ECHOES of the WEEK

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 45, 16 November 1929, Page 21

ECHOES of the WEEK

PRESS OPINIONS ON NEW ZEALAND TOPICS

There is, however, one point upon which the Government should immediately review its policy if it is to maintain its reputation for even consistent obscurantism in this Taupo railway matter. It is committed to the construction of a first-class highway from Rotorua to Taupo—for what purpose? According to the principal spokesman for the Government at the inquiry, the region traversed by the route of the railway is not only incapable of supporting a railway, but it is incapable of supporting any kind of settlement. He was not content to rub the bloom off the prospects of the district, as they were portrayed by men who spoke from practical experience. He condemned the district utterly. Does the Government, after consultation wth the four Ministers who made personal investigations, endorse the evidence of that witness? If it does, how can it justify the building of an expensive highway at the cost of the public Treasury?—“New Zealand Herald.”

The South Island has had for a great many years to put up with a service to Australia that has been seriously injurious to its trade and seriously injurious to the tourist traffic whch it formerly enjoyed. The service has been so inadequate that trade has been forced into North Island avenues, greatly to the detriment of South Island merchants. This circumstance, and this circumstance alone, affords the “New Zealand Herald” any colour of excuse for its allegation that “there is no legitimate business” for the South Island-Melbourne service that is proposed. Necessarily the curtailment of a service tends to destroy the trade which that service had developed. We are bold enough to believe that the expansion of the service, modest though it is, for which the subsidy provides, will have the effect of the recovery by it of a large proportion of the trade that has been diverted to other routes. This may not commend itself to the “New Zealand Herald,” as being necessary, or as representing a national service, but if the payment of the subsidy does cause trade to flow through its natural channels it will achieve a purpose which should be generally regarded as reasonable and proper.—“Otago Daily Times.”

There are not, in this country, 14,000, or 10,000, or 4000 men whose only hope of getting work is to get it from the State; there are not, in this country, public works of sufficient economic urgency to justify the Government in employing, at the taxpayer’s expense, many thousands Of extra workers. Yet the Government calmly announces that it has found, in a month, 14,000 men without jobs, and made work for 0664 of them, and is not done yet! If it is not aware that there are employers who cannot get workers, and never will get them in these conditions, it must be insensible; and if it does not ask itself what troubles it is aggravating and heaping up for a future reckoning, then it has lost, or never had, the power to reflect on consequences — Christchurch “Press.”

It cannot be disputed validly that all the circumstances of the “surprise attack upon the weak Government were such as to arouse suspicion within and without the House. The movement against the Administration was initiated by the leader of the Government’s best allies throughout the past seventeen weeks of a pretentious session. Usually, a violent break in political party friendship provokes temper and causes- anxiety among the party which appears to have been betrayed abruptly, but in this broken alliance between friends the Acting-Leader of the Government and his supporters in the House were neither dismayed nor afraid. Almost with smiling confidence they accepted Mr. Holland’s hostile motion as a no-confidence test, and placidly enjoyed the mock warfare that followed. —Auckland “Sun.”

The Labour leader lacked his customary astuteness in framing his motion, because he laid himself open to adverse criticism on particular as well as on general grounds. Of course, the reference to incomes in excess of £lOOO had no relation to the figures involved in the demand for increased pay, and was designed solely to show that the Labour Party, at any rate, was prepared to exempt the smaller salaries and wages from any extra burden of taxation. The truth is that no Finance Minister, not even a Labour Minister, could raise the amount required without increasing the taxation of all sections of the community, and as a matter of sheer justice no Government could afford to place on the shoulders of any one section a burden that rightly belongs—as the burden of maintaining the public service obviously does belong—-to all the people. —Christchurch “Times.” >

The Government has lost much of the friendly and tolerant esteem that was bestowed on it at the outset of its administrative career without a working majority. Some excuse may be allowed for abnormal circumstances, such as greater financial difficulties than had been gauged by the Government’s leading representatives on the election platform, exceptional unemployment throughout the country, and the regrettable indisposition of the Prime Minister. It is right to say emphatically that if Sir Joseph Ward had enjoyed physical vigour during the whole session the Governments record of work would have been much more impressive and certainly less provocative of discontent. But, after making full allowance for adverse conditions, there can be no excuse for the Government’s failure to prepare adequately for a test session.—Auckland “Sun.”'

For the present it is only possible to speculate; but there are indications that the Government may have to face an election before the end of 1931. Its hold on office is so weak that it requires only two reverses to make its position untenable. The Hutt by-election may provide one of these, and there is always the possibility of other happenings which may have important bearing on the situation. The political future shows signs of becoming much more interesting than it has been during the past six months.—Christchurch “Sun.”

