PHOTO
It is not to be supposed that the existence of the League of Nations will constitute an absolutely effective barrier against the occurrence of future wars. A postponement of the arbitrament of war, until other methods for the adjustment of international differences have failed, is the aim of the league. Through the delays which will be caused by negotiations and through the opportunity which will be afforded by these delays for the exertion of the pressure of public opinion upon the nations that are at arms' lengths, the league will make it more difficult for wars to occur than it has been in the past. Upon the effect of public opinion it should be possible to place a good deal of reliance.
It is hoped that the repugnance of the world for warfare, attended as warfare in the future must be by horrors more unspeakable than those which the belligerent nations experienced in the great war, will be so powerfully expressed as to operate as a positive check upon the recourse to hostilities, but the abolition of war is an ideal upon the attainment of which it would be unwise to count.
A realisation of this has prompted the establishment — or, to be more strictly accurate, the re-establishment — of the National Defence League of New Zealand, which includes several specific objects in its programme. Among its aims are the maintenance of a universal system of training for defence, the installation of plant for the manufacture of shells and ammunition, and the strengthening of our coastal defences.
Telephonic communications
The unsatisfactory conditions under which telephonic communications is at present carried on between the North and South Islands are to be remedied in the future by the provision of a reliable service. The Government has decided (says the Dominion) to provide such a service as soon as possible; but the task of laying a suitable cable is not a simple one, owing to the rugged nature of the ocean bed in Cook Strait. To facilitate matters, the Pacific Cable Company's steamer Patrol made a survey of the bottom of the Strait along the proposed route. It may be that an officer of the department will have to proceed to England shortly to consult with the British authorities as to the most suitable cable for the conditions in the Strait. When that is decided upon would probably have to be brought our by a cable-laying steamer, as the double handling of such a cable would be costly and inconvenient. The officer likely to be despatched to England in this connection is Mr E. A. Shrimpton (chief telegraph engineer), who has had a good deal of practical experience in the handling and laying of cables in these waters.
Deer-stalking
Some of the Tapanui deer-stalking parties have (our correspondent writes) returned from the Upper Pomahaka country, where they spent the Easter holidays. The stalkers report only medium sport, and shootable heads not too plentiful. Mr W. W. Mackie secured a 12-pointer and a 14-pointer, the latter a neat head, but the 12-pointer was undersized, although the stag was a well-grown animal. The heads lack length of horn, and are particularly wanting in spread. A good many malforms were seen. Other parties are still on the ground, but so far nothing in the way of a really good head is reported. The weather has been particularly good, and in marked contrast to last year, when river and creeks were in flood.
— ODT, 10.4.1920