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Otago Daily Times, Issue 17693, 2 August 1919, Page 8

• I wou 'd be difficult to name a country m the world with so happy and prosperous a record as that of New Zealand durmg the last 50 years." In these words the Economist, the British financial authority, concludes, in its issue of June 7, a review of the treble of the dominion. After a reference to some of the principal events ioJ 6 evelo P meut °f this country since IH4O effective contrast between the past and the present is drawn by the Economist, ajid the -payments made by the imperial Government for purchases of New Zealand produce from March, 1915, to May, 1918, the total being £64,016,424 are quoted as illustrating impressively the high pomt of prosperity that has been reached. The feature particularly emphasised is that "this wonderful record of production was achieved by the inhabitants of a country whose population was estimated at 1,102,000 at the end of 1915." A detailed examination follows of the values of the imports and exports of New Zealand m recent years, of the sources of origin of her chief imports, and the prin cipal customers for her produce. The values of the leading exports are set forth for the years 1913 and 1915, the comparison providing ground for comment upon toe very great increase in the values of the exports of wool, meat, butter, and cheese, largely due, of course, to the influence of war prices. Finally the -principal imports for the year 1913 are set iorth in detail, and regarding them it is observed: "It must be borne in mind that obese imports were to supply the needs of a population numbering slightly over a million souls." The fact that our imports should amount to nearly £23 per head, while falling substantially "below the value of our exports, speaks eloquently, of course, for itself. The whole article constitutes a handsome piece of testimony from an authoritative quarter, and it is all the more gratifying because it embodies no over-statement of the case. And when the factor which seems to be always in the mind of the writer in the Economist— . smallness of the population of the dominion—is taken into account in conjunction with the vistas of development awaiting the country and its primary industries, the possibilities of the future are the more cheerfully emphasised.

The text of Mr Lloyd George's reply to the deputation of the Nationalist Party in South Africa, headed by General Hertzos which interviewed him in Paris on June 5 and urged that the Transvaal and Orange Free States should be made independent republics as they were before 1902, reveals a careful and reasoned statement of the grounds that necessitated a refusal to consider the secessionist proposals. Gene ral Hertzog hada full opportunity to state his case, but did not do so ftipressivelv He did not allege that Great Britain had m any way interfered in South African affairs since self-government was granted He merely asserted that because the section of Dutch South Africans which he represented wanted to be independent they ought to be independent. Mr Lloyd George reminded the deputation that he had. himself endured three years' criticism as a pro-Boer. The gist of his reply based in its argument on the fundamentals of democracy, was as follows" The view of the British Government is that the union of South Africa rests on a great pact, fundamental understanding find agreement between the British and Dutch elements of the people of South Africa in which both made sacrifices and sur-' renders for the attainment of a great common ideal, and that it cannot be dissolved by the one-sided action of either element without the consent of the other. At the most solemn moment in its history the people of South Africa exercised a free, deliberate, final choice; it expressed that choice in a free constitution of its own creation; not only the Imperial Government but also the Imperial Parliament blessed and ratified that constitution. The proclaimed principle of self-determination to which you refer has been given effect to by the people of South Africa in the fullest, freest, most solemn and deliberate manner. We could not agree to anyaction which means the disruption of the Union. To do otherwise would ruin South Africa. Mr Lloyd George concluded bv giving the members of the deputation some sound advice, coming as from " a tried friend and well-wisher of the Dutch people." He counselled them not to endeavour to undo the past, but rather to contemplate the status which South Africa would enjoy under the League of Nations, and to look forward confidently to the great future which lay before a united South Africa..

While the more fortunate section of the people in the Old Country have been thronging the holiday resorts, according to recent accounts, after the liveliest manner of pre-war days, the prospect of thousands being debarred from securing a holiday owing to the difficulty of obtaining accommodation was not ignored. The problem was represented to Sir Arthur Yapp, genera] secretary of the Y.iI.C.A. a as on© affecting hundreds of thousands of men and women workers who had had no holiday since 1914, who were acutely conscious of wrx-strain, and were finding it so difficult to secure rooms at seaside towns that unless some scheme were provided they would have to spend their holidays at home. The idea put forward was that a great chain of seaside and country holiday camps for mon _ and women should be established. This was taken up with energy by the Y.M.C.A.. which, by virtue of the equipment in its possession, has excellent facilities for the execution of such a project. The scheme seems' to have been received with _ enthusiasm by the public, and the Daily Chronicle, "which was responsible for mooting it, has published columns of approving testimonials from persons anxious to take advantage of it. With London enjoying on June 11 its thirty-scrvmd dry day and sweltering

under a temperature of 82 degrees in tho shade, it may bo readily imagined that the anxiety of people respecting the utilisation of prospective holidavs was something very tangible. It was" anticipated with confidence, we read, that the War Office would consent to help the scheme and offer the Y.M.C.A. the use of some of tlie great military camps, now no longer required for their Original purpose situated in attractive localities. It was urged that the project would prove a particular boon to the many who would receiTe their holidays in August, the crowded month at the usual resorts. Mr -Harold Spender writes: " This year tho J'ritish people have made up their minds t holida v vs > an d such is the strength of this new passion that neither high fares for railways nor high fares for lodgings are gomg to stand in the way." Evidently 'v. necess . ar y that some novel plan should be devised to meet the emergency, and the holiday camp scheme appears to have been evolved in a timely hour.