NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 192, 10 May 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

Evidence of the remarkable general prosperity of the people . of New Zealand is furnished by the Savings Bank return for the March quarter. This shows a total amount to the credit of depositors of no less than 1142,953,965, equal to about »£37 a head for every man, woman, and child in the Dominion. It means a nest-egg to the average household of five persons of about <£lBs. Australia is a prosperous country with a wide diffusion of wealth, but the Australian Savings Bank deposits per head of population work out at only .£24, and the highest average in any State is .£26 12s. 9d. in Victoria. Tn Britain the Savings Banks figures give an average per head of population of only £7 odd. These figures show that if the times immediately ahead are not likely to be as good as those just gone by we have proportionately very much more money put away for a rainy day than either Australia or Britain. It is to be noted, however, that the excess of deposits over withdrawals during the quarter was only .£391,643, as against .£913,011 in the Mart'll quarter of last year and .£1,036,005 in the same quarter of 1919.

Sunday's demonstration in Sydney Is a useful warning that there are limits beyond which, it is inadvisable to go in heaping contumely on British institutions. British people are tolerant, and in Sydney Domain on Sunday afternoons soap-box orators have been suffered for years to vent the craziest ideas. This year May Day fell on a Sunday, and the Socialist and Communistic cranks forgathered in full strength, and one of their number thought fit to emphasise his remarks by publicly burning a Union Jack. Even easy-going Sydney was not prepared to put up with this gratuitous affront, and the result was another Sunday afternoon demonstration, of which details are given in to-day’s cable news. It is noticeable that, although the tender consciences of the .Socialistic confraternity prevented most of them from taking up arms against the Germans, one at least of the Socialistic speakers on Sunday made it clear that he was prepared to use a revolver on hjs fellow-countrymen. This is a fair average sample of the amount of consistency that may be expected from these gentry. As for common sense, they do not even possess enough to see that . without the protection of the Union Jack the legislation embodying the cherished White Australia policy would not be worth the paper it is printed on. *#* * ' Polish 'impetuosity is once more complicating the European settlement. Last year we had Poland conducting an ambitious campaign in Russia far beyond the confines of Polish territory. To-day in the disputed territory in Upper Silesia the Poles, not satisfied to await the Allied decision, have taken the law into their own hands and seized the greater part of the industrial areas. These high-handed proceedings, it should be remembered, are on the part of a State which had no independent existence until lit was resurrected by the Peace Treaty and its disjointed remains reunited after a lapse of more than a century. According to a Warsaw Foreign Office report the Poles in the plebiscite carried nine of The sixteen districts in Upper Silesia, all of which are in the rich coql and industrial section. If this is so it makes the present insurrection all the more indefensible. The problem of Silesia is a difficult one from every point of view. Press reports show thatl before the vote was taken an enormous amount of money was squandered ou bribery and corruption by both Berlin and Warsaw, and wholesale fraud occurred in connection with the identity cards required to be shown belore voting. The country has been too stirred up and promised too much to accept any decision calmly, but if civil war starts in earnest between the Germans and the Poles in this disputed territory it is difficult to see. where the necessary force is to come from to stamp it out. It begins to look as though the Bowers who suppressed Poland on a previous occasion may have had some reason for their action after

It is a step forward in solidifying the international situation to have America represented in the Allied Councils once more, even if it is only as l an observer. The position of the new American Administration is that certain rights were acquired by the Allied and Associated Powers as a result of the common victory, that all the rights: and interests of the United States have remained intact, fTialtl none of these rights and interests has been surrendered, that in any oase no person had. or has, the right to surrender them, and that such surrender, if it were decicted upon, could only be fully validated by a treaty or 'forma* agreement. This is expected to be the standpoint of file American representatives on all matters effecting American interests. It is declared that it is the desire of America to reach a solution of each problem as shall bo acceptable to all concerned from tho jxiint of view of justice and legitimate lialtional (interest. So far President Harding has not specified the rights which he contends America has acquired. Latif; week in the New Zealand law courts an American plaintiff lost a patent case on the ground that he could not benefit by a provision in the Peace Treaty as the Unified States had not ratified, the Treaty. If President Harding claims the privileges of the Peace Treaty in their entirety, this legal ruling in a British Court must be objectionnble. to iiim. If difficulties of this sort ore to be avoided', it is highly desirable the position should be more clearly defined.