WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Evening Star, Issue 14002, 8 March 1909, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

DUNEDIN STATION AGAIN. We are once more having Diinedin railway station dished up.as a champion piece of extravagance which the Opposition tried to prevent. At the same time we are tola that a big railway station must be made at Wellington. *The estimate for readjusting th* yards and co-ordinating the old company's line and the eastern lines at Wellington is £250,000. To make the Dunediu case appear the blacker the Opposition orators lumped the cost of the Dunedm yards—work that must have been done in any case—into the cost of the station, as though it were all spent on the building. Also they carefully suppressed the fact that the Dunedin railway station was promised by the Atkinson Ministry, which actually wasted a considerable sum in foundations for it—putting them in the wrong place. Yet we hear once more the old accusations without the explanation. Next we will have the Opposition membei* for Wellington imploring Government to make the station at Wellington, only for a few years later themselves or their successors to be abusing the Government for making it—if they are so ill-advised as to listen to their urging, and start it now.— Manawatu 'Times.'

The four huntly miners. In the act of the Employers'. Federation there is no disrespect of unionists' principle, but of their want of principle, and rof the-'four's, possession of it. Inspired by narrow-minded thoughtlessness, the union, sought to bring troubles upon the whole community by creating serious public inconvenience. Regardless of consequences, they determined to accomplish their own selfish and stubborn designs. The tabooed men stood out prominently as the solitary four of their number who were resolved to do what was right, and they are being rewarded for their courageous act and compensated for their unpleasant experiences at the hands of their coarse coworkers. What has been done by the Federation is as legal as it is proper. It is penal for "unionists to assist their fellows in time of trouble " only when they break the law to do it. In the one case men are being rewarded for respecting the law, in the other they would be encouraged and helped to break it. A body of men who could create the Huntly troubles cannot be expected to respect this reasoning, but that does not mater.—'Oamaru .Mail.' TIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. The development of wireless telegraphy is proceeding at such a pace that, accowl ing to the cable messages. American, trains have been equipped with instruments, by which constant communication is maintained with the various stations and with one another. This advance, which points to the possibility of easy communication with wimple instruments between any points not too distant from each other, should remove any difficulty in the way of the equipment of" sea-going vessels. Even such disasters as that of the Penguin might be avoided by the general installation of wireless telegraphy on sea and shore, for the direction of invisible stations would be noticeable, and a safe course be open in all weathers to competent captains.—Auckland 'Herald.' PRISON REFORM. The man or woman "who ..infringes ,tlic laws has.to bend his or her back to the consequences, and the fact that restraint is a punishment is a strong deterrent to crime. If. however, gaols arc made palaces of Versailles, or placet-: where every comfort and , convenience is assured to the patrons of the Justice Department, then the rush for our gaols in dull times might be as great as that to the Klondyke. but with infinitely more of the comforts of life at the end of the journey. With Dr Findlay's attempts to bring the prisoners to a realisation of the foolishness and wickedness of crime few will disagree, but the line must be drawn when he attempts to transform punishment into pleasure, and six months' hard labor into six months' recreation. The easier gaol life is made for the majority of those who have taken to crime as a means of living the offener will they want to interview a magistrate or Judge.—'North Otago Times.' RIFLE SHOOTING. By the encouragement of ride shooting a great many men arc brought under discipline, and unconsciously learn something of the meaning of individual responsibility to the State. Rifle shooting will not yet awhile have the vogue of football, 'for instance. . Some grave national calamity necessary to make that change in public sentiment, but the existing enthusiasm it generates among so many civilians gives reatwi for hope that it will one day, when military training shall he a welcome obligation to all citizens, take first place among the recreations of our youth.—Wellington 'Times.' THE ADDINGTON INQUIRY. ]£ the people themselves are really sincere in their desire for railway reform, they will need no Addington inquiry as a preliniinary, though a thorough questioning down there would be a great aid to gain a benefit in the near future. Manv people in New Zealand must be prepared for a little self-denial in the present, just as a business man pressed by creditors •should be" disposed to shorten on champagne. Are the people ready for the salutary reform ".— Wellington ' Post.' THE CONCILIATION COUNCIL. But even if the labor_organisations had far stronger reasons than any we have yet heard for objecting to Mr Harle Giles, Mr ling's conduct would have been still quite unjustifiable. To obstruct the proceedings of a public tribunal by calling upon the presiding representative of, the State to withdraw, to denounce the tribunal itself as futile and useless, to insinuate dishonest and. unworthy motives against the Court for granting an adjournment—all 'this seems to us to reveal an astonishing and deplorable lack of ■responsibility and a lamentable want of judgment on the pa.rt of the offenderAuckland 'Star.'