NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9620, 19 September 1894, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

In criticising the cheap money scheme which is now before the New Zealand Parliament, the Sydney Morning Herald says it is & part of the Socialist policy which under the Seddon Ministry is predominant in this colony. In accordance with that policy the New Zealand Parliament, continues the Herald, is rapidly resolving the colony into a community permeated by the principle and practice of collectivism. The Government has for a long time been the chief insurance office in the colony. the recent arrangement with the Bank of New Zealand ib has become the dominant partner in the principal bank of the colony, to which the public credit is pledged to the extent of two millions. By the .Land for Settlements measure it has taken power to advance £1,250,000 for the purchase of land on which to establish settlements. Provision is made to expend the money in five years ; but it is stated that there is nothing to prevent the whole sum from being expended in the first year, when, doubtless, an advanced Parliament would readily provide a similar sum yearly as long as might be desired, or at anyrate till the bottom of the money chest had been reached. Now comes this genuinely liberal proposal, to borrow a million and a-half in London every year for advances to the farmers at the rate of 5 per cent. Since there is said to be ab present 30 millions lent on mortgage in the . colony, at rates presumably much higher than the " cheap money" to be offered by a bounteous Government, it is apparent that there is ample scope for the operation of the new measure.

We may expect, says the Herald, that the eagerness of farmers to become btors of a beneficent, cheap-money Government, in the place of the ordinary unsentimental and uinsqueezable mortgagee, will be limited only by the amount provided yearly, which we may anticipate will be absorbed with much ease. Ib is nob an unreasonable expectation that in ton years' time the public debt of the colony will be increased by 15 millions, as against which the Government will hold the mortgages of a large number of farmers. These will also be electors of members of Parliament; and if some day after a general election some member of very advanced views should introduce a proposal for the remission of the iniquitous 6 per cent, interest, which was sucking the life-blood of the agricultural classthe true foundation of the aountry's prosperitythe proposal would be closely analogous in principle to one which at the present time, as we mentioned the other day, stands on the notice paper of fche Legislative Assembly of New South Wales. With all of these progressive attempt# to convert New Zealand into the paradise of the borrower—a modern Arcadia —it might bo expected that we should find every sign of contentment and prosperity on the part of the colony, and also an influx into so favoured a land from all the other less advanced colonies. It is an instance of the imperfection and disappointment which attach to all human endeavour that while during the month of July last the arrivals at this Southern Eden numbered 1220, the departures in the same period were 1619, and the supply of labour is reported to be in excess of the demand.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph opposes the scheme tooth and nail. There has never, it says, been devised, since Australasian colonisation was first inaugurated, any machinery so open to corruption and intrigue as this measure now in sober earnest brought forward by the New Zealand Government. Ib is called a measure for placing cheap money at the disposal of the settler. But money will never be cheap in the view of the settler so long as he has to pay any interest upon it, and has to provide for its repayment; and if the banks and financial institutions are to be supplanted —as, in a great measure, they may be if this bill becomes law—Ministers are preparing a scourge for their own baoks, or of those who will come after them. la it any per-

Sir Robert Duff differs from llajorGeneral Hutton with regard to thlnevitablenees of a w* r in Australia, f That ! may apply to yo»ng and growin, corn- | inanities starting a national life c their own," said His Excellency. "Bi," be continued, " my contention is that ye are not a new nation—we belong to afomily that has overcome its iffantine maldies we are a detached and vfry loyal brnch of an old nation. We have 'pheritedMl the advantages which oar farther* fought for, the greatest of all being sujremacy of the sea. Those advantage W mean to keep. They are not to be \ta.ried by sitting still and doing nothing, 1 , iy e must be prepared to defend them b)j anc i an sea. Here we have bat a small aiw—that is an additional reason why it Siyuld be efficient in every branch. It is -Reason why we should secure the 0 gallant officers who have seen serw £ a recent wars, and who have acquire a practical knowledge of modern tactic in the field." \ The Austrian poor-law system differs vey widely from that in force in any oth» country. Poverty is there looked upo. simply as a misfortune, and the treatment meted oat to the poor is different from 1 that in force elsewhere. Austrian statesmen classify their poor most carefully; for they maintain that it would be just as absurd to club together all criminals— libellers, thieves, and dynamiters—as all paupers. The term "pauper" is reserved exclusively for able-bodied men and women. Throughout the empire the young who have no relatives to support them are the adopted children of the State; the aged destitute are its worn-oat industrial pensioners ; and the whole population would be indignant at the thought of treating either of them as paupers. Vienna proudly boasts that its destitute children are better taken care of than any in the world. They are never brought into contact with paupers, and the greatest care is taken to prevent any stigma being attached to them on account of their friendless condition. If under ten years of age they are generally boarded out with well-to-do peasants, who must undertake to care for them as if they were their own sons and daughters; and the official guardians see that they do so. As the children grow older they are placed in training schools, whore the boys are fitted for some useful department of skilled labour, and the girls for housework, special training being imparted to those who display special aptitudes. The average cost in an orphanage is about Is 4d per day. The old people are not only well-tended, wellfed, "and well-clothed, bub their feelings, tastes, and prejudices are carefully consulted. : More than one hundred years ago the Emperor Joseph proclaimed the principle, " Old age relief is a right, not a charity." By this law any person who has completed his sixtieth year, and is without means, may claim an annuity equal to onethird of the annual wages he had received.

s manant advantage to havo money provided for th«ir\ M a righfc> and that both cheaply and \ abundance ! That it will probably «t»nia le "settlement is likely enough, bat that % u proV oke extravagance is certain. If % eft Bare is a success, in coiw&e of time L anc j ß 0 { New Zealand will be ali% wholly mortgaged to the Govermnente n d her bad times come there will b«W areas falling again into their hands or upoa which no interest) will bo forfchooWjg. it is safe to predict that ten years Tsuch a measure will prove it to have Ipn disastrous to the credit of the Govpnaent, and demoralising to the people. |

Further particulars of the great battle near Seoul, the capital of Corea, show that the Japanese obtained a brilliant and decisive victory, completely routing the enemy and capturing the commander-in-chief of the Manohurian army. The battle lasted the whole day, and fifty thousand Japanese troops were engaged. The Chinese loss was 2,300, while 16,000 prisoners were token, The London Times, in commenting on the engagement, says the defeat of the Chinese has changed the balance of power in the East, and that it may hare far-reaching consequences. One danger to be feared is that it may cause a popular rising in China against all foreigners. A report is current that Li Hung Chang, the Viceroy of China, has committed suicide. In the course of an important speech to the Delegations, Count 1 Kalnoky defended the Triple Alliance, which he maintained was a guarantee for the peace of Europe. During a disturbance in Ireland, arising out of an attack on an emergency man, two men were killed and several wounded. Twenty lives have been lost by the collapse of a warehouse in Russia.