TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 113, 9 November 1910, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

♦ Members on both sides of the House of Representatives had A Legislative good words yesterday Blunder. for the Destitute Persons Bill, which went through the Committee stage ; but a majority, in their zeal to ensure justice for an alleged absconder, deserter, ov other offender, struck out a clause which was designed to facilitate the working of machinery to prevent an injustice against the deserted. Clause 70 provid ed that a Magistrate should be empowered to deal summarily with persons charged with offences for which the penalty might be a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months. As tha law now stands, a man charged with deserting his wife or children may elect to be tried by a Judge and jury if a conviction makes him liable to a term of imprisonment exceeding three months, but this system has not operated satisfactorily. Mr. Wilford last night made a plea for the jury, and he won, be cause the Prime Minister offered a poor defence of the clause. Sir Joseph Ward, who was in charge of the Bill,"' had not enjoyed an opportunity to master its details. He is very hard-worked at piesent, and it would have been- unreasonable to expect to see him as happy with the Bill as the Minister of Justice was in the Legislative Council. Siv Joseph declared that the" clause wag absolutely necessary as part of the rigorous procedure required to cope with an evil that has called for drastic measures, but he was not able to sufficiently em phasise the importance of the proposal. However, it is not too late for him to properly enlighten the House. He will have an opportunity to recommit the Bill, and in the meantime he will be able to fortify the House with fact» enough to prove that a blunder waß made last night. Ever since the session began some members have been worryWorrying ing about the end. It About the End. has been said in these columns that during the recess some members are much concorned as to when the session will commence, and once it is started they speculate about the innocents to be slaughtered at the close. Nearly every day now produces some altercation about the work that remains. The Opposition gently tries to induce the Prime Ministor to name the date of the break-up, but Sir Joseph Ward is a wise enough school master to keep some of his mind in reserve. Mr. Massey, with the billhook of Christmas, has been trying to rend the veil, but he naturally has not succeeded. The much-pestered Premier exclaimed yesterday that some members of the Opposition had Christmas on tha brain, and he had some good excuse for the outbur&t. Time was undoubtedly lost during the early weeks, but the Bill machine now is earning the exertion wage, and members should apply themselves to the work instead of exhausting their energy in guessing. The. Prime Minister himself is having a very strenuous life. He has the House to lead and Cabinet to manage. The Hin& Committee claims him at 10.30 in the morning. He is lucky if he gets to bed before 3 o'clock in the morning in these, times, and departmental duty calls him up at 7. It is a pace to try the temper, and it has to be said in his praise that his cheerfulness seldom fails him. For more than a generation ■ far-sighted men have foreseen and "A Grave predicted disaster as the inNational evitable result of the feckConcern." less depletion of our grand forests. To the early setlers they may well have seemed inexhaustible. Carefully used and wisely conserved, they might have been a commercial asset for centuries, and an abiding scenic charm in a country which has unique attractions for the tourist. Forests, of course, are primarily for use ; but the use has never been wisely regulated, and waste has accounted for far more destruction than use. Forest lands are often, though not always, valuable soil for settlement, but it has been a topsyturvy system to plant settlers on valuable forests before opening the country for traffic, thereby compelling destruction of the precious timber which it was ; mpossible to convey to market. Departmental officers have reiterated i,heir warnings, not only of forest depletion, but of the climatic mischief and irreparable destruction by erosion and denudation ; but largely in vain. There i& a forest department, but no comprehensive or consistent or statesmanlike attempt has ever been made to deal with the problem, which yearly becomes in ore difficult to handle. The latest authority to take up* his parable has been Mr. S. 1. Clarke, who, in his address to the Builders and Contractors' Association, reported in last night's Post, showed how barren ot" practical result was the costly Timber Commission of last year, of which he was one of the members. It certainly was a disappointment to such as had looked hopefully forward for useful work being done at last. We have vet, it seems, to wait for an Administration that will realise, as Mr. Clarke does, the vital importance of the question, and the imminent need for systematic checks on foiest depletion. The immediate profit of a certain trade — which, like the woodman in the old caricature, is assiduously sawing off the limb on which he sits astride — has been placed before the future of one of our staple industries. With a short-sighted concession to interested pressure, artificial obstacles were placed upon foreign imports, which were mitigating the situation by making it possible to enable the country to conserve its rarer and more valuable timber. Mr. Clarke showed that the official estimate that our timber supplies might meet our needs for another forty or fifty years took no account of the rapidly-in-creasing denjand. Well might he" say that the matter had become one of "grave national concern." Wellington's Industrial Exhibition is to be opened on 24th "Made in May next year, if no New Zealand." further hitch interferes with the promoters' plans. The time for the preparations, just over six months, is not too long, but it seems that the Industrial Association is about to make a good 4 stir. The report of last night's Setting w_ill lead the. citizens to up£q

that the manufacturers will be stimulated to give a display wnich will galvanise the public. Complaints of prejudice against the New Zealand brand are btill common in various parts of New Zealand. Some Auckland manufacturers have confessed that they V are compelled to make- home-made goods pass off as imported articles, and they are therefore hostile to the Hon. J. A\ Millar's proposed New Zealand brand. This sorry business is only a fraction of the evidence that may be cited to show that the foreign fetish still has very many worshippers. Some of the local captains of industry have fought hard to establish the merits of this country's goods; others dismally make lament. It has been demonstrated, howpver, that moaning and groaning of that sort do not move the consumers' hearts. The manufacturers have to convert the public by solid persistent work. Arlington's exhibition should be an excellent aid in educating the public, apd it should serve another use 'ful purpose in focussing attention on the whole, subject of the secondary industries. What is to be the Government's industrial policy? Before the Government reveals its mind it will need facts and figures from the heads of industries. Vague complaints do not usually influence- a Government, and entreaties, however soulful, may avail nothing, unless they are well endowed with body. Sher well's side from the Cape ha-s begun its first tour in Aus1' irst Blood tralia with, a splendid, to the ly convincing victoa-y Africanders. over a strong South Australian ejevem im a game where fortune favoured 1 neither side unduly. With a small deficit on the first innings, the visitors, their confidence considerably augmented, gave the WneatfieldeTs a taste of their old home form compiling such a large score as put the result of the game beyond doubt. The South Australians had no hope of getting the runs in the time, but, in a •sportsmanlike way, they preferred to loseom a, forlorn hope rather than to play stubbornly for a draw. It is no disgrace for them to go down before the pick of South Africa, for the Cape champions have proved tough antagonists for tho best side England could put against them. _ When the Africans visited England in 1907, they were defeated only three times on wickets with which they were mostly unacquainted. Last summer an M.C.C. team toured the Cape, and suffered a sound reverse in matches' fci the "rubber." This gives an indication of the high standard attained by the resourceful, daa'ing, and more or less unorthodox cricketers that 'have blossomed in South Africa on the matting wickets. With perhaps one exception, that of Gordon White, the men comprising the preseaib beam are thoroughly representative of the best Cape cricket. There is «a judicious -blending of veterans and •colts, of forcing and sound batsmen, while the bowling attack contains at least two "stars" and several more or leas excellent changes. The Africanders' victory mi their initial match on Australian, wickets will • stimulate intere^ in the coming Test games, for which' the Australian "cracks" are spai-ing no efforts to get into the best of form. The visitors are undoubtedly worthy foeman, and their clashes with Australia's best should provide 'Splendidly brilliant cricket this summer.