What the Papers Say

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 40, 22 June 1907, Page 3

What the Papers Say

WEEN New Zealand notes a tremendous falling off in the Customs returns, it will be time for the country to congratulate itself, for the success of a country is to be gauged not by the goods it buys, but by the goods it makes and sells, preferably to its own people, but also to other peoples. — New Plymouth "News."

The law deals in a drastic manner ■with the practitioner who performs an illegal operation, which need not necessarily kill the patient, but it hasn't yet grasped the necessity for dealing with the doctor who says a patient is fit to be chloroformed and loses that patient's life under the administration of the drug. — Wellington "Free Lance."

It may now be said that the Bank of New Zealand has got clear of all its troubles, and given another four or five years of prosperity it will have worked itself up into the front rank of colonial banking institutions for strength, as it is to-day for usefulness to the community. — Wellington " Post."

The root of the whole trouble is the fact that no matter what the personnel of the tribunal hearing and determining an industrial dispute may be, it cannot accomplish the impossible ; that is to say , it cannot go on increasing wages indefinitely, and as labour has no use for arbitration unless it benefits thereby, the position is really much the same as it was in 1894. — Christchurch "Truth," on the Wages Board . proposal.

The present-day worker wants a better house, better food, better clothing, and more recreation than his predecessor, and there is nothing surprising in the fact that he finds it more difficult to make both ends meet. The solution is not, therefore, in higher wages at the expense of the employer, regardless of industrial conditions, but in increased and cheapened production. — Palmerston " Standard."

It is not the average worker who is everlastingly setting the machinery of the Arbitration Court in motion, but the " agitator " who is never satisfied. If the Unions were more reasonable in their demands they would be working better in their own interests than they are at the present time. — Masterton "Age." a • •

Those who beat the air in a campaign against war, which, if it is ever abolished, must wait for that abolition till mankind becomes radically different, could do more practical work by striving to lessen the risks attached to industrial pursuits of many kinds. — Napier ' ' Telegraph."

Every man whose business it is to keep a finger on the political pulse of the community knows that it has beaten more slowly and less strongly since Mr Seddon died. But for the very artificial freehold agitation, the country would be sunk in something strangely like apathy. — Christchurch ' Times."

It remains to be shown whether the old Liberal or "Seddon" party is possible without the personality that gave rt at once its name and its stability, or whether that which js to take its place has a policy of its own, methods of its own, and a leader who will dominate it. Is it conceivable that such a leader should be found in Sir Joseph Ward or Mr Massey ? And if not, is it likely that any Ministry of small men will enjoy long life ? — Blenheim " Express."

It doesn't follow that because a woman is behind a bar, she is -in the least abandoned, any more <>han it follows that because a man wears blackcloth . and goes to church regularly that he is necessarily upright and honourable. - The girl that is looking around for traps to fall into will fall into them, whether they are laid in a hotel bar or in a religious tract depot. — New Plymouth "News."

If the opinion of Parliament is sounded at the forthcoming session, we are sure it will be clearly indicated that some provision must be made to prevent the members of the Ministry overworking themselves in the manner they have done. Relief can be granted either by the appointment of two or more Parliamentary under - secretaries, who would relieve members of the Cabinet of -.c less important part qf their labour, or by additions to the tanks of the Ministry. — Gisborne ' ' Herald. ' '

We look upon Mr Millar a&.one of the strongest of the Ministers who have served this colony in recent years, and although the coming session will decide the fate of the Land Bill, that much-discussed measure will have no prospect of monopolising public attention while the Minister of Labour has reforms to propose. — Christchurch "Times.

In the matter of technical education, the Government have spent their money at the wrong end. should provide higher instruction for experts, with opportunities for research, in connection with our producing industries. They should support technical schools in the larger towns, and in the rest of the country they should be content with continuation classes in connection with existing institutions. — Napier "Herald."

If Parliament placed it in the power of the Ministry to suspend duties when it appeared that speculators were exploiting the people in such a matter as their food supplies, it would do something to relieve the situation. This would not be overruling the natural law, but would rather be giving that law fuller play. — New Plymouth "Herald."

It is all very well to burst up big estates in congested districts. It is quite a different thing to make your rating (as under the unimproved value) so drastic and unequal as to crush the spirit of local industry and force people to sacrifice their gardens and cover them with rows of barrack-like cottages. Rating should rest on a fair basis, so that buildings and land may both contribute in fair proportion. — "Wellington " Free Lance."

There is nothing novel in the proposition that the Leader of the Opposition, for the time being, should be paid £1000 a year, but there ia decided novelty in the suggestion that he should have access to Government books and documents. We can, however, satisfy ourselves on this : That the " ins " will offer the strongest opposition to the proposal, and if the "outs" were in they would do the same thing. — Oamaru " Times."

Manifestly, any option without the right of purchase at the original value would prove inoperative and abortive, as no holder of a lease-in-perpetuity would forego for thesentimental desire to possess his land in freehold, this easy tenure which will extend not to the third or fourth generation only, but to many many more generations of his descendants. — Greytown "Standard."

Employers should not regard consideration of volunteers as generosity, but as a cheap, common-sense insurance policy. Present-day commercial and industrial captains in New Zealand have hardly realised the destructiveness of war, and they should endeavour to keep the realisation as far away as possible by loyally allowing the volunteers in their employ sufficient leave of absence to make themselves efficient soldiers. — Wellington " Post."