WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

Evening Star, Issue 15477, 27 April 1914, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

We are accused of being " parochial" or.ly when we do not submit meekly to the rank parochialism of our sister provinces. They built their railways at our expense, run them at a loss which, wo make good, boast of roads provided by land sales while our land sales swell the Consolidated Revenue, and profit by rich educational endowments because in" provincial days—while the North fought for its very life—they earmarked for university purposes land which otherwise would have been added to the national domain. —Auckland 'Herald.' * * * Mr Massey has been merrily spending huge sums 'of public money in buying barren and inaccessible land that people will not take up—that was refused at a recent ballot in the South—leaving the State with many thousands of acres on its hands, and the taxpayer to pay interest on the cost of its purchase. But in other districts, -where the land is fertile and accessible, and monopolised by " Reform's rich supporters—the "activity" of the Government mat be judged from the report of two ballots appearing in this newspaper yesterday, in which 570 applicants gambled for 10 sections! That is how Mr Massey is meeting the demand for land for settlement. —Wellington' Tunes' * * * The Prisons Board can only administer to the best of their ability a law that was devised to give effect to Sir John Fmdlay s ideas. The board are devoting a great deal of time and thought to their duties, and the/ no doubt feel compensated by the fact that all the persons released on probationary licenses do not lapse again into evil ways. A certain amount of reclamation is going on, and that is something to be thanliful for.—Christchurch 'Sun.' * * * The people who are making a party question of naval defence are those sup poTters of the Government who, putting their convictions in their pockets and swallowing their previous declarations on the subject, are now endeavoring to bolster up the Government, and to shield them from the just wrath of the electors. The Reformers may settle with their consciences in their own way, but we are certainly not going to be deterred from insisting on the public rights. If the Reformers choose to make a party question of the affair, that is their own business, but thev must not expect the public to fall meekly into line behind a Government whose policy is. beyond any question, condemned by the country at large.—'Lyttelton Times' * * * With the opening of the Panama Canal, and the rise of copra as a foodstuff as well as a raw material, there is good reason to believe that we are witnessing the birth of the New Pacific. In the great future thus opened up New Zealand has a double interest, for she is not only a temperate climate country, watching the development of tropical 'islands along unexpected avenues, but she is also tho responsible owner and trustee of the cop'ra-exporting Cook Islands. Our twin responsibility ba3 hitherto 6at lightly on us, nut it will inevitably, in the march of time, bring its responsibilities as well as its rewards.— Wellington ' Post.' * * *

It is doubtful if one word of the remarks by the Chief Justice in sentencing Holland broke throagh the barrier of fake and: erroneous ideas with' which the prisoner had surrounded himself. But the public generally, we are confident, cannot fail to appreciate the truth" and reasonableness of the position as so lucidly presented by the Chief Justice, and realise more than ever the obligation imposed on society to adequately protect itself against incipient outbreaks of lawlessness and sedition, lest they are permitted to spread and develop into a state of anarchy and civil war.— 'Dominion.' ■x- * * If another defence conference is held we hope that no xr-ore political opportunism will be displayed, but that all party considerations and all local interests will be laid aside, and the honor and safetv of the Empire will be the one object in view, overshadowing nil other considerations. — Christchurch 'Press.' * * * The Prime Minister is full <if what the Americans aptly call "hot air/' and by "promising" and "complimenting" and "congratulating" his way through the country hopes to persuade the public that his professions of honesty and zeal are tho real articles, instead of being the counterfeits periodical exposures by practical politicians show them to be.—Southland 'News.'