WHAT OTHER PAPERS SAY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11839, 20 April 1909, Page 4

WHAT OTHER PAPERS SAY.

A Government, cannot always be interr fering with the . Publio The Public Service, but periodically Service. - a, revision > of oflßices in.usi. x beV'nrio!ettaken. N6' Civil Service Board could help us .in this .riiatj ter, . and it is a matter of experience that independent 'bodies' Ccmtroilinc' pubk lie services are always liable to fall intg the groove of Jaxity andi indifference' The bitterest pill that Mr Massey has, ever had to swallow is the fact that the, public are now heartily endorsing the, wise and tactful «policy of the Prime Minister.— Lyttelton Times, 'i , ; _

Dunedin and the Lawrence-Roxburgh district are as loth to Railways as lose the subsidies of ' Charitable Aid. y public mbney us Hokitika is umvilling to part with the costly local gaol. Y^e-vy, Zealand as a whole 'calls upon the Gov vernment to retrench, but when the* superfluous local gaol is to be closed and the local poli tical railway is ordered to wait till non-politicril ones are pushed tjhrough, it is another story. Otago will bring much pressure of various kinds against the Government, but it is to be hoped/that tl^e AMinistry will have ' strength enough to stand firm.—Wellington Post, i

'"ty T e are not among i those who : believe that there are so many holi- ' Holiday- days it would 'be a good v "Making, thing if there were more, but it* would '.-'be ■ infinitely better if aU the Jfrolidays of a 'twelvemonth were into one greats unajnimously popular" abandonment cf work and. worry. There could then be an annual festival, and men and women who warited rest or change or exercise could have it according to their desire in good large measure, instead* of in homoepathic allowances, at odd times. during the year/ On a given day in the summer the offices, shops, and warehouses would put up their vshutters, pull down the blinds, look up the doors,' and everybody would betake themselves tty a brief enjoyment of life.— New Zealand Times. ./

Mr T. E. Taylor, of course, assures ns that there is no . crisis, and i Tommy twit'-' the Empire i^ -not" in Taylor, any danger.- Unfortunately , there is teo much* reason to fear that he is hardly a,' safe authority, to follow, in matters of Imperial moment; He was* one of five members of the House of Representatives who in 1899 voted against the, despatch of .the first New Zealand Contingent to South Africa. Then, as now, he assured tis that there was' no crisis. Then, as now> he believed that the whole affair was, a wicjtfcd edttspiracy *of the capita-lists, who seem to have ' got ""on his nerves. [Be' assures us that the' "naval scare" . is being engineered! by Lord Rothschild and other financial magnates. Then, ais" now. he referred' to the wealth of Great) Brity-in as. a reason why her daughters should hold a_oof.Y Then, as riovy, he regarded : social legislation in New Zealand of greater importance than the defence of the Empire. Whether the crisis is Such as to justify the offer of a Dreadnought on our part without first calling Parliairient together is a rnattter of perfectly fair comment, but it -is also fair to add) that, if the Government erred, it erred on the side/of safety. ItAV certainly riot a fitting time.' for Socialistic and littlo Englander attempts to lull the Empire into false security, and to whittle down, the Imperial sentiment.— Christehurch Press/

Sir. Joseph Ward takes a . different vieW :i A of his obligation. He has Roxburgh mad? a more \horough exRailway. _ animation of the prospects of/ the line than was -possible when Mr Seddon included* it in his programme, and lias decided that they do not justify the expenditure of a large sum of money that is urgently required for other public works. 'It would be . well for the Dominion as a whole if some of his predecessors had exhibited the same courage fa regard) to other undertakings of the kind. We do not pro •fess to be acquainted with all the .facts that have weighed with him in, this matter, but if we inpy .trust the 'Southland Times, an ' Opposition journal, which speaks with the advantage of local knowledge, it would be better "to allow yegetatioii to cover! up and obliterate the work that has already been done" than to saddle the country "for all time frith, a railway that will not even pay the maintenance, charges^— Lyttelton Times. A- ;■ ■ '..'■: ,\