NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 160, 2 April 1921, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Revelations of colossal bungling in wartime expenditure have been made so often that the British public long ago ceased to be startled by them. In his address at ’ the producers’ conference on Thursday, Sir Thomas Mackenzie minced no words in referring to the incompetence with which the Imperial supply departments handled the produce from this Dominion. As High Commissioner, Sir Thomas Mackenzie is well known to have protested' vigorously, but without avail, against the way things were being run. Unfortunately the errors and mistakes of the Imperial officials had a way of being at our, expense. Sir Thomas Mackenzie lias instanced a striking case in which he was able to follow a consignment of wool right through. The grower received 2s. fid. a pound, plus Id. as his halfshare of the profits, while at the other end the manufacturer paid 10s. Gd. a pound for it. ' This may be a glaring instance, but it emphasises the need for rigidly insisting that each year’s purchase shall be- treated as a separate transaction, and that there shall- be no absorption'of New Zealand profits to recoup the final loss made by the muddlement of London officialdom.

New Zealand is a long way from a Puritanical observance of the Sabbath Day, but. there will he general agreement that the last thing ths country desires is Sunday electioneering. If we do not all go to church on Sunday, wo all desire that it should bo a rest-day when the cares of everyday life are put on one side. Life is a struggle for existence into which a good deal of unnecessary bitterness is apt to creep at the best of times, but on one day in the week at least let us do what we can to preserve an atmosphere of brotherhood and good-will. Electioneering speeches, with their inevitable invective and denunciation of those, with whom for the moment we do not see eye to eye, are bad enough on a week-day, but even from a non-religious point of view they are an outrage on what should lx? the spirit- of the weekly rest-day. Messrs. Holland and Fraser have chosen to carry bn the Labour campaign in the Paten by-election by Sunday addresses. Presumably their object is to take advantage of the good feeling which prevents the Reform and Liberal candidates from electioneering on Sundays. The move is typical unfortunately of much that comes from official Labour, but we hopo Patea will give the country a demonstration that this sort of thing is politically unprofitable.

Mention is mad© in this morning's cable news of the activity of the revived Ku Klux Klan in connection with the Georgia peonage cases. This once notorious organisation, which after the Civil War terrorised and murdered negroes in the Southern States, is stated to have begun originally as a social fraternal club. The members found that their costumes terrified the negroes, and they expanded their organisation into a secret federation to control the negro through his fears. Later on it fell into the hands of violent men, and became simply an association of outlaws. , Six years ago Mr. AV. J. Sirnraons, of Atalanta, Georgia, revived the Ku Klux as a fraternal order. To-day its headquarters occupy the third floor of a business building in Atalanta and spread over into half a dozen, rooms in another building, all 'filled with busy stenographers and clerks. It is organised under State charter, and it is stated that in every community in the south the sheriff is usually the first to join. It denies that it fosters intolerance, but affirms its belief in white supremacy, and declares its opposition to the negro being permitted to exercise his constitutional privilege of voting. Its parades of white-sheeted horsemen with skulls and bones no longer have their old terrifying effect, but the coloured people recognise in the order the ancient enemy of their emancipation in a new form. The present peonage cases will probably show for what ...this new Ku Klux Klan, stands.

Reading the scores of the second Test cricket match in his paper this morning the local enthusiast will probably find confirmation for a lurking suspicion that our genial Australian visitors have not, up to the present match, seriously extended themselves. They have been content to win by comfortable margins while giving their New Zealand opponents a reasonable chance to make things interesting. With the last match of the tour they are demonstrating what they really are capable of. Five wickets for 495 runs is a very fine performance, even against a New Zealand team, and our visitors are to be heartily congratulated on their splendid batting. The Eden Cricket Ground provides a pitch which closely approximates to t‘he wickets on which the visitors are accustomed to play in Australia—hard and fast, with little in it to help the bowlers—and Hansford and his team appear to be making ,I’he most of their opportunity.

Now that revised estimates of British invisible exports during 1920 are available, an interesting comparison is afforded with the state of trade before the war. The net earnings of British oversea shipping last year are estimated by the financial editor of the "Manchester Guardian” at. .£340,000,000. Accepting this figure, returns from foreign investments and other invisible exports, together with an amount of ..£13,500,000 for an excess of bullion and coin exports not covered in the ordinary trading returns, provide a total of 513 millions to set against the excess of imports over exports of 378 millions. This leaves a credit balance of 165 millions on the to’ial trade of 1920. The corresponding balance in 1913 was 226 millions. Allowing for the inflation of money, however, the real value of the balance for 1920 must he sot down at only about one-third of the pre-war amount. Po far ns trade m goods is concerned, the following table shows the

volume of tirade last year as compared with 1919 and 1913:—

United Kingdom Trade.

1920. 1919. 1913. Tons. Tons. Tons. Imports 45,5'12.000 38,772,000 56,023,000 Exports. other

than con.l, coke and manufactured fuel .... 10,646,000 7,527,000 15,116,000 Exports of coal,

coke & manufactured fuel 28,863,000 38,466,000 76,687,000 Re-exports 1,666,000 1,579,000 1,821,000 Disregarding re-exports and coal exports, the ordinary exports, consisting chiefly of manufactures, on which the United Kingdom obtains the bulk of its trading returns, increased in volume by about”"3u per cent, as compared with 1919, but amounted to only 70 per cent, of the corresponding exports in 1913. Ths volume of imports in 1920 amounted to 81 per cent, of the corresponding figures in 1913. The heavy decline in eoal exports even as compared with 1919 demonstrates tlie serious result of allowing' the prices of British coal to attain ns high a level as they did last year. But for the abnormal increase in coal prices there would undoubtedly have been a more pronounced revival of British trade generally than last year’s figures disclose and the current outlook would be much more favourable than it is.

The news from Hungary to-day is confused. Messages through German sources represent the ex-Emperor as by nd means without support, but thaf the bulk of the evidence indicates a pretty complete failure. This attempted coup may direct the attention of Europe more active!} 7 than hitherto to the plight of the collection of warring nationalities that was once Austria-Hungary. It is in this region that the Wilsonian peace achieved its most grotesque, failures. In Czechoslovakia, for instance, are 7,000,000 Czechs,. 3,500,000 Germans, 2,000,000 Sovaks, 1,000,000 Magyars, and 500,000 Polos and Ukranians. The rulers of the State, the Czechs, thus form just onehalf the population, and are able to keep themselves in power only by acts of oppression. In Jugo-Slavia the ancient fanatical hatred between the Catholic Croats and the Orthodox Serbs is stated to be breaking out again, and Rumania is reported to be. having some difficulty with the 1,500,000 Magyars and the 560,000 Germans eho has absorbed from the former Ilapsburg domains. AustriaHungary in pieces bps become more of a problem than it was whole. AVhether there is any means by which diplomacycan give solidarity to such a melting-pot of races is doubtful. The experiment of the ex-Empcror demonstrates that on whatever lines the problem of creating unity may be solved it will not be by the return of the House of Ilapsburg.