The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1913. SELF-CONSTITUTED MARTYRS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 301, 13 May 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1913. SELF-CONSTITUTED MARTYRS.

There arc always plenty of people in the world who are anxious to trail their coats, like the proverbial Irishman, with a request that somebody should tread on its tails. The Sellars family are the latest additions to this large ariliy of recruits, and, according to our cablegrams, they arc making things busy for New Zealand, with the assistance of »a credulous newspaper. The Sellars, it will be remembered, came to Taranaki some months ago, with the intention of settling in New Zealand, and not belonging to the Rev. J. W. Burton's category of "fire-eaters and jingoes," they were horrified to find that the boys of a sufficient age would have to be dragged away for a few days yearly from their important work on the farm and put to their necessary Territorial service. Naturally they resented the indignity, and shaking the dust of this deplorable country hurriedly from tlieir feet, they fled back in loudlyproclaimed destitution to a country which is now purposing to add compulsory conscription to its laws. This be--in the off-season, when giant' gooseberries are not in fruit and when the sea-serpent is hibernating, the Londoil Daily News, which is strongly anti-mili-tarist. in its tendencies, has taken up the cause of the Sellars, and, with quite unnecessary hysteria, is promoting a relief fund for tliem. To us at this end, where the facts are properly known and understood, the whole thing is supremely ridiculous. Mr. Sellars and his family came to New Zealand to settle with at least a running acquaintance of our laws and habits. If they did not, it is entirely their own fault. They were not deceived, nor trapped, nor subjected to I any task that we do not cheerfully un- ' dertake ourselves. They would have Ibeen welcomed as estimable citizens, had they chosen to remain with us, and our > hearths , and homes would have been open just as widely to them as they arc ; to other decent people. Their self-con-stituted martyrdom has nothing to do with us. It is a matter entirely of their own choosing, and not one of very great public interest either, certainly not one of sufficient importance to provoke a prominent leading London journal to espouse a singularly impracticaole cause. This is our country, where we make our laws and obey them, and it really matters less what the Daily Xews and the Sellars > think of us than what we think of them. Frankly, we are better without them. We have continued to exist fairly comfortably since they left, and the daisies have not lifted their heads much to look after them, nor has the Pacific retired in dudgeon to other shores. Even Patea, where this horrible incident had its genesis, still keeps its channel open and continues to defiantly export butter and cheese, and the local paper has since secured another subscriber in the place of Sellars. We don't want the Sellars, and the farmers of this country will not lose any sleep on account of their indignant exit. RECIPROCITY. Reciprocity between New Zealand an*/ Australia is again in the air. The Hon. F. M. B. Fisher has returned from a visit to the Commonwealth with a provisional treaty in his pocket. What it contains is regarded meanwhile as a great secret, to be revealed to a curious and expectant public when the Cabinets of the respective countries have pondered the treaty before passing it on to the Parliaments j for ratification. Until all the good things are revealed, we must perforce possess our souls in peace. From reciprocity in agriculture and industrial products we do not expect much advantage will accrue to either of the parties to the proposed arrangement, for the reason that New Zealand and Australia produce practically the same things and are both in the incipient 'Stage so far as their industries are concerned. But reciproc- , ity in any form between us and our neighbor is desirable, be the advantages ever so small. Anything that tends to break down the harrier that lias been erected by short-sighted politicians is welcome, and should be instituted. If we cannot have free trade within the Empire right at once, we might endeavor to secure free trade among neighboring colonies. It is an ideal worth striving for. As long ago as 1890, New Zealand endeavored to come to some reciprocal arrangement with Australia. In that year we sent two delegates—Sir Wni. Russell and Sir John Hall—to the Australasian Federation Conference. We could not then see our way to join the Federation —and the objections to this course existing then still exist—but that provided 110 valid reason for not joining hands and working together in many other matters of mutual benefit. The late Mr. Seddon recognised the necessity of this, and succeeded in arranging a provisional reciprocal agreement which he had with him on his last and fatal journey. When the treaty came before Parliament, it was incontinently thrown overboard, but had the powerful personality of its framer been behind it, some form of reciprocity, it is quite certain, would have been arranged. The tides of the Tasman have flowed and ebbed a good deal since then, and there is a feeling among the people of both countries that the time has arrived when they can with mutual advantage come closer together. The feeling is perhaps more apparent in Australia than in New Zealand. The former 'would, apart from trading considerations, very much like to see its abandon our present policy of subsidising the British Navy, and stand in with them in connection with an Australian Navy. The present Government, Mr. Allen particularly, seems inclined to follow this advice, but we believe the country is not yet ripe for making a departure from the policy i hitherto followed. In regard to military affairs, the position is quite different. 1 In these we can co-operate with mutual

advantage. In a minor degree we are doing so now by sending our young men to be trained at the Australian military college. We can co-operate with Australia, too, in the matter of the operations of our old age pensions, matrimonial, commercial and other laws, as well as in postal and telegraphic communication. In a hundred and one other little ways we can, by pulling harmoniously together, instead of against one another as heretofore, do much to advance our respective interests. Details

of Mr. Fisher's arrangement will naturally be looked forward to with no in considerable interest—and hope.