The Daily News THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1905. NOTE AND COMMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7740, 16 February 1905, Page 2

The Daily News THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1905. NOTE AND COMMENT.

Tho New Zealand Herald has receiv-

Ed the following cxAMERICAN tract from a letter re-CH-I.TiI,C ccived by an Auckland ON N.Z. resident from his bro-

ther, who lives in I America, and who has followed the J trend of .New Zealand politics in the papers, which arc sent to him every mail. It is .interesting, as it shows I how our legislation strikes an impartial onlooker, one who had no party bias, and who can therefore I judge dispassionately :— '■' New Zealand needs more population. At pre- • sent you have not more than onefifth of the population of this Slate off Missouri. Double the number and you decrease your per capita debt by half. At present tihe awful :.r/e of your public debt would frighten intending moneyed settlers away. Your laws, too, appiyir to be too radical for men who might otherwise be induced to invest. A man would naturally hesitate to sink his money in buildings and machinery at the risk df having'a walking delegate, with your Premier and an Arbitration Court at his back, come to him and say : ' l)o as I order or shut down.' In effect this appears' to me to be the situation. Capital has, and ought to have, equal rights with labour ; without the former there could be nothing for thfc wages man, and he would starve, who.cas the capitalist could live as long as his money lasted. New Zealand needs nl'l she can attract to 'her shores, and instead of putt'ing on her most , persuasive smiles l , she appears to wear a most repellant frown. (f----mate, so.il, scenery, mineral wealth, she possesses all these In an eminent degree. Why has she not millions of people, instead of thousands? This is a <nutsit<on which seems to me to he of more importance than whether a man shall buy his whisky by the glass or by the lyo.ttlp. . ! . Australasia ■needs population and wealth. If Japan ultimately defeats Hus;ia, and coalesces with China, where will you be ? Your population is scarcely live millions, and what are live millions against 450 millions ? Hemember the Jap. is as good, or a bet'Ur, lighter than you are, and better annul ; the ' Chink ' as a lightin? animal is excellent, provided he gets sufficient rice and cash (there Is an unlifii'ited supply of him), and his Jap. commanders will see to thai. 1 think it behoves you to try and seo ahead for the next 26 or 40 years, and prepare yourselves for posuvdc emergencies, and not l-i he Mother Countrv ior yourtrnirnvry-: backing. country does not expect a war with England, yet she is talking 0 f f orti . tying tho shores of the lakes against such a posMble contingency,"