CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 278, 21 May 1912, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

PEOPLING THE COUNTRY. The answer given by the Minister for Labor (Hon. G. Laurenson) to a deputation of employers that waited upon him the other day that he was unable to arrange for skilled workmen of certain trades to be brought to New Zealand is disappointing. There is a dearth of skilled labor throughout the country, and because of it many industries are hampered. Not only in skilled labor is there a shortage, ibut there is an unsatisfied demand both in town and country for unskilled labor. New Zealand must ] have more population if it is to progress : and develop, and it is the duty of the Ministry of the day to do everything in : its power to induce immigration" Up to now, Ministers seem to have been fright- ; ened to do their obvious duty in this ; respect lest they should anger the extreme trade unionists, many of whom wish to make the country a close preserve for their own exploitation. Mr. Laurenson seems to be tarred with the same brush. He should remember that it is not the interests of a section of the country that should be studied, but the interests of the whole country. ii «— mm OUR SLACKNESS"AND SELFISHNESS. Says the Wellington Dominion:—Britain pays £ 1 a head every year for the navy that keeps New Zealand free, and free even from the thought of the possibility, of war. If we did our share—if we .paid for the equality that has been claimed for us at the Imperial Conference—it would cost us a million a year. It would be ■worth more than a million a year to haye our Government (whatever Government it might be) forced into the mood of seriousness and sobriety that such an annual payment would necessitate. Our people would learn, many of them for the first time, that the maintenance of the Empire's integrity costs money, and that it is treason to the Empire and a mortal sin against nationhood to shirk our obligations to the navy and to those who will come after us. It is bad enough to leave Britain to bear our burdens; it is worse to neglect to train ourselves into good habits of national management; it is worst of all to act without any thought for the fact that present slackness and selfishness may help to leave our children under other than British rule. TEACHING THE GIRLS. A proposal was recently made that people who wished to get married should be compelled to undergo a medical examination to show that they were physically fit. From Germany comes a suggestion about marriage that is at once practical and feasible. It is that it should be made illegal for a girl to marry unless she can produce official evidence that she has prepared herself, by a year's serrice, for household management. As things are at present, the majority of women marry without knowing the difference between a rolling-pin and a broom-handle, and much of the unhappineas that exists in married homes can be traced directly to the wife's ignorance of the very elements of household economy. A wife whose greatgrandmother suffered from drunkenness might produce very healthy children; but even if her children were the healths est in the world, they would not remain bo for long if their mother did not imderstand how they should be treated. It is an amazing thing that although we teach our daughters how to paint, to dance, and to drive us half mad by trying t& i play the piano, we never think of teaching them how to manage a baby or a household, All this is supposed to come naturally. People talk glibly about wifely and maternal instincts, quite forgetting that although these instincts undoubtedly exist in savages, our civilisation has practically killed them in the modern girl's breast. A man is compelled to train for whatever profession he intends to take up. Why should not a woman be similarly trained for her great profession of wife and mother? Probably the State will not interfere in this matter, but schoolmistresses might do a great deal towards hurrying on the millennium if they were to make housewifery compulsory in their schools. A little less note-thumping and a little more useful knowledge concerning the management of a home would benefit every girl.