PRESS OPINIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 19, 17 October 1907, Page 4

PRESS OPINIONS.

■ THE POSTAL SERVICE. The complaints of the Postal officers sown to be sufficiently' reasonable to warrant Parliament considering their case very carefully. The Premier, we understand, has a Bill in preparation providing for a better system of classification for the civil service generally, and a superannuation Bill is to follow. These efforts to improve the position of the service cannot be made too soon. The statements mado by Auckland officers and by local officers to our own reporters give fairly typical cases, and it is not hard to understand from them why tho postal service is not attracting more bright boys. Tho truth of tho matter is that the Government service cannot now compete with the mercantile office or the artisan's workshop in the eyes of parents. The prospects are not sufficiently attractive. . . Tho salaries wore fixed years ago when the general standard of comfort was lower and the rango of salaries in outside occupations was not so- great as is now the case. There have been increases, we understand, but they have not affected the whole service. Of course the men who joinedten or fifteen or more years ago expected that they would do as well in tho postal or tho telegraph service as they could in merchants' offices or in ■ warehouses, but they have seen an improvement outside, with no corresponding advance insido the services.. Tho offfict, wo are told, is to bo seen in the large number of resignations from the postal sorvico in recent years. More serious still is the statement that the brightest boys are going away from tho service and that the newest appointees are in many cases boys who have been dull at school and who'would make little progress in the business world. The Government cannot afford to liavo a great business like the post office, recruiting its officers among boys who' have not been able to make good use of their opportunities, and Parliament, when the occasion presents itself, should recognise that tho only way to, obtain efficiency in these days is to pay for it.— ; 'Lyttelton Times." THE LIBERAL FREEHOLDER. Tho Minister for Lands professes to bo "pleased and surprisod" at tlie way tlio Land Bill is going through. From tho Ministerial point of view tiie party maciunu is certainly, working very sweetly, and wo do not grudge Mr. M'Nab any of tha pleasure ho can extract from the situation. Nor do we wonder at tho Minister's surprise. The fact is that the Liberal Freeholder has turned out to bo a bit of a myth, a bunyip, or some equally delusive snare. The Government following is as pliant and workable as ever it was in the bad old days of Seddon, and we suspect that if tho truth were known', ,Mr. M'Nab is wondering what ho got so frightened about last year. For all the opposition he has encountered,. when it really came to grips, ho might have stuck to his old ship, with it? black flag of leaseholdunlimited nailed to tho mast,' and sailed it into port instead of scuttling it before the first shot was fired. As for the men who wore returned to support the freehold, and didn't, and the land reformers who pledged themselves, to the leasehold, and only made a formal protest against the freehold when they incurred no risk by doing so, they may bo safely left to their constituents in November of next year.—Christchurch "Truth." ADVERTISING THE DOMINION.' Our own .Government would do the Dominion- excellent service if it would, in connection with the Tourist Department, organise a pormanent exhibition division,. • with specimens of our productions,; manufactures, etc., in suitablo cases, ready.for despatch at shortest notice to any exhibition or world's fair likdly to be helpful to the State. . .. No pains should be spared to!have this country represented as effectively as it is possible, to do it at the British aud French Colonial Exhibition next. year. Were an Exhibition Department w^ll;,organised,j,with/,live agents ■all over the country.to secure a,comprehensive, general exhibit, of., our Resources,, we could make as good a show as Canada,, even better, perhaps, relatively. To do. the work well, however,- each provincial district should be aroused, to make the most of tho opportunity % afforded it of sotting forth , its own special claims to be tho best bit of country in tho whole of the Dominion. This is. just where we fail. Wo havte not enough esprit do corps. . . Americans, always to the front in advertising, have . been contemplating f6r some time a floating exhibition of the manufactures and natural resources of the United States—the fitting out of a large ship to make a tour of the principal ports of the world and push trade in'characteristic American fashion, find out in what lines business can be done, arid do it. This, would involve an expense our Dominion could not fairly bo asked to incur at present or for some years to come. Otherwise the idea is a good one. It might be practicable for us, however, to do as private firms find it essen-. tial to do—send, out commercial travellers, oast and west, north and south, with a rango of exhibits carofully selected to suit the particular markets it is proposed to. exploit. These business agents 'landing at the various ports of. call might, where opportunity offered,' open 'up, sample rooms, so .to speaklittle oxhibitions calculated to sow the seeds of a steadily-expanding trade.- The agents employed' hitherto liavo not been "quite of this stanip, but more like advance agents, to make inquiries, gather, information and report, thus preparing the way for national "commercials" to follow. The employment of these seems the natural sequal to the employment of the other, and without them the work can hardly be expected to bear full fruit. Th'o Minister for Trade, representing the commercial interests of the nation, therefore, might well do on behalf of all what private firm's find it essential'to do in their own limited interests. —" New Zealand Herald." THE BUSINESS OF THE SESSION. Wo believe that if the Prime Minister thinks ho will bo able to keep the House together until the end of November, he is wofully mistaken. The Canterbury Show and Cup week usually exorts as potent an effect in curtailing legislation in New Zealand as the advent of grouse-shooting exercises on the law-making zeal of tho House of Commons. There are, of course,, some measures which must be passed, whatever else is left untouched, and among these the Fire Brigades . Bill takes the first place. It will be- a great misfortune if a Native Land Bill is not carried. .. . . In- our opinion, it ought to have been, given precedence over- the Land and Income Assessment Bill and the Land Laws Amendment Bill. 'Now that it has been left so late, there is hardly time to do justice to a measure of so much importance. It is a Bill which obviously requires most careful consideration, and Mr. Jlgata is quito right in saying that it would be better not to pass it at all than to rush it on the Statute Book without duo consideration. It certainly, however, ought' to .receive preference over the Land Endowment. Bill. ' We doubt if tho Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act will bo persisted with this session, in viow of the opposition which it has aroused, while tho Judiciary Bill and other less* important measures might very well bo loft over for another session. After all, there are nobler; ideals of parliamentary work than swelling out tho Statute Book to an abnormal thickness, and in any enso it cannot bo said that a session which has witnessed tho passing of the Tariff Bill and two Land Bills is a barren' session. If, in addition, a really good Native Land Bill is added to the Statute Book, we should say that neither Parliament nor .the country need complain of tho quantity of the work done, whatever might bo said as to its quality.— Christchurch "Press." Sir Joseph Ward seems disposed to impose a lioavv strain this year upon the de--1 votion of members of Parliament to the business of tho country. Mr. Seddon found it practically impossible, despite tho control lie exercised over the majority of the legislators, to keep tho House together after the first week in November. Possibly the suav,itcr in modo which Sir Joseph Ward practices may prove to bo more elfectivo. than the fortiter in re to which Mr. Seddon was wont to have recourse. If not, however, the Government will have to submit' to the abandonment for this session of much of tho legislation which it has oither brought down already or else has in contemplation. . . .

