The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMAEINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1917. THE FUTURE OF NEW ZEALAND.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 8 January 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMAEINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1917. THE FUTURE OF NEW ZEALAND.

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Post and Waimarino News).

It may safely be said that closer federation is an absolute essential to practical and satisfactory post-war Empire trade relationships. Those who have read the controversy on the ques tion of preferential trade within the Empire, raised by the late Mi. Cham berlain, will have realised that neither federation or preference is possible on a basis of free, trade. Free trade did stand directly in the road of federation of Empire, but it has now been generally conceded, even by such journals as the “Manchester Guardian,” that, at least, the only possible policy under which the Empire can be brought into closer union is one of protection, and a system of mutua preference. A country like New Zealand would not for long be content to have its industries wiped out and a condition set up which rendered it impossible to initiate other industries to use up its own natural products, because the controllers of British manufactures and shipping wanted free trade. This country has been the dumping ground for the surpluses of the world’s workshops, and, in consequence, we find the few little industries we have languishing in the puny factories we have built to house them. We cannot venture upon other enterprises because of this dumping, and because we lack men of. fiscal foresight in our Councils who would urge and institute some system of State help. We, happy in our ignorancetools of freetrade shipping- companies —are quite content to go on shipping

our raw products of all lands to other quarters of the world, and to pay foi it being shipped back to us in the form of manufactured articles for our use. This insane state of things is something that will, if continued, render this country an easy prey to an} would-be invader. If B'ritain were only bottled up for three short months New Zealand would he helpless. We prefer to ship even the very food we grow to other countries, and then buy for our own use. .Why is this rage for shipping everything? If it is to secure a price that is offerihg elsewhere, it would be almost incalculably to our advantage to pay the price here and save the cost of shipping. Of course this country will have huge quantities of products beyond its needs for man} years to come which other markets will be glad to have; but that is no reason why we should be obsessed with the thought that New Zealand is for ever to remain a wheat paddock or a sheep run. ,We have succeeded too well in our little efforts at nationbuilding for anything of that kind, as shipping companies and those who work in their interests will find. It is of very vital import that we should build up a trade, but we must be on the alert against being persuaded into anything that will spell national dependence or national strangulation. Fiscal questions do not permit of temporising. When bread goes up in price we howl for the duty to be taken off flour, which is . nothing more than retaliative. It is just on a level with one person destroying something belonging to an erstwhile friend because that friend charged him something above what he thought was fair, and so two injuries result to the community in place of one. We have made Germany the sole master of the world in some industries because of our mad desire to ship everything away in place of manufacturing for ourselves. New Zealand is to-day shipping away, and even burning or allowing to rot, much that is convertible into millions of money. It has before been mentioned in these columns that when Bismarck intended that Germany should become the maker of its own iron, he simply banned the imported article. If Germany could not make her own iron and iron goods, he said, her people must go without till they can. It would be a temporary inconvenience to have Bismarck's methods put into practice here, but it would be to the country’s advantage in the longrun. Within a very short time blast furnaces and puddling furnaces w ould be turning Taranaki iron-sand into cast and wrought iron; hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of paper that is used annually would be made from the millions of acres of trees that it is impossible to mill owing to inability to get it out in milling sized logs. . Our statesmen, if we have any, have not yet realised that the high rates of wages, now being paid, are going to constitute a problem of no ordinary character when the slump comes that is to follow peace. While there will be no sudden collapse of values on- peace being declared, it must be remembered that Britain and other countries have been taught a lesson in economics they are not likely to forget for very many generations. It should be remembered that Britain is ordering that every spare rod of uncultivated land shall be put to producing food; the country will be so impoverished that her people must be as self-supporting as possible, and there are many such contingencies that it would be well for us to ponder, instead of allowing ourselves to be carried headlong to ruin and revolution by those whose desire is only in self-interest. It is all very well to say that New Zealand should prepare against dangers that loom in the not far distant future, but how are the people to set these industries going? The London Chamber of Commerce, the other day, said we must do as Germany did, encourage the institution of industries and foster them for a little Avhile, until they become a source of strength and riches. Government assistance must be given ana credit banks must come into existence from whence advances can be obtained against orders. We are decades behind Germany in our tradingmethods and institutions, were it not so there would have been no war. We purpose further discussion of this subject, but want of space forbids it here.

A telegram from Dunedin says: The police returns for the year show that since September, wi\en the anti-shout-ing legislation came ,'n, there has been a distinct falling off in arrests for drunkenness.

