CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 266, 20 March 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

WILL NAVAL COMPULSION COME? The other day we were constrained to ask the gentle reader not to worry too much about Dreadnought figures and to keep the eye of the mind on the men who were going to live on them. Australia is going to have a navy, and we suppose that sooner or later, unless universal peace spreads her mantle, New Zealand will have a, navy, too. Both in Australia and New Zealand there have been instituted modified forms of conscription for military service, but' no one, as far as is known, has even suggested the possibility of making it imperative for young men to join a navy. Australian military regulations in regard to compulsion are more stringent than ours, Australia wants sea-fighters much more urgently than she wants soldiers. There is ample evidence that Australia will find it very difficult to man her navy with Australians unless she compels tliem to join. Officials lately approached in regard to the Australian's dislike of the sea-faring life gave figures that arc eloquent in the light of a necessity that will be very pressing soon. On one of the largest of the inter-State steamers there are 30 deck hands, but only seven are Australians; there arc 31 hands in the engineer's department, but of these only four are Australians; there are 50 stewards, 12 of whom are Aus-, tralians. On one of the Union Coinpanys' boats running between Sydney and New Zealand, we find that five out of the 25 deck hands belong to Australia or New Zealand, 13 out of the 4(5 in the engine-room, and 17 out of 70 stewards. On a Huddart-Parker steamer, running between Sydney and Auckland, seven out of 23 deck hands are Australians or New Zealanders, five out of 22 in the engineer's department, and 10 out of the 30 .stewards. On another boat, belonging to .the same company, 14 out of 70 belong to the Commonwealth or New Zealand. Or take the Vancouver service. On one of these boats one finds 24 Australians out of a total of 18(1 hands, divided as follows:—Deck hands, four out of 33; engine-room, nine out of 53; stewards, 11 out of 100. All this' Australian ships, and only one-fifth of the hands are Australians. London, Glasgow, Dundee, Tyree, Orkney, Isle of Wight, Grimsby, Shetland, Hamburg--from all these places they come, and from Germany, Sweden, the United States, and other countries, but compafatively few sign on at Sydney and Newcastle, and still fewer at Melbourne, Bris-1 bane find Hobart. Whether the promise of adventure will alter the Australian attitude when 'recruiting for the navy is begun is bard to say. The New Zealandcr, as well as the Australian, has a very real love for the sea, except as place to live on, and perhaps in the far' future both the Commonwealth anr the Dominion may have to do for the sea service what has already been done for the land forces—"compel them to come in so that our ships may be full." STATE EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. Farmers are the most useful and the most necessary section of any community. They are the birds which produce the golden eggs. Seeing that they are so essential the Government assists them in various ways, because the Government | is assisting every person in New Zealand by helping the man on the land. I Although a man may own a farm and work it, he does not necessarily know all there is to know about the earth, and his scorn of tuition and expert aid is rather a noteworthy feature in the character of some of him. The Government established State farms" in order to ascertain by scientific method facts that would be useful in general application by farmers. -The application of knowledge gained by experiment necessarily swells somebody's banking account. Experimental farms, specifically devised for the information of farmers and to help them to increase their receipts, are useless if farmers scorn them. Some of the members of the Auckland executive of the Farmers' Union evidently have a scorn of tlie State experimental farms, and we have been treated to a report of the remarks of some of the members, showing that in their opinion State farms are more or less a joke. Hasty visits and cursory examination by unscientific farmers is not good ground on which to base criticisms. Patient research and experiment, however ridiculous to a person who neither understands their reason nor has time to experiment himself, must ultimately benefit him. It is not merely the farmer who is entitled to make remarks about State farms, for it is not the farmer alone who is taxed for their upkeep. Everybody knows that experimental farms arc not exactly gathering grounds for farmers, but even without the constant patronage of farmers the experiments still proceed, and the information is stored for national use and is generally available. Formerly the ' Taranaki Agricultural Society arranged visits to Moumahaki, but, perhaps scorning the attempts of the State to teach the farmer a little more than he knows { oven now, the practice was dropped. If I' the Society is convinced that the Tara- I

naki farmer cannot be taught anything at Moiimahnki, it will, not revive the visits or take any interest in the farm. If, on the other hand, it believes there are individual farmers who might improve their methods by carefully .studying Moumahaki, its duty is obvious. THE MONEY MARKET. Discussing the condition of the money market, the'eurrent issue of the Trade Review remarks:—'•Very little alteration is noticeable in financial conditions locally; there are still ample supplies of money available for investment, but the majority of securities offering are not considered very satisfactory by investors. We are nearly through the March quarter, in which the hulk of our exports go forward, and the various returns for this period will lie looked for with interest. The bank returns will most likely show a fairly heavy excess of deposits over advances, resulting from the realisation of the season's produce, though the heavier scale of importation that is going on will work in the opposite direction, as it will necessitate a reduction of the available funds of the banks. Unfavorable weather was experienced early in the season, and latterly the want of rain has been felt in most parts of the Dominion. The export of wool, which kept up well in the earlier part of the season, is now dropping off considerably, and it is stated by some that the season's clip will be from 5 to 10 per cent, short of the previous season. The export of meat was affected by weather early in the season, but is picking up now and heavy shipments are going forward. Dairy produce gives promise of a good season up to the. present, but a reduction must be looked for from now onwards. On the whole, we think the value of our exports for the season will reach a substantial and very satisfactory level, but do not expect to see them* reach the high level of the 1909-10 season record."