CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 306, 19 May 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

WEST CODAS'!' MASKS. Holders of the West Coast leases, especially of the IHKI leases, are, its a whole, not very pleased wit It their tenures, and are losing no ehance of representing to the Government the unfairness, il not the harshness, of the conditions ol leases, the limitation of compensation lor improvements, in the case ol the ISHI tenures, being a. very sore point with thein. lint that they are not of one mind on tin; matter is evident'hy a letter recently contributed to the Opunake paper by Mr. XI. •!. Xlacßeynolds, who presents his views in terse and characteristic language. Says he: '*l have held umler the twenty-one and thirty-one years' lease. The section 1 live on was taken up by iny precedessor on the thirty-one years' lease, lie tendered at twelve-and-six per acre. Of course this was '-bver the upset price, but he, like most of the leaseholders, gave more than the l'ublic Trustee asked, not that we wanted to put money into the pockets of the landlords, but for fear the other man would get the section that we wanted. Dull times; so we began to think the rents were too high, and the thirty-one years' lease not what we thought it was. XVe then got a chance, if we' so wished, to convert our leases into a twenty-one years', with right of renewal, lease, Many took advantage of this new lease. My predecessor did, and got his new lease and his rent reduced to six-an-six per acre. I fail to see how the landlord gained over the tenant in this transaction. We made roads,.we built factories; yes, and why leave out the milking machines and other items that go to make farming more profitable and land more valuable? I took up a leasehold section on the Ihaia road. Like many others, this was a road on the map, and swamp in most places where the road ought to be. Why did I take up a section there ? Not for the sake of sailing or trying to sail amateur canoes through the swamp, but I had noticed that the worse the road, the cheaper the land, and not being like some who came to New Zealand for health's sake, I had to take the cheapest there was. I tendered more than the upset, for the reason already mentioned. When we took possession we never once attempted to build Noah's Arks. In a business-like way, we raised a loan and made our roads. Of course we pay one penny in the pound sterling by way of rate for this loan. Even then we need not pay if we do not want to. If I sell out my successor will have to pay the rate, and a bit of the unearned increment. The result of our road-making was that my unimproved value rose from £2 per acre to £3 10s-. I think I hear some remark, 'Just as I told you.' Now, had my landlord made the road before he let the land he would, for the expenditure of a penny in the pound rate, be received for twenty-one years three-and-six per acre rent instead of two shillings. Have I any cause for finding fault for what he did not do? I prefer my present tenure; I am a holder of a native lease; I am as anxious as anyone to get all I can for as little as possible, but we cannot build up a good case on false foundations. If there is any holder of a native lease who can prove that our landlord has departed from the conditions of the lease that he signed, will that leaseholder be good enough to communicate with me?" DUTIES OF FATHERHOOD. "We hear a tremendous lot of motherhood, and training for motherhood, and the things girls ought to do and have not done," remarked Lady Stout at a meeting in Wellington last week. "Since I have returned to New Zealand I have not met one girl who would not be a splendid mother. The New Zealand girls are most splendid; they can turn their hand to anything. They work and play and look after their health a great deal better than the old type of woman did. XVe never hear anything about fatherhood, or training men to be fathers! There is a society in England which is printing books about the responsibility of fatherhood. Fatherhood is what we have to take up now; it is about time." THE PUBLIC MUST PAY. That the masses of consumers are between the upper millstone of capitalism seeking a profitable return and the nether millstone of labor demanding a disproportionate return for its services is not alone the 'look-out' of the victims, but of the community as a whole, if that community is to continue both prosperous and civilised (says the Dunedin Star). Sir James Mills affirms that recent advances in wages make a corresponding advance in freights inevitable. XVhy? XVe ask the question in all seriousness, and at the risk of being regarded presumptious in inferring that the steamship companies do not know their own business better than outsiders. Let us put the matter in another form. XX"e affirm that the shipping business during recent years has been a very profitable one, and remains so; and we suggest that before an advance in freights is announced as "inevitable" there should be a more careful examination of the profit and loss account. The Australian and New Zealand companies, unless general opinion is very much at fault, are—and we rejoice to hear it—doing well, and we have not, so far, seen any convincing statement to justify an all-round advance in freights because there has been an all-round or partial advance in wages. THE NEXV ZEALAND ENSIGN. The New Zealand ensign, which the battle-cruiser flies in conjunction with the white ensign that belongs to all Imperial warships, has not previously occupied so proud a position, but it nevertheless can boast an interesting history (says the Lyttelton Times). In 1834 difficulties arose in regard to the registration of ships that had been built on the Hokianga river. New Zealand at that time was nominally under the control of the New South Wules Government, and Mr. Busby, British Resident in New Zealand, wrote to the Governor of New South XVales asking for a national llag. In reply, 11.M.5. Alligator was despatched to the Bay'of Islands with three flags of different patterns, and the Maori chiefs were asked to select one. On March 20, 1834, a large number of Maori chiefs assembled, and a ballot was taken on the flags submitted. The poll resulted in the selection of a white flag, with a red St. George's Cross, the upper left-hand corner containing a blue field with a red cross and four white stars. The selection over, the future ensign of New Zealand was hoisted on a speciallyprepared flagstaff, and H.XI.S. Alligator fired a royal salute. Nine cheers, given by the Europeans present, numbering one hundred and twenty, concluded the ceremony. The Dominion ensign of today is a blue flag, with the Union Jack in a top quarter and the four stars of the Southern Cross in red on the blue field. The Commonwealth of Australia is entitled to use the same (lag with a six-pointed star, emblematic of the six States, in place of the Southern Cross. Canada lias a similar ensign bearing the arms of the Dominion as ilie distinguishing sign. The-Union Jack, of course, is the most important of the British ensigns. Tt is flown from the jaekstaff of every ship in the Navy, and appears at tlie mainmast as an emblem of an admiral of the fleet. Colonial Governors use it with the badge of their particular dominion ot colony displayed in the centre.