The Sun FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1928. A VOLCANO ERUPTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 317, 30 March 1928, Page 8

The Sun FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1928. A VOLCANO ERUPTS

JUST as there are few men who can excel Mr. W. M. Hughes, war-time Prime Minister of Australia, in blowing the fire of invective and political oratory to a white heat, there are not many who can beat him at the art of talking through a hat. When he glows on the right subject he is wonderful, but when he is furiously off it, he is horrid.

The little man’s latest outburst on what he believes to be the tarnishing of Australia’s ideals by unrestricted immigration from the United States and Southern Europe is much more easily understood than it is pardonable. An extraordinary tirade must he expected occasionally from a political zealot who, being a chronic sufferer from dyspepsia, becomes attacked by the streptococci of both Americophobia and Italophobia. And so all the foreign intruders upon the British field of White Australia—relatively an empty domain—have come under the lash of a tongue that can be sharper than a serpent’s tooth. To Mr. Hughes’s pet and provocative aversions, including America, have been added Mussolini and Moscow. Whatever else may be said about the wisdom of his onslaught, it must be admitted that it at least takes the courage of David before Goliath to sling pebbles at them all at one and the same time. In other words, to vary the picture, an exhausted volcano has erupted. The reason for activity is not obscure. For some time past Mr. Hughes has shown a tendency to move backward stealthily to the party which he left under a volley of curses. Such speeches as he has made since his political downfall from the highest peak in the whole range of Australian politics have had in them something of the old militant note of Labour. Though the Labour Party still hate him for his past, it knows quite well in its hard heart that he alone is the man -best able to give its bewildered ranks fighting leadership and impressive logic. In any case the party still relishes his power of destructive criticism as exercised upon its political enemies. It is certain that Mr. Hughes, in condemning the Nationalist’s immigration policy, has said in blistering language exactly what Labour thinks about it. Labour opposition to the rising inflow of Southern Europeans to Australia is bitter and voluble. Last year the tide assumed the dimension of a flood; the total of these eager, industrious immigrants went near to 7,000 —a record mark. Unquestionably, they are menacing competitors for easy-going Australians, who love the pleasant haunts of the gay cities. As a rule neither Greeks nor Italians waste much time or money at the races. If they go to Randwick or Flemington every week it is to sell saveloys and ice-cream. The majority of the Italian immigrants, however, go to Queensland, where they are acquiring land and wealth on the sugar-eane fields.

But it is difficult to understand why Mr. Hughes should have talked so viciously about “the scum of America” and “the scum of Europe.” It is true that several American negroes shocked the good people of Melbourne recently with their social conduct, but what sort of White Australian girls were they who philandered with negroes ? Of course, Mr. Hughes has never loved America as a land of brothers, except perhaps on the occasion of a successful lecturing tour through the United States. It is probable that the increasing presence of aggressively prosperous Americans in Sydney has irked the sensitive man, but nobody else would ever think of calling them “scum.” The only humour in Mr. Hughes’s folly is his scathing denunciation of Mussolini. Not so long ago Mr. Hughes was driven out of power and popularity because he acted the part of a political dictator.

EXPORT OF APPLES

THERE are distinct signs of improvement in the apple-growing industry which has languished for many years. This rejuvenation is largely due to the encouragement given growers by the Government, in the form of a guarantee as to price. “New Zealand’s astounding progress in dairy exports should he paralleled by her apple exports, which in 1928 will be double those of 1927,” declared Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary of State for the Dominions, in opening an exhibition of fruit at the New Zealand offices in London. London is the world’s greatest market for fruit—and 60 per cent, of its fruit is imported from foreign countries. The hope is expressed by Sir James Parr, High Commissioner for New Zealand, that the Dominions will secure the whole of this trade, Canada supplying for one part of the year, and South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand the other. And why not? Preference to British goods has made the New Zealander purchase thirty times more British commodities than the average American. Meanwhile the Briton at Home mainly munches American apples. If the London market will take Dominion apples at a fair price, the Dominions will supply all it can absorb. Apples from Nelson, Hawke’s Bay and Otago are justly famous for colour and flavour; but apples which are quite their equal are grown about Auckland. Within easy reach of the city there are thousands of acres of land, of little use for other forms of cultivation, that, would serve admirably for apple-growing. Peculiarly enough, apples do not flourish on first-class soils; they do best on a light loam, with a clay subsoil. In Tasmania, which produces apples that no country has excelled, most of the fruit is grown on what is termed “third-class soil.” There is sufficient suitable land around Auckland to grow millions of bushels annually, if encouragement offers; and should the export trade continue to develop, there is here an opportunity of adding greatly to the prosperity of the province.