PRESS OPINION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 54, 27 November 1907, Page 11

PRESS OPINION.

5; '''."■ DRIFT 01? POPULATION. '';■(■:,

No importance can be:' attached to in.ciderital cases of migration from one epuntry to another in this jago of : easy tr.avol and faoilo intercourse , botween all civilised States. New Zealanders aro bf a> roving sioc'l- ircl' aro already, to be founcl, all over' the world i and evorywhero, it can proudly be _saiil", they epeak well of thoir country and do it "credit. But .in the dispute .between the authorities of New South Wales and of our Dominion as to whotuer•there'' is' l a special drift of r New Zealanders to the Australian continent, it must be regretfully admitted that there: .is Borne foundation' for the Australian claim. Undoubtedly, the, Australian officials exaggerate tho movement by mhumisin;.; thc'.'pcoportion of Now Zoalliml travellers who enteY their-ports only toWvp again."--Mr. .f2oglilan, that incisive .statistician, once : expressly notified the Now Sputh Wales Government that tod., much importance should not'be attached to returns of. emigration and immigration by sea, as all who entered the State by ■ sea were counted, many ,who : left the Stiitfi by s.oa were not. But while' we need not take tlio clhim of New. South , "Wales asiits-face value, is matter of coniiViou knowledge that, owing /'to; the/ difficulty of settling-under freehold conditionß-'iir. thisDominion, and owing to the increasing settle-' Went energies of the Australian States/'land- , ,; hungry-'Jfcw Zealanders are going away;, who;; would have gladly stayed in the country.; , Tho Government caii qas'ily stop this byjiast*-: 1 ening tho opening up of Crown or Native! Lands under optional conditions, but cannot stop it .by. .merely donying'that it is going: on.""New', Zealand Herald." THE-DOMESTIC hELP PROBLEM,..,;, Woman is. not yet, an effective force/'inli politidsV in spite of her enjoyment of -the; franchise'. , ; If tho' sh'ortage of farm labbure/S J Was half as seripW as; trio;'shortage mestic helps i& at present, .'Parliament woitfx oven liow be driving the Government to,dJ3viso remedial /measures. The Now South' / Wales Government; faced with , just such an- ' other problem as we have in ISew Zeakn.<lr has arranged ttr-'bring a thousand ot.tiM) thousand' helps from tho Mother Country. Here in this dominion,. mothers must slave from early morning to ;late at night, spen.ling thoir days, iu'., toil .'and; their nights in worry, but an indifferent Parliament gives them no comfort./ The domestic help is making her. owir terms-,' , as .'she is enablcffOto make themj ..bub. eVeiutlie recent subsjjdftcial incrcaso-in;:wages.isinot''attracting rapTp r Kris to the profesko'n.'/t.Qf-.course," the mail Jvh'o from ...tho thqpragjciir side inclined that a girl, is to get what-she can iu.the way of in every industry there is a limit to tho wages that nn employer can afford to pay. A factory Swnor.who cannot get hands mivst ; limit his juf.ptic nnd-refuse orders. TJnfortunately v Us" housewife cannot curtail the amount m work.that is to bo dono in her homo. Already the rato of wages ruling for domestic work is as high as the average. ■ household can',- afforteto ~pay, bat s.cjreSjji.f mistresses havo'failed to find liblp even ly olferihg extravagantly high wages. ... . This can only mean that" the demand for girls in other industries is increasing, and perhaps, also, that the colonral'girl is developing a distaste for boucawofll?.—'.'Lyttelton Timc3. :

THE GAJIIKG AND LOTTERIES BILL.

