NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Southland Times, Issue 19460, 27 January 1925, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast. The old Liberal brigade, dearly believing that there is a real prospect of a revival of Liberalism in New Zealand, and that the Wilford Party will be able to recapture the prestige with which Richard John Seddon endowed the Party, are indulging in fantastic speculations of what is going to happen in the near future. Mr Massey out of the way, the road is clear for the realisation of their dreams. We are going to have a great “Moderate” Party, which means not only an alliance between the Reform and Liberal Parties, but an alliance of all moderates, which would include in the agreement from 50 per cent, to 75 per cent, of the Labourites. The assumption is so grotesque that it can only be ascribed to the wish being father

to the thought. Liberalism is dying because it is barren and bankrupt and because, as it is in Britain so it is in New Zealand, the people view with distaste the perpetuation of the three-party sysem, in which one of the factions becomes akin, to the fifth wheel of a coach. For this reason it will be impossible for the Liberals, with their namby-pamby nebulous ideas, to regain their former vitality. The issue is clearly between Reform and Labour, and the politicians, whether they like it or not, will have to put themselves on-side. As for the people, they will as in the past record solidly for progress along sane and sound lines, devoid of chimerical fireworks and hypercritical humbug.

The Minister of Lands in a few impressive figures which he made public at the Thames yesterday, very effectively disposed of those carping critics who contend that the Government has done nothing for the soldier settler. Mr McLeod was able to point to a record of which any Government might be proud. Repatriation of the returned soldiers has been a problem of immense difficulty, not only here in New Zealand but in every part of the British Empire and it speaks volumes for the administration of the Lands Department that the Minister can confidently claim that our system will prove cheaper than that of any other Dominion. This distinction is certainly an enviable one, and is enhanced by the knowledge that our soldier-settlers have settled down to an industrious life, determined by dint of hard work and application to the job on hand, to make good, and. deserve well of the State which has treated them with a generous hand and has stood by them in the hour of financial stress and worry’. Mr McLeod’s assertion that “the soldier to-day is standing five, 15 to 20 per cent, better than his neighbour across the fence,” will find ready endorsement in view of the difficulty which is being experienced in all parts of New Zealand to-day in arranging farm finance.

Despite the clean bill of health in Southland, it is wise on the part of the authorities to insist upon the. observance of precautions in view of the prevalence of the dreaded infantile paralysis in the northern parts of the Dominion. It is no use locking the door after the steed has bolted and in acting on this principle, the Department is working along very sound lines. In view of the statement lately issued by no less an authority than Sir Truby King, it would appear that the disease is inclined to travel from south to north, so that in the light of past experience we can view the present outbreak in the north with some measure of complacence, though that should not lull us into a sense of false security. Travelling is so common-place and frequent nowadays, that the risk of infection from this source is a potential one, and the authorities have correctly decided to guard against it in every possible way. The restrictions now being imposed might occasion a little inconvenience or prove a trifle irksome, but they should be borne patiently and be loyally observed in the sure knowledge that they are being enforced on the sensible dictum of being forearmed.