WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Issue XLIII, 7 January 1909, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

THE EDUCATION QUESTION." Is the system really neutral? What is its attitude towards religion? So far as the system is concerned it rimply ignores religion; it trains the "young idea" to pass a notable portion of 'iu most impressionable years (as secularists and agnostics do) without ibe thought of Ood or of moral obligation arising from God's law. But tnis ls, in practical effect, the attitude i f the secularist ond the agnostic; it represents, so far as religion is concerne.i, the ideal of education that tho secularist and t'ie agnostic would nut into operation fjr their children; and, no donbt, the systt-n is, for this miium section of cur population, entirely satisfactory Catholics aro protesting at least as vigorously us ever. The protest might be, with great advantage,, and, we believe ought to be — made far more frequently in the spoken and written word. But, for outsiders, a sufficiently eloquent and convincing protest is the splendid .system of primary and secondary instruction which, at their o^ - n sole expense and at immense sacrifices, the Catholic body is maintaining frorn end to end of New Zealand.— "N.Z. Tablet." PRIZE FIGHTING. Prize, fighting ii a step down from the plane of ' civilisation, and an unnecessary step, since all the brutal vir* tues it embodies be inculcated and acquired in other, ways consonant witfi civilisation. Iti' do not hope or seek to prohibit . fighting : it is manhood's task, and the preparation to light in another field made: inevitable by the necessity of national defence. We do deprecate, on public gronnds, public approbation of the trade of prize lighting, and the public error of judgment which 'glorifies the essential brute rather than the essential man, as hero. —Wellington "Post." RAILWAY REFORMS. There is no reason why the Railway Department should not adopt the system in force on English railways by which, on payment of a small fee, a passenger can ensure his luggage being delivered wherever he wishes. The adoption of that plan would rob milway travelling in New Zealand of one of its most objectionable features — the scramble for one's lyggage at the journey's end. Aft.er the expeditious way in whicli long-needed reforms have been initiated during the last few days, we have somo hope that the department may yet see its way fo do as we have suggested and relieve passengers of all anxiety abont their luggage from, one end of their journey to the other.— j Christchurch "Press." MINER'S COMPLAINT The dispute is said io be endangering the peace of the whole mi.".i:.!i ir.lnstiy. and we regard it lhe mnre anxiously b<vause ii das been freely hinted duriiu,' ill? pnst movh or two that the miner.-; are deiei-mimd ".<> f -i.e a Uu.l of strength with the, emp !>.■...-: lht".:j,'h out New Zealand et an early dut? Ji is possible that tho comi;;i.i'ition -\;fii.in U being magnified a.-, pat-t r,f a i"etifVAl |n-.1'..-y cl! h>;iiti!t4 every inch •if '.lie i>roend, but we ne b'.-iin.) to say i.hat the wcrk.-vi •'„ :-.••( =t:in.! U make any er.-;it pi.i^.c.s .-•l.-riif fii: particular line, lndet d, if the w.rk )• persist in adopting an unreasonable ot titude Parliament will simply ha^e io str'ke the "miners' complaint" out of the list of diseases for which compensation is payable. — "Lyttelton -Times." LABOUR AND THE LAW. It is notorious that the most characteristic feature of the modern industrial system Ls the organisation of capital into trusts and corporations. How U it possible fo- the individual worker tc secure his own rights and interests in the contest with captal unless, heis allowed to organise wxi? Imagine a' -I'.ule worker going up to the managemint of the Steel Trust or the Pennsylvania Railroad and asking a hearing to secure an individual contract For work. To state such a case is to reveal its absurdity. And yet the financial corporations, through the antiquated conspiracy laws, have been able to obstruct in countless ways the organisation of labour ,and "the courts have treated as crimes the simplest concerted acts that in the rases of in dividuals are regarded as wholly legal and unobjectionable. — Auckland "Star." THE MINING TROUBLE. The suggestion made by Mr Guinnesr that the miners should for .the present contract out of the "disease clause" In the Act seepis to be the most reasonable, for the whole matter could then be the sub ject. of deliberation by Parliament next session. What the Legislature should do when confronted with the problem that will come before it cannot be prescribed- withont fnrther information on the subject, but so far as can he judged at present a medical examination seems to be inseparable from any procedure. Some way might be evolved of meeting the claims of present victims of the diseases and at the same time maintaining the responsibilty for future cases on mne owners. But without examination of the miners, how can tho Act be made equitable in operation ?— Wellington "Times." A NATIONAL DISGRACE. It has been thWustom to regard the prize Ting as a British institution, but if we review it there has ! never, been a time when is has not beeii associated with the 'lower puis of the national character, as have cock-fighting, drunkenness, tho shooting of trapped pigeons, and the beating of wives. *:Bnt whatever it has been in the past, p'rize fighting as we have it is a national f'and unqualified disgrace. Anybody who can see anything ennobling or making^ for truo hardihood and courage in .the paying of. money for the privilege of seeing a negro pommelling a white man into a jelly is out of place in the twentieth century and in a . British community.— Auckland "Herald.!'