CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 382, 6 May 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

fish. New Plymouth people are not too well | off for fish, and there is plenty of fish in the sea for s'l Mi<> v <'c;uireineiit9 oi Tarauaki. 'lliv i:<x\, deep is explored little enough in Sew Zealand, so that the people who might make fish one ot their staple foods are not al>le to do so. The piT-'- is i*>-i<ist prohibitive, too, t<> a large r.cthing to prevent a great supply of lisL for Taranaki, except lack of enterprise, and v/e believe that if business men bad faith enough In the future ot the trawling industry to equip trawlers that would make this port their htadquarters they would achieve success. It is suggested that trawlers fishing off Kawhia might malic Wellington their pert, tat there is no reason why they should pass New Plymouth. It is rather an absurdity that, with the ocean at one's front door, fish should be difl'rcult to obtain, and then only in small (piantities, and 1 at high prices. It is certainly worth the while of enterprising people to see that Taranaki gets a larger share of the products of the deep than she now has. There is money in fish, and there is plenty of fish waiting to be caught in the Pacific.

■SOLDIERS' GRAVES. A paragraph published in this morning's "News" points to the fact that the Soldiers' Graves Guild of New Zealand is approaching local bodies, desiring that they shall give particulars of the last n sting places of New Zealand soldiers who have died in this country as a. direct result of service in South Africa. A short history of the Guild is interesting. During the progress of the South African War a sum of money (amounting to about £700) was raised in New Zealand by public subscription for the upkeep of the graves of New Zealand soldiers who had been killed in Africa, or who had died of wounds or disease tttere. The public at the time did not appear to understand that the Imperial authorities did the utmost possible to locate and mark graves. The Graves Guild of the Loyal Women of South Africa undertook to assist the authorities in the matter, and have indeed done splendid work in marking the graves of soldiers

with a uniform cross. The New Zealand Guild sent the sum of one hundred pounds to the Loyal AVomen, but owing to official misunderstanding it is not known whether the money has been expended or whether it has been solely used for the upkeep of New Zealanders' graves. The balance of the fund raised in New Zealand (about £.fioo) has remained in the bank untouched for about ten years. It seems likely, therefore, that the Graves' Guild of New Zealand is now expending some, of the money on the upkeep of graves in the Dominion. A month or two ago the G'riiild obtained quotations from all the leading monumental masons for designs, and it was then stated that a uniform stone or cross should be used in every case. It is well known that in many places in New Zealand graves of soldiers who fell in the Maori war are much neglected. Without the consent of the subscribers to the fund it appears impossible to divert any of the money for the purpose of honoring the old-time soldiers. Tt appears to us that, supposing the Graves Guild found some way of diverting the fund, the public, if approached in the proper wav, would increase it. if necessa.rv, so that the men who died in New Zealand for New Zealand might be included in the only honoT'possible for the dead soldiers of j a later generation.

A MATTER OF LOGIC. ; Mr. Massey, Leader of the Opposition. I has given -his reasons why the (government should go out of office and the Opposition Party should go in. Here they are: "More people "had left the country during the last three years than in any similar period since 1890. People were leavi7ig the country because it ; was cursed with a bad Government." If i the people who left the country did so ! on Mr. Massey's estimate of the place he earns his living it, they were quite justified. Mr. Massey's point of view : seems to be that seasons and produce, output, intake, money markets and the I rest, have nothing to do with the rise l or fall of a country's prosperity. The i Government is the cause of every catastrophe. The logical conclusion, of course, i.9 that if Mr. Massey had been Premier there'would have been no financial depression, wool wOiiild have ibeen a higher> price, the cows would have given an extra bucketful of milk, and butter would have sold at two shillings a pound. But one of the quaint points about Mr. Massey's attitude is that he has noticed signs of returning prosperity on the horizon. Surely this is the fault of the Government, or have .prices risen In - London because Mr. Massey has been' received with manifestations of jov all through New Zealand? It would be interesting to know what the Government have been doing to allow Waihi shares to go down, and why it refuses to permit the expansion of the Dominion bv deliberately selling the Governor's furniture. If the war in Albania and the rubber boom can be sheeted home to the Ward Government, Mr. Massey may be Premier this time next vear.