Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8806, 7 May 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE letter from Mr Zaugvrill which appeared in our issue of Saturday with regard to a proposed Jewish colony in Australia gives rise to, many interesting speculations. The novelist has identified himself for many years with every movement tending to ameliorate the com':..ion of the downtrodden members of his race in Russia and elsewhere, and, like everyone else, has come to the conclusion that the only remedy for the evils they suffer from is a new exodus, though the site of the promised land is still a matter for dispute. The Zionists desire the Jews to return to their old laud and settle there, but the prospect of Turkish rule seems little more attractive than that under which the people already groan. The wiser spirits seek the protection of the British Empire, the only laud in which the Jow has ever received anything like equaljtreatmont. Mr Zaugwill sees that the desire for white population in Australia may possibly bo turned to the advantage of Jewish emigrants from other lauds, and boldly demands a territory wide enough to give elbow room for all the Jews who can bo poured into it. He offers Australia the choice between a future black population and a Jewish one. His scheme is a great and noble one, and visionary as it seems Jewish wealth and enthusiasm could undoubtedly give it a good start on the road towards success. The obstacles, however, seem almost insuperable. It is doubtful whether Australia has as yet fully realised the dangers which lie in store for a country that offers so tempting a field for alien immigrants, and hitherto the people have talked about the need for a white Australia, hut have dmo nothing to secure it. Australia would therefore return a strong non possnmus to the demand for territory for the offscourings of the Russian and Polisii ghettos. "• They would have good reasons for doing so, as hitherto the Jewish nation has not shown its capacity for agricultural occupations, but has chiefly excelled in finance, not always of the highest kind. Whether this tendency to what may bo described as a parasitic existence is due to the conditions under which the people have been compelled to live cannot be proved without experiment in new and more favourable circumstances. The people of Australia may, however, decide that the experiment is too risky to be tried at their expense. The danger of an influx of cheap labour from the Jewish settlement, once it was firmly established, would probably prove fatal iu the minds of labourites -who would prefer even the hated Chinese to the patient and persistent Hebrew.

PEOPLE in this colony are so used , to the announcement .of record surpluses that Mr Hall-Joues’ uotifleation of another surplus of £718,000 loaves them quite unmoved. There is a general feeling that surpluses do not really exist except in the imagination of Ministers, but wo may for the moment forgot this and inquire what is the real meaning of a surplus of £718,000, and whether Ministers have any reason to he proud of producing such a result. If the Government during the year has collected from the taxpayers £718,000 more than was required for current expenditure, every man, woman, and child in the 'colony has had an average sum of 10s more than was necessary extracted from them; a family of five received £1 less than they would otherwise have done. This sum would in many cases bo now placed to the credit of the family in the bank; in others it would have been very useful in paying somo tradesman’s account, which will have to remain "unpaid iu order that Ministers may boast of their - marvellous finance. , What would ba thought of a Borough or County Council winch took out of Hie pockets of ratepayers 10 per cent more rales than could possibly bo spent during J|tho year? Such a Council would not long have - the Spending Qi tbv ratepayers’ laoiroy.

Yet the country lias grown so accusomed to wild finance on the part of Ministers that it allows them to stand up and positively boast that they have bled the people, whose interests they are paid to safeguard, of at least 2s—two unnecessary shillings out of every pound [of taxation collected.

REFERRING to the tariff charges to be proposed next session, Mr HallJones stated that reductions would be made in the taxation on necessaries of life in order to counteract the high cost of living, and that as- , sistanco would be given to deserving industries. Wo may leave any con- , sidcratiou of the proposed reductions until wc know more definitely what they are, but wo confess that the j term deserving industries excites j our curiosity. What; we may ask, j constitutes a deserving industry? i Is an industry deserving because it j is a failure? What qualifications i have Mr Hall-Jones or Mr Millar to enable them to distinguish between deserving and undeserving industries? If wo may judge from other countries which have protective tariffs we must conclude that deserving industries are those which can bring most influence to bear on legislators. There never has existed, and never will exist, a merchant or manufacturer who cannot make out a case iu favour of a protective tariff on the articles he sells, and the wisest man iu [the world would find it impossible to decide between the conflicting claims put before him. We feel no confidence that Ml' Millar is even moderately wise on such matters, and must enter a strong protest against his acting as arbiter to decide what industries are so deserving as to require protection at the expense of all the other industries in the country, for aid to any particular industry is bound to prove a handicap to all others not similarly favoured.