WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 177, 28 July 1934, Page 8

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

POINTS FROM THE PRESS. FRUIT FROM AUSTRALIA. Public wonderment at the present position between Australia and New Zealand as to citrus fruits is well expressed, in a letter we print from Mr. J. R. Kirk. "Australia is pleading with us to take her fruit," he says, "and we need fruit badly." Mr. Kirk suggests three possible reasops why sick people in New Zealand cannot buy the oranges and lemons whicli are going to waste in Australia: (a) Danger of fruit disease; (b) failure of Australia to admit our potatoes; (e) protection to our own citrus fruit industry. Of these, the first and the second, which are related, were disposed of at the conference' held in Canberra last month between New Zealand and Australian scientific experts, who decided that: (1) Without practical risk the knowledge now available of powdery scab ie sufficient to justify the Commonwealth's lifting of the prohibition of the importation of New Zealand potatoes; and (2) subject to certification by the Departments of Agriculture in the various States, the importation ot citrus fruits by New Zealand might be resumed without risk of the introduction of fruit fly. As to protecting our own citrus fruit industry, that' is already provided for in the tariff. Ultimately we may be able to grow all our own grapefruit and lemons; but in the meantime we cannot, and the orange hae yet to be established commercially in New Zealand. So we import heavily, but at great cost from a foreign though friendly country six thousand miles away, instead of cheaply from our nearest neighbour and sister in blood, sport and war. Mr. Kirk is not alone in looking to the Government, now it has the assurances of its scientific experts, to end an odd and irritating "Dominion." • • • * * PARTY GOVERNMENT. The New Zealand Legion is carrying out its declared principles in advocating non-party Government, but its appeal to the leaders of the three parties to form a "Unity Government" is not likely to bear fruit. There never is such a thing as a non-party government. We may have a government of all the talents or a government of none, we Kay have coalitions and amalgamations and cooperations, but it is alwaye necessary that the participants should have something in common, some common objective and principles in common, as well as a disposition to use the same methods. I/abour's refusal to join the National Government prior to the formation of the Coalition was due to the fundamental differences between it and the other parties, and it is, or ought to be, obvious, that a government in which the three parties co-operated would achieve nothing and would have a very short life indeed. A country must be governed according to some set of principles, and the very fact that a number of people holding those principles unite to carry them into effect constitutes them a party. What we imagine the legion desires is a government that will not respond to the pressure of sectional opinion, but will go about its business with a sole eye to the welfare of the whole people, striving' to hold the balance fairly between this section and that. Every government probably sets out with the ambition to do that very thing, but in a democracy in which Hie existence of a government ultimately depends on votes, the nearest it can get to the ideal is to please as many people as it can. As it happens, the present Government, when it commenced its -. programme, ran counter to the desires of a majority of the people, hoping that its steady course and conservative methods would win it eupport in the long run, and this is what actually happened. We have no desire to discourage the legion. It is trying to educate the people to have a national outlook, and in these days that is greatly to be desired.—"Christchurch Times." .. i

• • * » • AN ECONOMIC COUNCIL. ' The second type of economic council, of I which the Economic Advisory Council to the British Government and possibly Mr. Roosevelt's "Brain Trust" are examples, consists of men chosen because they are experts and not because they represent any economic interest. On the assumption that Parliament is supreme and ought to bo supreme, and I that therefore an economic council cannot be

vested with legislative- powers, thie type of council \f. the most suitable. And in New Zealand it is badly needed. Since the depression began the Government has, at irregular intervals, called upon the professional economists of the country to extricate it from difficulties. Such a procedure is unfair and unwise. It is -unfair because the e-sononriets, who are university teachers, arc required to familiarise themselves at short notice with intricate detaiU of Government business. It is unwise because it means that. the economists are usually called in to repair blunders which' they could easily have prevented. Clearly, if economists must be consulted, they should be kept in constant touch with Government business. And the best way to keep them in touch with Government business is to give them a permanent place in the Governmental machine. —Christchurch "Press." • • • * * DRAWING THE COLOUR LINE. There must have been a flutter in the drawing rooms of Tiraaru when it became known that the police had rudely broken in •upon a game of mah jong and laid a common gaming house charge. The heavy solemnity of the police machine was set in motion, the four offenders faced the Court, the magistrate witnessed a game of mah jong and listened to legal argument, and after a considerable- dissipation of the State's time and money,, the case was dismissed. So the mah jong players of Timaru and of the rest of New Zealand may continue to have their little gamble, flattered by the knowledge when they win that their superior, skill is responsible. But what of those who gather at the card table, buy overseas 6weep tickets, dance for lucky prizes or engage in a building society ballot? Do these actions all require skill or does the fact that th-e participants' faces are white and not yellow influence the views of the police ? The conclusion reached as a result of the Timarti case is that, in the eyes of the police, mah jong ie a harmless game when played by New Zealanders, but is an illegal game when operated- by Chinese. It is evident then that the police of Timaru draw the colour line in their attitude toward indoor games, for it is unthinkable that the house of a New Zealaiider where mah jong was being played would be raided and the.players charged. The faceof the most impassive Chinese should break into smiles at this evidence of the colour complex suffered by the Timaru police. To prevent such mistakes in the future it might not ■be amiss to suggest that the police training include a cours-e in mah jong. fan-tan, packapoo and all other Chinese villainies, so that the wheels of justice need not again be set in motion to deal with such fa'"*Val proceedings as the Timaru mah jong c --, the drawing i"K>m cause celebre! —"Tarans Herald."