WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

Evening Star, Issue 14308, 5 March 1910, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

DIVORCE. It is sometimes contended.that tho large increase in the number of divorces in New Zealand during the past decade is due to tho removal or the distinction between the sexes, but really it is due to the wide extension of the grounds for divorce which was made by the Act of 1898. The number of divorces has increased, of course, and also the percentage it bears to the total (copulation, but these facts do not suggest '.hat the moral tone of the community has been lowered or that the popular respect for the marriage vow has been weakened. _ The experience of every unbiased observer must go to show that neither of those undesirable results has been produced.—‘Lyttelton Times.’ LORD KITCHENER’S MISSION. H would ho idle to think that from our really pitiful slate of unpreparedness wo ea.it evolve instantaneously a great national army—manned, officered, equipped—by merely passing an Act of Parliament. Yeai-s must elapse before we can feel satisfied as to tho military preparedness of our State, and when wo have reached tho point which wo now think of as perfection we shall probably be like the Swiss, and see before us another stage of possible attainment. Hut if we take Lord Kitchener's advice, his mission will be a success, because wc shall be improving our defensive strength all the time, and shall be gradually able to call to thcdcfenceof the Dominion and of the Empire a. citizen army of trained, equipped, and organised men.— Auckland ‘ Herald.’ MR BUDDO’S MANDATE. In Australia they seem less concerned about the (locks, or more confident in the common sense of the people in charge of tho animals, for most, of tho big cities have zoos, and we have not yet heard of the inmates escaping to the back country. If Mr Buddo is right in his strict interpretation of (bo law. it will, of course, bo his duty to prevent the landing in the Dominion of the wild beast shows that are now a feature in every well-conductcd circus. In that event he will bo astonished to find how intensely unpopular a respectable and well-meaning Minister may become with the younger portion of the community.—Christchurch ‘ Press.’ THE COMING OF WIRELESS. Ordinary newspaper telegrams will soon be transmitted by “wireless” rather than by the submarine cable; and through the immense reduction in charges rendered possible by disposing with the enormous outlay in cables, one of the most difficult problems of Imperial policy will speedily solve itself. So far, the new telegraph system has barely started upon its career: hut even a glance at the change that the introduction of (ho submarine cable made in our relations with the rest of the world should bo enough to convince us that the establishment of “wireless” communication between Australia and New Zealand, even as an experiment, is an event of momentous importance that ■will yet prove to mark a memorable epoch in Imperial and colonial history.—Auckland ‘Star.’ THE SMALL FARMER. Had tho Conservatives remained in power would we bo surrounded by a llourishing distric of which (he small fanner is the backbone? Would it have been possible for those of limited mean" to take up the holdings upon which to make a comfortable competency? Would tho Conservatives, in (heir sympathy for tho struggling settler, have promoted the Land for Settlements scheme and the Advances to Settlers Department, which alone made the :hango possible of accomplishment? Answer ran be found in tho strenuous opposition which they brought to bear upon these proposals when they were introduced by the Liberals—an opposition which the ridicule of success has transformed into a grudging support.— ‘Oamaru Mail.’ MERCANT!LE SUPREMACY. The mer-antile supremacy of Britain has loomed largo in the past, and it is at present a very evident fact, hut that it is a diminishing quantity is equally obvious. A very large proportion of the business acquired by (iermany, by France, by America, and by Japan has been acquired at tho expense of Hie British companies, and a remedy must ho applied, '.('ravelling conditions on British steamers must be made more attractive, and free trade at all the ports of tho Empire—which is reciprocated by none of (he mercantile nations—might with advantage, and reason he iwdiciouslv curtailed.—Southland ‘ News/ ‘