Actually, the achievement of the Government consists in having, at the conclusion of the fifth week from the date at which its undertaking wa« given, provided employment on State works for 4360 men out of a total of 13,157 applicants. Local bodies and other employers provided work for 529 men, there were 562 unemployable, and there were 4228 lapsed applications for work. What these “lapsed applications” may be the acting-Prime Minister did not explain, but obviously, since they represent not far short of onethird of the total applications, they have an important bearing on the extent of the failure of the Government to fulfil its undertaking. That the Government had promised more than it could fulfil was fairly obvious from the very first, particularly since the promise was made in terms that were bound to attract applicants for Government jobs. Though the undertaking to which, perhaps too lightly, it committed itself was too vast for it, credit is at least due to the Government for; having made an earnest attempt to accomplish it—“Otago Daily Times.”

Christchurch has become the laugh-ing-stock of the Dominion through the censorious attitude that the City Council has adopted towards healthy public amusement. From the imposition of the curfew hour, and the comment made by councillors in its support, it would seem that Christchurch dance halls are regularly the scenes of Bacchanalian revelries that would have graced imperial Rome. Now, the suggestion for the appointment of an inspector is at least a slur on the social rectitude of the people who are still able to find delight in dancing. Those who condemn the conduct of the dance halls do so because they are unacquainted with the conditions that exist. It implies that the managers of the> different halls have failed in their duty, and it reflects on the dancers themselves. Such transgressors as there are do not escape the attention of the people controlling the halls, and it is impossible for an inspector to do any good. There would be nothing for her to do that is not done already, and her appointment would only add another stupidity to the one which has already piled well-earned reproaches upon the self-righteous heads of the city coun-cillors.—-Christchurch “Sun.”

Few young New Zealanders find anything really novel about country life. But it is not through that in particular that either the boys or the girls are at present seeking city occupations. They do not hold rustic charms in suspicion because there is no sport to be obtained there. Experience has shown that the boy who is keen about sport will get as much of it in the country as in the town; and New Zealand girls have shown in the severest tests of loyalty that they make good helpmates on the farm. The pendulum will swing again toward- rural prosperity. The strength of its oscillation is apparent even now. And then young New Zealand will turn again to farming, to the pleasant and agreeable occupation of winning milk cheques and wool cheques—with Perhaps an investment in a racehorse as the ultimate mark of success. —Auckland “Sun.”

The opposition to the wheat duties has come, of course, from particular interests in the North Island, whose claims have been met in part, by the way, in the recommendation that bran and pollard should be admitted dutyfree, and the criticism has been singularly narrow in its scope. The questions of the cost of milling and the costs of manufacture and distribution of bread do not affect the mam issue, and while they may properly be the subjects of further inquiry it is fair to point out that they are, after all, of minor importance. The price of bread, material as it may be, is not nowadays of overwhelming moment, because with the broadening of the national. diet bread is taking a smaller place in the food bill of the average family. Certainly, from the national point of view, bread costs based on home-growii wheat are less expensive than would be the costs of bread made from imported wheat and flour, since the growing of wheat within the Dominion employs our own people and conserves our own capital.—“ Christchurch Times.

An Auckland magistrate, in fining a drunken motorist £3O and cancelling his license for twelve months, said that if substantial fines failed to prevent such, offenders would have to be sent to prison. On the same day a.magistrate in Christchurch went a step further ; he said he was tired of imposing, fines, and sent an offender to gaol for three weeks. There has been much comment on the variations in punishment inflicted for this offence, and it has been felt that on the whole penalties have been too light. The motorist who has lost control of himself is as great a danger on the road as a mad dog would be. He may at any moment involve half-a-dozen people m a grave accident, and even the pedestrian under the supposed protection of the footpath is not safe. If magistrates agreed that as a matter of practice in bad cases offenders should be sent to gaol, without the option, they would not be going too far in the protection of society.—Auckland “Star.” v >

Erected in haphazard fashion, the compulsory stop signs at railway crossings have proved of very little use either to motorists or the department It would be interesting to know on what basis their location was chosen. In the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court, when a driver was charged with failing to observe a compulsory stop notice at the Harewood Road railway crossing, Mr. E. C. Levvey, S.M., dismissed the case on the ground that a number of these signs which he had inspected were not placed to the best advantage or interests of the public. The Magistrate is to be commended for a decision that is founded on sound common-sense. In some cases the notices have been erected quite unnecessarily . where vision of the line on both sides is comparatively unobstructed, and, as a result, hundreds of road-users have grown into the habit of ignoring the warnings altogether and proceeding over crossings without inakng any stop whatever. This, however, is not trie worst fault of the departments system —if it can be called a system.—Christchurch “Star."