NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Southland Times, Issue 19458, 24 January 1925, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

It is not surprising to learn by this morning’s cables that Senator Pearce has decided on behalf of the Federal Government to take steps to check the influx of alien migrants into Australia, because of recent months it has become evident that a steady stream of the worst type of immigrant in the world, the lower classes from the Mediterranean littoral, has been flowing into the Commonwealth. The people of the Balkans are of a type that does not conform to our standard of civilisation. Ready recourse to the knife and robbery are the doctrines the lower orders have mostly been brought up on. They see little wrong in killing a man in revenge, or because he possesses something which they covet. Far too often the immigrant from Home is not of the vigorous type which we are wont to associate with the open spaces and fresh air of our Dominion, but he is a thousand times preferable to the foreigner. Australian Governments prate about keeping the Commonwealth white, but that country is on a fair way to become a miniature United States, with its enormous population of foreigners. In New Zealand we encourage that most undesirable individual, the Hindu, for two, at least, of our cities, namely, Wellington and Auckland, are becoming conspicuous for the number to be seen in the streets, where they are becoming a serious rival to even the Chinese in the fruit business. We trust, however, that our Government will set its face religiously against allowing the peoples of the Balkans to come to this country by the shipload as has been the case in Australia.

A correspondent in this morning’s issue directs attention to the delay in holding an inquest into a recent fatality. Unfortunately, such an occurrence is rather the rule than the exception in Invercargill, where these proceedings have, in the past, been unnecessarily delayed. It is the bounden duty of the Police, immediately after a fatal accident is reported, to fully investigate all the surrounding circumstances, and report to the Coroner. This, we know, is always done with promptness and despatch, and it therefore devolves upon the Coroner to fix the time, date and place of the inquest proceedings. This, also, should be done with equal quickness and despatch. It is against the canons of human charity to prolong the agony of the bereaved in such circumstances, but it is conceivable that the indefinite postponement of this requisite legal procedure can have that effect. No doubt, the matter has only to be mentioned and the District Coroner will see that unnecessary delays, with their consequent added suffering to the bereaved, are obviated in the future.

Motor traffic is ever on the increase, bringing in its train new conditions and new problems. One of the latter obtrudes itself in regard to the Invercargill tramways. The need for more defined safety zones becomes emphasised as time wears on and traffic increases. Particularly is this the case in regard to the Stopping places in front of the General Post Office. Here, the traffic at times is often very congested, especially at rush periods, such as after the arrival of trains and the conclusion of theatre entertainments, the motors, plying to and fro in particular forming a positive danger to pedestrians. Were safety zones constructed on the principle of being raised above the roadway, as in Christchurch and Auckland, the danger would be considerably minimised, especially in the case of elderly folk, who are naturally more nervous and not so alert as the younger members of the community. As a provision for public safety the proposal commends itsejf, and is well worthy of consideration by the-Train-ways Committee of the Town Council with a view to its adoption.

We are being afforded unmistakeable evidence of the new spirit being infused into the Railway Department. The Ministerial dictum that the railways shall be run as a commercial concern is being given effect to, and in all directions we find the Department branching out and extending its activities in a manner that must be truly appalling to the old school which held such an awesome regard for red-tape and officialdom of past days. Here, in Southland, the Department is showing commendable enterprise. The railways are, indeed, being run to cater in every possible way for the people’s traffic. Not only have improvements been effected in regard to the goods’ trade, but the Department is out after improving its returns from the passenger traffic. In this connection, it is to be commended for its action in inaugurating the excursions to Queenstown and the seaside resorts, while its latest decision to run a morning train on Sundays from Invercargill to Bluff has been hailed with universal satisfaction. This supplies a “long felt wan-t,” and will, we are sure, be much appreciated by townspeople, who will now be able to spend a lengthened period at the port instead of having to make a hurried visit with all its inconveniences, as has obtained up to the present. The Department has woke up, and is to be commended for the initiative it is displaying. Every 25th of January, the birthday of Burns, the bard of Scotland, a chain of brotherhood is formed all over the globe. Celebrations are held, such as was promoted by the local St. Andrew’s Scottish Society last evening, and men and women meet to pay tribute to the memory oi the “Lad that was bom in Kyle,” who, by his genius, made the floor of the “Auld Clay Biggin” a holy place, and by his songs convinced the world of the beauty of common things. In the words of William Watson: — He came when poets had forgot How rich and strange the human lot, How warm the tints of life; how hot Are love and hate; And what makes truth divine And what makes mankind great.