The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, September 26, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1303, 26 September 1914, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, September 26, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Government has decided that the general elections shall be held as constitutionally provided for. What earthly use would it be t© postpone the elections from time to time as suggested by the Leader of ithe Opposition ? If the Government established a precedent and continued to hold office by reason of the war crisis, it would be reviled and bantered for its high-handed and undemocratic action, by the very ones who now seek to hang on to their honorarium as long as possible upon any excuse. There is no reason to believe that the elections will make us one whit less loyal to the Empire, and less determined to make sacrifices to assist the Motherland in the gigantic struggle in which she is engaged. It is true that political meetings by Parliamentary candidates will not attract the same public attention or interest. But the mind of the public is already made up, on party lines, and the spouting at the hustings will not carry much weight. It is worth noting that in Victoria, where the general elections fall due at the same time as the New Zealand general elections, there has not been the slightest indication of any intention to postpone the contests on account of the war. On the contrary, the idea does not seem to have occurred to anyone that such a course was necessary.

An interesting view of the turn events may take as a result of the war was recently expressed by Sir Arthur Quiller Couch, the well known writer. In the course of an interview he said :—“We do not want war, and neither do the German people. What this crisis is going to raise in the end is the question whether in future the people who are interested and have to suffer in wars are going to dictate when war shall be made, or whether it is going to be left to the old-fashioned apparatus of Emperors and Chancellors. That question is bound to be raised, however this business turns out. I do not think the War Lords of Europe could have played straighter into the hands of the Continental Socialists, who absolutely have the people behind them. lam not a socialist, but I believe thinking people will be with them on this particular question.”

Accor din a to the latest German Year Book, Germany's total imports from other countries during l l >l2 amounted to £,'534,570,000, while her total exports were £447,800,000. Her imports and export trade with the principal countries is shown in the following table ;

Imports from Exports to £ £ Great Britain 42,000,000 58,000,000 United States 79,300,000 34,850.000 Russia 76,350,000 33,950,000 Austria 41,450,000 51,650,000 France 27,600,000 34,450,000 India 26,650,000 5,300,000 Argentine 22,200,000 11,950,000 Brazil 15,650,000 9,600,000 Australia 13,800,000 4,350.000 Chili 10,450,000 5,650,000 New Zealand 445,000 446,000

In proposing the health of the British Navy on the occasion of the recent visit of the British Fleet to Kiel, Grand-Admiral von Koster, President of the German Navy Teague, said : —“Germany has, worse luck, no naval war history of her own to teach us, so we are compelled to hold up that master of all masters, your own imperishable Nelson, as the ideal to which sailors must aspire. Political conditions may be good or bad, but they can never efface our admiration for the sons of the Mother of Navies. Germany has a powerful fleet—a fleet which must be made still more powerful —but we drain our glasses sincerely when ‘Hochs’ for the British Navy are called for.” It is extremely doubtful whether those glasses are being drained so sincerely to day.