The Hokitika Guardian SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 3rd.. 1923. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 February 1923, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 3rd.. 1923. THE WEEK.

Kvropkan matters arc necessarily the most engrossing at the present. The Franco-German situation though oh- : scure as to the- true details, is in a- j Very critical state. The negotiations between Turkey and the Allies have , been almost at breaking point, but at the moment there is just the slightest of hopes for a more favourable outcome than appealed possible earlier in the week. Though most of the news coming through in connection with the •Ruhr situation is decidedly coloured, there is abundant evidence that the deadlock has reached a dangerous stage Roth Germany and France are maintaining a bold and provocative front. According to a cablegram, Dr Hermes. Minister of Finance, declared in the Reichstag that the German Government was firmly resolved to resort to every available means to frustrate the French policy of violence. It would be an uni'aralhded disgrace he said, if ihc Germans allowed themselves to be forced by military orders to help French tyranny extort payments for deliveries in kind from the occupied area. On top of that came the report that railway traffic lias viitnally ceased between T)us=ol<lorf, 'Wiesbaden, Essen. Rochun and Dortmund. Against this are the measures taken by France. Her proposal, according to well-inform-ed correspondents, seems to be to establish by means ol a. close cordon of Customs officials, protected by troops, an iron ring separating from the rest of Germany the occupied area in whirlthe French and the Belgians will establish a Government under a Frsnrii Governor-General, first military and later civil. From Ibis it will be seen that the sjtnatbm has developed seriously since January 12. when an official message from Raris. said that France did not contemplate* any military deration -i political oeonpatuvo ill the Ruhr. Her purpose, said the Note was to sen-1 into the Ruhr a commission of control, comprising <ngineers to superintend the operations of the German combine which controls : the coal mines and for the application ] of the measures which the Reparations Commissions had derided on to assure the payment of reparations. France would only send tin- troops neces'-n’y to safeguard the mission and the popu- , lation would not have to submit to any disturbance or alteration of the existing state of things. : It was perhaps natural that from the outset German statesmen should have viewed the mission with misgiving, especially when the engineers were accompanied by a considerable military I fore. Two davs after the issue of the

French Note, the German Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed the opinion that the French military action was not a question of reparations, but the four-hundred-year-old policy of destroying the German Empire—the policy of brutal expansion, clothed as formerly in the garb of “right.” M ith that speech to guide them, it followed as a matter of course that German mining magnates soon began to disobey the orders of the French invaders and that strikes and riots should upset in more ways than on© the plans of the mission from Paris, The outlook blacker drily. In Tendon there

is hoih'j" l ! apprehension over tho course e.f events and foreign exchange rates are in that unsettled condition that usually goes along with war or icnr of war. On January 1, the number of francs to the pound sterling was G2.L>. On January 11, it was G 9.05. and now it is 75.45, the lowest on record. 'I he, German mark has fallen from 33,000 to tile pound, as on January 1, to 190,000. It looks as if financial circles expect a catastrophe. About what will happen next there are widely conflicting opinions because neither Germany nor France promise, officially or unofficially, to become more conciliatory. Europe’s only hope lies in mediation. Perhaps once again British statesmanship will be able to stem the tide of racial antagonisms. The fact that Britain and America arc tending more and more to closer co-operation must have some definite influence on the final outcome. Ifritish statesmen while not publicly declaring themselves are in conversation with the French authorities, and at least have declined to convene Parliament earlier than the fixed date to discuss the Ruin position which is at least hopeful of some effective negotiations coming to pass without Britain doing anything openly to prejudice the French position.

A caui.K briefly stated on Thursday that Britain had accepted the debt fund terms from America. ’lbis was a most important item of news, and its realisation will go far in cementing cordial relations between the hugjishspeaking races on both sides of the Atlantic. an alliance which must have an all important effect on world affairs. According to a press message earlier in the week, the Washington correspondent of the “New A oik Times said the Treasury Department had announced the terms which the American Debt Commission had proposed to the British. The terms included a r tre-ae-tive interest rate of H per cent, from the date the obligations were contracted to the date of the completion of funding arrangements. The rate now Iteing charged is 5 per cent. The American Commission furthermore suggested an interest rate of 3 per cent, thereafter, the total debit to be liquidated in sixty-two years. Amortization provisions and yearly payments of principal also would bo established the amount in the first ten years being approximately half per cent W the entire principal. It was understood the British Commission first sought an interest rate of 2.1 per cent, from the date the debt was contracted, until the funding was arranged, and three per cent thcrwfter. The American Commission believed that Congress would not- accept such an arrangement and pointed out that the rate they proposed would mean a general average of approvimately less than four per cent., which is the rate the United States

