WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 88, 15 April 1933, Page 6

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

POINTS FROM THE PRESS. FARMERS IN THE GOVERNMENT. V, Complaint is ccrtain to be made tliat in clioosincr the new Minister the Government neglected to select a _ business I ™ inThere is a very general impresion that the present - Coalition Government is made up almost entirely of farmers. It is true enough that the majority of the present Cabinet have had some connection with farming interests, but it can also be said that the majority have had active association with business of one kind and another. Mr. Ransom, for instance, was in business long before he invested in land; Mr. Cobbe was in active business for the greater part of his life; Mr. Hamilton was as much a business man as a farmer; Mr. Masters is a man of business; Mr. Young has business interests; Sir Apirana Ngata is a lawyer and farmer. Coming down to bedrock, it may be claimed that the only out-and-out farmers in Cabinet are Mr. Forbes and Mr. Coates, and, of course, now, Mr. Bitchener. However, there can be little doubt that just now the appointment of a city representative to Cabinet rank would have been a popular step on the part of the Government. The difficulty seems to have been to make a suitable selection from those available in the South Island. —"Dominion." • * » * CRICKET IN NEW ZEALAND. The showing made by the New Zealand irepresentatives against the English touring team has been very disappointing to the followers of cricket, for the evidence of the two Test matches suggests that in bowling and fielding the New Zealanders are very much below first class. If any game is worth playing at all it is worth playing with determination and concentration, and we should say the outstanding lesson of tlies# matches is the failure of the provincial authorities to exercise the leadership that is needed to raise the standard of play in all departments. Otago alone, this season, seems to have cultivated the spirit that makes for real success, and it had its reward in winning the provincial championship. If the same spirit were evident in the other provinces, we should have less reason to deplore the indifferent quality of the Dominion's cricket. —"Christchurch Times." * * * • "NO DICTATION." Those who believe in Government landlordism will not derive much pleasure from Mr. Hansom's tardy confession that the Lands Department finds some of its tenants unreasonable. In these days of give and take, two reasonable men may pull along together, even as. landlord and tenant, or as mortgagee and mortgagor; but the foundation of this co-operation is either that neither will abuse his position, or that if he does the other will counter him. It is extremely difficult, however, to counter the unjust demands of tenants or mortgagors if the landlord or mortgagee is a Public Service Department headed by a political Minister. Neither Bureaucracy nor politics —nor a transfusion of both—is well adapted for holding' the balance fairly in delicate issues, and for resisting the pressures that are brought to bear from all angles. In giving unreasonable tenants notice that there is a limit to encroachment on State rights, the Minister has wisely taken the public into his confidence. Tenant "'dictation" is only one step to tenant control, and the logical conclusion would be a Royal Commission of tenants to fix their own rents.—''Evening Post." ,