GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 262, 3 April 1914, Page 8

GENERAL NEWS

THE XAV'AL SITUATION. Tn the opinion of the groat majority f colonials—from whom we do not supose Sir Joseph really iliil'crs—it is escntial that the existing naval situation houkl be improved. This improvement an only bo ell'ccted by the spending if money. We are warned by Sir. Jospli Ward that a "local navy," however mall, will be found erusVmgly costly, mt all effective defence, by land or by ;ea, is very costly, and the •'crushing" haraeter of the cost depends wholly ipon the national ability to pay. There s unoccupied land in Auckland Provin.i: l .lone which, if made productive, would :nable the Government to maintain.' vithout any additional taxation, a local navy" greater than that now naintained by Australia. It is preposc'roiis for those who are acknowledged s statesmen and leaders to depress the iiiblie with the financial difficulties »f ! efence, when the systematic development of the country would manifestly emove such difficulties. Sir Joseph may oint to Japan as an example of a state triving to maintain a naval and miliary establishment beyond her means, jr the political news from Tokyo unlistakably indicates grave domestic diaitisfaetion with the extensive naval nd military programmes. It is well lo 'member, however, that Britain fought nd won the long and exhausting N'apo'onie wars in the "teeth of strong doicstie opposition, and it will comfort i little, should Japan attack us at >me favorable opportunity, to know uit she had suffered painfully in alliums a commanding position.—Aiickml Herald.

MOTOR WORKS FOR NEW ZEALAND. - Discussing the Ford Company's big profit-sharing scheme, under which the lowest paid adult male employee will receive £1 a day, the Wairarapn Age ' says:—Why should not the Ford Coin--1 pany, which is admittedly making enormous profits, establish a branch manufactory in New Zealand? If it does not do so, surely some other enterprising ' firm will steo into the breach. If a ' company can pay 30s per day to its nie- ' chanics in America, and then make its business pay handsomely, there is no reason why the industry should not be successfully conducted in this Dominion. The people of New Zealand are contri- -! buting, probably, a million of money an--1 mially to outside countries for motor ' cars. This enormous drain upon our resources cannot go on for ever. Tliere 1 should be sufficient enterprise among our business men, and snllicient courage on the part of the Government, to meet i the situation as it should be met. Steps should not only be taken to manufacture motor cars locally, but an endeavor should be made to utilise our petiol- ■ cum deposits for motive power. Tin: motor car has come to stay. It is regarded as essential to business, as well as rural activity. It is no longer a luxury. We must, therefore, deal with it on economical lines, and see that we get i the very best value for money.

COST OF THE STRIKE. It is a little surprising- that it .-!.■ >uhl have been loft to the Hon. F. .'.I. B. Fisher, the least responsible of :■•'< the responsible Ministers that ever < ive, been known, to tell a curious public exactly what the strike cost the co■i.itry. But probably none of Air. Fisher'* colleagues was particularly anximn to make the announcement. ''Four 'm»drcd and fifty thousand pound;, in hard cash," say it as quickly as you will, is a large, sum and a sum "the Trcasur" can ill spare at the present time. \Ylien the Prime Minister took a vote for £IOO,OOO he frankly stated that more would be required to cover the expenditure iu connection with the rccc it ,'idistrial trouble, but 116 one expe.-ted the amount would run up into the neighborhood of half a million. The. figures me [so stupendous indeed that we p:;.i'er to hear what Mr. Massey or Mr. .lames Allen has to say about them before accepting them as authentic. Mr. Fisher has a rather loose fashion of dealing with finance and it is just possib!" he has included the temporary loss of Customs and railway revenue in his cstil mate and has made no allowance for this loss being recovered. But whether the loss was £l5O or £450,000 it is not quite easy to see why the public works 'expenditure should be afiected.. Mr. Fisher told the deputation that waited upon him at Pahiatua yesterday with a request that he would remind the Minister of Public Works of a "grant for country roads" he evidently had overlooked that "probably some items in the Estimates had been cut down" in consequence of the strike.—Lytteifon Tidies.

THE IMPERIAL NAVY. The Prime Minister protests that the naval defence question should not lie made a party one. We not only thoroughly agree with him but we retort, who is it at this hour that is seeking to make it a party issue? and what but a party cry of'peculiarly distasteful kind is embraced in the words ''Japanese ships and Japanese sailors must not protect New Zealand."—Dunedin Star. HUNGRY AUCKLAND. Says the Herald:—Land settlement is unquestionably New Zealand's first and most urgent need. At no period of New Zealand's history have the inducements to ppc" the land been greater, for in spite of increased Government activity we have never been able to appease the I land hunger or to overtake the demand for our produce. The Prime Minister had an easy task at Hokitika in answering I foolish charges of" reckless borrowing. I This may be the popular view- on the West (.'oast: in the North even the friends of the Government admit that it is open to the criticism that it is not .-.pending enough. • i Tllfi BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. A clergyman must know that if, as an Anglican bishop remarked several years ago. New Zealanders are becoming pagans' Bible lessons alone to children at school will not stop the alleged trend to barbarism. In such a case a clergyman with the bare Bible would lie. us pathetic a (igure as Mrs. Partington with her broom against the ocean's rollers, lint the clergyman hopes fof more. He is confident that if he can slip into the school under covqr of the Bible he will be a persuasive expositor of the Hook. We oo not share his faith in his prowe.-y, but the important thing at the moment is that the clergyman is very busy with plans to ensure victory, because the people have not properly sensed the peril of sectarianism lurking in the rank* of the Bible-in-Schools League. —Wellington Post.