TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 150, 21 December 1907, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Canadian Trades and Labour Congress, piolesfcing The Immigration against further imDifiiculty. " migration to Canada, emphasises a difficulty which besets .ill newly-settling countries To live and progress, they must have abundant labour ; and, under pioneering conditions, that labour must t/e cheap, for the simple reason lhat a pioneer has trouble in securing his own existence. lie cannot, pay for dear labour ; often lie cannot pay for moderate-ly-priced labour, because his industry at tho beginning does not return any profit to lmnseit. Either, therefore, labour must tako its chance of any wages 01 nqne, ov a colony's expansidn must be retarded, its nascent industries crippled. Precisely the same problem, if in a less acute form, confronts New Zealand and Australia. If 100,000 able-bodied men were landed in Australia to-morrow, with tho injunction "Root, hog, or die," doubtless a great deal of miseiy would follow; but the remainder of rooters would give memorable aid in establishing the nation. Or if ten thousand farm labourers wore landed in New Zealand to work for ten bob and tucker, doubtless the New Zealand fanning industry would receive a great and desirable impetus. But all the careful regulations of Hip Arbitration Act would go by the board ; and many families now living decently would be reduced to a condition of squalor. This, then, is the immigration difficulty : Is it better to go slowly, making a pleasant life for the b.ulk of the settlers in the country, and seeing industries falter and die for want of flesh and blood to sustain them? or to go quickly, and create prosperity, by virtue of the struggles of a population with its back against the wall of ne- ( cessityjf And to thooe questions every man gives, of course, the selfish answer that befits his own particular' case. Notions for the rebuilding of Parliament's home conSuggestions — tinue to come in. Still They Come We have had tho views of various persons, distinguished and otherwise. Most people with any t pretence to prominenco on the public stlage havo hastened forward with a) suggestion, weird or otherwise. Tho, main battle has yet to bo fought, butlin the meantime th'oro is a skirmish for a temporary abode. Tho Hon. A. R. Guinness has hazarded an opinion that Government House would be a suitable shelter, provided Lord Plunket would agree ,to move* into a nice habitation which could bo leased for him. Assuming complacency on the part of his Excellency, this proposal would solve the problem, but there is another "if." The country should have a guarantee that the Government had no intention of altering the internal arrangements of the ViceRegal homa in such a way as to support a subsequent plea that the place would be mo longer habitable for , the King's representative. The alterations should be on a scale which would not greatly disturb the present architecture. Government House is still good enough to bo Government House, and should remain good enough even after tho Parliamentarians have graced it for a few months. , We all know tho Scotch story of Jock, that contrite 'sinner who Answer to knelt down by a dyke-side Prayer. to pray, and remarked fervently that if the dyke should fall over and bury him it would be.no more than he deserved. Where-* at some listeners on the other side took him at his word, and heaved a section of the dyke over upon the penitent. Then, as an outraged and disgusted Jock, feeling his bruises, slowly extricated himself from the loose stones and nibbish, h*e was neard to complain, "Hpch, 'Lord ! canna a body say a thing in joke but you must go and taka it ;n earnest!" That is precisely^ what the Salvation Army is complaining of in Wellington.' Not long ago Brigadier Albiston told a Post interviewer that the Army would like a little more opposition. "Things aro a kit too calm and quiet for us now," ho said; "we like to see tho people stirred. 1 ' Apparently some Socialist took this in earnest ; for Brigadier Albiston has just been protesting to the City Council that the Socialists are interrupting the Army meetings. Not violently or outrageously — oh, dear, no ! But when the Army, by dint of labour and sweat, and procession and band, has collected a crowd of possible candidates for salvation, the Socialists come along and manoeuvre on the outskirts, They button-hole a, listener and clivort his attention from Blood and Firo to the Iniquity of Capital, starting a discussion that presently threatens to leave the Army orator without an audience. This, Brigadier Albiston considers, is, contrary to the principles of British fair-play. 