WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Evening Star, Issue 14117, 21 July 1909, Page 2

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

THE RIGHT TO WORK. The physical and moral requirements of the individual are primarily his own concorn, and the State can only bo physically and morally sound when individuals comprising it have first made themselves so. To suggest that a man's physical and moral wcltaro will bo promoted by taxing another to provide him with the work he may be too tired to look (or, too incompetent to do properly, and too reluctant, to undertake at all, is surely a curious way of going about it. There can be no more certain way of putting a premium on improvidence and thrifllessncss, and encouraging a man to stand about iu an expectant attitude, waiting to see how the State as a collector of taxes is going to disburse those taxes in his interest, than to admit this right-to-work doctrine. If it were generally accepted, the goal of the Socialist would be in sight: it, implies collectivism in its extremest form. There is not much danger, however, of the right-to-work doctrine .securing the recognition the Socialist desires, although the efforts to assert it are having a baneful effect, because the unemployed are thus encouraged to join in the agitation for relief works instead of frying to shift for themselves.— Christchnrch ' News.'

THE POLICE COMMISSION. Mr Bishop, by his conduct of the Commission so far, has shown that he is tic best man possible for the duties which ho has undertaken. The Police Commissioner mmsclf is, of course, more or less upon his trial personally, and under the circumstances it seems hardlv judicious for a number of the force in Wellington to have met and publicly carried a resolution or" confidence in tho head of the department and appreciation of hie administration. Tins testimony might) very well have been reserved until such time as the Commission Kit in Wellington. Although there is no danger of it in anv wav prejudicing Mr Bishop, the wisdom of restricting the order of reference has been made obvious by the amount of evidence which has already'been offered within its four quarters. 'irrel"vancies of a minor nature have naturally crept in, but had the Commissioner been, given* a free hand and an open order the proceodings would have been indefinitely prolonged. As it is. the Commission bid's fair to run into more ofrmidablo proportions than was anticipated.—Christchurch ' Star.'

a new labor party. The political interests of the workers are so obviously those of tlie community generally that exclusiveness must be fatal to any political organisation. If the workers progress it must be in common with the rest of the community and with its help. This is an old, old story, of course, and the older generation knows it by heart. The men who are promoting the separatist movement are comparative newcomers in politics, who simply do not understand the conditions of life in Xew Zealand. In Australia the selfish isolation of Labor has compelled the other parties in the Commonwealth to amalgamate, and if the fusion party preserves even a moderately progressive policy the Labor party wiil find itself hopelessly excluded from power. But we suppose that only experience will teach men wisdom, and the workers' lenders in New Zealand will have to learn in that bitterest of all schools.—'Lvttelton Times.' TRADE STATISTICS. It is obvions that the laxity of the shippers and the Customs official's in the matter of passing entries is not wholly, or even mainly, responsible for the misleading returns, such as those in regard to the wheat exports. Tt has yet to be explained how it is that statistics compiled by private firms arc accurate, while the official published figures are misleading. If the former, made up. as we are told, from official sources, can give correct information, why cannot those of the Department of Industries and Commerce, which gets its figures from the same sources? Accurate, or practically accurate, information is obviously obtainable by those who will take the trouble to get it. That being so. we trust we shall have no more " somewhat unreliable" official statistics.—Christehurch ' Press.' NAVAL DEFENCE. Already wo have a seaborne commerce worth nearly £40.000.000 annually, and nny interference with the maritime trade routes in time of war would be disastrous to us. Cut oft' by 1,200 miles of water from co-operation with her nearest neighbor, Now Zealand has a serious problem to face, and it will not help to the solution of this problem to talk, as the Prime Minister is inclined to talk, about submarines as "squirts'" and torpedo boats ns toys. New Zealand has to discover the most economical and most effective means of defending its coastal towns and its local waters against possible attack, and we anticipate that this necessity will he impressed upon Sir Joseph Ward at the Naval Conference. The Prime Minister's first speech on the naval question after his return from London will be awaited with unusual interest.—Southland 'Times.' A HYPNOTISED PUBLIC. Tf a farmer's crop is fired by a traction engine he can obtain compensation, but if it is fired by a railway engine he cannot. This is wrong. It is not merely undemocratic, it is unjust, tyrannical, and inequitable, whatever the form of government. It causes considerable loss and conitant anxiety to the farmers along the railway lines. It would be remedied unhesitatingly by an indignant public opinion had a great section of the public not been hypnotised into the belief that the agricultural community is always seeking to take jome mysterious advantage of the rest of the population, and to defeat the benevolent intentions of the best of all possible Governments.—Auckland ' Herald.' VLA.ORI AND PAKEHA. The question of most importance to the Maori is connected with domestic hygiene. Academic discussions on the. commingling of the races take a quite subordinate position in importance compared with such pressing questions as to the degree of infantile mortality among the Maoris, the education of the rising generation, and the encouragement of the Maori to enter upon productive labor. " Scores of .Maori babies are starved' to death through ignorance," says a State paper. There, perhaps, in a phrase, is the requiem of the race, and it would seem to us to denote a, better grasp of their social requirements if the leaders of Maori opinion showed the pakeha how this reproach could be removed than that they should bother themselves about a hypothesis, or be vexed in spirit aliout the operation of a law as inexorable as the mills of the gods.—Wellington ' Times.' ♦ N EGLECTED lIISTOR Y. History is a grievously-neglected subject throughout the whole of our educational system, and the University, instead of supplementing the defects of the primary and secondary schools in this respect, is the most conspicuous and the least excusable sinner. The way to make the New Zealander hold fast to the Imperial connection is by familiarising him with the history of the groat deeds that have spread the Empire round the world. For such a nation as ours, at any rate, there is no finer school of patriotism than the studv of the national history. Not so much by an . annual patriotic 'ceremonv, good a's things are in their wav! as by the fostering of the national spirit through a historical teaching, which goes deeper into the heart of things than the dates and names of kings and treaties and the like, can the schools help to keep the flame of patriotism burning. In a broader sense the study of history is an absolutely indispensable element of general culture; and to the statesman and the suicntifl.; man its lessons are brimming .over with interest ftnd instruction.—Wellington ' Post'