WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Evening Star, Issue 13091, 26 October 1908, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

NO REST, ! • It is true that now that the industrial laws have been revised—that the primary education system has been at last carefully'regulated, to the advantage of the teachers and probably to the cause of scholastic _ enlightenment—now that the ■land question is supposed to be settled in the main, the.passing of the, Settlement Bill which is designed to enable landseekers to combine to - purchase estates with Government guarantee for payment and supervision being all that is contemplated in regard to lands other than native—now that all this has been done, there will be much less to do. But the universal superannuation scheme has to go through, as well as several other measures to which the Government is pledged, and these added to a sheaf of local Bills —though there canno.t be nearly so many as there were last year—will constitute a programme quite sufficient to satisfy the most insatiable ‘ legislator. The Prime Minister’s announcement that there will be an easing ofi in legislation must not be taken to mean that there has, in the past, been more than was necessary, or that, if legislation is desirable, it will be arbitrarily set aside.— ‘ Oamaru Mail.’

THE RIGHT TO STRIKE. The Miners’ Federation, which includes a dozen important unions,, with several thousand members, - recently reached by a majority of three votes to one the significant decision not to apply for registraunder the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, but to remain in alliance of trades unions preserving the right to strike. This decision and the discussion which preceded it make clear that the most powerful and most compact body of in New Zealand are so far from, accepting the principle of arbitration after al! the years during which the system has been in operation that arbitration is to be used, if at all, only in order to secure advantages for the laborers, concerned, and that if these advantages are not commensurate with the expectation of the laborers the authority of the Arbitration Court is to be refused or repudiated, and the laborers are still to strike in order to gain their ends.—Wellington ‘ Post.’ BORROWING. The real charge against the Government is that New Zealand alone of the Austarlian States _ has failed to make use of the exceptional opportunities oßered by the last ten years of prosperity. In Australia some of the States have ceased borrowing, and some have actually reduced their debt. To New Zealand alone belongs _ the questionable distinction of having increased the rate of its borrowing in the fattest years it has ever had. The years" when a country’s revenue increases beyond" all expectations are surely the years when it should have been able to redeem some of its pledges. If Sir Joseph Ward thinks otherwise he ought to say so, for if there is blame to be attached anywhere, it must be to the “great Liberal Administration.” ‘ Southland Times.’ < FORTUNATE AUCKLAND. The munificent, bequests to Auckland charities provided for in the will of the late Mrs Knox, one of the earliest and most respected of our pioneers, will help to keep alive that civic spirit for which the northern metropolis is already famous. It is remarkable that although Aucklanders a body have not such a keen eye to their political interests as have the populations of the sister cities, individual Aucklanders continually display a civic patriotism which makes Auckland easily first in this respect of New Zealand cities. Although living eyes have seen the foundation of the city and the actual settlement of the province, we have already a roll of charitable and public bequests of which many an ancient "city and province might well be proud.—Auckland ‘ Herald.’ TAXATION. The people who put up the bogey of “ increased taxation ” through the Customs are either dishonest or are playing with a roan of straw. They are mostly dishonest, because they belong to that class whom Mr Massey ofiended so much by his suggestion to increase the graduated land tax, a course followed by the Government. By their increased expenditure the people contributed more than in previous years to the Treasury, and the State has been enabled by this accession of money to utilise revenue for public works that would otherwise not have been taken or for which the money would have had to be borrowed. There has been no measure for increasing indirect taxation placed on the Statute Book by the Liberal Administration.—Wellington ‘ Times.’ A WARNING. Every year sees the Government approach more closely by a step or two, sometimes by strides, the Socialist ideal of the State as the one employer. It is not an ideal that appeals to a great many people, nor one that is likely to be brought into eßect very soon. But it is easier to go forward than to go back, and those who now supinely allow the Government to foster the Socialists’ wild schemes will find it difficult, when the awakening comes, to compel the State to retrace its steps along the road to the Socialist Utopia.—Christchurch ‘ Press.’ THE OPPOSITION. What Mr Massey calls “Socialistic tendencies” are the principles at the back of State action, the principles that have been applied and justified in the great Liberal reforms that Mr Massey and his friends opposed and obstructed by every means in their power. The electors can be trusted to know which party is the more in earnest, which party has the better record, and which party is entitled to their confidence and support.— ‘ Lyttelton Times.’ J GREY LYNN ELECTION. •The campaign of slander and calumny organised against the Minister of Education in his own electorate has become a positive public scandal, and even South Island journals, which as a rule have little time to spare for Auckland,, have protested against the discreditable proeeedmgs as a disgrace to our boasted political privileges. But we have no fear that these contemptible tactics will make much dißerencc to Mr Fowlds so far as the result of the election is concerned Auckland ‘Star.’