr. Massey that! the .present six million loan is the last that will be required for. Borne time to'come, and that no further .application of tho compulsory clauses is contemplated in the future. The regularity of the loan appeals through tho war and afterwards lias had a demoralising effect on industry and [commerce generally, and ha? undoubtedly absorbed large .sums that , would ordinarily have gone in tho enlargement of plants aiid. the expansion of business genorally.. Tho present appeal has come, as it has chanced, at a time when producers and merchant* alike are under a heavy strain consequent on the ■ unfavourable trend in tho market'value? for produce and the heavy arrivals of im-

porta in "fulfilment of long-standing orders. .; The expenditure of the loan itself should have a steadying ell'cct, and the knowledge iliat it is to be the last of these enforced calls for ready money from the industrial community will tako a load ofE the minds; of all who are concerned - with the financing of industry and production iu the Dominion.

The relations of European and Asiatic races present many points of difficulty, but none that aro iricapablc of solution

if approached in a proper spirit. The Japanese are a race with a, Jon£ history and an intense national pride. Their emergence as a first-class' Power has been ono of the outstanding features of modern politics. Their alliance with Great Britain has been a source of great satisfaction .to them aB a recognition of the status their country has attained, but in tho immigration' restriction laws of Australasia, Canada, and the United States they regard themselves classified as of an inferior and' undesirable raco. At the Peace Congress and in the current session of. the League of Nations Assembly. Japan has raised the question of racial equality. It'is apparently to be left an open ono for the time being, but the League will perform an immense service to civilisation if at some later stage it is able to discover some general formula for the admission of non-Euro-pean elements into countries peopled bv European stock. Asia is on a totally different economic, level from Europe, iAmerica,' and Australasia, and it is not possible for fao European workman to maintain his standard of living against Asiatic competition. - The instinctive aversion to intermixture makes , tho Asiatic also a permanently unassimilatcd' element in a European community. Our immigration restriction laws are a recognition of these facts. We do not regard l the Japanese or Chinese in a spirit of hostility and repugnance. For many of their characteristics all who know them have tho highest admiration. But they are different,-'and you cannot safely have two separate civilisations' in one country. ■ • .

Even allowing for the decline in value of the German mark the property claimed by the ex-Kaiser is too large altogether for a disgruntled world conqueror to be' loft to play with, lir July last the Prussian Diet discussed- tho disposal of the Hohenzollern fortune, and rejected a motion by the Independent Socialists. that it should be sequestrated. This week the Prussian deputies havo come to blows over the without apparently reaching any conclusion. The wealth as valued in July amounted to ft bout 250,000,000 .marks, and there was in addition a vast household treasury including 1000 silver plates. Tho Privy Puree and other, propertv ' was valued at another 20,000,000 marks. This makes a total, excluding the household treasury, of something ove.r £1,000,000 at current rates of exchange. The exKaiser's claim, however, is for 1000 million marks, or over three times tho above amount. From remarks let fall by tho. ex-Kaiser in . a recent interview, tho idea of returning to Germany as its ruler still dominates his mind. We are told that the ■ Separations Commission is watching tho course of events, and in the interests of elementary juslico it is to' be hoped that this substantial sum will- bo diverted from the perpetrator of tho wax to its .victims. If the' Kaiser is not to be tried for his crimes lie should at least not be endowed with suflicient funds to hatch new plots against tho peace of the world to gratify an insatiable ambition.

Judging by the voting at some recent municipal polls in Now Zealand, India has not done .bndly in having twenty ~c ' r cent, of tlie electorate record their Votes in. the iirsh election in the. history of tlmt nncicnt and conservative land. ' \{ r Gandhi, declares the result. i s ft victory for his non-co-operation movement. That movement was approved nl the Indian National Congress at Calcutta some months ago by a largo majority. '|'|io idea was to embark gradually on'the biggest 'boycott ever conceived to mark Indian disapproval of-the Turkish peace treaty and the Hunter report on the A.mritsar.affair. Although the vote Allowed a majority of two to one for t], e | w j,. colt, it is said llmt half Ihe delegates abstained from voting, despite (lie eloquent and moving appeals of .Mr. Gandhi. The plan was for Indians to renounce all I places of honour and profit under the

Crown, to wilhdraw their children from school, for unlive lawyers and''litigants to abstain from using the courts, niul finally to bring the railways and telegraphs and the .whole commerco. of the country to n standstill. The present elections aro the liist held under the new reform scheme which is intended to pave the way lo the self-government of India. The scheme is distasteful to tlio revolutionaries and extremists, whoso impatience finds no place for the gradual evolutions of stablo institutions. So far the indications aro thiit'thc Gandhi bo.vcolt has shrunken from the proportions of u catastrophe as intended by its author to that of a nuisance.

Commercial air policy is .still .in its infancy, and the experiments about to lie conducted'by' the British Mr Ministry with dirigibles on commercial routes across Europe should be instructive. At the moment most of the commercial work is being done with converted war machines of needlessly high power and expensive to run. In the acroplanos new commercial types are being evolved, and tho real test of tho dirigible will be against these ■new types. Monoplanes;-for instance, are now being built in which tho wing is simply one big plane with tho body.or hull below. The next a tags to which designers are working is to carry. everything—motive power, fuel, passengers, or goods—actually inside the wing. To do this the wing will have to 'bo very "largeand of considerable thickness. One design provides, for instance, for- a plane of about 100 in span, and-as much as 7 feet in thickness at its centre. Everything Would bo accommodated inside the wing, and an enclosed passenger' saloon 10 yards in length and several yards.in w:dth, with ample liead room, would ,be provided. Engines also would l>e inside the wing, and the mechanics would h'<ive ample room to move about at their' worly Such machines in the air will present a, queer appearance, as. nothing will be visible except a great wing floating along through space. It has yet to be proved that this type will bo a mechanical and commercial Success, but' tho whole trend of present-day design is in this direction.