PUBLIC OPINION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14498, 9 October 1907, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION.

FROM YESTERDAY'S NEWSPAPERS

(By Telegraph.)

THE LIMITATION OF THE FREEHOLD.

It is neither novel nor specially revolutionary. It was to be found couched in other terms in the Land Bill of lost yea.r._ but Sir M’Nab could not claim originality for the proposal contained in his Bill. Like so many other features of the ■ land policy to which the Government has at last committed itself, it scorn:> to have been borrowed from the Opposition. —“ Otago Daily Times.” OTAGO RAILWAYS. The Government cannot bo jgiven. too plainly to understand that the people of Otago regard the allocation for the province for 1905 (£100,000) as the minimum they have a right to look for this year, and that our disappointment on this score would he associated with a considerable amount of indignation and resentment.—Dunedin “ Star.” IRRIGATION IN OTAGO.

The field upon which irrigation may he carried on is a large and profitable one, affecting, as it will, wide areas of Crown lands that do not admit of successful occupation at present. These areas extend from Southland to Marlborough, and in every river system where irrigation is wanted there is also a centre where water-power might be employed at the present time to such advantage as would justify the raising of the loans needful to the carrying out of the scheme. The proposal amounts to no more than an adumbration at present, but we shall likely hoar a great deal more about it before the termination of the session.—“ New Zealand Times.” “RAGGING” AT TIMARTJ.

It has been shown that the cruel, unmanly practice has been going on for years in the engine-sheds, and the railway authorities have been aware of its existence. They have declared that they have tried as far as' possible to detect the tormentors, and havo assured the public that their vigilance will not b© relaxed. Bo much attention has now been turned -towards the evil that “ raggere ” will be well advised to keep the roin on that cowardly impulse. The half-dozen at Timaru refused to read, the signs of tho times, the signs 4 which indicate that a man must have fair play in spite of old customs, and to-day they wish they had not yielded to temptation. Other V raggers,” for their own sakes, should not miss the moral value of the Timaru lesson. — “ Evening Rost.” THE NEED FOR A CIVIL SERiVICE BOARD. The complaints which are being mode throughout the Civil Service of the Dominion cannot be treated with indifference, either by the Government or by the public. The Dominion needs, and should have, a Civil Service Board Into whose hands all these questions could be relegated, and which should discharge for Parliament and for the public those duties which Alimsters have shown themselves, in this as in every other country, quite unable to adequately meet. Such a step would be neither novel, experimental nor revolutionary. It is the accepted method among all administrative reformers, and recognised as giving the best attainable results in departmental service control.—“ New Zealand Herald. AUSTRALIAN SHIPBUILDING. Tile decision of the famous firm of Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. to establish shipbuilding works near Alelbourne marks an Important epoch m the development of Australian industrialism. Many great British manufacturing firms havo found it advisable to establish branches in protected countries, where they will not be exposed to “ dumping ” and other effects of unrestricted competition, and the course now adopted by the Armstrong Company may certainly be cited as a substantial tribute to the wisdom of the fiscal policy that Australia now made her own.—Auckland “ Star.