CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 41, 10 August 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

OIL FOR THE .NAVY. It is interesting to know that many of the King's ships are at the present time storing oil in order that, should the word come to "go" (either to Moroccan waters or elsewhere), thcj may be ready with the best fuel known to science. That the possibilities of war are not entirely dissipated is evidenced by the exceptional care with which the shores of Britain and her great coastal magazines are being guarded. An interesting point for local people is that * great naval battle or series of battles may be won by the aid of oil. The Empire may, in short, be saved by oil. New Zealand pays a trifling sum to the upkeep of the British navy, which, by the way, is the reason we are permitted to remain here, although a few screaming people are under the impression that talk sustains the nation's. The £IOO,OOO New Zealand pays for the privilege of living unmolested would not suffice to pay the navy's paint bill, and could easily be sunk in a few repairs. The suggestion made in the House of Representatives yesterday >to offer to the Admiralty, instead of £IOO,OOO a year, its worth in oil fuel, is essentially businesslike and practical. The supply of oil to the King's ships would not only be of value to the navy, but certainly of the utmost importance to the oil industry of New Zealand. Taranaki petroleum is the richest oil in the world, and it follows that the use of it in the navy would give the oil business an impetus greater than any other conceivable means. An infant industry must thrive under such circumstances, and, of course, New Zealand's payment to the navy of £IOO,OOO worth of fuel a year might be a mere fraction of the oil that the navy would find necessary. Extended and successful use of oil fuel by the navy would demonstrate its value to the mercantile marine. The demand is absolutely limitless—and it is hoped the supply is limitless also.

HEREDITARY TITLES PREVENTION. Presumably there are politicians in New Zealand who believe the powers of this very young country to smite hoary institutions are limitless. Sir Joseph Ward has been created a baronet, and his heir will be a baronet without trying, as also will his heir's eldest son and his heir's eldest son's eldest son (if he happens to have one). This is very annoying to many people who are not baronets and who have a very remote chance of becoming baronets. Mr. Newman, M.P., has galloped into the field with a '•Hereditary Titles Prevention Bill." He might just aa well have raced into the political arena with a Bill for the abolition of seashores or a measure for the removal of the milky way. If the reigning monarch is determined to invest a person with an hereditary honor, nothing the New Zealand Parliament can do will have the least effect, unless the Imperial Parliament decides to delegate its duties to a few gentlemen in Wellington. This title business is merely "a matter of degree, and hereditary titles, if they have few uses, certainly have the one that the heir may try to'live up to the father's reputation. Mr. Newman of course, knows that a soldier's son may wear the military decorations of his deceased father (on the right breast) and ho probably wouldn't object to this at all. The cases are akin. An hereditary titl« does not cost New Zeaj d ,® n y money, and it certainly doesnt increase or decrease the ability of the recipient or his eldest son or his eldest son's eldest son. There may be a thousand and one reasons why Sir Joseph Ward should not have become a baronet, but the objectors have merely fulminated about it without tellin» us whv. If Sir Joseph Ward's baronetcy were going to rob us of all our magnificent accumulated surpluses, was about to increase the national debt, or raise the price oE flour, kill the wool market or ruin the butter trade, there would be adequate reason for complaint. As it is. the baronetcy is a harmless little •ompliment to the man who for the time being is Prime Minister of this little Dominion. Mr. Newman's Bill even though it were possible to pass it! could not make the prevention of titles retrospective, and as he seems to have been guided in his rugged democracy by just the one unimportant incident, it . unfortunately suggests that he is reaching for a cheap advertisement. "The question is," as Mr. Speaker would piit it. would Mr. Newman become a bayonet if King George V. intimated that he would be hurt at Mr. Newman's refusal »"