The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTERMBER 30, 1910.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10573, 30 September 1910, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTERMBER 30, 1910.

One hears eon.sl aid l\ t'.-om I lie (ippo-.i-lion licit th.-y arc The Loan Bill in an\ioiis to -.1 i.,uork Committee. ami In such 1.-rms I hat one is tempted to imagine iliat the only people who want to do iiiiv work really ill I'arhaiii.-n I arc (he nicii'ihers ol either that nim-li misguided «>r misunderstood li.ml.v. With the Loan Hill in Committee they hail a nia.-nilicenl opportunil v lor Uvs! iiijz the stivneth nl' this ycarnine lor labor. There was no occasion lor sayine; a word ol iiiiv sort on the subject. The aiiioiint, the detail of the raising, and cvervlhine nccessai-.v in connection —all ihcse were matter ol agreement. Noliodv ill the House was hostile to the principle or to the detail, tor del.-nl there was none in the Bill beyond Ihe allocation between the dill'erent classes of public works of the schedule. Nevertheless the Opposition nianao.'d to obstruct for two solid hours. To do so thev raised the fant.-istie point that t lalist' of the railways nii-iht. in be ,-et

against the set apart in Ihc schedule for railways. it used to be the custom to do this. lint it was found that nothing whatever was gained except another opportunity added to the already too numerous opportunities ol controlling and criticising. 'l'liere ■"'' the Public Works Sral.nu.riil. alwa.xs debated, under arraiiv.ei:i.-iii . and lie Appropriation Bill, lo say ,i.,i I, me ol lII.' Public Works Kstimate-. aiwa.v s keoiil.v watched and scir-rely criticised. i Mil the Opposition, which Was so rea-l.v to ,-et to work and so earnest- in criticising other people for not show in-; l.te same gluttonous appetite lor labor, persisted in forcing the iiiaiier on lo debate and point of order and linal division. Two hours went by in this .sort of thill":, and when the Opposition was beaten, as it well deserved to be. no one could denv thai the blame must rest on the Opposition. The Co„nlr> is beginning to understand where the mimv delavs of the Parlian tary business' are hatched. The next thine; lor the counirv to do u lo insist on some radical alteration in the Standing Orders which makes such delays possible If is a difliculi subject, ol curse. So is the endurance of the present state of affairs, also, of course. It ought to be easy to choose- which is the greater of these two evils. It is asked whv. when we are on the point of tuning up Cable Duplication the Dominion in harand Gable Work, muny with the system oi wireless Mr Marconi is establishing to take in the Pacific- Ocean inter alia Uiere should be a request for the duplication of the Pacific cable. The answer, of course, is that we cannot yet rely on the wireless svstem of telegraphy. I hat being the case, a duplicate cable becomes a necessiiv. Moreover, the duplication will not cost (the .country anything more than it pays now. because the -Six thousand pounds saved by the ehan...' of svstem will pay the interest. and amortisation charges nn the new cable. , -Much is said about the need for cheapening the rates, and there is much quoting of that veteran postal reformer, Mr Hemnker-I eaton All that is, however, beside the mark. Decause it is impossible to send enough words over the cable at present to make low rates pay. Tt is nut a uucM.on ol cheapening the rates m the lace ol tlic huge monopoly so much as a question of an inventor badly wauled. When the inventor appears with a system o rapid transmission the rate problem will solve itself quickly enough. Io that end the principle oi State ownership will be most useful, tor the State alone as proprietor is capable ol taking the public into its confidence with an improvement of that sort. The private monopolist is sure to keep it dark to the utmost possible extent. I he principle of State ownership ought, therefore by no means to be lost sight of. We often hear that nationalisation of the land would be all The Land very well in a new Reclaimed by the country untouched State. hv the loot of man. hut that in the present state of society which has proceeded on the other tack for so many years it is useless to speak of -it. lint what about the land that the Stale is making itself by' reclaiming from the sea. At Wellington such is the case. Land is being reclaimed from the harbor in localities where it will grow into great value and- go on improving in value for centuries until it reaches the level at which the London streets are valued to-dav. Consider what these 1 were three centuries ago, when the Bed-

fords and Cavendishes :iml the ItusseU'll and other favorites ul I\mi|!,n obtained the lee-simple. At tl»> siiiiii' time eon sider tin- immense value of these lands now, and then calculate tlie wealth that these families have amassed without toiling or spinning or taking responsibility of any kind. On one .such property a famous old'church has nourished lor centuries and is now a eentre of hallowed, tender, pious memories. Hut the land is on lease, and the landlord is one ul' these vampires who neither toil nor .spin, who urisrinalh ohlaiued their hold hy some evil deed. Cuuso.piciit I v thai veuorahle I: is to he pulled down, the clergy to 1,,, seat tei'eil to the winds, and the old mm nls to he destroyed to make room for a llarinp, warehouse or gaudy gin palace. : u order that my Lord Tomnoddy, who already has more money than he knows whatto do with mav have some more. Now, it is hardlv eredihle. hut. this sort ol thin;; the Covcrnmcul ol llns Dominion is not paviiiv, the u.-iv for at the I present moment. When the Mutt Kailuav Kill was going through the other day. it was discovered that the power was u.iveu to the (iovernment to sell the reclamations, and when appeal was made to add a leasing discretion it was refused. In the Council the pro posal had. no heller tale. Tims, if nothing is done the estate reclaimed from the sea hv the use of the puhlic funds will line the pockets of general ions ol drones, while the poor have no hivsid to eat. 11 is sickening.