Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

"What THE PAPERS SAY"

The Bank of New Zealand is at the present time neither a State bank nor a private institution, yet while it is neither it is both, and it is bat reasonable to conclude that while it embraces such incongruous elements friction mast necessarily result, if not absolute disintegration. It is a state of things that cannot be allowed to remain. — Nelson Star. Most people are inclined to look upon a judge as something a little more than human. Most judges appear to do their utmost to disabuse the popular mind of this idea, and if they do not succeed, then the popular mind is very slow to receive impressions.—Melbourne Punch. The New Zealand Juvenile Depravity Bill business is calculated to enlighten any girl as to a great many things which she didn't previously understand, and it provides in a large and generous way for her being pawed, and examined, and interrogated by almost everybody. And, aB the only restriction is that the policeman must think the girl is under 16, and as the average policeman is capable of thinking almost anything, there is a great deal of interesting employment ahead for the force.— Sydney Bulletin There has been, and there still is, a steady decrease in crime and drunkenness — a result springing from the spread of education and the growth of a better and higher social sentiment. People addicted to immoderate indulgence in drink are more and more losing the regard and confidence of their fellows, no matter in what walk of life they may be. They are becoming more and more the shocking examples of excess, of failnre, disease and premature death, forming warning beacons to the rising generation. Even among the slums of large cities improvements in this direction are beginning to be observed, and the criminal statistics testify to such improvement. — Wellington Mail. There is a man in New Zealand who has been writing to the papers about the zone railway system for about fifty years — and gets 'no forrarder.' When Macaulay's New Zealander is discovered sitting on the ruins of London Bridge, and is asked the latest news from Maoriland, he will assuredly reply, ' Well, Samuel Vaile is still writing to the papers on the zone system.' — Sydney Sunday Times. Unless Mr Seddon is prepared to guarantee that the police-constables in whose hands he proposes to place so much power are, morally speaking, beyond reproach, this Juvenile Depravity Bill will do more harm than good, and in ' putting down ' one lamentable state of things will set up another, possibly even more lamentable, in its place. — Christchurch Spectator. One authority says that in Maoriland the women 'voted mainly as their husbands, fathers, and brothers voted ' — the influence of their ' best boys ' doesn't seem to have counted for anything at all. — Sydney Arrow. The Speaker has now one ruling for a Minister and another for a private member He could permit the Minister of Lands to complain of the Evening Post, but refused to allow Mr G. J. Smith to refer to the Ministerial paper. The degradation of our Parliament will soon be complete — Wellington People. ' Digger Dick ' Seddon's Juvenile Immorality Suppression Bill, if passed, will place the sisters and daughters of New Zealand citizens on a more degraded level than that of fallen women under the CD. Act. — Sydney Truth. The bankruptcy laws of this and adjoin ing colonies beget more folly, more extravagance and reckless trading, and more mean and hollow business shams than it is possible to imagine. A man, or a company, rush into trade as men rush into politics, without any training, any qualification or knowledge, and, by-and-bye, we find their affairs in the Court, or the laughing stock of the hoodlums. Originally this Act was brought into force to assist unfortunate traders, but now the Act seems to be kept on the list of madcap laws, to encourage gamblers in the game of ' hesds I win, tails you lose. 1 If men and women were held responsible for their debts, and bereft of the pleasure of whitewashing themselves, there would be less luxury and fine living, less running about after the social reform of the other fellow, and a great deal less poverty than there is at present. — Mataura Ensign.

We are now on what may be termed the flood tide of a new loan or borrowing policy. Who, then, are the political hypocrites? Who is it that have pretended they were in favour of a non-borrowing policy, and yet have pledged the credit of the colony by loans and guarantees to an enormous extent ? Who is it that propose to expend more in some directions in public works than any previous Ministry ? There is only one answer — the present Ministry. — Wellington Post. Premier Seddon's little game in seeking; to make women eligible for the Upper House is easily seen. He has always experienced much difficulty in dealing with the other place, and the Council has thwarted him again and again. He believes the newly-enfranchised women to be on his side, and shrewdly concludes that the ladies honoured with the glorifying tag, M.L.C., through his agency, will cheerfully lend their aid to get his pet measures through.— Melbourne Punch. It is still true that you must take your average man into the wilderness. It is still true that when you get him there you connot rely solely on your noble order to 'be a settler.' It is true that you must give him work, expert advice, roads and bridges, railways and schools Material aid, iv short, as well as maxima. There are only two sources of supply for these things. One is by borrowing, and the other ia further taxation. Further taxation is impossible. Borrowing is therefore indispensable. — Wellington Times. There is absolutely no direct or reasonably indirect scriptural condemnation of suicide, and the Bible, which is supposed to be the foundation of this country's law and morals, nowhere prohibits it. The general feeling against it is partly a survival from the old fighting-days, when it waß every .man's duty to kill somebody else, and suicide meant the loss to the tribe or nation of a valuable individual who ought to have been beter employed in killing somebody else before he died. If suicide is any crime at all, it is mnrder; there is no other heading in the decalogue under which it can be included. In that case, attempted suicide is attempted murder, and. the punishment should be 10 or 15 or 20 years' penal servitude, or thereabouts. — Sydney Bzilletin.

When in the early hours of the morning I see industrious women scrubbing offices and cleaning windows, and think of the ' lords of creation ' who smoke their pipes and spout politics at the street corner, I sympathise with the woman who said, ' It's all very well for the minister to preach from the text : " Remember Lot's wife !" but I wish he would give us an encouraging sermon upon the wife's lot !' — Wellington Times. Copy of letter from NSW. squatter to landlord on ' vacating ' : — ' Sir, — Mortgage — high interest — high rental— low pricesdry seasons— wet seasons — suckers and seedlings — pine scrub— Cumberland— fluke — worms — staggers — yellows— foot-rot — liver-rot — drought — floods — Land-tax — Income • tax — Marsupial-tax — Disease in Sheep Act tax - Swagman-tax — Selectors — native dogs — wallabies — kangaroos — emus — eagle hawks — rabbits — crows — too much land — no money — ticks. — Yours, &c.' — Bulletin. There is not a single concern that has collapsed, which up to the very last has not been able to show a certified balance-sheet. ' We have examined the books and vouchers, etc., etc.,' and found everything O.K. And a month or two afterwards the community is startled by hearing that the company is going into liquidation, or some worße evil has befallen it ! Things of this sort occurring so often clearly demonstrate that the Bystem of audit nowadays is simply a farce, and for the production of this interesting play the unfortunate shareholder has to pay. — Marton Mercury.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TO18960912.2.11

Bibliographic details

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 922, 12 September 1896, Page 4

Word Count
1,328

"What THE PAPERS SAY" Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 922, 12 September 1896, Page 4

"What THE PAPERS SAY" Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 922, 12 September 1896, Page 4