WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

Observer, Volume XV, Issue 895, 22 February 1896, Page 4

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

It is becoming pretty clearly understood that to enable them to carry on their policy the Government must borrow. They have borrowed all the time in driblets, only they have called it by another name. All that can be got hold of in this indirect way has been taken., and a straight out loan is in the air. — Wairarapa Standard.

Having completed its trial in a manner that mast prove satisfactory to ail. and judging by the excellent and practical manner in which it is being worked, and also by the number of applications coming to hand, the Advances to Settlers Act is proving of that -substantial benefit which previous to its passing into law was so much required by struggling and deserving settlers. — Marton Mercury.

The craze for political rights for women is by no means widespread amongst women, but is chiefly confined to politicians who want a cry, parsons who want power, and women who don't know what they want, and won't be happy till they get it. — Melbourne Punch.

The Liberal administration of the day has the largest majority yet recorded in the history of the colony, the largest following upon the main Liberal questions that nave formed the platform of the Liberal party in New Zealand since the opening of the first Parliament. — Napier News.

When the present Administrator of the Government came into office he kept on for months appealing to the working men to come to him and he would find them work. When next winter comes they will be there, whether he invites them or otherwise. Christchurch Truth.

If anything were wanting to enhance the value of Mr Cadman's utterances at Hnntly, it was supplied in the speech which the hon. gentleman delivered at Hamilton. Nothing more statesmanlike in substance and tone has ever been delivered in the district. Mr Cadman was able to show that not only have the present Government aimed, at an equitable distribution of political privileges and material benefits, but that they carefully fostered the leading industries of the colony. — Waikato Advocate.

A little energy shown should result in a stream of tourists to the Chathams. About fifty hours' steam from Lyttelton, with a grand climate, the finest fishing in the Southern Hemisphere, a paradise for the scientific collector, and with everywhere hospitable settlers just heartily thankful to see a stranger and loth to let him go, these islands have a charm now and a prosperous future ahead. — Christchurch Truth.

The Government is to be commended upon having determined to make periodical changes in the police force of the Colony. These changes are desirable in the interests of all concerned. The position of a police officer, of a magistrate, and of other servants of the public should be itinerant, and there should be a proper system of promotion. This would do away with local and political influences, and would inspire public officers with greater energy. — Masterton Star.

The doctrine is sedulously preached by Conservative journals that the Government's taxation policy and land and labour legislatinn are discouraging enterprise and pressing unduly on the capitalist and landowning classes. It has hitherto been difficult to fight against this allegation, from the fact that the mere statement was sufficient to cause a number of people to hold back from improvement of land or development of business ; but capital, though shy, sooner or later wearies of idleness, and there comes a time when it ceases to be alarmed by the cry of disappointed politicians.

There is a small percentage of the female population of every country bo peculiarly constituted aB to be a menace to all men. In many instances there is no viciousness in the character of the girl who lays a serions charge.of criminal intention-against any unlucky man who happens to be left alone with her for a while. It is often the result of a constitutional flaw, a neurotic weakness, and the girl quite believes that if the bold^bad man pulls his handkerchief out in her presence ne is going to chloroform her; and shrieks, hysteria, and an accusation that may mean ruin to an innocent man naturally follow. — Melbourne Punch.

It has been rumoured that the Premier intends next session to further harass capital by making it impossible for the landlord to take measures to recover arrears of rent. — Taranaki News.

Mr Cadman is personally one of the most popular of Ministers, but the unanimous vote of thanks and confidence which he received as member for Waikato may fairly be claimed as an emphatic endorsement of the policy of the Seddon Government by a country constituency. And the absence of all dissent is a significant symptom that the long-prophesied revolt of the country has not yet commenced, even in a rural electorate where the National Association is strong and assertive. — Canterbury Times.

Those who will fetch and carry for certain Ministers are rewarded by being placed in the pay of the Colony. Were a list published of all the officers — permanent and temporary — who have been appointed during the present regime, and the true reason given for their appointment, we believe that the colony would be horrified. — Wellington Post.

The practice of detaining children in school after the usual hour of closing is one that we strongly deprecate. A master, in detaining a child against the parents' wish and consent, is acting against the provisions contained in the school regulations. There is too much cramming already practiced, and children who are so precocious as to pass the higher standards while they are still of tender years, do not in the long run get the solid education that their slower-travelling school competitois do. — Wairarapa. Observer.

The industrial classes don't want prohibition or liberalism. They want work. They find it impossible to live on plausible platform utterances and promises. — Christchurch Tncth.

It has been darkly hinted that tnere may yet be, through stress of adverse circumstances, a serious and critical defection from the present Cabinet. We have no desire to do more than to allude to this rumour at the present stage, but if it prove worthy of credence, it may explain Mr Seddon's curious hesitation in repairing the Ministerial gaps. — Wellington Pout.

It is an old grievance that our Government does not take the same interest in the spread of our trade abroad which some other Governments do. We are getting badly left in some directions. — Christchurch Truth.

Miss Brown's sensational leap from the Hobart train the other day vividly recalls the Valentine Baker 'incident.' Was Baker the unmitigated blackguard that Miss Dickinson alleged him to be, or was he the unfortunate victim of a nervons, hysterical and excitable girl? There are plenty of people who stick to the latter theory, even after the lapse of all these years. Anyhow, it was a most unfortunate business for Colonel Baker, who was still 'in Coventry ' when he died. Happily for Davidson, circumstances have tended to exonerate him from a very grave charge. Not a trace of chloroform was found on him, but a bottle of cough mixture, containing peppermint and aniseed, was discovered in his pocket, and it was the odour of this stuff that led the young lady to imagine that an attempt was being made to drug her.— Christchurch Spectator.

The one great drawback at the Chathams is the land being in the hands of the natives, and the difficulty there is in buying any. It is in the same position much of the New Zealand land was, and belongs to tribes and not to individuals. You can t purchase an acre in Waitangi or anywhere else, so Waitangi of to-day is about what it was thirty years ago. The very Courthouse and Government offices are on land leased from the natives.— Christchurch Truth.