NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 168, 12 April 1932, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

It is not surprising that protests should have been made against the action of the Government in interfering by Order-in-Council with the right of private enterprise to erect picture theatres. There may be cases ,in which these places of entertainment have been built in excess of requirements, but it is an extraordinary thing that the Government, without warning or public demand, should suddenly step in and by Order-in-Council encroach on the rights of private business. The principle is a most dangerous one. If the right to erect picture theatres is to be subject to the will of a Minister of the Crown by Order-in-Council what is to prevent interference in the same way with the establishment or development of other classes of business? Where is the thing to stop? *'*' ! * *

Probably the most difficult task in the history of the New Zealand Parliament is set by the provisions of the National Expenditure Adjustment Bill. Almost every clause opens wide and deep issues and members should bring all they possess of sagacity to its consideration so that the result will be a measure as workable and as equitable as its universal application will permit. All the wisdom in Parliament is not concentrated in Cabinet. Members should therefore enter upon the debate in a deliberative mood. When they go into committee, they should conceive of themselves as really a committee, to offer counsel and help. Unfortunately Mr. Holland has already declared the Labour Party’s intention to oppose the Bill at every stage but surely some of his colleagues will try, in this time of emergency, to play a more constructive role. Surely they have some thought other than how to gain political advantage. It is for Parliament to forget politics and remember the country’s need, and to try to make the bestbf a measure whose worst would be bad indeed.

When working camps for single unemployed men were first started, agitators went to considerable trouble in attempts to black-list them. Those men who had the right spirit in them found after experience, however, that life in these camps was very different from the picture drawn by the trouble-mongers. Actually they were better off than in the towns because they had a temporary home, good food, a certain amount of pocket-money, and the opportunity among themselves of organising recreation for their spare time. It has now been decided to extend the camp system to land development schemes. Five hundred registered single men in Wellington receiving two days relief work a week at 9/- a day are to be transferred inland under the new'arrangement, which, it is hoped, will absorb from 750 to 1000 men within the next two months. It has been made quite definite that single men who refuse to join the camps, and cannot show good cause, will not be employed under the No. 5 scheme. The plain fact is, and this should be recognised by all concerned, that the work in Wellington which hitherto has been absorbing married and single men is becoming exhausted. What remains is little enough, to be shared out among the married men. As a matter of justice and fair play this ought to appeal to the single men. And, in any case, free board and lodging with a little pocket-money in return for work is not a bad proposition to tide over until something better is offering.

Faced with the loss of 40 per cent, of their income by the withdrawal of the Government subsidies, the Wellington Free Kindergartens have been forced to appeal to the public for the wherewithal to enable them to carry on. If the kindergartens are compelled to restrict their activities, or even to close down altogether for a time, the community will be deprived of a valuable social service tendered especially important as the result of the proposal to raise the school entrance age from five years to six. Many of these young children, unable to gain admittance to the State schools, will be thrown on the already strained resources of the kindergartens. Hence there is every justification for the latter’s present appeal to the public for fresh contributions. The position strengthens the case of. those who are pressing the Government to abandon the idea of striking out the five-year-olds from the primary schools, but as the Minister of Education pointed out to two separate deputations on Friday, the financial position makes this course an unavoidable if unpleasant necessity. Ihe compulsory school period commences at seven and, as Mr. Masters said, that’is when the Government’s statutory responsibility begins. The Free Kindergartens have a very good case for public support, and it is to be hoped that it will receive practical recpgliidoiu