The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH. 25, 1913. END OF THE WAR IN SIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 282, 28 March 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH. 25, 1913. END OF THE WAR IN SIGHT.

After a siege extending oror live months, t the fortified city of Adrianople has fallen t before the combined assault of the Bui- ' garian and Servian forces. This is by j-t far tlie most momentous event of the i whole campaign, mid its moral and ma- t terial effects cannot fail to be very groat. 1 Adrianople was looked upon by the t Turks as their "-eeom! capital," and i apart from its great .strategic import- 1 anee it had "holy places" for which 1 Moslems professed strong sentimental at- - tachment. Some time ago, when peace 1 negotiations were opened, the Allies of- i fered, if Adrianople were surrendered, to - erect these, holy places into a neutral i zone; but this compromise was rejected, i and the bombardment of the city was < resumed after having been suspended for a time. The siege has been more a trial of patience and endurance than of strength as between the opposing forces. At first the Bulgarians were content to invest the city, with a view to preventing the Turkish garrison of 00,000 men taking part in held operations. After the defeat, of the Turks and.tlieir retreat to the Chataldja lines, some heavy bombardment took place, and there w.ere occasional attacks and. counter-attacks, but for a considerable time the besiegers were content to maintain the investment, while the defenders made no attempt to break through the lines. Latterly, the Bulgarians, reinforced by Servians, have bombarded systematically and with good effect. The defending general, Siiukri Pallia, was accorded high honors by the Porte for his successful resistance; .but it lias for some time been evident that the defence was | weakening and that reduction by ' cxhaustion was not far off. Conscious of this, and doubtless impelled by a desire to. capture the fortress before the Rowers intervened, the. Allies recently » redoubled their efforts;'with the result that Adrianople has at last fallen into their hands. The capture of the city ought to hasten the conclusion of peace, ought to hasten the conclusion of peace. The Turkish defeat is made complete by the fall of Chataldja, but the Allies will not be permitted to march on Constantinople. The time is not yet for carrying out the "bag and baggage" policy, for jt is evident that, if the Allies were allowed to k continue their conquering career at present, Austria would cause trouble that would almost inevitably involve all the Great Powers of Europe. The Powers have therefore decreed that the war at this stage shall cease, and the Allies will act wi-cly in accepting this decision. Bulgaria, >!ervia and Greece may each rely upon being allowed to retain the territory they have won'by "' their valor in the field. It is matter •'• for. regret (hat Montenegro, whose soldiers fought i|iiite as gallantly as any, is not likely to be adequately rewarded \\ at present; but her time of recompense '■' must arrive later. Meantime, it will be matter for profound thankfulness if the sanguinary conflict that has so long .raged should be' brought to a close, and the harassed populace be set at liberty to till the soil, engage in commerce and pitrsue the arts-of peace and civilisatior). '■'.,. .

. FILING THE EMPTY SPACES. Speaking on behalf of the members of Empire Trade Commission, Mr. Foster, heforc leaving Auckland for Sydney on -Monday night, hiul some good things to say of our Dominion's resources and climate. The -most pregnant'remark made was that lie would like to see four millions of people in tlie country instead of one million. Anyone., considering tlie'exteiit of Now Zealand, its fruitful son and its mineral and other wealth, must echo the hope expressed by him that withiir'a few'years the population of the country will .lie. more nearly adjusted to its productive capacity. Vet,

almost at the moment Mr. Foster was speaking, the Duueiliii Trade and Labor

Council was a resolution condemning the active immigration policy of the Government, and in effect declaring that there is no room in New Zealand for fresh population. So persistent, indeed, i's the opposition of the Labor organisations to the introduction of addilional workers that the Prime Minister has ju-t been constrained to explain! hat lie has no intention of pushing the immigration policy to tiie extent of bringing '25,(1(111 people per annum to the Dominion. Bat even at that rate' of increase, it would Like a. century 10 bring our population up to four millions --surely a most inconsumable time to wait for the development of the country's resource-. hi>tead of seeking to confine immigration to less than 25,000 a year, all patriotic New Zealanders should lie urging on the Government the necessity of aiming at increasing the population by double that number annually. Tt is deplorable that Mr. Massey should hi; so weak and short-sighted as to declare, that "the Government has 110 intention' ol"doing anything of the sort." We fully recognise that there are difficulties in the way of rapidly increasing the population without causing a violent disturbance of the labor market: but it is the clear duty of the Government to face these difficulties and overcome them. Leaving on one side for the present the economic'aspect, of the question, let us stress the fact Hint, a larjre increase of population is absolutely- necessary to New Zealand from a national ' and racial viewpoint. Our very existence as a free people is dependent upon our ability to occupy the waste places. Professor Macmillan Brown, who reeenfly paid an extended visit to China and Japan, gave it as bis deliberate opinion the other day. in the course of a lecture at Clirisi-hiirch. that if we fail in"this duty we shall within two hundred years ho "the slaves of the East." He is convinced, as the result

of his observations, that if the stupid Labor policy is continued—if this country is sought to be kept as a preserve for a few favored people —New Zealand will be overrun by swarming millions of Asiatics, who will in course of time degrade and enslave us and our children. It is not workers of our own race we have to dread, but the tireless and multitudinous Chinese and Japanese, with their low standard of living and their inferior social and moral ideas. When '.these people come in as a flood—and our j restrictive laws will not stop them if they resolve upon coming—the Labor Party will bitterly rue that it stood in the May of lilling up the country with white workers. It, is no mere fancy that a submergence of Anglo-Saxon civilisation is possible in these new lands. A Japanese writer in the Eastern Review lias been openly advocating the seizing of Australia and Xew Zealand by force —finding opportunity to do so when Great Britain is engaged in a war with some European Power. Equally significant were certain remarks made at Ere-, mantle the other day by Mr. Kwei Chih, the new Consul-General of China in New Zealand. He deprecated the laws that exclude the Chinese from the Commonwealth and the Dominion, and argued that their continuance would lead to decadence. He is a bold advocate of racial amalgamation, and he pointed triumphantly to the United States of America in illustration of What could be accomplished by a blending of different nationalities. He apparently dreams that the only way in which Australia and New Zealand can become groat countries is by their'being filled .with a mongrel Eurasian population. Ho is, of course, utterly and entirely wrong in ' his opinion; but his remarks show that his ambition is to utilise these countries for the overflow from CFfiiia. And so long as there are such vast unoccupied spaces here, a very slight overflow from the Chinese reservoir would prove sufficient to swamp the British race.; Mr. Kwei Chili is not a man whose aspirations are to be lightly set aside. He is a man of education and brain-power, who was a Professor of History in the University of Tientsin and for seven years was attached to the Chinese Embassy in Washington. He represents the spirit of awakened China, and' is one of the leaders who are imbuing with new ideas over four hundred millions of people. Even if Xew Zealand had forty millions of white inhabitants, they would be no more than adequate to defend this country against the attack of any powerful'nation that might cast envious eyes upon it. The sooner we fill our empty spaces with people of our own race the better will it be for us and out posterity. ;.. , ,;;