WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 13 September 1909, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

THE 'LIBERAL PARTY. Whib there has been a diminution of popular enthusiasm for politics, it is utterly wrong to suggest that the Liberals have been standing still during Uis last few years. In regard to land i-eform, for example, the progress since • !->lr .fo.oph Ward became Prime Minister, has been very material. Sir John McKenzie broke the back of the opposition to a rational system of closer settlement, hut he left the reform admittedly incotnplete. The lease-in-perpe-tuity was the compromise by which he f reconciled conflicting views ion the tenure question, and the lease-in-perpe-tuity has been all along a manifest weakness. -We have replaced that tenure now by a sensible lease subject to periodical revaluation. Parliament, . under the Liberal Government, has set -aside large areas Of endowment v lands. It : lias imposed most valuable restric- . tions on the-aggregStibn of estates, and it has relieved the shoulders of ths smaller landowners of Fome. of their burdens, while it has substantially increased the taxation of the largest estates. All this surely counts for progress, and Mr Hogg, who has made a special study of the land question, should be, the first to admit that _ the Liberals have not been standing still. — , "Lyttetton Times." j MR. -MASSEY ON DEFENCE. I Mr Massey, adopting the tone of nar- { row political strife, proceeded to condemn our Governemnt- here because the agreement announced is silent rfbout the defence of our harbours, and says no--1 thing about the principles on which the Taising of our land forces shall be based. But the fact is that the defence of our harbours and the pnuois pies of our military system were never before the Conference; and they were f never intended to be before the ConI f orence, for the simple reason that they i are not matters of imporial concern at I all. They are our own affair purely. ' We have, always agreed to undertake ' the share of the Imperial defence re- ' maining after discharge of our duties towards the fleet^-the maintenance of j our local forces on the Imperial pat- j tern as to army and organisation, reserving the question of how we are to raise them entirely for ourselves. \\e have also always reserved the ques hon of the defence of our harbours. Uiese matters would form legitimate points ' for criticism of a Governor s bpeech in the Dominion. They are out of place in the criticism of any announcement made by the Prime Minister of Kngland about the conclusions of the Imperial Conference. Mr Massey v. : against the opinions of his own party and if his criticisms mean anthing they commit him to the principle of government from Downing-street.-Southland "News." .THE OPPOSITION IN POLITICS. I Mr Hutchison is not singular among Oppositionists. In a genera way -he and his methods are genuinely typical ' of: them and' their quaint disregard ot .-fact. and comou sense. . In reminding : the electors of Raiigitikei to beware cf one we are merely warning them against all If they will ask themselves wn.it the Opposition stands for in relation to ; the problems pact and present of the .people in this country they will see whj £ Has-been rejected as a guide before and realises why it should not under any ■conceiiable conditions be relied upon in the future— Wellington "limes. OUR FOREIGN TRADE. • Wo are accustomed to wait until trade comes to us, until agents offer us i their goods until buyers offer us a I price. This is not the policy which makes for commercial greatness. me entire coast of South America from Chili to Mexico is*nearer to New Zealand than it is to any other country excepting the United States. It is an invaluable trading ground if we took the trouble to open it up. When the Panama Canal opens New Zealand will be mostt favourably on one of the greatest trading routes in the world, and wi I bo intimately connected with South ! America by the convergence of oceanic and coastal' passenger lines at the canal. But there is no need to wait for tho opening of the canal to commence the commercial exploitation of the houtn Amorical littoral, which is probably a much more promising coast than that of China.— Auckland 'Herald.' INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION. i The Legislature and the country may be <!ongrat(ulated on tlie 'fact that, whilo the Conciliation Boards har long before their formal abolition been almost superseded by the Court, because t,hey practically settled notihing^ the chief complaint against the new tribu- . nals is that they settle too much. Let the framers of the amending Act take that charge to heart and be comforted. —Wellington "Post." — , ■ i ■