WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Evening Star, Issue 12101, 6 November 1908, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

HON. J. A. MILLAR. By a certain section of the people he has so long and faithfully represented, John Bmns is cruelly stigmatised iv traitor. Similar words may be hurled against J. A. Millar, but fortunately the maji’s character and reputation aire so well known a; to he proof against any such assaults. He has for many years been the mainstay of unionism in New Zealand, and the workers have profited to an immense extent by his prudent and friendly counsel. Since his assumption of Ministerial rank he has -remained the friend of the workers, and has done nnucli to secure their advancement, 1 yet his administration has been characterised by strict impartiality and an honest endeavor to do justly as between tho interests of employer and employed. We cannot’ believe the workers as a body arc' unappreciative of his efforts, or so lost to a sense of fair play as to deny him credit for holding the scales with an even balance. and we anticipate that the majority which our Dunedin correspondent predicts will carry Mr Millar triumphantly through the polls will be composed largely of tho people with whose interests and' sympathies Air Millar has for many years been so closely identified.— 1 Poverty Bay Herald.’ THE TWO POLLS. _No doubt the Local Option poll is assisted by' the parliamentary poll, but not to the same extent as the parliamentary poll is assisted by the Local Option poll, and we trust that the intrusion of licensing politics into the present election will not induce the Government to seriously consider any departure from the existing arrangement. For ourselves, we think that the Prohibitionists are making a very grave blunder in renewing the demand for the bare majority, ■ which is condemned by many of the most earnest temperance reformers within their own ranks; but whether they persist in their indiscretion or not, we hope that the Government will not look with favor upon any proposal for the separation of the polls. We would rather that two or three other questions were submitted to the electors on the same day. —‘ Lyttelton Times. ’ PARSONS AND POLITICS. A clergyman of Christchurch has found justification for the marriage of religion and politics in a sentence of the Lord’s Prayer. Tho clanger of pulpit politics is that the old evil of sectarianism may even enter into politics, and, talcing extreme cases for the sake of argument, a man may be a Single Taxer because he is a Lutheran, or a Freetrader because he is a Swedenborgian. A little while ago a clergyman made a political speech (not from a public platform), and he left himself open to ridicule by laymen, for the simple reason that he had not taken sufficient care to check some of his alleged facts. We have politicians enough and to spare, without having the clergy deserting tho Bible for the Year Book or running the two together.— Wellington ‘Post.’ UNSOLICITED ADVICE. Catholics have one precious privilege which perhaps they do not at all times appreciate. Outside the pale of our faith there are to bo found a sui-prising number of persons who, with tinted spectacles and magnifying glasses, search the Church of Rome for sores as industriously as the prospector sifts the eaiili for gold or diamonds, and who devote so much time to this interesting pursuit that they commonly forget to look to tho spiritual households to which they owe real or nominal allegiance. Some of our well-meaning volunteer critics have latelv been losing their vest—quite needlessly— over the Hibernian-Australasian Benefit Society. . . . We may remark that the whole question of the approval or condemnation of this or that association of Catholics is tho _ Church's own internal and domestic affair, and that she is perfectly capable, of managing it without aid or counsel from friends outside her gates.—‘New Zealand Tablet,’ HOLIDAYS. Whether Dominion Day will become a permanently popular holid'ay remains to be seen. One day which ought to lie kept, and is not, is October 6, an epoch-making day in our national history—the day when Captain Cook rediscovered the country of which, with wise foresight, he speedily took formal possession for England. The definite cultivation of patriotism does not receive the attention it ought in the Dominion, and the Government should look to it. When the whole community are asked to keep secular holidays, ns distinct from the Christmas, Good' Friday, and Easter, it should be on grounds in which all are interested, and some greater effort should be made Ilian is made to drivd home the importance of tho occasion, and to enforce the lessons it is designed to teach.—Auckland ‘Herald.’ CO-OPERATIVE WORKERS. There was a time when, if men were dissatisfied from any cause, they .ump'y picked up their belongings and went elsewhere for a job. But of late there hj ;<= uecn a tendency to take up tho attitude that it is not only the duly of Go.-em-inent tdvmakc work for men who cannot find it for themselves, but also to see tlui( they earn the regulation wage. We very much fear that the day is not rem he when public borrowing must lie greatly restricted, or perhaps cease altogether, and men will realise the fallacy of the idea that it is the duty of a Government !o find, as in Rome’s days of decay, “ bread and circuses” for the'people.—' Grcv River Argus.’ HONORED ELECTORATES. In the past there have been great men in New Zealand, and there arc even now great men living in the laud, but the c all lias not yet come to them to stop to ilia front and to give their services to l!vParliament of New Zealand. Mediocrries vvarm the polls, aud push themselves into 1 ailmmcnt; but the time must conie whe-u the constituencies themselves will tiro of lesser mortals, and will seek the distinction of being represented by larger mon Wairarapa * limes.’