The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1923.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3611, 29 May 1923, Page 39

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1923.) THE WEEK.

-Nnnquain allud natsira. allud sapientla .-Juvenal. . , „ “Good nature and good sense must ever Join. rcn**. The opportunity^ very d^TsW Prime Mister. pZJ' Hite"case of Mr Stanley Baldwin, called Great Britain, ana ic Baldwins SBSS% - thf urgent'Parliament of Britain the l Y u - Partv by virtue of their superior numericed 'strength to the Liberals, o-PT ha a no representation in the , - t te indeed it is contrary to their Lords, Hid > Labour memoer political tenets tor > £ bp Y ff *hat I ord Curzon would have been doubt that Lcto (Vmservatlie better choice as heart oi n tive Government, but for tl e jau' tna would have beeu’ hl a house m STiioVe-UUve 1 SssvsA is Hww&w*** the g new Prime Minister is first-and foresa 5 ssr life, and has been continuo,sK iSSP'.S’lSffi Secr-t,,, Treasury, Mr Baldwin acted ns private JeefeUrv to Mr Bonar Law, and preaun - •lid-- felt the influence of his chief in 1 TG ri development. The new Prime Minister is not altogether ion untried m n he has held important portfolios, firtt ’as President of the Board of 1 rade i,h 1921-1922 in the Coalition Ministry, ! and when, in November last, the Coni servat-ive Party was returned to power, i be became Chancellor of the Exchequer | the new Administration. It is signi.i cant that Mr Baldwin makes the sixth Srt or present holders of the olh.-e of prime Minister who are still alive, a circumstance to pareltel )ghnh it is T ] pcf ( f_ sarv to go back to 1792 when no fewer than 1-9 past or present Prime Ministers wm'e alive, and when the lives of three of them so overlapped, as to rover 220 years and touch the rciorns <-f H Briti.-u Sovereigns Recent political. history is not so inclusive. On Mr Gladstones reI vcmo t nt t r be ! choice' of Queen Victoria, but be held office only for a year, Ids resignation following oil the defeat of Ins Government i On the retirement of Lord Salisbury, -ft

