What the Papers

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 39, 15 June 1907, Page 3

What the Papers

IF a game is not worth playing for the love of it, then it is time it was dropped altogether. To make a trade of it, for a team to travel round as a band of showmen, exhibiting themselves for the value of the gate money, is the way to abolish all true sportsmanlike feeling. — Carterton " News."

If the Land for Settlement Act were amended so that the Government could sell in small areas the freehold of subdivided estates, then it would get over the financial ..unculty and the settlement difficulty also. It could resume estates wherever they blocked or impeded settlement, and it could safely sell the freehold in farming areas and with the proceeds maintain its purchase fund. — Hawera "Star."

Most people think that the office of Premier is like that of a parson — a good, clean, easy billet, as a workman once put it. Yet, in our judgment, the wages attached to the political office are dearly earned. The work is onerous and exacting in the highest degree. A Premier has very little time at his own disposal. He has practically no home life. He is the servant of the public. — Dunedin "Star."

The day will arrive when the State will necessarily step in and take a hand in deciding the marriage qualifications of men and women. The whole question of divorce is merely the whole question of physical fitness and compatibility, and to pretend there is anything sacred in a contract made by man with ease, and broken with greater ease, is absurd. — Foxton " Herald."

If we must have a class of professional players let them stand out by themselves. They certainly cannot expect to retain their amateur status or get recognition from the established unions if they want to be a law unto themselves and insist on playing for money. — Waihi "Telegraph."

The satisfaction that there will be in seeing through-express trains running between the capital city and Auckland must be mingled with regret if, as at present it appears likely to be the case, the trains for a part of the distance are to run over the lines of a private company. It is high time the Government took in hand the acquisition of the Manawatu railway. — Gisborne "Herald."

The spread of professionalism to this colony was only a matter of time, and its coming has doubtless been accelerated by the disappointment experienced by many players who were denied inclusion in the ranks of the famous "All Blacks" — a combination which (notwithstanding its remarkable triumphs) was not the most wisely chosen. — Petone "Chronicle." • • •

In four years the Government valuers increased the value of the freehold lands of the colony by about one-third, and in that increase lies the whole force of Mr McNab's contention that the aggregation of big estates is still going on. No one wants to see the aggregation of big estates. — Oamaru "Times."

There are many even of our large freeholders who do not believe in allowing the aggregation of great estates to continue, and who are absolutely opposed to the kind of landlordism that such aggregation inevitably means in the future, but they oppose the Land Bill for -^arty reasons, or because they cannot swallow the whole Bill. — Carterton "News."

After all, there is xeally no reason why it should be more difficult to observe a Saturday afternoon half-holiday than Sunday. No very great inconvenience would be caused if all the fruit, provision, and confectionery shops were closed ; the conditions of trade would quickly adjust themselves to the new arrangement. — Wanganui " Herald." • • •

Everything is too dear in iNe^r Zealand. The dearest thing of all is the Government that theorises vastly and at tremendous expense. In the matter of squandering money the Government sets the pace, and the private individual follows suit. The country does not feel the pinch of a sudden heavy rise in flour very much because the country is handling a very large quantity of borrowed money. — Foxton " Herald."

The unholy profits that are being made in the flour trade and will be made during the next few months are not the direct result of any real shortage. At present, in any case, it can only be a speculation upon a possible shortage, but those wlio are buying up wheat to hold will no doubt create a shortage at will until overwhelmed by a big surplus of new wheat. — Carterton " News."

If the people of England had enjoyed, six hundred years ago, the rights which are ours now — the right to tax land and to resume it — there had been little complaint about landlordism to-day, and the possibilities are that the broad acres of the Mother Country would now be owned by the men that plough them. — Blenheim "Express."

If the Government were to take over any of the existing mills tomorrow they would find their difficulties quite as acute as those that the New Zealand millers are faced with. The fact is that the market for grain in New Zealand is not controlled by any combination of merchants or millers, but by the laws of supply and demand operating the whole world over. — Gisborne " Herald."

Clearly the duty of the Government is to include in its Land Bill some clauses limiting the amount of property which one may hold in a town as well as the country. It may as well be hanged for a sheep as a *

lamb. — New Plymouth "News."

It seems presumptuous for a small colony of less than a million inhabitants to be offering a subsidy of £100,000 per anmim for a fast, regular mail and passenger service, and yet there are not many New Zealanders who would not be glad enough to see such a service established, even at so great an expense. — Christchurch "Times."

It is time that the strongest regulations were made and enforced with reference to the renewal of our forests, which are now being utterly demolished. — Hokitika ".Times."

The labour unions are riding the Arbitration Act to death. They were told this three years ago by the late Mr Seddon, who gave them a gentle hint to be less dictatorial in their demands. But they have not profited by that advice, and unless matters improve the time is not far distant when there will be a great upheaval in this country. Recent by-elec-tions have shown the trend of public opinion, and feeling is not likely to lessen. — Palmerston "Standard."

There are some other nominal members of the Government party, besides Mr Rutherford, who will be constrained seriously to consider their position sooner »or later — and the sooner the better, for the progressive cause can only be hampered and misrepresented by the dubious allegiance of politicians whose convictions are, to all practical intents, Conservative and reactionary. x.heurgency of the Land Question will probably have the. effect of defining, the lines of division with novel clearness before the next General Election.— Dunedin "Star."