The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY 16. THE AGE OF "WHY?"

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 224, 16 January 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY 16. THE AGE OF "WHY?"

TJiece has never been an age during which people of all kinds and classes were so inquisitive as now. There has never been an age when folk recognised so fully as in this one that mutual help and understanding are essential to the good of the greatest number. So that everywhere there is a disposition to confer. The average man does not accept as gospel the bare statements of his fellow man. Ho is more analytical than his predecessors, is less disposed to remain under an oppressive heel, more inclined to demand "Why?" This is an age of conferences. No man knows everything, and no man knows much. The more he tries to learn, the more is he convinced of the smallnass of his knowledge. Criticism is of no value if the critic has no knowledge of that which lie criticises, but the majority of the human family even in these days of queries suffers somebody else to do much of the thinking for him. Actions which are the outcome of plans conceived by composite minds frequently benefit a whole nation, and

the spirit of conference that is nowadays animating the people of most countries is making for universal betterment. On some former occasions we have endeavored to show the value of the modern passion for enquiry, research and conference, and several years ago suggested that the increase of visits between public men of all countries must lead to a better world understanding. We in New Zealand, principally because we have made some very marked and' very successful experiments, have attracted enquirers political, commercial and scientific, and this small army of trained observers have been intimately useful in clearing away preconceived ideas. As the people in any one country depend on each other, so do nations in a greater degree lean mutually. Lord Harrowby, who is at present touring the Empire, holds opinions that must have greater weight than those of the mere pleasureseeking globe-trotter, for he is a partner in the great banking firm of Coutts and Company, and might be naturally expected to view matters colonial solely from the financier's point of view. But at Sydney he was careful to say that he believed the Labor Government of .Australia had at heart the improvement of the country, just as much as the investor has at heart a return of something over and above his outlay. The banking magnate used this text on which to hang the contention that we have so often made, that "one of the chief necessities of our time is interchange of opinion by representative men in separated countries." No two men think alike, and •every person's viewpoint differs, and it is only by sympathetic understanding that people of separated countries can eliminate differences. The earl, who formerly sat in the House of Commons, made a suggestion that goes further than any yet made in regard to exchanges of representative men, for he held "the opinion that British Ministers of the Crown should visit us, just as colonial Ministers of the Crown should visit Britain. There is no British Minister of the Crown who has more than a "book" knowledge of the colonies, and it is unsatisfactory that the Secretary of State for the Colonies, however brilliant he may be, has only an office acquaintance with the oversea dominions. The carl referred pointedly to the utility of a splendid Canadian suggestion that there should be a comprehensive system of commercial agencies established throughout the Empire. He thought that these commercial agents should be employed by the British Government. ' By this means it is certain that Britain would become accurately informed on colonial commercial matters and that the truest perspective would be available to the British investor. But the greatest value of this commercial agency idea would be in extending Imperial trade. By the constant, faithful and honest development of trade between the oversea dominions and the Old Land dependence for supplies on outsiders would not be so groat. It would be a step in the direction of a self-supporting Empire, mutually advantageous to every citizen of it. Mutual exchange of men of mark in order that mutual understanding might be possible would be a sound investment for both the Old Country and the new ones ' under the same flag. The colonies nre famed for the hospitality of their peoples, ; and there has been no better illustration of tins hospitality of late years than in the reception of distinguished representatives from the Colonial Office, and the eagerness with which Australia welcomed the Scottish. Agricultural Commission, which is about to .visit New Zealand. Apart from these beneficial visits from eminent people of our kin, and the visits of our own statesmen to Britain, Australia, Canada and South Africa, the ease of modern travel gives new countries n chance of meeting many distinoriiishcrt foreit'ii people. The colonies owe many great, thinzs to foreigners, and there is no doubt that eminent Germans. Trenchmen, Russians and others who have visit

Ed Australia and New Zealand during the last ten years have returned to their respective countries rid of all preconceived ideas 'about the people ami prospects of this end of the earth. The insatiable modern curiosity of all classes will, one hopes, make for a state/ of society in which international and inter-Imporial misunderstandings are impossible. At present, however, the interchange of representative people is of sufficient volume, mainly, one supposes, because British statesmen, commercial magnates and high officials find their relaxations nearer home and in foreign countries. The inauguration of an organised system of exchange, irrespective of the recreation element, would be of immense assistance to the Empire, and it is hoped that the Earl of Harrowby may be as emphatic as the question when he returns to England as he was in his remarks at Sydney.