1902, Earl (then Mr ) Balfour succeeded as l’ritne Minister, and he resigned in December, 1905. Mr Asquith became Prime Minister m 1208, the otlice being vacant oil the death of Mir Henry CampbellBannerman, and he resigned in favour ol Mr l.loyd George in December, 1915. The defeat of Mr L.oyd George in November of last year opened the wav for Mr Bouai Law', whose teftn of office has unfortunately been ended by ill-health, and Mr Stanley Baldwin is his selected successor. Some comparison between the present holder of the office and the Prime Ministers of the past is not without interest. In his book on "The Prime Ministers of England, 1721-1921," the Hon. Clive Bigham writes: “Their average age for first becoming Prime Minister was fifty, and for last ceasing to hold that position fifty-nine. One, however, first became Prime Minister at twenty-four, and one net until he was seventy. One completed his tenure of office as early as thirty-four, and another as late as eighty-four. Fifteen were Prime Ministers while in the Commons, and nineteen while in the Lords; two filled the place in each House.” It will thus be seen that in these, as in other particulars, the new Prime Minister makes a lair average Whether he will show himself capable of rising above that average in statesmanlike ability it must be left for time to prove. Our reference last week to the sorry plight of the settlers on the The Settlers Taieri as the result of the on the Taieri. fate disastrous flood has been more than borne cut by subsequent investigation. According to a report made by ttie engineer of the Taieri County Council, it is estimated that the repairing of the actual damage caused to the roads, bridges, culverts, and other public works under the jurisdiction of the council will involve the expendi ture of a sum approximating 4jzO,oQo. This is serious enough, and it alone would entitle the council to invoke Government aid, but, unfortunately, it does not enhance a tithe of the flood devastation. Over a large area of the Taieri Plains the effect of the successive floods is to render the land incapable of cultivation, thus depriving the farmers of their livelihood, since, in a very real sense, they live on the land. The worst feature of the situation is that the sterilisation of what was once fertile soil is going on apace, and apparently without hope of permanent alleviation. There is apparently no actual controversy as to the rea> cause of the present disaster. Were it advisable to moralise, it might be declared that the disaster was the direct outcome of man’s greed of gold. The lure of the precious metal led to extensive mining operations being carried on in the upper reaches of the Taieri and Waipori Rivers, and this has induced such extensive silting up of the beds of these : trers that in a season of heavy rain the ordinarily 'placid streams become tempestuous torrents, overflowing their banks, and spreading disaster all around. Whili there is general agreement as to the cause of the menace which afflicts the farmers on the Taieri, there is considerable difference of opinion as to the most effectual and practicable remedy, as may be seen by reference to tbe reports of the several commissions set up to deal with the subject. Meanwhile, with each recurring heavy rainfall the process of flooding continues until the settlers are at their wits’ end, their holdings are depreciated, their feed destroyed, and their flocks and herds in danger of starvation, while a considerable portion of their land is incapable of tillage. This is a matter which concerns the entire community, and the efforts of the Taieri farmers to secure from the Government a meed of redress should have the support of all the public bodies and of the entire commercial communities. It is decidedly a case in which if one settler suffers all the people are affected, since the welfare of Dunedin is wrapped up with the welfare of the Taieri. The deputation from the Taieri Countv Council which is to wait upon the Prime Minister should not only be able to make out a very strong case for redress, but they should go to Wellington with the. assurance that behind them is an emphatic body of public opinion in Dunedin and throughout Otago. The controversy aroused by the statement of Dr Gilbert White, to Defence Bishop of Willochra, at the of Women. Christchurch Church Congress raises points of vital interest to the community at large. It may be the mission of Churchmen as sembled in solemn conclave to point ? moral and adorn a tale, but the moral of the present instance is that bishops should beware of statistics. It was Viscount Gist-hen who declared, “I have a passion for statistics,” but he was an expert in the art of juggling figures, as Lord Randolph Churchill had reason to remember to his dying day. To the amateur statistics are very much what Carlyle represented them to be when he said, “A judicious man looks at statistics not to get knowledge but to save himself from having ignorance foisted on him. ’ The Bishop’s grave reflection on the moral character of the women of New Zealand was based on the figures quoted in a report made by the Board of Health in reference to the spread of venereal disease and the consequent menace of promiscuous sexual intercourse. The Board of Health met to consider the utterances of the Bishop of Willochra, and passed a resolution regretting “that too sweeping an inference” had been drawn by the Bishop from the figures m its report. “The committee,” continued the board, “was immediately concerned with rousing the public conscience as to the prevalence of promiscuous intercourse as a cause of the dissemination of venereal disease. The committee was not considering the chastity of women generally, and it was quite improper for anyone to use the committee’s observations as a reflection on New Zealand women.”

The Bishop having been found guilty of drawing a wrong inference, at once suitablj- apologised for the aspersions cast upon the characters of the girls and women of New Zealand, who, bv general agreement, are on as high, if not \ higher, moral plane than the women of Australia. In discussing this question one important factor has to be taken into account—viz., the absence of anything ap preaching to professional prostitution within the Dominion. The vigilance of tiie police and the comparative isolation of New Zealand thus makes possible a condition of things which probably does not obtain in any other civilised country. With moral evolution at its present stage, it is inevitable that a degree of amateur prostitution or promiscuity should prevail, and doubtless this has to some extent increased since the return to our shores of a large number of voung men who, whi'e in other lands, may have become accustomed to laxer ideas of life. This, however, is only an incident which, thanks to a healthy environment and sound ideas, will right itself in the course of another generation. This we affirm • i t-ie intellectual level cf the average New Zealand girl, the product of spue-,. nil heredity and educational advantage. While there is a modicum of froth at top, the average New Zealand girl is a splendid specimen, fond of outdoor activity, appreciative of literature and art, determined to be self-supporting and independent, and having in them the stuff of which a great nation is made. Because the girl of to-day is not willing to submit to the disabilities under which her mother and grandmother may have suffered, and because she is not so careful of the conventions, there is little reason to dub her unchaste and immoral.