'When the Salvation Army gathers a crowd, that crowd is their crowd — they own it. The Socialists should get a crowd of their own instead of poaching meanly on another fellow. The Army wants opposition, but not this slinking, underhand, yellow-dog kind of opposition. And ; it doesn't want opposition to be so coiii'oundedly in earnest. Again New Zealand has a memorable example- of "Justices' JusJustices' tico." Yesterday, at Kaiapoi, Justice, ti man pleaded guilty to the barbarity of flogging- his daughter with a. cart-whip. The Post's special correspondent "eports that the girl omitted to place a cover on a horse, and this simple ov-ersigKt angered lior father to auch a degree that ho brutally punished her. It was mentioned to the Bench, which was adorned by a trio of Justices, that the culprit was "a man of property." The judicial wizards put their bonds together; the result was, a fine of £5 for an offence which apparently merited at least three moqths' imprisonment. A few years ago there was a very forcible outcry throughout New Zealand against "Justices' justice," but the Government of tho day was loth to discontinue a system which dated back to darker ages. The powers considered that tlicj- had a case of jewels, the glittering initials, J.P., to bestow upon individuals of the right colour, and the people's '•ights were sacrificed to tho joss of political expediency. At least one member of tho Legislative Council, the Hon. J. E. Jonlcinfcon, strove manfully to have the anomaly abolished, but he was in advance of his contemporaries. It is surprising that the people, who are the &«ff<?iers by the appointment of men whose knowledge of law is about as exloiMsive as thoir acquaintance with the man in the moon, do not demand peremptorily that the benches of the halls of justico should no longer be couveited into vaudevillo stages. Tho arrangement that has been made to carry on the Sandford National iron-works at Lithgow, Industries. New South Wales, may be hold lo involve an admission that the creation of great industries, no less than the provision of means of communication, is the- State's business. Mr. Sandford, the chief pioneer, found his own resources in tho end unequal to the task of establishing the first iron-smelting works in New South Wales. Tho bank which had been supporting him declined to carry him further. If his furnaces had been blown out. and his works stopped, all his initiative would have been wasted. Therefore, the Government, recognising that the making of iron is an indispensable iojr.Uxr. r*f wn'Wii nrncrress. BXui. that

New South Wales' great resources for the iron industry— if Mr. Sandford's attempt failed— might be idle for a long term of years, offered, with Parliament's consent, to find the money for carrying on tho work. A disagreement with the controlling bank regarding security hampered negotiations, and a reputable firm has now stepped in wjth sufficient capital to take up Mr. Sandford's burden and chances of profit. Doubtless the Government's subsidy will be given in aid of the newcomers also. And now, is it not time that some definite effort was made to establish iron manufactures in New Zealand ? The answer, of course, ia that in the case of the Parapara field, a definite effort is being made, however indefinite may seem at the moment prospoets of cuccess. But we should like Parliament to keep the iron industry in mind, as one of tho essentials of self-contained nationhood, and to take every sound and legitimate means of aiding private projects in that connection. Persons who have fruit shops in Auckland are complaining To Cheapen about the "grossly unfair Fruit. competition of a large number of hayrkers." The objectors say that they are subject to "rents ranging from £3 to £9 a week and rates of 10s to 155," while the barrowmen contribute only 6d a, week for ther privilege of selling fruit cheaply in the street. That is a species of remonstrance which will sound veTy comical to the ears of New Zealand's inhabitants fifty years hence. Why should the people,' to whojn fruit is a necessity, be required to find money for the high Tents and rates of forty, fifty, ■or more establishments in a city? Why i should they meekly tolerate a system by ! which the bulk of the money paid for fruit goes for rentsj rates, and profits of scores of middlemen? The peoplo have grown used to this fantastic method' of distribution. The droll side of it does not seem lo amuse them, and the costly aspect doss not sadden them Obviously, I in the interests of the producer and the [ consumer alike, the expensive regime of minor institutions should be superseded, by the installation of a large I market under municipal control. The handling would thus be reduced to a minimum, and the middleman's cut would be whittled down to the thinnest possible paring. The outcry of the few should i not be permitted to act against the good of the many.