The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14. IN A FOOL'S PARADISE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81902, 14 December 1906, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14. IN A FOOL'S PARADISE.

We tinve received a t-<>s- vof (lie organ ••nefenre." of the X-i t i'.'i i;i 1 League of \'cw «:.• chief olifrrl, »f which are universal defensive training, fither a-l'.ore in- jii!o;it, of :i 1 1 boy; and y.iim; men iinii! the ag" W 21, with

encouragement of emiiinu.d t rainim:, and Io provide rilie and Morris tube ranges in e ; 'ery urban and :•»; nil rim ;i scii(itd dis'riii. The leading article U devoted to sliowimr Imw we in this colon y are living iii a fool's paradi.-e, for the simple iva-on that wo are not able things are to keep our own.

The r.riicle is wovtii the eerm-.-t consideration of e'.eiy pat viol. It >lio\vs •l.'iw w«* are telliti;/ mie ;)!"><!,;>!• what a iine country New /leabied is. ae.d ; toil at its development, and bra;; of its resource - -a-, thou::!! oilier people hadn't the :.;uue notion of the country and were not ready to take it out of our hands. "We luw Free .Kducation., Old Pension and the .Minimum e.ud numy oilier tliinirs intended to ma!-:e men and women aud children happier and better - bin K any juan fo'.d enough to tJiink that invadeir. will hvp ilie scliools L;i;inL'', or compi'Tors p-.-y o!i - or ('ruin-!,"ad '.'Oi;rt-n-ar-tia!s enfoive .irhiirsilion awe.rdv? We are s<p:abblin«;' and over l.aud Tenure, when neither the fee simple nor a b a.-e are worth more thau lire-lightens unless we can maintain unbroken the Xationa! (Jovernnu'Ut. which i!ie forte of law to the national decision."

"We have piveii women voles; we have raised the nf con ent: we ere hireani-in/j; our laws as they have never been humanized before in t'e known history of the wor^l—and wi'l the foreigner submit to our ballots, think you. if he ever comes upon our cities, or will the Asiatic re-.-peel either or consent when he comes down from the North to burn, to rava-e, and to At the present moment only one rnmpart

stands between New Zealand and national ruin—-tiie Xa\y, JJ-.m't lei. aiiy man mal.e a'-y about it! We depend as absnlr.i e! y and entirely unou the l.hitish N'avy for our nation;!! exisicin-i l . lor our national ind: ]ic,itiee.ee. a-; Uo-nan dejiended for its >ecuritv u[)ou the 'ie.eions «»f li." Koieiin K:upire. And will any

sav that it • Jiu-i a!;h' that the Jin jk 'rial (.ovrrunieut n:i;j!il be I.' Vii I'iiv ijCiMlf'linl to wUhdraw iis •'jiiaih'diis li'wiu the IVtcjlicOr worse, to entrust tin.- Faeihc to m;:m- Asiaiie i'owrr? iior- nut history , ver reprai Hiitil nations learn the lemons that history teaches th»sn? And is this not till' Ihvt uf all lesson:-: that tiod Int.- no !t«' for lazy and cowardly pcopie, who leave lo others the duty or defence, and will not train themselves to light ft;r the freedom of the land that lit- has given them": It i> yowl that we should wi:,h tu make -W.v /.aland a model Stale, good that we should seek lo so order it that it ,-hould iu-\er lie rotted by shameful pow-rtv or corrupted i»y no shaliti-i;il luxury. o'ooil that ue not he content unless n }i,tV worth having aitu ming is open before

every child horn ;\ew /i-alanurr. j'ut what if Aew Zealand it-elf be lorn from us': What tisca would be the good of all our planning and ail our dreaming'.'

"And wl.ib we arc laiking of ,vhat we will do and what we will not do, hawkeyed *tal"->men psue over ilie map of the i'aeilie and p,an futures lor Aew Zealand in which we l;a\e no part, exaaly a:-, our pioneers poivd' and planned over l!iis land wh.-n wiii: proplietie eye ih«-y .-avv tin- Maori swept away and their own people planted in his sle.id. in fVkin. in ToKio, in St. Petersburg. and in Jierlin. they ha\c marktU in ihib: '>,e\v Z.'aia midline uvleit'fit's-.' And their hea;\s are lilied witii I lie land iiiinger wliieli •o d ill-piles iji mi'M 1 ;; • !irai ; . i'-»r ,},>■ v. c. t-uL ri L,.- v, ort iilCo -. and

itie unlit. That is wiiat lie are today—worthies.-, unlit. L'nab'e to lioid tin, laud of ours from one (.ierman army corps if it came steaming into sigiit! I uable to keen our women—uur mothers, our sisters, our wives, our daiiyluers, 1 no.-e we love—fro:.l tile uiiiiamcaelc liurrois cf Asiatic hoi\ie-, if tiie Fateful Hour Midueniy struck! I nalii.' lo keep a school open. Lo pav a peh.-loli. to elllol'ee a single l;\v-- jl we i l .ire take.l oy the throat i>;. tlio-.e who would not i :;ve dared 1j look into our giand-iitc.' eyes. Truly a Fool's t'araIllse: ielil is not vet too .'ale. W'e .-till have .one to ar.u, to train, to drill, to make =o ready that these liawlv -yed - ale-.i.e:. -- t'osslck an,-, t Jila 11. ,'.)ain:iu and .jap-will change their map marking witn much cnrs.ng, and plan against some oilier pcop ; c. For aiway, makes i'eaee, While \. raicn.'.-,-, invite.-, War. The

men aud women of a nation wliie'.. cannot iigin can call neiilur land n.:r iau. in.'j- puis.' nor pension, nor iioaic nor honor, their own. lint where nee men ua\e Irainc.i and ma.de readv to light fur their country, tin' ciii d may s.cep >afel\ in iis mother's urnn, and t lie \vo:k-worn may go down to the grave iu comfort and in p.-ace,"