NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 241, 12 July 1928, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

The Opposition in Parliament has been endeavouring, m season and out of season, to ‘make political capital out of the indebtedness of the people of this country lhese , C . r » ifnT' ignorance or wilfully miss the point that with the great bulk of landholders the mortgage is really a variation of the time-payment. syste . This system is the only method available to the man of limited capital to acquire a property of his own and a stake in the count! y. 1 oi one but a fanatical Land Nationaliser or one ignorant, of the value oi this form of finance would be so foolish as to decry it.

In selecting Mr. W. A. lorns for the office of Chairman of the Dairy Export Control Board, the members of the Board have made a change which conforms to the views of the majority of the dairying industry as indicated at recent elections. The late Chairman, Hi. W Grounds, clearly lias got out of touch and also out of haimony with his colleagues on the Board, and his more recent activities have served no other purpose than to widen the existing breach m the ranks of the industry.’ It can be said of the retiring Chairman that in the earlier stages of the dairy control movement he displayed great zeal and industry on behalf of the compulsory marketing scheme. With the failure and abandonment of that policy he has failed to adjust himself satisfactorily to the changed conditions, and his tenuie of the office of Chairman clearly placed the Board at a disadvantage. His successor, Mr. lorns, may not prove so active a propagandist, but the work of the Board may be expected to proceed more smoothly and harmoniously under his guidance.

There are very strong reasons in favour of the local Highways Board pressing for the construction of an overhead bridge and ramp at the Petone railway crossing on the Hutt- Road. This is a i ec og" nised danger spot, and with the increasing volume of motor traffic the risks grow almost weekly. No technical difficulties as between the local bodies and the Railways Department should be allowed to stand in the way of agreement being reached regarding the undertaking.. Someone appears to Niave suggested that the Petone Borough Council should be specially singled out as the local body to share in this burden. As a main highway it would be absuid to throw any special onus on any particular local, body. In the matter of the proposal to widen the existing paving on the Hutt Road, which was discussed at the same meeting of the local .Highways Board, this should not commend itself, either to motorists or the Board. The Mayor was sound in his view that it is preferable to extend the length of paving to new road surfaces rather than to widen the existing paved roads. The fact that the Petone plant may be idle unless the pavement on the Hutt Road is widened is a singularly weak excuse for spending money where it is not needed.

Mr. E. A. Ransom, M.P., has asserted in Parliament that The Dominion is in duty bound to support the present Government. For Mr. Ransom’s information and those who think with him, it may be stated once more that The Dominion was established to defend the principles of sound government. It was launched at a time when these principles had been vitiated by abuse of political power and patronage on the part of the Liberal coterie then in office. It exposed the vices of that coterie’s administration until public opinion, awakened to the danger of the situation, ejected it. The Dominion supported the party then in Opposition because it offered, in principles and ideals, an alternative better suited to the interests of the country than the existing regime. The results have justified its action. The country has been, on the whole, well governed by the Reform Party. That is not to say that it has.been above criticism or- that there should never be any other Government but that representing the Reform Party. Nor does it imply that that party has a permanent lease of The Dominion’s approval and support. For Mr. Ransom’s edification it may be said, however, that no other political party at present in sight, or alleged to be in existence, presents to us a convincing alternative claim to the support of the country. The Dominion is quite frankly and determinedly opposed to the domination of this country by Labour-Socialists of the Holland Party type. It is with equal frankness and determination disinclined to recommend the electors to give their support to a nebulous party such as appears to merit the approval of Mr. Ransom—a “hush! hush!” party, unable to find a leader and too shrinking to commit itself to a specific declaration of policy.