THE WORLDS PRESS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 138, 17 July 1914, Page 6

THE WORLDS PRESS.

» I - ■ ■•. _.-:"■"• THE INITIATIVE REFERENDUM. The Initiative Beferendum will most assuredly make every future Parliament a sensitive, loyal and effective democratic Legislature, and every future Government a responsible, responsive, and non-partisan national Administration. The 'reform' transcends in importance every issue now before the people. ? It shrivels into insignificance every party and sectional appeal, and it gives the electors a programme of their own to fight for—-the emancipation of the nation from misrepresentation and misrule. —"Age." •- : •>:; ' WOMEN LAWMAKERS. The fact that women want to make and administer laws, so that other women may not get let off so lightly as they do now, is about, the strongest reply to the charge of selfishness against the male legislator chat could be desired by him. It is quite refreshing to hear it admitted that what women really have to complain about fegardr ing men is that they are too well treated by them. And even though that complaint might be' to some extent groundless, it may still help towards a clearer understanding of the true meaning of the demand for the female* legislator or legislatrix, as she might have to be called.—" Daily Telegraph. '' LABOUR COMBINED. If there is a general strike 011 the railways, as in 1911, the miners cannot continue their labour, because the coal cannot be removed from the j>it-mouth and sold to the consumer. Any labour crisis will thus be shorter and sharper than in the past. But the greater the area of a strike and the larger the number of men involved in it, the smaller the probability'of success. The State and the general public will not remain apathetic when the fight between Labour and Capital means general ruin and starvation. With such aii immense combination, moderation in council may be expected if only because the risks of defeat are so great.—r «' Daily Mail.'' THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND. We do not know just how or why the accident happened. We do not know all that was done or attempted in these few moments of a mercifully short agony. We do not know who is saved and who is lost. It,seems vain to hope that women and,children have had the pre-eminent chance of safety on which English manhood insists. TheYe can have been no time for ordered chivalry. Those who were fortunate and those who were strong may have saved themselves. Very many must have been drowned—mercifully drowned—-in their bunks.—"Express.'* - ' •