WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

Evening Star, Issue 15174, 3 May 1913, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

In some parts of the Dominion the Labor-Socialists on Wednesday last scored successes, and it would be idle to ignore the fact that they show promise of developing into the most powerful political organisation in the country outside the Reform party. With ; the so-called “ Liberal ” party in a state of disruption, the position of the LaborSocialists has -been materially improved, but . they will have to radically change their methods, not only in the field of politics, but also in industrial affairs, before they can hope to make any marked advance in the confidence of the general public. —‘ Dominion.’ ', * * * The running of the extra trains has been ‘ more or less experimental,” while the Southern expresses are established trains. We utterly fail to see in this even a glimmering of that wise and statesmanlike administration that was promised as one of the principal fruits of self-styled “ Reform.” The Northern line pays better than the Southern, evoi when the double service is run on the former. The percentage of revenue ah sorbed by expenditure with second expresses on both these lines is about ~2 12s per £IOO less in the North than m the South, and if economy can be: by curtailing the AucklandWellington trains it can surely be as easily and surely brought about by a restriction of the service jon the less populous Southern district. We aw very much inclined to suspect “Re-, -orm of juggling with the railway! management to try to justify the yen expensive and highly experimental iipK portation of a stranger to run the shou at £3,000 a year.—Wellington ‘ Times? * « « The result. of direct encouragement both _by administration and legislation is, with us, a highly centralised lonn'of government _ under which every individual and. district, feeling that they require provision of some sort or another, immediately seek out access ’to the treasury. No ope can understand the system upon which public money is’ expended, except that everyone has a very shrewd suspicion of there being no hy&* tem at all.—Whangarei ‘ Advocate.’ « * ’ * Suppose laud now costs any given sum per acre to work. To get a basis call this £SO. . By the invention of a machine this. is brought down to £25. Then the price of land would rise by at least 5 per cent, on the lowered .cost of production, which would be £1 6a per acre. Every invention which by displacing manual labor cheapens tho cost c-f production of any commodity raises the price of land-—Napier ‘ Tel©, graph. * * * The doctrine that a politician, of wnatever brand, who by a lucky chance boiomes Minister of Railways, should be regarded as the working administrative head of the department, or that ne should consider himself at liberty to accept tho lecommendatinns of outsid-a wirepullers in preference to those of-the departmental officers, bears a not reI mote reset:bianco to madness Whangarei ‘ Mail.’ * * * Stopping the daily express between Christchurch and Dunedin would mean a very large loss of revenue and would entail putting on two or three extra to carry the local traffic. Happuy Mr Hernes is not numbered among our parochial politicians, but even if he were we should not expect him, in the interests of economy and com-mon-sense, t- take a eteo of this kind, u—- Lyttelton limea, 1