Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1898.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2079, 17 February 1898, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News AND UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1898.

4 Tbla above all—Sa tihlno own coif be brae &ad it most follow oa the olghfe the day Tboa cacDfe not then bo false to any mra. SH AS BSP BAKU.

Mr Ernest Williams, the author of “ Made in Germany,” proved conclusively in that work that he had the gift of handling statistics in an agreeable manner. Turning over the pages of a copy of the Windsor Magazine for January wo came across an article by this writer, entitled “ The Imperial Heritage;” in which he describes the awakeuing of England from her shameful lethargy. No longer does she dream that her Empire is bounded by the German Pcean and the silver streak of the English Channel. Her eyes are being opened to the fact that beyond the shores of Little England are vast realms which proudly call her mother. Her statesmen* her politicians, and above all her people, are grappling with the fact that England’s is the greatest Empire the world has over seen, that her people are entering into an Imperial Heritage more magnificent than:any that ever filled the Wildes* dreams of an Alexander or a Caesar. We have all heard the story of the Colonial Minister, who cheerfully confessed ignorance concerning the whereabouts of New. and many of us know that only a few. years ago; one might search the Hsme papers for months without coming across the name of this great colony. The native born and those of us who look upon the colony as our adopted country, are naturally inclined to resent this | Imperial indifference, and rejoice when colonial bred lads inflict such humiliating defeats in their own game, too, upon England’s picked representatives as we have recently witnessed on Australian cricket fields. But England’s apathy may be said to bo at an end. Turning over a copy of a London paper yesterday we were just thinking to ourselves what claim have wo, has Australia, ,;bn-T the space of a great English newsp%er, save in the obscure corners where notes in microscp c type on the condition of the .colonial., wool,’hide, and tallow markers appear Happy are the nations that have no • history. With the exception of.the Maori war we have no history beyond

the dull record of parochial politics and occasional “ booms ” on our goldfields. N<r have the Australian. “Punch” dismissed the great island continent with cruel brevity “ Advance Australia indeed ! England is always making advances to Australia, and is about full of it.” Referring, of course, to the infinite capacity of colonial Premiers " for borrowing. The fact appears to be, however, that' England is in the habit of taking her over sea possessions, with, perhaps, the exception of India, in the aggregate. “The Colonies”—a practically unknown quantity. To grasp the extent and bring them within the range of our vision, of the English colonies and dependencies, is well nigh as impossible a task as the realisation of billions to the finest mathraatical mind. Take the comparatively small corner of the British Empire comprised in the Australasian colonies, we can gather but a dim notion of its vastness when we read that it -contains a land area of nearly two billion acres And the total population is little over half that of London. You could make the United Kingdom 25 times larger than it is, and it would fit comfortably into the boundaries of Australasia, and there is room for the whole of the population of the United Kingdom to settle itself comfortably in roomy houses on the land still held by the Crown until settlers come.

One faotor that militates against the expansion of the colonies is the small number of hands into which the alienated lands have fallen. In New 1 South Wales, for example, 679 persons own half the alienated land ; New Zealand, 584 persons own considerably more than half. This is an unpleasant feature, which Mr Williams says is becoming more marked every year, because it is evidenoe of the fact, that the population of Australasia instead of spreading itself over the vast fertile aores yet awaiting cultivation, is penning itself in cities. The Government of New Zealand long ago became aware of the serious obstacle to expansion to he found in the possession of the land being confined to the few, and as is well-known introduced remedial legislation in the subject As we observed some time ago, wo believe a reaotion has set in against the tendency towards centralisation, and the people are beginning to see that to congratulate themselves on the growth of their cities was a mistake, in view of. the depopulation of the rural districts. To establish a claim upon the notice of the Home papers we must develop our resources. ,In agriculture, the Queen Mother of all industries, we are backward New South’ Wales, a fine wheat growing c untry, actually imports 2,00<>,000 bushels’a year. There is the same deficiency in maize, and she imports about £4,000 worth of timber a year, and England, all the time, spending L 16,000,000 a year on foreign timber. Without going into any more figures, we think, we have. shown . that these colonies are only in their infancy, and that if they expect more notice to be taken of their progress they must make haste and develop their inexhaustible resources.