The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1913. THE NEW RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 302, 15 May 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1913. THE NEW RUSSIA.

We are apt in the colonies to regard Russia as a serai-barbarous, undeveloped and inhosiptable country, but our ideas are quite mistaken. When the Russian Bear is fully awake, and when Russia is fully populated, its economic influence, according to competent observers, will affect all Europe in a way compared with which all its feeble revolutions are but toy pistols. A great change is taking phice in Russia. She has definitely entered on the path of commercial and industrial development, which one nation after another, treading in the footsteps of England, has followed by some inexorable law. The industrialisation of this vast country is already in active progress. The growth of factory and town is proceeding rapidly, and with an immense indigenous population to supply behind protective barriers, a corresponding expansion is certain. But it is not, at least as yet, a one-sided movement, such as Britain long ago carried to an extreme, and such as other nations, which have followed Britain, are now experiencing in a lesser degree. Russia is at the same time de-. veloping the productivity of her soil in a remarkable degree, Between 1895 and 1910 the agricultural production has more than doubled in value. In 1 a recent issue of the London Times, a Russian writer, Mr. V. D. Batiushkoff, draws attention to three interesting changes affecting the position of agriculture. The first is the system of peasant proprietorship in place of the old communal holdings. The second is the advance of education through agricultural schools, organised experiment and research; and the third is the adoption of modern methods. A comparison with the United States here suggests itself. All these things the United States have; yet agriculture is practically stationary there. The great difference between the two J countries seems to be that Russia pos- ] sesses a native rural population spread I all over the country and traditionally at- ] tached to the soil. But what will hapI pen when urban industries and locomo{tion develop and the town calls, remains to be seen. The change is still in an early stage, which is what makes Russia ! so interesting to watch from a broad social and economic point of view; but it is still going on. There has been a rapid expansion of manufactures, of which textiles are the most important branch. Cotton takes the first place, and has already reached a point which makes the Russian cotton mills a sub- j stantial item in the world's production, with eight and a-half million spindles | and 213,000 looms. The industry is carried on with the most modern appliances, and Russia can boast of some of the finest mills in existence. The j metal industries are much less advanced; but the production of iron and steel has increased rapidly, and some of the steel works include rolling mills, which put out a, good deal of railway material. Machinery seems to be almost wholly imported, but the Government are fostering the home production of agricultural machinery, for which there is the greatest demand. Concomitant with all this activity is the development of coal-min-ing and of railways. The railways, which are mainly State concerns, seem to be more backward and sluggish than any other branch of enterprise. Forestry, lumber, furs, fisheries and home-handi-crafts are all well looked after, and many other things; but the railways, which should feed and vivify them all, are singularly inadequate. We shall not know of what Russia is capable until the means of locomotion are brought up to a standard more commensurate with the natural resources and the population. , The water-ways are the principal channels of transport, and in the navigable rivers Russia has a great natural asset. British traders do not ignore the Russian market, but they are being badly beaten in it.,; Between 1907 and 1911 British imports increased from 11% to I 5y 2 millions, but German imports increased from 31/ 2 to 47% millions. Germany has, it is true, the advantage of contiguity that the United States have in relation to Canada, though in the latter case the Great Lakes make it more decisive. But that is not the whole (of the story. She has the advantage also in methods and energy. Russia is a rapidly developing market. She wants, and will want,' railways and machinery to an indefinite extent. She has always been a giant, a giant in area and population, a political and military giant; she is going to be ah economic giant, and the wise commercial nations will be ready to feed her.