TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 62, 10 September 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Happily one definite principle among a. section of the Opposition is the detence of the leasehold. It is true that the leaseholders are a minority among the freehold Government's opponents, and it is also true that a ■wellorganised minority can put up a good fight. The leaseholders are represented on the mixed "Commission" which is supposed to be directing the Opposition, but we have not much faith in the power of that "Commission" to direct a resistance to the Government's proposal to let the brand of freehold be set upon lands for settlement. The freehold element in the "Commission" rather over' shadows the leasehold, and, therefore, it is urgently necessary for the leaseholders to have a "specialisation of industry" in preparation for the battle that is pending. The big battalions are against them, but the spectacle of this host, far from taking the heart out of them, should inspire them to deeds of valour. In the face of heavy odds they have to give their best thought to a plan of action to hinder the Government's onset against the national estate. The hands that are stretched out to affix that private freehold brand to public land must not be allowed to do their work in comfort. Unless the leaseholder* solidly band together in time, and bfisy themselves with a concerted scheme of defence the Ministry will inevitably have a fairly easy all-round triumph for the freehold. If the leaseholders are destined to bo defeated, they must at least be on guard against disgrace. Many thousands of New Zealanders expect them to display courage and strength worthy of praise. A special article in The Post of Saturday clearly set out the claims of the Weiaroa State Farm as an excellent locality for tho proposed Agricultural College. Levin's Mayor has pleaded, naturally, for that site, but if tho factor of influence, personal or political, is to have weight, Weraroa cannot prevail against Masterton or Palmerston North. Facts can speak for Weraroa certainly, but New Zealand has furnished a number of cases in the past in which facts have not been as persuasively eloquent as politicians. We are not suggesting that the advocates of Masterton and Palmerston are deliberately putting a district ihterest before the public interest. We are ready to admit that Mastertonians honestly believe that the college should be at Masterton, just as Palmeistonians have the opinion that the college should be at Palmerston. Our desire is to emphasise the obvious point that any member of Parliament must tend to favour his own electorate, especially if he can find some kind of evidence to support his argument. The Government should not look to members of districts for guidance about sites of dairy schools, agricultural colleges, or railway routes. Tho decision should rest with independent arbiters, utterly detached from electors. We are confident that if the selection of a site for the rural college is left to such arbiters, the advantages of Weraroa, where the State has 800 acres of good land and much valuable equipment for educational purposes, must induce them to favour this public area. The Government may be tempted by private "giants in aid" to go beyond Weraroa, but such gifts would need to be Hugo to make any other site prefer*M« to the SUto Farm,

For Defence of the Leasehold.

The Police and Traffic.

At last Wellington has \a motor-traffic bylaw in operation, and one effect will be to make life less hazardous for pedestrians at busy crossings, if the police co-operato energetically with the city authorities. Some two or three years ago a compact between the police and the municipality was arranged, and constables were instructed to closely watch the traffic at dangerous corners and intersections, especially at the "rush hours." For a time scorchers" of all sorts were checked, but it is complained now that this welcome vigilance has been relaxed. Certain types of cyclist, motor-cyclist, and motorist are quick to take advantage of any easy tolerance on the part of police. They do not usually need much encouragement to take possession of the King s highway and to spread terror among people whom they seem to arrogantly regard as trespassers. The plain duty of the police is to enforce a traffic bylaw, which is framed for the comfort and safety of the general public. Offenders have been Warned more than cn u" g t Titne llas P r °ved here and elsewhere that repeated warnings are not sufficient to mend the ways of reckless persons who whirl their machines around corners, equally heedless whether they damage themselves or injure folk not so careless and not so stupid as the aggressors^ The day has come for prompt prosecution and punishment to remind 'scorchers ' that instead of having the public of Wellington in subjection to them they must submit to the will of the citizen. Resting after long arduous years, the veteran Diaz can afford to smile grimly at the troubles of his successor, Madero, President of Mexico. Diaz Was a despot, but he did Manage to keep some kind of law and order in the country, which progressed under his autocratic rule. To-day the republic is in a sad state of anarchy, and the President's days are full of anxiety. General Orozco, who helped to exile Diaz, is now equally eager to get Madero into either a coffin or an outward' bound steamer. It is reported to-day that the Xaqui Indians, those men who took a heavy revenge on soldiers of Diaz for cruel years of persecution and spoliation, are now on the war-path against Madero. Recently the Sierra Juarez Indians were also helping to worry Madero, and there were at least two other hordes of revolutionists in addition to the guerrilla brigade of Orozco. This general has been operating near the frontier of the United States, and his followers, reduced to rags and short commons, have much disliked the vigilance of the American troops who prevent the smuggling of supplies to the revolutionists. Eecent cable messages have mentioned a "brush" or two between the patrols and the Mexicans, and to-day comes a report of a serious affront to the power and majesty of the United States. The American Government has not professed willingness to intervene in turbulent Mexico, but European countries, which have much money invested in the land of many revolutions, are pressing for such intervention. Madero is pathetically between the devil and the deep sea. If h© pleases the foreign concessionaries he enrages his own people, and vice-versa. It is stated that "the agrarian schemes through which Madero means to pacify hfs discontented countrymen amount in same cases to confiscation of vested interests." His problem is to placate the "agrarian patriots." The Pensa, published in' Mexico City, Bays :-— ".The Government believes firmly that it will dominate the actual uprising when there shall have been returned to the towns the lands of which they have been despoiled, for therein has originated the general discontent of this suffeting race." Meanwhile, it is said that "powerful vested interests in Europe" favour the divisionof Mexico into three republics as the ultimate means of peace.