The Hokitika Guardian SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th. 1921. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 November 1921, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th. 1921. THE WEEK.

Though the present Leader ol the Liberal Opposition never has made a particular study of public finance, he had no difficulty in forming a very strong indictment against the Government when opening the Budget debate in the House of Representatives this week He showed beyond all possible doubt that Mr Massey had enormously' in--crease the departmental expenditure during the two years he had enjoyed unhampered control of the Treasury, and that in spite of all his fervid appeals for public and private economy he had been borrowing and spending with a lavish prodigality unparalleled at any other time in the history of the Dominion. Mr Wiliord made out so strong a case indeed that even the Christchurch “Sun” which prays evenday for the deliverance of the eountrv from the wicket Socialists, Democrats and Liberals, is constrained to admit that all is not well with Reform finance. ‘ That document was disappoint ing. to put it mildly, it says, referring

u, Mr Massey’s Budget. In one parr the .Minister of Finance admitted the m-eil for keeping expenditure within tin revenue. lu:t there _wn - n<> sugge--tion .is to how the Government proI to lilliliii that ideal. On the contr.uy. the lotiimunily »»■ inlnme-d that the Government will rcquii*’ million more than was spent hist year to enable it to carry on. Mr Massty himself admits that revenue tsbrinking notieruMy. I her* is indoubt ns to that income and land tax ami customs duties are hound to he lighter yet we arc told that the pubh expenditure for 1921-22 will amount nearly thirty million. At that rate "I spending it will he impossible tor the Government to avoid a deficit and it is only proper that the danger should he emphasised. Departmental expenses will have to ho a,distant jolly reduct'd. Bet pi'ilmps even more significant than the readiness ot the C h r Ist I'll II re h •Journal to slip one foot down on the other side of the fence, is the grand admission of Mr C. ■ Purr, the Minister of Education, who was put up to reply to Mr Wilford, that the substance of what that gentleman had sai l was true. There would he a deficit this vear, he pleaded, hut in the past year there had Ik-cii a surplus. The cost - f administration had grown from > ight millions in 1913-15 to sixf-on millions in 1921-22. but Mr Massey had disiiucn'd a means of saving four tuillieiis ami a half which lie would put into operation bv and hv. Wages and siiliuies had gone up very largely, m* did not exactly know Ie- . but the

i"venue producing Customs tariff gene, rally had been well received. Mr Parr in Miort. took up the position of plead, ing guilty and throwing himself upon tlic mercy of ihc Court The Court, living a House in which the accused party possessed a large majority, attacking nu importance to the weight of evidence, the party w ill he acquitted without any official stain upon its character, and probably considering itself released from any rash promises it may have made in regard to economv.

The opening of the looked for Confer' cure to discuss disarmament has now taken place at Washington, and the happenings there will now he follow.>j very closely by the whole civilise! world. During the past few days th“ cables 'have been very full of possible happenings at the groat conference. Every citizen of the British Empire will wish this great project- God-speed. The peace of the world is prized nowhere more highly than in the scattered Commonwealth of Nations, which only a few years ago made such gigantic sacrifices to secure it. A. period of armed peace in the Bacilie, involving ilie constant dread of another great catastrophe, |nrssjbly even more terrible than that which burst upon the world in 1911. is a nightmare from which ativ sane man must shrink with horror and loathing. The cost of such preparations might mean bankruptcy to the world. The peoples of all the countries concerned look to their rulers to exhaust every means whereby suen a state of tilings may be avoided. The importance of the Washington Conference consists in the fact that its delegates will he charged with the delicate and humane task of removing from the world its greatest and most serious threat to pence. No one fully acquainted with the facts w ill den .■ the dangers of the Pacific question in th<‘ absence of a common agreement based upon principles of equity and reason between the nations whose interests are principally affected. The broad outlines of the problem are well known. The United States and Canada on the on* hand, and Australia and New Zealand on the other, holds very strong and unalterable opinions on the subject of Asiatic immigration. With those opinions the hulk of the white race all over the world lieartilv agree. Japan, however, anil, to a smaller extent, China, which arc the coun■;es whose citizens come under this immigration ban, are at all events entitled to state their |xiint of view, so that if possible some acceptable alternative ma v lie discovered for the disposal of their surplus populations.

It so happens that Great Britain, from the fact of its friendship with Japan, and its kinship with the United States, is ill ail excellent position, as Mr Lloyd George lias pointed out, to harmonise what may at first sight appear to he conflicting points of view on the Pacific question. The speculations of newspaper correspondents in regard to the probable attitude of Japan lowa ids the question of disarmament are not very helpful. Japan is a nation which cherishes ambitions of a maritime Empire. The elder statesmen of Nippon, reading the lessons of history, find a close parallel U'tween the |>osition of the island kingdom of Britain ill the Atlantic and the 'lsland Kingdom of Japan in the l’aeifie. They are obsessed with the idea that . n island may dominate a continent. England, in Elizabethan times, saw the same vision, and broke successively the naval power of Spain and the naval power of Holland, founding eventually an Empire whose extent and power ex coeds anything known to the older world. The only flaws in the elinin of Japanese reasoning arc contained : n the facts that Britain, with all her faults, held fast a philosophy , which embodied the genus of human freedom

(Uritaiii in her colonising exploits never forgot her conscience. It may be said fly the cynics that the new race exterminated the old as rapidly under British rule as under any other, hut we in New Zealand who are able to assess tbe effect of a British colonising vxpeiiiiiom upon n native nice from lir-l-hund experience arc* not likely to iaH into error on that score.

The instinct which has made Britain a great trading nation the instinct which leads her to give honest value j for motley—has led her to give what she I could give to the barbarian peoples upon whose shores her adventurers have landed. In its essence this peculiarly British attribute may be termed the democratic spirit which translated into wider terms merely a temperamental inclination to give every man a square' deal. So far as history ran teach us this is a good basis for Empire building. Japan has given some evidence that in small affairs, such as her colonisation of tlm Marshall and Caroline Islands, she lias appreciated the conUctness of .the formula. But in her administration of Korea she has gone- hack to mediaeval models, and hi her intrigues in China she has, by all, parted company with the teachings of even oriental moralists. It appears probable that in her present fra mo of mind of her rulers, Japan can only he induced to disarm by fear of the force which western nations may lie able to exert to bring about such result. Disarmament under such conditions is not likely to help the world to permanent peace. Unless the economic and ethical arguments in favour of disarmament can he impressed upon Japan, the rest of tin world. no matter what resolutions may be curried at Washington, will live in fear that compliance on the surface lbeing accompanied by feverish warlike preparation beneath the surface.

Foiitunatki.y there is growing ill Japan to-dav a body of opinion which rejects absolutely the warlike scheme* of the militarist party, and regards lhem as chimerical and absurd, .if the conference at Washington produces results which will strengthen the convictions of the Japanese Littorals. and produce in all civilised countries a revulsion against plans of conquest and military aggrandisement, it may e*. much good, even though its immediate results may seem small and inadequate But there will he inevitably a hard battle between the mutual distrust and suspicion which to-day urge the nntions to increasing expenditure on armament* and the sentiment whi* h inrpaveil to take great ri*ks to save the world from another such disaster as that which fell upon humanity m 1911. The task of the plenipotentiaries meeting in the- American capital is \erv difficult, uml tin* best that can he hoped for is that they will act siti* -"■ >•■!v and honestly, with a riev. to the wolfai o of posterity.