CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 255, 7 March 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

BACK TO THE LAND. We have lately been treated to a cheering cable news item showing that many of the historic estates held by British nobles have been sold. There are many points of interest about these sales, the chief of which is that land of great richness which in many cases has been used only "pictorially" for many generations is now being intensely cultivated by small owners or lessees. A week ago it was reported that the operation of the Land Tax Bill had forced peers to quit portions of their holdings, or, at least, made it expedient for them to rid themselves of heavily taxed land. Lord Carrington, President of the Board of Agriculture, (however, is reported as saying ? that the better prices ruling for lanu 1 constituted the chief reason for quit- ' tance. The reason of the better price is , the wonderful revival of agriculture in Britain, practically the whole nation having been induced to see that the revival | of rural industry was the cure for most of Britain's social sores. During the period when Britain's life was one of constant physical struggle with foreign adversaries, Britain was less a "nation of shopkeepers" than a nation of agriculturalists, and there is no question, nor has there ever been, that communities of agriculturalists supply not only the best brawn but the best brains. A great revival in British agriculture means improvement in the physique of the race. The allegations that the race has deteriorated may be provable, and if they can be proved the deterioration is the result of the decay of agriculture. The selling of great estates at Home is, therefore, a matter for exhilaration, for in no case does the historic interest of these estates suffer by making them productive as well as ornamental.

WOKDtS, MERE WORDS! Admiral Henderson has been looking round Australia, and will later advise the great Commonweal th how best to keep the invader away. Admiral Henderson made a speech the other day in reply to a toast, and we were given this soul-stirring precis: "The keynote of his report was that any action which attacked the sea-power of the Empire was inimical to Australia and the whole Empire." This is illuminating. It would be equally illuminating if the cable man had told us that any brick falling from a six-storey building on the head of a man would injure him; that if a tree were chopped through-it would fall; that when a man speaks .he is vocal; that timb#r is wood) the sky is blue; the grass green; anil the rain wet. The futility of such messages is shown by the reported allusion of a Minister to the Admiral's coming report, which the Minister said "would bear out the highest traditions of the British naval service." How does the Minister 1 know what the Admiral has locked up "in the book and volume" of his mind? As lie could not possibly know, why say anything? Having foolishly said something, why have it repeated all over New Zealand? The public man who is fed publicly, and therefore has to pay for his food with a series of remarks, is frequently an object for sincere pity, and his vaguest allusions to things he lias no opportunity of understanding (such as the innermost thoughts of an admiral)) are unhappily considered ;<>i sufficient importance to hurl broadcast over the earth. In this cablegram about an admiral and a defence minister, there is not file meanest vestige of information, and it would have been equally useful for the Mel'bourne cable man to ha"ve wired the first page of Webster's dictionary or a few "wanteds" from the "Age." Vagueness is probably considered excellent pabulum for the people, and if one takes the average paper in hand he will find that "the Minister is again directing attention to the matter," or "has promised to look into it/' or "will keep the subject in view." We feel ourselves competent to prophesy that Admiral Henderson's report on Australian naval matters will refer to warships, ports and the sea; that if it is written, ink will be used; and that if the Commonwealth is not safe, Australia is in danger. It is important that the world should know that two and two are four.