CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 310, 25 May 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

l"N I VERBAL PEACE. When universal peace comes, there will still exist the necessity for finding space for the people of overcrowded countries. The British Empire is wide enough for all Britishers, but great Powers other than Britain have no territory oil which they can dispose their surplus population. It will be vitally necessary for many of these nations to send the overplus'abroad. Therefore on the consummation of universal peace territory can only be obtained by purchase or exchange. It is .a problem of absorbing interest. and one that is less likely to disturb British statesmen, and statesmen in these southern lands. The eyes of the great nations must necessarily be turned to British lands, so that should peace come it is'easily possible that Australia may become a continent with many nations residing 011 it, and that New Zealand may be the home of several races, unless before the general peace time arrives Britain has filled her own lands up with her own people. Here is an idea from a British student of the situation:— "In my humble opinion the practicability of the maintenance of the world's peace is no dream, for the world has really reached a new stage when arbitration and the reduction of armaments have become an industrial, commercial, economic, religious, and moral necessity. With regard to the interests and expansion of small nations, assuming that international arbitration becomes established, these would or might be able to purchase territory according to the security and value of arbitration, and they would probably find 'purchase' to be much the cheapest, safest, surest and happiest way of reaching 'glory.'"

If when peace comes racial antipathy which nt present hinders its consummation dies, and Victor Hugo's "United States of the World" are the result, perhaps our instinct in regard to the races we deem "inferior" may die too. In time, for instance, Australia might welcome a minor China in its Northern Territory, and a new Japan in Queensland. New Zealand, too, could dispose of some of Java's millions in a new Java, say, in the Urewera country or the northern gumfields. RICHES AND POVERTY. One of the most striking contributions to the debate on the Navy Estimates in the Himse of Commons, as reported by Home papers, was made by Mr. Chiozza Money, lie pointed out that a nation with an annual income of close upon 2000 million pounds can well afford to spend 40 or 50 millions on a navy. The trouble is, of course, that while the national income reaches the magnificent total of close on 2000 millions, only about one- -entli of it is devoted to national purposes. That is why the Navy Estimates, growing from year to year, threaten to become a crushing burden. A London correspondent suggests that •'the remedy is not to cripple the navy, which is our all in all, our insurance against defeat and humiliation. Obviously what is needed is that a larger proportion of the income of the nation should be devoted to national purposes. We allow 100 much of it to go into private hands, and worse still, we allow 7 about 12 per cent, of the nation to appropriate about half the2ooo millions of income." If anyone doubts this statement—it might well seem incredible—the correspondent suggests that he should consult Mr. Chiozza Money's new work "Riches and Poverty," 1910 (Methuen). The figures which he quotes, and which may be relied upon for accuracy, reveal the appalling gulf between rich and poor in t.hi! I'niteil Kingdom. Here are some of tlu'in:—The total aggregate income of the -It 1 /; millions of people in the I'nited Kingdom was in 1908-0 approximately .11.844.000.000. Of this sum 1,400.000 persons look ;H>;)4.000,000; 4,100.000 persons took ,C27.'i,000,000; 30,000,000 nelson* took I'D.'!.),000.000. About one-half of the entire annual income of the nation is enjoyed by about 12 per cent, of its population. It is probably true that a group of about 1*20,000 persons who, with they families, form about one-seven-tieth of the population, owns about two thirds of the entire accumulated wealth of the United Kingdom. The gross amount of profits assessed to income tax was for the year 1008-0 £1,010.000,000, an increase of over 200 millions in ten vears. During the vears 1000-100S profits 1m vo risen 21.2 per cent.; in the same period wages have risen by only one per cent. Though nominal wages have risen one ]>er cent., real wages have fallen in consequence of the rise in the cost of living. This rise during 1000-1008 has been nine per cent. Hence real wages have fallen eight per cent. Thus we see that since 1000 the rich have become richer and the poor poorer; the gulf between them has widened. To impose further taxation on the mass of the people for the greater navy would indeed be to saddle them with a crushing burden. But if the main source of increased expenditure were the excessively rich, they not well afford to pay?