A short story in the Sydney Morning Herald is as follows * A few days ago, on a suburban platform, a youngcouple strolled along, wb'le a youngwife struggled with a baby and a heavy basket. The girl mildly suggested to her companion to take the other woman’s basket. “Where’s her •husband?” he growled. The young wife overheard, and indignantly flashed back at him, “He is fighting, - for

you.”

The popularity of tennic is very evident. as several couples are to be seen practising in the early morning on the local courts. The next Taihape stock sale will be held on January 17, and not on the 10th, as was notified in our advertising columns on Saturday. Farmers and stock-dealers will please note the correction. It is probable that the mail from San Francisco, which has been transhipped from the stranded steamer Maitai to the Rotorua, will arrive this afternoon. There are many bags of letters from our boys in France. There are rumours that, in resentment at the action of the British Government in stopping the supply of official information to his American News Agency,; Mr Hears! contemplates disposing of two London 'journals which he controls.

The effect of the war on the building trade in the Greater Auckland area is reflected in the number of building permits issued by the City Council. Last year the permits issued totalled 1647, for buildings estimated to cost £225,937, showing a decrease of 294 permits and £52,316 cost, when compared with the previous year.

An eminent physician lately deceased was shown the portrait of the wife of a city man. Directly he saw it he became very grave, and begged the lady’s husband to watch her carefully. It appears that the artist had seen in her eyes an expression "which he faithfully reproduced, and in this expression the doctor had recognised the signs of incipient insanity. A few weeks ago the lady Avas removed to a lunatic asylum.

The appointment of Prince Henry of Prussia, “the fool of the family,” as Grand Admiral of the German and Austrian Fleets, has caused, dismay among the commanders of the latter. Though identified with the navy from his boyhood, Prince Henry knoAVS as much about seamanship as he knows about shooting. Of his skill as a marksman all that is necessary to say is that he has already wounded three of his friends in mistake for birds.

Some people who shoA\ r up at tuc Military Service Board get the question put to them fairly straight. Instances; (1) “Where do you reckon appellant is most useful, working for you or fighting for his country? (2) Do you consider it right for you to do nothing and alloAv your brother to fight at the front and keep the home as well? (3) How much beer can you get outside of in a day?”

Apropos of the Great French aGvance from Verdun a pathetic incident was witnessed in the town by an officer now in London on leave. A mother and her daughter had been allowed by the military authorities to return and look for things that might be useful among the ruins of their villa. All of a sudden the daughter shouted “Maman: Maman!” and burst into tears. She had found an old oak chest, with her wedding trousseau practically undamaged. She was to have been married in the month war broke out, and since then her fiancee has been killed.

Two German commercial travellers have been neatly caught by the French They had gone from Dusseldorf to Geneva to take part in some festivities, and afterwards, quite innocently, as they say, took the steamer for Evian, which is in French Savoy. On arriving, they showed their passports. “Germans!” shouted the gendarme. “I arrest you!” By ■what right? they asked. “What, you come to France to spy, and have the impudence to ask why you are arrested?” “But we are not in France: we are in Switzerland,” they replied. “You will soon see when you are in prison. You will learn to your cost Savoy is in France, not Switzerland,” replied the gendarme.

It has been stated that within the last few months several wives have called at the Masterton recruiting office and asked that their husbands be approached and even compelled to e.-i----list. Whether such requests were actuated by patriotic or selfish motives was not quite clear in one or two cases. There have been instances, however, where “better halves” have almost tearfully asked that their husbands he sent to camp, and have quoted their household troubles and the fact that their erring husbands have been spending their wages in other directions than in borne upkeep.

It was stated at rae Military Service Board that the exemption of policemen would bo sought on the ground that it would bo contrary to the public interest to send them to the front. The military representative asked: Is it the intention to apply for. the exemption of men who joined the force, say. only last year?” The Commissioner of Police replied that latterly the Department had taken on practically no police at all. Tim last lot taken on was only six, and special care had been taken to ascertain that they were not liable for military service. As a matter of fact they were not rccrinting, so they had to make an effort to retain every man they had ’ n cei-ice.

\ By the 8.30 train on Sunday morn--1 ing the members of the Reinforcements who have been on final leave, returned to camp. Quite a number of Taihape boys left by the train.

‘ < Treat the season with respect if you want to be comfortable,” is the advice Messrs A. AY. Gardner, the wellknown outfitters', tender, their customers and the public generally. How to do this to the best advantage is set forth at length in the advertisement of th ef’irm on page one of this issue.

There was a big shortage of blankets in a town about five miles from the firing line on a section of the French front the other day. Investigations were made, and it was discovered that all the young women had sent their superfluous blankets to the poilus in the trenches who were suffering from the cold.