TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 47, 24 August 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Surely the Hon. J. A. Millar was in nonchalant mood when Golour from he penned or signed the Islands, the .answer to Mr. D, M'Laren's question about the alleged importation of coloured boys from the Islands fot domesj .? emoe > UlK *er contract for a term of three years. , The surprising Ministenal reply is (—"Enquiries will be made into the matter, ahd, if it is found that the importation of this class of labour is likely to detrimentally affect New Zealand Workers, steps will be • m w mi ft vi6w *° stopping the practice. The inference to be drawn from this remarkable statement from a member of a i'White New Zealand" Ministry is,that if this coloured contract labour does not detrimentally affect New Zealand workers (from the view point of wages, vre presume) the practice will be permitted. We have already given an opinion that it would require a considteraMe mimbier of lade to bring, down the rate of wages which the much-worried householder is prepared to pay for a competent white worker. The available evidence about the large demand for these workers and the meagre supply must convince any fair* minded observer that out opinion is . solidly founded. We have every sympathy for the women who ofier Mr conditions and good money for suitable girls and fail to secure the help which they need, but we believe that the importation of coloured labour should be promptly debarred as a remdy. However desperate may be the plight of housewives, we hold that coloured laboiir, even with all the Safeguards which may be plausibly set forward, would be far too desperate a remedy for the present trouble. We trust that the New Zealand public will not be satisfied with Mr. Millar's statement. Parliament has * habit of holding more __ or lees inconsequential •me Press anquests. Various deAssociation. ponente give their evidence, but no verdict may be reached. Land, labour, the tariff frequently figure as the subject (fa* from deceased). Yesterdays it wa« the -Pires Association's -burn on the table. The debate, conducted desultorily, with other themes, did not spring from nothing-rf^'-tt*^ vef y P*op*Tiy started' by Mr. T. H. Davey, o f Christchurch, who was not catifified with the Acting-Pre-mier s printed answer to his request for a special committee "to ascertain the methods adopted by the Press Association in the distribution of news, especially in view of the fact that the lionpurable member for Wellington South has declared that the association is the teol of the Government." Sir James Carroll gave a very peculiar reply. He entirely ignored the point of Mr. Davey's question, and opposed the appointment of a committee on the ground that "an enormous quantity of debatable matter would be brought forward." One portion of the Ministerial areply infers that one effect of an enquiry will be to promote requests for further concessions fi'om the Government, on a scale to "increase the already considerable loss oft the Telegraph Branch of the eetvice." If Mr. Dftvey had asked for the average price of new potatoes, and Sir James had replied with a. quotation, for wild rabbit or smoked fish, the acting head of the Government would not have strayed further from the issue than he did in the case under notice. The allegation is that the Press Association is "the tool of the Government." Mr. Davey gave a number of instances to support his plea that Government speakers (including Sir Joseph Ward) 4 had been given cause for complaint against, the treatment received by them at the hands of some of the association's agents. Mr. Wright had another list, and this was a category of Opposition grievances. It was a case of six of one and half a. dozen of the other so far as party grievances- were concerned, but the blacks and white* did not neutralise each other. The outstanding feature of the discussion' was that the association was charged with sins of omission and commission by members of both partwa, In fairness to the associa-,, tion, which has a difficult taak in *atming a service which is expected to please everybody, the Government should 'have some enquiry made into the complaints. New Zealand largely lives on grass (per ' the sheep and the Winning Back cow), and, thereLosb Ground. fore, the public, now complaining of the cost of living, should be interested in regrassing experiments which the Minister of Agricnlture, iJhe Hon. T. Mackenzie, is promoting. The folly of man, in the highlande of the Mackenzie Country and Central OtAgo, has wasted miles of hillside. Yetor after year the tussock was burnt ,off to induce a growth of tender gtuen for etock. In time the ffiuch-malt»«ated tussock decided that it had no more green to give. The vegetation witbuered away, and the wind and rain begarn to pitnlessly sweep, aad scour away the top soil. Thus over large areas l.he ribs of the mountain flanks ftte exposed. Tit pome part* the eTOsiofflt of the soil ha-s beeh hastened by a %ttrt)id slaughter of the forest. However, Mr. Mackenzie hopes to wave a magician** wand over the depart, and ch/inge the grey and ashen face for one, of gfeen in time, much time. He a/jtarite the difficulties, but he is hopefu/i of a fair measure of success. "Trials are being made of «>tne sixty varieties of grasses and other pla.nte," stftys the Minister. "Many have faiWl, but others give some promise." C/iscussing this subject with, a represetrtfitivie of The Post, last year Mr. Mf*nStetixie remarked that he also wished to win ov*r for she^p and cattle large toaets which now sadly lie wpste in the fer north. Some of this northern land 3si writable for fruity as the Minister k&ows as well as anybody elfee. New ZealaJ»ders of all parties can commend Mr. 'Mackenzie for his zeal in this national, -enterprise, and. for their own sake, as well as his, they can heartily wi'alt, him feU good luck with the pro4«fy ,