The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1916. AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1916. AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION.

Only second in importance to the war itself is the creation of a true organic union of the Empire, without detriment to the freedom of each of its parts. The task is one that is beset with problems which will require the highest skill, inttlligenee, and statesmanship to solve, for there are not only to be considered questions affecting commercial relati»ns, but also those far more complex matters comprised in constitutional points that always bristle with thorns, and have to be. handled with the greatest delicacy. There is, however, a strong consensus of opinion that after the war Britain and the dominions cannot possibly resume friendly trade arrangements with our present enemies. With that as a, postulate it is evident there must be evolved a workable scheme having for its object a self-contained Empire and the total exclusion of enemy trade. In his went remarks at the banquet in London, tendered t» him by the British Imperial Council of Commerce, Mr. Hughes declared that the war would decide .whether force or law should rule the world. Germany, by her remarkably successful system of trade and commerce organisation, had been enabled, out of profits drawn from her exploitation of the British Empire, to build up and equip mighty armies that were intended to crush the nations which had provided her with the means for attempting the military as well as the commercial domination of the world. Even during the progress of the war she is elaborating a gigantic dumping scheme to recover h.ei l»st markets and rehabilitate her crumpled finances; hence the need for" timely action by the Allies, and especially by the units of the British Empire, to achieve an economic as well as a military victory that will put an end to Teutonic ambitions. This policy of retribution may be considered as un-British, but in face of the traitorous and barbaric methods adopted by the Huns the institution of a retaliatory policy becomes a matter of self-defence. Moreover, it is high time that Greater Britain should be self-contained and become independent of foreign supplies. British industry has been in the past honeycombed with German enterprise, and Mr. Hughes put forward a powerful plea, for cutting out the roots of the cancer aud the building-up of Britain's post-war trade policy. He claimed that the dominions wished to advance Britain's great destinies hand in hand with each other. The war has clearly demonstrated that the present constitution of the Empire must be radically revised, and it is a hopeful sign of success for an economic revolution that British statesmen recognise the need for closer political and economic union between the Motherland and the dominions. Mr. Hughes advocated not merely a change of fiscal policy, and not necessarily tariff reform, but a fundamental change of ideas of government, while he drove home his contentions by commendably forceful -and outspoken criticism. "Let us," he said, "take to heart the solemn lesson from the errors of the past, put aside all party, class and doctrine, and, without delay, devise an Empire policy covering every phase of national, economic, and social life. Let us no longer pursue a policy of drift, but set sail on a definite course." These sentiments aptly express the views held by all the Dominions, and Mr. Hughes, has done good service in thus stirring up the Motherland to action. Just as Germany organised her trade policy with the aim ef entering upon a world war,

so must the British Empire organise its trade in order to preserve the world's peace and to protect the weak from the streng. The broad principles governing an organic union of the Empire should, as Mr. Hughes contended, be settled without delay, leaving the details to be airanged later on. .Great as the task will pr»ve, it is not beyond the powers or the responsible authorities of the units of the Empire, and the results will certainly far outweigh those of the ,wai. »«K, .;' ■' ■.■ ■■*!£«. j.";

"'»'" VOLCANIC MEXICO'.'■ "*'■" Mexico may well be likened to an active volcano,, which only has short interludes of seeming passivity, followed ky fresh eruptions of move or less magnitude. The enfptive procesi it n»w again in evidence, and there are grounds for believing that the Germans have stirred up trouble in order to occupy American attention and thus prevent the export of munitions to the Allies. The condition of Mexico to-day is about as bad as it could possibly be, for war, pestilence, and famine ha,ve combined in a concentrated effort to destroy the country. In five years there fcavo heen sixteen radical changes of Government, with the result that the country is beset by bandits, life being insecure and property unsafe. Prices are at panic level, and the law is a dead letter. It is the home of hostile factions, who revel in fighting and looting, every man's band being against his neighbor. It was hoped that when General Carranza was, in November last, officially recognised by the United States ac head of the Mexican Government, titat some semblance of peace would follew, hut the component parts of Carranza's party are professional revolutionists who have bec»Me accustomed to guerilla warfare, graft, pillage and pleasure. A rough, uneducated lot are these men, who have grown fat.on the proa'e&K ef their revolutionary profits. Na- ! iivally, finding this mode, of life pays liiem handsomely, they scorn the idea of bringing about a peace that would soon leave thein penniless. Their trump cord is always another revolution, and they are just as ready to fight one anI other for spoils as they are to blow up I trains and kill and rob travellers. The particular eruptive cone of the moment is General Villa, who, ever since ihia break with Carranza, has conducted a species of guerilla warfare against the dominant party and against society generally—the sort of conflict that is a peculiar product of the country. It is Villa's followers—the Villestas—who have crossed the border into New Mexico to force the intervention of America, which means that as Villa is not strong enough to depose Carranza, -he is man- i ocuvring to Make the United States de the work far him. Apparently he over- J stepped the, mark, for the latest cable news is to the effect that America has despatched a punitive expedition to Mexico in pursuit -)f Villa's bandits who recently raided Columbus. For the time being probably this action will suffice, but there l s bound to to further trouble in the near future. There appears to be no cure for Mexican eruptiveness.