Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

OUR PART IN THE WAR.

SIR JAMES WILSON'S VIEWS. NEED TOE ORGANISED EFFORT. An interesting address, touching on our part in the war, was delivered by Sir James Wilson recently at the annual dinner of the Farmers' Distributing Company in Wellington, Jamee Wilson said that one could not refer to the farming position in New Zealand without touching on the war, on which our thoughts constantly dwelt. At the present time there was a certain amount of depression felt on account of the Russian debacle. To be depressed was unreasonable, ana vre should remember that the great German Army of 1914 was stopped by a comparatively small force. We should also remember {hat it was the Navy which protected our trade routes, and we should reflect on its great strength. It was rather a pity that we should be at all depressed. We, in New Zealand, had a particular interest in the Russian debacle because of the fighting our boys did on Gallipoli. It was Russia who wanted the Dardanelles opened, and Russia was to send troops to certain positions, but those troops were never sent. Greece, also, failed to help us at the Dardanelles. What was going to end the >M?' We wsre in the fourth year of it, and it looked as if this might not be the last. Tlie first way to end the war was to give the Germans a good .drubbing. Then there was the economic weapon. There was another revolution by the Qerman people, but that seemed almost as impossible as could ibe imagined. Although a great deal was talked about it, it was not lively to come. If the war wa« not likely to end in file immediate future,, what was going to be the effect on 'New Zealand? Hitherto the effect has scarcely been felt. The Imperial Government has nought almost all our produce, carried it to England under adversity, and' paid us cash for It. Imagine the moment when we Would be unable to ship to Engtanij! A serious position in butter arose recently, but here again the British Government had come to our aid. The time must come when prices would fall, and no one knew what the shipping future was. It might happen that we would soon feel tlhe war more than ever we had done yet. We were piling up an immense debt. We were spending £IOO,000 a day, and the sum was increasing. When the Second Division went into camp the increase would be greater still, The interest and sinking fund absorbed £i6oojooo per annum. Alter the war the problem would be serious. If we were going to meet all this taxation we n»U3fr look to -a means of doing it. We could never bo a manufacturing nation. Tho' only way to meet the obligations was by increased production. Had wo arrived at the stage when everyone should be occupied only in essential service'/ It was necessary that the producers should provide what was needed. He did not think the producers wanted to shirk that duty. Farmer* had been called unpatriotic for not growing enough wheat, but it was not fair to raise such a cry. As a rSsult of interviews between the southern farmers and the Minister of Agriculture the Statistician estimated that 290,000 acres had been sown in wheat. Probably that was an over-estimate, but it indicated how well the farmers had responded to the call.

The farmers must do more in the future. We must improve our methods, which were distinctly behind. We must rely largely on electricity, regarding which we were probably the most favored nation in the world except Sweden. The Government had wisely developed the Lake Coleridge scheme. sie could never understand the opposition to it. We must have a scheme for this part of the country. If we only had a scheme for the dairy industry, what a boon it would be. Electricity was going to revolutionise the industries. If one compared the cost of electricity with'" the cost of steam and coal, the margin in favor _ of electricity wia-s considerable. Certainly we must seek a new motive power. We had not the methods we ought to have and not the science. It was science, and not the pioneers (who, of course, had done much), who ha!! made New Zealand. We had only scratched our soil, and we must go deeper with the aid of the scientists, and find the truths about it. We must luive the men engaged in the essential industries exempted from military service or we would not be able to pay our way. If we were going to meet our engagements we must spend less and do more.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19171228.2.6

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1917, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
782

OUR PART IN THE WAR. Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1917, Page 2

OUR PART IN THE WAR. Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1917, Page 2

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert