ECHOES OF THE WEEK

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 254, 10 July 1926, Page 15

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

PRESS OPINIONS ON :: NEW ZEALAND TOPICS

The Dominion needs more population, and the increasing roll of citizens is a solid cause for satisfaction. Yet it needs them most in the country, where land is waiting to be won from its virgin condition, to be rescued from threatened abandonment, or to be made more productive by the efforts of more brains and hands, working on the intensive plan. Instead, the pepple congregate in towns, swelling their size, and, as present circumstances unhappily show, falling victims periodically to’ seasonal unemployment, whatever else may be stated with reservations, there need be no hesitation in regretting the urban drift revealed by even the incomplete returns available in a degree too pronounced to be misunderstood. —"New Zealand Herald.

The providing of expert advice to mothers and the inculcation of sound hygienic and dietetic principles are the fundamentals of the Plunket system. Instinct and common sense are linked to science. To see the consummation of his ideal, a great and humanitarian service, based upon private subscription and State subsidy, has been the life aim of the society’s'founder. . Neither the Government nor the individual citizen can afford to let that ideal be lost. For this reason the ‘Society’s appeal for increased membership is justifiable and sound. In the realm of altruistic service no organisation stands higher than the Plunket Society.—Christchurch "Sun.”

Unquestionably it is evident that for the electrical industry, the manufacturers and the farmers, in a country like New Zealand, 'where 95 per cent, of the created wealth comes from the soil, rural electrification- is a major undertaking. Doubtless its limitations and possibilities are not fully understood to-day, but in South Canterbury the vital problem is the provision of adequate supplies from a reliable source at attractive rates. For a satisfactory _ solution, vision, hope, and enterprise will be required, but if the people of South Canterbury fail to enter into the rich heritage Nature has so beneficently bestowed, the district will fail to attain its high destiny as a foremost commercial, industrial, and agricultural centre. —Timaru “Herald.”

According to Sir Joseph Ward, overseas lands are not going to pay the prices they have been paying for our products, and the coming stable prices will mean lower, land values all round. Unintentionally, perhaps, the Liberal ex-Preniier has assisted the Government in connection with the controversy over the soldier settlements that required to be written down. In the ordinary course of events, there was bound to be a lot more criticism of the National Government and of the Reform Government this session in respect of the depreciation in values of those settlements. But, if it would be right to depreciate the values of new properties the Nationalists, at any rate, cannot keep on reiterating that the purchase of the soldier settlements amounted to an awful blunder in view of the fact that the values of many of them had to be Written down.—Gisborne “Times.”

Conditions in a new country are very dissimilar to conditions in one of the older civilisations, the British Medical Association seeks to remind the people of New Zealand. Hence it is unwise to rely on research work in other conditions Io answer the pertinent health questions now confronting every community in New Zealand. Positive health, which is much more than the absence of disease, is at least halfway to happiness, and it is most encouraging to note the genuine interest being displayed in the campaign designed to prevent disease where it can be prevented, being organised by the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association in co-operation with the Department of Public Health. Positive health is an integrating influence. The wheels of life run smoothly and community life advances nearer to the cherished ideal, namely the prevention of all preventable diseases.—Timaru “Herald.”

The story of wheat in New Zealand for the past vear lias been an utterly sordid one, and it is time the Government began to realise that behind and above, and immeasurably greater than, the interests of the classes it represents so faithfully stands the interests of the commop weal which, hitherto have been shamefully flouted and ignored by it. The wheat-growers have successfully squeezed the Government. It remains to be seen whether the millers will be equally successful. For all these “squeezes” the people pay. That is the great fact to be kept in remembrance.—“ Southland Daily News.”

The sooner the improved system of financing now promised comes into operation the better. In its immediate application, doubtless, it will prove to be the salvation of many farmers, who cannot '‘hang on” much longer; and its gradual and general development—for it may be expected that other banks and financial institutions will follow suit—should be attended with far-reach-ing and beneficial effects. We believe that there is a lot of truth in the plea just made by an Auckland farmer of long experience that if the producers could get their mortgages fixed on the amortisation principle the country would take a new lease of life. He is one of a great number who have become very fired of the practice of paying heavy interest charges vear after year without getting any further ahead.—“ Marlborough Express?''

. Members of both Houses of the General Assembly will be lacking in their dutv if they fail to impress upon the Government, and observe the rule themselves in their demands upon the State, that the most rigid economy is necessarv if the country is to remain in a sound and solvent condition. The Budget is likely to be brought down within a weak or so, and its appearance will I>c eagerly awaited to see in what directions the Government proposes to introduce the economies necessary for the relief of the taxpaying public, and how it is proposed to meet the possible fall in prices, due to the decreased purchasing power of our best customers—the British public—arising out of Britain’s industrial troubles and the loss thev have occasioned.—"Mauawatu Evening Standard.”

There are many and various questions that would be the better_ for ventilation, but as long as ambition is centred on the holding of office practical questions are shelved. Hie House amuses itself with talk which leads nowhere, while later on we shall have the Budget and the Public Works Statement rushed through a tired House, and the Washing Up Bill, which, like charity, covers a multitude of sins, is put through at a time when adequate examination is an impossibility. It is many years since the Opposition or any member of them have held office. Possibly when a change of Government takes place there will be men in the Opposition who are sufficiently acquainted with the country's business to offer opposition of value. At present there is nothing of the kind, and the Government in consequence are running riot. —“Waikato Times.”

The farmer is a traditional Freetrader He wants his requirements for land and house to be purchasable without the added cost of a Customs duty, and he does not wish to court the risk of retaliatory duties imposed by other countries to whom be exports his products. But in New Zealand of late the farmer has become an ardent Protectionist in respect of imports competing in our own markets with his goods. Breadstuffs provide a vivid example at the present day. But the farmer cannot have it both ways. He cannot claim Protection for himself and deny it to those in the towns whose living is wrapped up in the prosperity, even the continued existence, of themanufacturing industries. If any are to be subsidised it should not be the oldest established ones, such as agriculture, but rather those which are struggling to get a start in life, or are striving to keep going in the stress of a competition which, owing to disturbed world conditions, was absent when thev came into being here to fill a want which was perhaps acutelv felt at the time bv the farmer himself most of all.—Dunedin “Star.”

The efforts to enlarge the production of wheat in New Zealand have failed and all the subsidies and protection will not improve the situation, because in the long run the effect will be to .decrease the production, with the consequent use i ' the tariff wall to keep going a fight, for which the unfortunate consumer must pay. The farmer may mention the protection afforded the miller, but the position to-day is that a few farmers, a very few and those well able to hold their wheat, are using the duty, while the consumer counts his pennies and wond. rs why he does not object more strenuously to this protection of primary prodi cts in those seasons when his voice receives most attention.—“ Southland Times.”

It will hardly be maintained that all, or even most, of the borrowings of local authorities have been accompanied by adequate provision for sinking funds and renewals. When the Government brings down its proposals for the establishment of some supervision of local bodies’ borrowings, Parliament ought to set itself to discuss seriously the whole tendency and character of local bodies’ finance. —“Manawatu Daily Times.”

It looks aS though the whole world is sick of politicians and progress by words. No wonder overburdened taxpavers want to know what’s all the talking for, and demand solid work. It is time the New Zealand Parliament got down to business.—“ Christchurch Sun.”

Barricading the gates of an empty land offers the world a constant temptation. Others, even their own kin, urge them to fling wide those gates so that all who will may enter. This they refuse to do. There is another alternative. If, within reasonable time, they multiplied rapidly enough to occupy their territory, the pressure from without would cease, or at least be met by equal .pressure from within. This is impossible at the present rate of natural increase. Failing it, the only safe course is to invite the kind of migrants desired, as a countei to the demands from those not wanted. This done on a sufficient scale there would be answer, full and effective, to all critics of the ' policy inherent in the “White Australia” ideal, a policy to which New Zealand fully subscribes.—‘‘New Zealand Herald.”

The complexities of modern society create fresh duties for local authorities from day to day, and this all means increasing the army of employees. On the administrative and clerical side they now number over twelve thousand, while the unskilled employees of local authorities, permanent and casual, totalled over 17,000 last year. The local bodies are handling a revenue tiom rates, licenses and other taxes slightly in excess of five millions sterling per annum, equal to £3 19s. Cd. per bead of the population. Wherever one dips into tne Local Authorities Handbook there are impressive figures, suggesting that by far the larger share of government is done, not from Wellington, but in hundreds of local centres all over the Dominion, and that although taken »• detail the local activities do not appear to be so important as rhose centralised in the capital, in the aggregate tbc'y are just as extensive.— “Wairarapa Age.”

Is it advisable to build a primary industry under the cover of a protective tariff, when experience has shown that this form of artificial stimulus in the long run is not effective? If the growing of lemons is a sound proposition it will develop sturdily of itself and the industry will hold its own but Jf the ‘ariff is’ employed the artificial aid will assist in the development of something weakly, something that will always need support. Experience points in the direction of avoiding protection in the case of primary production, and while tl section of the farmers who are personally interested may complain that they are badly treated they should take a broad view and recognise that the producers generally have to pay for this protection without the country getting real benefit from it.—“ Southland Times.''