Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, FEB. 28, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8752, 28 February 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, FEB. 28, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Three are a considerable number of persons in Britain who are known as Little ' Englanders, but we hardly realised how numerous the same class was in this colony until the Ministry lent the services of Mr Fulton, the flax expert to the British Government, in order to introduce flax growing into the island of St. Helena. This step has raised a howl of indignation from all those who seem unable to understand that we form part of a great Empire, and that it is the duty of one portion to help another. St..Helena is a small island 47 square miles in extent, with a population of about 3000 persons, which until recently had a garrison of 424 men. The natives of the island supported themselves by catering for the military force, and now that the garrison has been removed by the British Government tho islanders are threatened with ruin and oven starvation. It is desired to enable the inhabitants to help themselves, and therefore the cultivation of flax is to be introduced and the British Government has requested and obtained from the Ministry here the services ■of Mr Fulton to give the industry a good start. TV e congratulate the present Ministry on their action as it must tend to help the closer union of the Empire which we all desire. Even if in ten or a dozen years StJ Helena exports a little flax we can well afford to share the market with tho poverty stricken island whose exports in 1904, excluding specie, reached the magnificent total of £490. Looked at from the lowest point of view Ministers were wise in securing the credit for a generous action as the British Government could easily have secured the services of private persons had the New Zealand Government refused assistance. We are in the habit of importing experts from Britain and other countries, and yet the moment w r e are asked to make some small return for the enormous benefits we have received the petty parochial instincts of a certain class are aroused and the action of the Ministry is condemned. It would have hardly bean fitting for the Premier to accept the hospitality of tho British people while attending the Colonial Conference and yet to refuse to help a portion of the Empire which was in difficulties.