' pays holders of Liberty Bonds and other long-time loans arising out ol the war, and the. Treasury Department planned to use the funds derived from tlie British debt to pay off these American obligations, ft remains now for Congress to ratify the arrangement, which it is pleasing to note is being favorably commented upon by the American press, the criticism of the New York papers being, in point of fact, very liberal minded, displaying a most cordial feeding towards the British cf- ' fort to redeem its heavy war impost. : ‘-au, anxiety now over” is the suini med-up view of one expert on tin* 1 London butter marker position, says ■ an exchange,” as far as it affects New i Zealand. Cabled reports from Home i justify this optimism. Early in De- : i ember there was *oncem because tin price had receded from 214 s to 170 s, but one result followed that was very satisfactory to producers, exporters and importers. Rutter consumption in the bigger cities ci' Great Britain increased enormously. The retail rate at that time was Us 8d a pound. Later it was put u]i to Is lOd and tho wholesale price jumped in consequence to 190 s. Still there was a heavy demand, due largely to the all-rouiul efforts made by New Zealand dairy companies to improve the quality of the butter manufactured this season and due also to extreme care in the legulation and storage of supplies To-day's quotation for New Zealand butter, salted, stands at IS'Os per cwt., and various agents at Home confidently expect that the butter market will rise substantially in February, and that prices 1 will continue at a higher level than at present. In any ease, London buyers are operating very freely throughout Xcu Zealand. An important factor in tie.* situation is the misfortune llint. has betaileii Australian producers as the result of drought. At the middle of December, according to on: authority the output in New South A\; l. - had declined to barely one-thin! cl last season’s output and it was expected that the Queensland supply for tile seas'';] would show a dec line of 5(1 per cent as compared with last year. Taking the flutter production of Victoria. New South Wales and Queensland at the peak of the present Australian season, the actual decline even with good rains is likely to be in flic vicinity of 25 per cent. This represents a shortage for London of 13.000 tons of Australian butter and though New Zealand | will probably increase her export total 1 by 10.04)0 tons, 5.000 tone of that has already been despatched to new markets outside Great Britain. In addition. there is no carry-over of 22,000 tons of New Zealand and Australian . butter by the Imperial Government as there was last season. On tho other side of the picture, there is the fact ! that butter production in the Xoi'tli- ! orn Hemisphere will reach its top* level in about three months’ time. However. whether a. decline comes then or not. butter producers in New Zealand have gocxl cause, all things considered to lx* satisfied with present rates.

A settler writes ns from South Westland that he has been reading in the Guardian about the centralising of some of our dairy factories. He considers the movement a step in the right direction. “There seems,” he '■ays. “to be too much overhead expenses with so many small factories.” The correspondent thinks some of the Hokitika people should get busy and see what could be done. The matter cropped up at this week’s conference of local body representatives, but there was no ope present to give a lead in, Some aett* jers were exported to attend, nnd the hf-ii that could done was th® esprac-

sion of -i favourable disposition to tbo \ project, and tho decision to call a pub- j lie meeting to discuss the matter if any | considerable section of the farmois expressed a desire in that direction. There is no doubt the people of Hokitika would he ready to co-operate financially in a centralisation movement, as the establishment of a factory here would be something of a boon for a. considerable radius north and south, as well as cast of Hokitika. It may not he generally known that cream from the inter-Wanganui watershed in South Westland, is going forward each week to Greymouth factories. There is no reason why this local product should not be stopped and manufactured hc-re. The butter market is likely to Ik 1 .stabilised for some time, and the price which could be offered for cream at a central factory would be very v-mpt-ing to suppliers, who arc free to go to the host market. With rebuilding operations in sight at Kokatahi. Koiterangi and Arahurn, the time is ripe to push the local proposal, and it the settlers engaged in dairying who woual he disposed to come into a local proposition, would come out into the open and express their views, public opinion would soon shape itself more definitely. The advance ol the Government experts is all in the direction of centralisation and experience elsewhere confirms that action. At Greymouth there are two central factories and a good deal of their supply is drawn from Westland. Hokitika might well venture on a local central factory, and retain its own trade. Unity °f action between the townspeople and the probable suppliers could bring Ihe phics - five quickly to pass. Tins Duke of York, who has added immensely to his popularity in Scotland liv his choice of a Scottish bride, is a vmnijj mail who mingles a love of sport with a dee)) interest in more serious matters. An English writer, in a sketch of the Prince on his twenty-seventh birthday last, month, speaks of him as ‘our royal philanthmnisAc * and refers to the thoroughness with which he concorns himself with movements for the public welfare. One of his “side-lines,” so to speak, is the study of practical problems of industry as a fleeting employers and workers, and he has been, we are told, "no ornamental figurehead as president of the Industrial Welfare Society.” Two years ago lie came into prominence hv initiating an experiment in sociology which attracted much attention. For a week some 400 hoys, half from factories and workshops and the other half from the great public schools, were his guests in a camp in the country. It was not surprising that at first there was some stiffness and awkardness between the two parties—they naturally had some difficulty in understanding each other, lint this soon wore away in the intimacy of earn)) life and of games, anil the bovs brought together from su-i widely ‘differing surroundings settled down' into a happy community, and separated with a much better nucleistamliim and appreciation ol each other. ' The experiment was so successful that it was repeated last summer.

Thk Prince of Wales continues to make happy little speeches at various functions in England where lit? is the guest of honour. At a dinner given bv the Koval Automobile Cluh, lie said: ‘tonight the H oval Aiitoinoliile t'luh is celebrating its twenty-liftli anniversary, and this fact has reminded me that m v contemporaries and mysell, who began life at just about the same time as the It.AX'.. are very fortunate m a wav that I have not realised before— I mean in being horn at the beginning, of a new age, the age of petrol and antoinobility; The transport of onr-.-elves and of the things that we need affects cverv one of us every day ol our lives from the cradle to the grave, or perhaps it might be appropriate lor me to sav from the perambulator to the hearse. (Laughter and cheers). 1 here is nobody, however much they regret what, thev call the old days, who could possible* deny that- matters have, in the last, quarter of a century, radically changed in the transport world and changed it for the better. Motoring bas had main* critics, and they asserted all its disadvantages, and have said that the world was a union better place when there were no motors. That is where my generation “cores because wo never knew those luipnv .lavs, and are blissfully ignorant of all that we have missed. (T-augh-ter ) Some people say also that the development of motoring means the extinction of the horse. 1 do not think that is true- 'Hear, hear.) I »>dd to no one in my interest in and love of horses, and 1 see no sign «» then extinction. On the eontraiv, 1 the advent of mechanically-propelled vehicles lias made the life of the horse ;> liapnior uno.