THE VOICE OF THE PRESS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 81, 2 July 1928, Page 5

THE VOICE OF THE PRESS

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY CURRENT, EVENTS REVIEWED, * , ,'r' THE SAMOAN POSITION. The position of Mr O. F. Nelson in Geneva, however, calk for some comment. The Mandates Commission is not able to- hear individual petitioners and Mr Nelson unpacked his dossier only to find that he was debarred from'making, big bow to the League. It is useless to blind ourselves to the fact that Mr Nelson expresses the views of the majority of the Samoan people, whether tiros o' views bo right or ./wrong and admitting that- they may, originally, have been largely Mr Nelson's own opinions. It will be regretted by many who take an impartial interest iu the Samoan question that the exile waa prevented from stating his case. Mr Nelson is regarded by Man supporters a s a martyr in their. cause'and it is safe to assume that he will now be exalted to a higher defei-ee of martyrdom.—Auckland Sun.

THE SESSION. Whether or not. Parliafent is in a working mood, there are great national questions to he grappled with. First we would put land settlement) and finance. ’lfio ’’Government, has never had: a land policy, and one hopes something may be produced this session. Finance never receives due attention,, far the -most part because there are so few members with] any real grasp of it. Economy, however, becomes increasingly import-, ant, and every section of the community looks forward to some reduction in taxation. Closely allied with finance are the problems of publiq works and transport. The losses -on the railways and the developments at Arapuni cause widespread uneasiness. Then there is the problem of unemployment. This is bound up with the general prosperity or otherwise of tlie country, which in turn is largely dependent upon good government. Yes, melSTbers will have plenty to occupy their attention from now until; November, even if no time is wasted, which is altogether too much fo expect.—Auckland Star.

THE RESPONSIBILITY. Official statistics do not support Archbishop Averili’s charge that New Zealand leads the world in certain vices. Why did he make such serious charges? Apparently to support the case for Bible reading in schools. Tire education system in New Zealand, he said, is good as far as it goes, hut it fails in the matter of teaching the benefits of religion. This is a much vexed question, the subject of heated controversy, into which wo do not propose to enter here. But it may be asked what degree of responsibility attaches to the Churches for the moral state of the people of the Dominion. Without conceding a great degree of accuracy to Dr. Averili’s—or Dr. Moore’s—figures it may he admitted that New Zealand is not so free from crime and vice as it might he. If lack of religion is the cause surely the teachers of religion must accept S 'TJTrgs share of the responsibility.—Taranaki Herald. I

A PENNY" A UNIT. It is predicted by the chairman of the commission under the British Electricity Supply Act that within tue next seven or eight years the average cost oft electricity in Britain will be reduced to one penny per unit on slightly less. This does not mean what it will be largely supposed to* mean—that the consumer will be able to obtain current at the price stated. How dilferent the position is may be gauged from the experience in Can, terbury. The total cost per unit of current generated at. Bake Coleridge is leas than one halfpenny (U.438d), including capital and working cost charges, yet the cost to the small consumer in Christchurch ranged up to 5d per unit. Very large consumers can buy current at ijd per unit., Moreover/'there is another distinction to be noted. Owing to differences between day and night demand current for heating and power is supplied at much lower rates than for lighting. The most successful venture in New Zealand, if not m Hie world, is the Waipori station, owned and run by the Dunedin City Council, its capital cost to date is under a and its output is'approximately as large as what it is ‘hoped” to obtain from Mangahao, the cost of which so far is in the neighbourhood of three million. —Napier Telegraph. 1 v ■