There' may be said, ulso, to be. distinct

urgency for tho enactment of a Native Land Bill such as will evolve some sort of order out of the chaos which at present obtains in ; regard to tho important matter of the disposal of the lands in the hands of the Maori owners. . . The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Bill, which has aroused such strong, and, to some extent, such unreasonable opposition, on tho part of tho labour organisations of the country, is not a measure that will he passed without careful scrutiny, and so also with the/Anti-Gamb-ling Bill, the Railway Classification Bill, tha Civil Servants' Superannuation Bill, and tho measure providing for the intervention of the State in certain contingencies in respect to tho price of flour and of potatoes. . . . Those measures, together ,;h the land proposals and the Public V orks Estimates, should themselves be sufficient to keep Parliament sitting until the month of. November is fairly well advanced. , .Bui, there is other legislation, also, which cannot be hold back for consideration in anotlior ; session. . o'. this the Fire Brigades Bill,; may V taken as typical. . There is no urgency' so far as "we can see, f or : tlie enactment .'othe Judiciary'Bill of even of those feature] of it that are generally acceptable; and wi may hope that the' Tramways Bill will* It droppedi since-.postponement of the consv oration of it would be wholly advant'ageOj —"Otago Daily Times." : l '' > We agree that a,determined effort shJ be made to settle tho native question b 1 Parliament rises. . it is understood tho Lands Committee have taken consider liberties with the Endoivments Bill, but' ; Joseph. Ward stated. yesterday that .if i schedule had been knocked out the Govi" ment would take steps'to,put! it back v, Wo . are inclined to think 'that tlie tinj , come to consider whether the House V } got into the way of handing over important work to the special ct. There is.a growing opinion that th. of referring Bills to Committeo,' prioi second rendiug stage, has . been carrkv' an extreme, and' that time is lost rath,., than gained by ' the process. Anyhow, we are convinced.that tlie majority of the electors expect to see the entire Land Policyincluding the Endowments Bill and,' if possible, tho Native Bill—put through' before the session comes to an end.—Dunedis ' "Star." > • - THE LAND BILL. • • The freehold provisions in t'ue Government Land Bill bear about the same relation t( tho leasehold clauses as the bread in Falstall's hotel bill bore to the quantity of sacl" he had consumed. By the aid of' a micro.' scopic of the Bill we find, it ia ' true, that 1 tenants under the lease in perpetuity—except on' lands for settlement— may obtain tho freehold at the present valuation, but even Mr. Laurenson admits that a tenant who has already paid for the goodwill would be a fool to do so again. Yot though it is cortain that the provision will bo valueless, a further precaution ia added to prevent the sale of-land of which th!; freehold has been obtained in this manm ' to anyone who • already holds 640 acres' first-class land. Thus, oven if obtained the owner will have nothing more than r ' kind of bastard freehold.—"Rangitikoi A': 1 , vocate." . • ■ The State would bo better off if it permitted the tenants to; acquire tho freehold at the original valuation without auy loading at all, while if Parliament .passes the * proposal of Mr. N'Nab,, to permit an change for renewable leases,-it will lose an opportunity of amending a blunder, and, moreover, will not please the tenants, scarcely one. of whom is likely to give, up his lease in .perpetuity unless he gets something as good or better. -..-.The original seloctor, who, let us'say, took',up land valued ■at £1 ss. per acre, and pays four per cent., ot one shilling per acre, and has a 999 years' lease, is not going to exchange'for a 66 yeaiV lease with tho rent calculated' upon a lie u' valuation .which may be £2 10s. or £5, or even moro, per acre. Ho would then have to pay ito'o shilliiigs or foiir shillings per acre rent, with the prospect' .of another increase at the end of' lii's. lease. '* The'' tenant' wb<! ■had bought the goodwill of an original seK tor. will not*'exchange'-his- lease, .because he • would thus bo paying twice for'the improvements and goodwill,? and doubling or quadrupling his rent into the. bargain.—"Tara uaki Herald." •