SAFTER 46 YEARS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 541, 23 June 1909, Page 7

SAFTER 46 YEARS.

i NEW ZEALAND'S PROGRESS. ?m ROBERT STOUT'INTERVIEWED. THE EDUCATION QUESTION." - Florcnco.Balgarnio, writing in tho London ' "■'Dady JToto" of JHw 10, tfetct :—Sir Robert , Stout, K.0.M.G., Chief Justice of Now ZcaJand, is now in town, after an absence from this country of forty-six jears. Jlo is n typical Norseman, stalwart ond bronzed, with -a geupl preporrco and a | a rgo heart. He left I his boyhood'e homo in tlio Shetland Ules r» a young man of 18, and prior to his appointment as Chief Justice hat> wrved iucccbsivcly as a member oi Parliament, Altorney-GoneiiU, BJiijiatpp for Lands, Emipraliun, Munition, and was Premier from 1881 to 188?. In r<\ply to inquiries as to his licus on sonio ol tho problems-solved yonrs ago in i\ow Zealand—which nro now at iesuo in Ull3 country, Sir Robert Stout replied:— Option, "I waa tha first monilier to introduce k flcul option for dualing ivitb liquor licenses in our Gcneml Assembly, 'I did this so far back as 1875, but failed. Eighteen yeare Inter, Mr. Seddon's Government inlrotUlcod &x\d owned leps qdvanood measure, but boforo this Bill was <]«,)( iviUi sujlrago had been carrjed." votoP" 5 ' that ■'" Co " sc 9 ,lcllc<J 'P f tlio women's I<JO?°?4 p t<,r cnrr y |n S fcn '«lo ""frage in JSJ3, tho Government woro, 1 boliovo, afraid to go to tlio country until tlmy had oarriwl' eißoanin. which they n« n ld allv hp ■ women. Local option'Wl fomalo mtiAZ W« erantctl almost eimnltaiieouslv. , ' , !oa^o^ l!,,,k,lms,WG,lthicfetof fiJil ,, 'tt S stiff! |i,,t '■', toady" figlit. We have h:»d B ix iricnninl n D ]| s ?„ t J qu» oiicition with .n'tarouAdWl for Hip Prelu i|l lO n PaHy evory timo. A majority of tho nholo of the pomitry has VQtod Ni License. Tho No-Lconso vote has n SO n '■ Wr v - • '"l-ifpe it was 98.312,, in IBM US;5 V , ,„ lore IBIM, in 1905 193,768, in l!) 03 it wns oh-itit 220,000. "'llouelily bpA»k----s untltr iNQ-Lirnnw, Rednptjnn of lir<W|i 'as bwn carnotl in several districts, «, ,j liquor Uirs have been b:,i(ished from, all the railway refroihment rooms." * ' f «i,l H m W, f t, il >~i '!^ y X 115, i' oomce t,,e offieißl statement that 1W consumption Q f Hnnor baaimcirescd during |J,o la S ff"w year ?" The bonsi.mpt.on, if wo tflko tho cost PPT oad, has gone up during oiir years of prpswrity, but it is not so Tiigh as It ~,'oS *) JWs ago TJin" inaiopn ling hecr, alight, ft has also to bp remomborod that thoro 19 e»s drunkenness amongst thoso of Nowgea' lnnd birtl, than ihopo who claim qther places ns their fatherland." • ■ '

Education, "Whut, may I apk, is jnur roply to thu charges m»d ß ngainst tho morals of joui um! pl>> Ijooauso of the absonco of religious in. struction in jour schools 5 " , i feu liobert's gonuil expression ga\e place to a BlflHoo of stern disipprobitipn as ho quickl) rophod m indignant tones mi °l' ar eofi »ro lake, nbbolutely fal«o. Wo Imvo had gcnoral tiilncation of a nurob secular charnctor for thirtj-lwo >eqr S , given, ahko to Buropeart and to Moon c&fiU. and often m tho same schools ]t hap uorkod well, and no sonoiis attempt has beoi nwdo to undo it, No man him him k> tqrncd to Parliament on this jssuo Qnj teachers inculcate order, obedience, rcsiwt for others, and the best proof of thoir bucoo's is seen Cl) in the dlnimfshing gf sorioßß onmo, and (2)' in tho fact that those trained free trom sectarian bma produoo only half a.s many criminals n\ pioportum to thQir number as thoso trained in tho deqomma, clonal schools " "Then havo your children no Biblical m. slruclion?" "Mast, certainly th,cy havo. It has roused the' (ihurchpa to a sopso of their n>! spousibihiies, and tlioj are tho instructors ot Jio childron. I may add that the attitude ot tho linglish NoDconfonniste and liberals hi England amazes mo They Book tg disestablish. & Church aod yet sooH to maintain the State eohooU aa the childron's church "Hut what about tho charges your Bishop fNoljnah brought against yohy peoplo in tho biM-kblooke?" 1 queried. "I BMi" raplwd Sir Robort, "woro prne. tical heathendom in London in one day than I should in n. New Zealand backblook in a jour, I see jour women in the drinking bars on a Sunday With us I should see none but a few of tho most abandoned on any iveok day, and neither man nor woman of nny kind on iSunday 'belief is. aitei nearly half a century's experience of the growth of tho colonj'j that wo ato distuiotb on tho upward giudo. "Altruism has roanrcUooaly mexoased. Everyone is ready to help any m trooMo or distress Diruodm scat £1200 to your nncmplojod fund, as wll as help to China, India, ItaJj, Barnardo'e Homos, ote Lot mo giM a- fo« stfttistios. pistjnct connoted prisoners received in gaol per 10,000 of pojmljrtiou un. der 20 years of ago: ' 1387 : „ „.. 3X9 ' 1882 o>l3 1802 i 187 1907 120 All persons, ndults and youths 3887 _~, ~ 44 25 • ifs :.. ss'ig 1903 30 03 1007 33 63 "Profcrenoo," "Voitr mows on Krco-trado would bo of inlich interest" . I remarked. "No« Zealand hns novor aßltetl for it, \V« hwo alrrodv rucii Profcronoo to Enfiland, and tho onlj I'rofero-nco jo\l rould gi\c us would Ih> on \\oul wid meat, for wo export , 1 \ory little grain. 1 do not knon how dear wool would ftfloot jour twocd or worsted monufaotuiOß or jour prico of n.cat. 'lliese nro points for jou, not for us," * "What about Uio olami of .Mr, lain that jou thould produco tho raw and wo tho manufactured goodsf" "It is ivltogotihar ndiciiJous, Wo <no not going to limit our development to promote ,i market lor }our Roods, Indeed, our tariffs aro to somo o\tent dosignod io foster our now factories, I would, howovoi, romiiul jou that tJioy aro still mainly for rovonuo purposes," "But surely jwir tasos nro largoly raised on kndP" > "True, nnd iiioicasingly so. Our graduated land tax is oausinß lotro holders to ent up and soil their estates in lots to small faimors, UK)i>matioii is Uio mouwtaj of onr tlmvuiß dairy tiwlo, nnd ia by tho Mnom now being applied _to fiheop fanning, In tho lust tow jomb dairy land lias more than , doubled in value."