The Dunstan Times. "Fiat justitia ruat coelum." CLYDE, FRIDAY, JAN. 11, 1901.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2050, 11 January 1901, Page 4

The Dunstan Times. "Fiat justitia ruat coelum." CLYDE, FRIDAY, JAN. 11, 1901.

At the meeting of the trustees of the Dunstan Hosdunstan ita j Qn i ast HOSPITAL. f he questio £ Qf filling the positions of wardsman and matron was discussed, and comprehensively dealt with. A motion was carried to the effect that applications be invited for a certificated nurse, and a married couple. The trustees very wisely, we think, decided on this step, as it is obvious that the present staff is totally inadequate to efficiently carry out the work. la view of the increasing population of the district the trustees have had a commodious stone ward erected, and made extensive alterations and additions generally, and the hospital would—as a building at all events —do credit to any town in the colony. With the proposed addition to the staff, the institution will be more in keeping with the general prosperous condition of the district, and under /the new order of things, should soon become a very popular one. The increase in the staff means only an additional expenditure of some j£3o per annum, the nurse being paid j£sa and the married couple per annum. The trustees cannot be charged with parsimony, though it is equally apparent that they recognise the importance of being as economical as possible. In congratulating the trustees on their progressive action we feel sure that we are voicing the feeling of the subscribers to the institution.

We are now in the age of Penny Post. Has it come , to° early ? Finanpos.r" ciall y k J s * ve jy ' Hooed that

bold step. It is to t»e ... Mr Ward is not over-sanguine twins, assurance that the Post Office finances will not suffer. There are limits beyond which no decrease in postage rates will produce a commensurate increase in the quantity of matter posted. These limits are only extended when population increases, settlement becomes closer, and trade advances. Arguing before the event we should almost have deprecated the introduction of penny postage on the grounds above stated. It is especially a dangerous step when one considers that despite all our much vaunted prosperity and the elasticity of our revenues, yet our public debt is abnormally heavy, the heaviest per capita in the colonies ! Arguing after the event, however, we are not disposed to be lugubrious or pessimistic. Mr Ward usually justifies any confidence reposed in him, and deserves every support in this his latest reform. His broad, practical mind is generally successful in getting to tbs financial jbpttpro of Jjis

admirable administration, dl Postal and Telegraph De^fimcnt

can have no better or ORhier record in our colonial annalathan as the introducer of universal penny postage.

The New Year celebrations a? , federation. in honour of i the inauguration of i the Commonwealth of Australia appear to have been in every way worthy of the occasion, and their i successful carrying through without 1 a serious hitch or accident, bestows considerable credit on the executive 1 Government of New South Wales. The birth of a new power in the . modern world is an event of momentous importance, especially when the possibilities and probabilities of its life are so glorious as is the prospect before Australia. Its energetic population, its democratic constitution, and its magnificent resources promise it a mighty and powerful hand in shaping the destinies, not only of the Pacific, but also of the whole world. Australian Federation, the dream of Sir Henry Parkes, who was the first Australian Statesman to make a definite move towards its realisation, is now an accomplished fact. It has been Mr Barton's good fortune to see that dream realised, arid largely by his efforts to confer a boon on Australia that it can never, repay, i he existence of a number of state?, separated only by rivers or imaginary lines, with absolutely identical interests in both peace and war, and with populations homogeneous in race, in tradition, in creed, in character, and in temperament, and with like institutions ancHgovcrnments, is such an absurJJ-apomaly that it could not fail to such a powerful solvent as Federation has passed itself in modern times, Wnether the conditions and interests of New Zealand are sufficiently identical with those of Australia to justify its entrance into the Federation is, to say the least, arguable. The appointment of a special commission to visit Australia, and make an exhaustive report, has brought the question within the domain of practical politics. The gentlemen composing the commission are said to be mainly against Federation. Mr Seddon’s prominent part in the celebrities at Sydney may lead him to a more favorable view of the colony's at« titude It may possibly also occur to him that his own could be considerably enhanced* rather than diminished by the leaffSP ing part he would undoubtedly be called upon, and be able, to play in the Federal Parliament and Cabinet, should New Zealand enter the Federation. Sir W. Lyne’s joke about Mr Seddon bringing Australia to New Zealand in the event of an Australian Federation may have a strong smack of earnestness in it. At any rate it may candidly be said that if federation for New Zealand is pos* sible without irreparable loss of status, of dignity, of prosperity, and individuality and we should imagine it was so- then we should federate. New Zealand would in such circumstances have a far grander future, as a member of a mighty federation ruling the Southern Pacific with a powerful voice in the Imperial Couucil and in foreign policy, than -my future offered her iu the dream of speudid isolation as the administrator of a few Pacific islands. As it is, we will ever teud to become parochial in our ideas, our interests, our actions and our politics. Federation would release us from the blighting of paro* chalism.