THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8120, 14 April 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1906.

"The Maori Mailad Fist," this is tiio phraao which the Sydney Morning Herald applies to Mr Seddou'a threat to start State-owned steamers to fight the Shipping Combine. Our contemporary does not think the enterprise is quite so easy as the Premier appoars to imagine it to be. It is all very interesting, it says, in the light of the evidence which is being given before our own Shipping Commission. We can imagine New Zealand producers immediately served by the State-owned vessels rejoicing in the Dew order, and quoting the added profits they are able to make. Then the cry will

arise from other producers to be in- I eluded, and Mr Seddon will have to charter more vessels, and Btill more vessels. It is unlikely that the shipping companies will sit still; and freights will be reduced. Competition of the cut-throat order will make the producers still more jubilant, though the unforeunate taxpayer will have to bear the bruet. Suppose that the shiDping companies decide to let New Zealand alone, and the Government will then enjoy a monopoly. Wi.il that be satisfactory? It is eady to foresee all sorts of difficulties. The losses of the war will have to be made good, and rates will be raised. A vast number of naval Civil servants will be added to the service; and there will be demands upon demands for concessions—an eight hours day, increase m wages, and what not. The prospect is full of delightful possibilities fur socialists in Australia, and it is quite likely that Mr Seddon will be quoted far and wide in support of the Labour platform. To propose that the State shall run a l?ne or hues j)f vessels is to forget that the sea is a great highway. Nothing that Mr Seddon can do will keep New Zealand a preserve for the Government in its relation to other countries, for the world is joined together as well as separated by the sea. He nay be able to j legislate so that in its internal relai tions the colony shall be kept under strict surveillance, and its people dragooned into socialism, but directly he gets upon the sea he will find the world against him. He may force a conpelition which will for a time give New Zealand apparent relief from the pressure at present complained of, but the cost of the experiment will be out of all proportion to the bemefit it will confer, and the end may be dire disaster.

According to tho unofficial statistics gathered in 1955, as in previous years, by the Chicago Tribune, there were 9,212 homicides committed in the United States during the twelve months just ended. The country remains on the bad eminence it has long ocoupied in the history of crime; indeed, it has increased its lead, With the single exception of the Italians, the j American people are the ooost homicidal nation iu the civilised world. In fact, they are running neok and neck with Italy with respeofc to the ration of violent crimes resulting in death. In the latter country the homicides number 105 per million of inhabitants per year; in the United States last year the ratio was 115 par million. A comparison with the criminal statistics of other leading nations will serve to emphasise their significance. Thus the annual average ratio of the homicides to population is 13 per million in Germany, 19 per million ih Franoe, aod 27 per million in the United Kingdum. Ratably, therefore, murder and manslaughter are four times as frequent in the United States as in Engalnd, Scotland and Wales, and nine times as frequent aa in Germany. One reason for these conditions is the laxity or the administration of the criminal law in the States. In England one out of four homicides is convicted of murder aad pays the extreme penalty for his crime. The legal executions in the United States numbered 133 last year, which, comparatively to a total of 9,212 homicides, is an , almost insignificant proportion. The other main reason for the appalling frequency of murder in the States is the prevalent habit of carrying concealed firearms. The ready pistol irakes murder easy.