The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1921. PAST AND PRESENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 February 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1921. PAST AND PRESENT.

As we contemplate the development of the British race and the progress of the Empire during the last four or five hundred years and consider the high degree ot prestige to which both have attained, we have not far to look for the dominant causes. Endless pluck, enterprise, energy, and determination, coupled with a high standard of honor, have made the people of this race a match —and more than a match—for others. Pluck and enterprise early took them into every corner of the globe; energy and determination has insured their success in settlement; energy, determination, and fair dealing have won them success in development, trade, and commerce against all competitors. Nothing daunted them—no risk, no hardship, no odds in any fight ever turned them aside. No task seemed too hard to be undertaken and overcome. The harder the work, and the more difficult to accomplish, the greater the zest in undertaking it, and the greater the determination to win through. This spirit, and the success it engendered, led to confidence in ability to succeed, and a feeling that the Britisher was equal to the best, and need fear no one. It also led

to a generous mind towards people of other races, and every British country was open to all foreigners, there being no fear that the Britisher would not at all times hold his own against any possible competitor. His pluck, industry, energy, determination and readiness to put up with any hardship was always sufficient handicap against the competition of others. Whilst all this is true of the past, how little is it so of the present so far as a very large proportion of the people is concerned? In the Home land the greater proportion of the dense population, and a somewhat less proportion of the population of the Dominions, consist of the wage earners, and, unfortunately, for some time past an entire change has been coming over the spirit actuating them. Instead of industry, energy, and determination, and a reliance in their own qualities proving too heavy a handicap to all other competitors, they -want short hours, easy work, easy conditions, endless comforts and luxuries, no competition within their ranks, no competition in work from outsiders, no competition in trade from other countries. We hear on all sides crie? against foreign competition, and against the admission of people of other races, whether British subjects or not. They want every competitor excluded, want tariff walls built

against not only foreign trade, but against that from different parts of the Empire. They want to stifle all competition in their own ranks, so that all can with impunity reduce their work to an absolute minimum. To assure this no man, no matter what his energy or ability, is allowed to exceed the worst in rate of work. Such is the position at the present time. The old energy and good qualities that led to the high development of the race, and the building up of a world-wide Empire, have gone, and are replaced by indolence; selfish desire for luxury and ease, objection to effort of any kind, or to competition of any sort, discontent, and a spirit of antagonism against the rest of the community And what of the future? Just as pluck, enterprise, energy, determination and honesty in the past led to development of the race, and to a great and honored Empire, so will indolence,'self-indul-gence, shirking, bad spirit, and lack of fair dealing and fairness to their fellows lead to degradation, dishonor, and dissolution. Whilst no doubt there are many subsidiary causes assisting towards the present bad spirit of the wage earners, there is no doubt whatever that the development of the undesirable condition of affairs is in the main, or almost entirely, due to the labor agitator, who knowingly leads those whom he pretends to befriend to their own ruin, caring not so long that he may stand in the limelight and be provided with a soft job at their expense.