The Gaming and Lotteries Act Anifinilmeiit Bill, which has passed both Houses of irarliament, is a drastic some respects it seeing, tib.us! 'absurdly _ssjl Ver example, not ,only are newspapers proliibit'nl from .publishing . 'ttjps'! ■'. horse races—for Which provision something may bu said iii its'defonce--t>ut> they must uotj after a race, publish aS an item-of news tfhircliviuend;'paid on any race by tho Stat(.4ilegalised tot'alisator. This seems to us an unnecessary; piece of. interference with tho,. right of the public to" loioSv \vhat is going mi in the world. It'is thejnqiio unjustifi;U)le,J)ecauso newspapers published' outside the JJomimoii aro exempted from the penal clauses, and may be sold to any extent in New Zealand, although they contain reports of totalisator dividends, and even "tips" for, GptninK races. This will no doubfc;>be hailed with delight by the proprietors of ono or .two. disreputable sheets which in addition ta betting nows contain matter of a more objectionable character, .and . wliflse. circulation in those islands will probably increase largely, owing to Ihe special privoioges tnus conferred upon th.om by the Ss'dV; Zealand Parliament m its wisdom.' The Sydney and Melbourne, 'papers—not only established journals, but the mushroom sheets which-will no doubt spring uplto meet tho>nev/'!demand —will 'be'able, if not to "steal a horse','- , at least to prophesy him to;jtheir hearts' content, while New A Zealand journals will; not be ■able., to'"look oW the hed"|o'.T<- Apparently it will bo illegal in futurcijfprra ivriter m, kj New "Zealand journal to" compare./die merits, of racehorses entered for a race—at any. rate •to write about them iii such a way which is the speediest; "goer."' We aro''acoustome'cl ;: to-some curious legislation: in. New Zealand, especially as effecting newspapers. The law of libel! is' the most antiquated in tho British Empire, and now it is actually made a crime to write about the speed of. a. horse 1-rChristchurch' _'Trcss." _ No doubt the Attorney-Gonera] was right in describing the Gaming and Lott'eries Act, which has jbst passed through itsduial stages in the;Legia\ativo Council, as .CToinpromiseBut .it : :is,,.-we thiijk, a comprolbrrsii that will' prove .more 'satisfactory than moeVilegislative arrangements' of the kind.: 'lk"& any rate,' will get rid of some of theniost object'ionablo!torms. of gamulfflg, and-it■'■thllfiring what* remains; ujidcr th 6 suporvision). ; brj!tho consti" tuted outjipfities. We could wisji ourselves that the Premier- had cut at tho'rbot of the evil by atJolishirlg 'tho fjltogether; but ive recognise the difficulties""'^'his position,; and cheerfully acknowledge .ftat ho nas made a wry djstirict advance Fup6n r tho existing legislation. A great deal: willbo accomplished .if•% bulk of the Betting that godson in the ■ country is confuted; to' the race-' , courses, lt.miay not he a yery jgood tning "■ for the Racecourses, but it will. b6 an oxco# ent thing..for-the country,;-;At .present -Hits gambling induced by the totalisator. is caii" ried on in-tho streets and iri"tlio|hotels airtF plnces and. factories almost asiea'gerly as it is onlhe.raceooursos and with oven ltioro deplorably result's-. When the young men arid young-women of ehristchurch'"iiavc to go out to Kicnarton or Addmgton, ami invest their lialt-crowns and pudiids in broad • dayliglit, under, tho .eyes of thqir employers, it will be easier, to wean them frota "ih^^amblin,* , pabit. And, there can boMio ? 'qiibst!on thar the better regulation- of tho tcitslisator will/ navo.a most; beneficial o'iFeotfS"Lytteltori" limes. ■ ' J ;. •* . :

DIVORCE, But we are told now thatf-the Judges,'who administer the law, • arc asking—not that they may have power to coiupi*fc.tlic recalcitrant woman in thd case >to..*«Wir to her husband, but that they may have power to ordain the woman and the. inaiii to. remain legally tied together, arid- expostel to all tho lniluoncos that work most powerfully for immorality. What follyrs tliial If the woman is determined not- to ili™ with ..tho, man, why should,she'bo cpripeMl to, accf.pt; the cruel fate the Judges ivdufdkthriist lipp.ivi : '. ""• t°; th >s question •tlHrJiJudgesr.etiy Collusion!" Well, wlintY'oß collusion'?■ lhere ; is sometimes a. man or a woman, convinced that W& utterly imto live with the piarriptl,- matfe', end not having the moans ortholegat knowledge' enabling divorce to be Obtained, runs away to the ends of the earth. Perhaps tho running away is with a comfiaffio'n. Wb'ld not. .a divorce bo, tlio ii)pro"tnoral soltit'idn? And n . there -are children toj-e'oi'isider, l""{j\q running away part of; tho.v; business—or jt may bo the murder in suddettitpiissionQirod of gnawing tlisliko—would leave them v, ; orso olf than the lvorst possible arrangements, by a Court. What thb , "' 'and other's whom it may concern li'iivo-'tb benr .in mind is that not ten per cent, of lasting unions endure'becauso of ,th«<; liurftTC/ihe hi-.v, indeed! Why, it is tho cijijj'inpnest of common complaints that mon airfl «-ornen traraile tho law under their' feet W Jesertion'• -or worse. The problem- is -d. seViinis oiitif'Tiut tho way to solvo.it ,\a onactintr Hint twv persons mutually and ouch other shall bo held together ifgirhvst their will till death cutis- (fe knot. Such a law offers a. promium to unijiprality on. , a tho ono hand, and to desertion murdor on the other. —Napier "Telegraph."