The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27th, 1917 THE NATIONAL MENACE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 27 February 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27th, 1917 THE NATIONAL MENACE.

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

The military and political authorities in Britain have ultimately realised that to win the war it is safest, lr not absolutely necessary, to be frank with the people regarding" how matters really stand. It is not only necessary to say' we want men, or we need this or that, but to get what is needed with a minimum of trouble the British Government has had to tell the nation what they are wanted for and and to explain just how urgently they are wanted. Though there is no possibility of the submarine malady gaining the goal it was intended to reach, it is capable ot doing a lot of damage, but it cannot torpeco ships if they do not put to sea. Although some ships must go to sea, Britain has determined to let as few go as possible, and to enable this her people ar e to do without luxuries from overseas, and they are to produce and grow a good deal of the commodities they have hitherto imported. Submarining is being combated, but it is not regarded as a main issue; the purpose ot the nation is not to be diverted; submarines will be attended to rjy the way v,-hii e the main object of Britain und her allies is being sought in Prance. Mr. Lloyd George has told the nation that some inconvenience must be expected, and must be borne, as neither the navy or the military will regard it v.s a menace of supreme or vital significance. The navy will deal with it rather by special means than by devoting any part of the capi tal craft to the same purpose. Without going into detail, the Premier lias told us that submarines are a nuisance and an annoyance, but we cannot turn aside from the great blow our armies and navies are getting ready to strike. He has emphasised this fact to such an extreme as to make it quite clear that an effort is really to be made on a scale that will bring decisive results, end the war, and lift the pall of death from above the nations of the earth for very many years to come.

References made to the food supply of the people during this piratical ship sinking should cause the blush c shame to be visible on the national cheek. In saying the trusts and combines were no longer to be allowed to corner the food of the nation, Mr. Lloyd George not only frankly admitted that trusts and combines had cornered food so as to bleed the masses of every shilling they could extract, but that the laws of the country allowed them to do it. The laws had been prostituted to thieving and extortion so that a few of the nation's enemies might become indecently rich. While the guns and Bayonets of Germany have been taking life straight-out, these money gourmands •have been permitted by British laws to starve B'ritish people to death ,to take from the nation the stamina and health of its people. Equalling the German curse is the curse that our laws permit to exist in our midst, and if Mrfl Lloyd George will the legitimate ultimate what he has sa. about trusts and combines, not only the British Empire, but the whole world will be under an obligation to him. ""*--

"They must trust to the people dealing with food supplies." There are men still living who will remember almost similar words being freely bandied about over forty years ago. We believe Mr. Lloyd George said the quoted words, attaching to them a purposeful meaning, but it may be worth while to hark back some half a century and see what almost precisely similar words were made to mean then. It was after the Crimean war, and there was a food shortage in Britain that was pressing disastrously on the people, amounting to a famine in some localities. At that uine there were "Common Lands," on which the people could go Avithout let or hindrance. Taking one instance in particular there were a few hundred acres which were indeed a boon to the poor people, but the money gourmand (and it is regrettable to have to state that controllers of church lands were no better than the "ordinary lords of the manor) raised the cry for more land on which to grow food; they didn't talk about ploughing up parks, while grouse, partridge, and pheasant shooting lands were untouched as Britain is doing now, but they made it an excuse for seizing the Common lands belonging to the people, and in the instance unSer riotice a wall was put down the centre of the common, the church taking one half and the lord of the manor the other, ostensibly on which to grow wheat to feed the people. The churcli certainly: did do something in this direction, but'the other party just made the seizure to add to his shootinggrounds. The people were thus robbed of their inheritance of hundreds of thousands of acres of the very hest choicest fiat land in England by the already rich —for which they paid not one farthing. There were earnest men, such.as Cobden and Bright, who gave tlie best of their talents to improving the lot of the people, but that time representative of the presentday combine and trust invariably thwarted their efforts. The repeal of the corn laws was beneficial, and as Mr. Lloyd George points out, twenty years after that great change Britain produced twice as much wheat as she imported. The seizure of the people's ewe lamb without price or compensation did not add a bushel cf wheat to the average production, but year after year less land was used for wheatgrowing until half the agricultural workers were compelled to seek work in towns. We are afraid that Mr. Lloyd George is raising every excuse but the real one, to account for the food shortage to-day. In fact, he furnishes the evidence which leaves very little doubt. He says the greatest obstacle to wheat-growing is the timidity of farmers in cutting up their pastures. There is more profit in the hoof than in the plough, but this was not the real deterrent to wheat cultivation in England; the farmer wa» afraid of a rise in his rent if he broke up his pastures, and for that reason the law is to be made a preventive to rack renting, leaving the farmer free to grow wheat if he will. It is positively inconceivable that those who control the use of land are to be permitted to create national famine. Mr. Lloyd George says thaf it is essential for the very life and safety of the nation that we should put forth every effort to increase production; farmers must be cured of their plough-fright; crops must be forthcoming. What for? Because it is essential to the very life and safety of the nation. The Government has fixed the price of wheat for two years, and the Premier appealed to farmers to put their backs into it, and thus help to defeat the greatest menace that ever threatened the British nation.