What the Papers Say

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 47, 10 August 1907, Page 3

What the Papers Say

TEE act of any "All Black" in breaking his amateur pledge would not only caßt a shade over him, but would bring a blot upon New Zealand's national game. A little thought should convince all lovers of football, all people desiring to maintain a high public conscience, that the default of any of the " All Blacks " should be an inexcusable offence. — Wellington Post.

The ballot system as it at present exists is altogether discouraging to the man who should be helped to get upon the land, compelling him to pay premiums quite out of proportion to his means for an increment which should properly belong to the Crown. — Gisborne Rerald.

There isn't a hope that everything we eat and drink in New Zealand is going to be pure. This is the age of fake. If faking went out of fashion, lots of traders would be ruined. It i 8 the Government's aim to foster trade. Therefore, what use is there for a Pure Food Bill ?— Wellington Free Lance.

In the give and take effort to make the adjustment of the tariff suit the finances, the Ministry have created some peculiar anomalies, and their supporters and political opponents are wondering how a number of particular flies got into their respective pieces of amber. — Oamaru Times.

In 1905 it was estimated that the timber supplies of the colony would last seventy years, but it now appears Certain that from one cause or another New Zealand torests will be entirely swept away long before the seventy years expires. — Stratford Post.

There is a medium between the chaste nakedness of a barn and the florid decoration of a palace to be observed when a railway station or a post office is designed, and on the whole, that medium is not unsuccessfully striven for. — Napier Telegraph.

All available native land should be acquired by the State and the unearned increment retained for the benefit of posterity, who would ..profit by the steady increase in values brought about by advancing civilisation. — Wanganui Herald.

The Government of this country has never, so iar as we know, induced people to come here by representing the chances of employment or investment to be other than they were and are ; but we have more than once been in danger of getting the thing done for us by semi-official or soi-disant agents, particularly in America. — Blenheim Express.

We are all aware of the danger attendant upon interference by the State with the religious beliefs of a people, and history records many instances where interference and persecution have bad effects the opposite of those aimed at. The suppression of tohungaism, however, is undoubtedly necessary in the best interests of the Maoris themselves. — Grey mouth Argus ■• • *

There is no doubt that a tremendous quantity of "diluted" goods, in the shape of wearing materials, furniture, building materials, etc., are sold in New Zealand at larger prices than they should command, and to be at all fair to the general salesmen any Bill dealing with adulteration should include wearing apparel, and, generally, the things of everyday use. -^ New 1 Plymouth News. '

It is to be^regretted vthai sonae members of ,tKe -.Home have " not » higher conception of their "dutie&tb'ari to deliberately waste time and money in futile " stonewalling." When it comes to mere talking for no definite purpose, the .proceedings > of" Parliament lose all their dignity and become simply farcical. — Palmerston Standard.

The benefits which the public get out of well authenticated remedies at modest cost, far and away outweigh any harm which the use of less reputable compounds, of say bread pills, or scented and coloured water, exercises on the public. — Greytown Standard.

We assert that the Rugby Union itself is essentially of the professional type, the only difference between the so-called amateurs and the recognised professionals being. purely and simply one of degree. In principle they are the same. — Petone Chronicle.

Why should North Island people care whether the South Island gets through railway communications or not so long as their own ends are served? Is it to be supposed that a public-spirited zeal for economy is the onlymotive? Hardly. Underlying all is a jealousy of the South Island. — Nelson Mail.

In the light of recent events, it ia passing strange that farmers as a class are not forming unions to protect themselves from the coming deluge of Unionism, the waters of which are already lapping up against the farming industries of New Zealand. — Cambridge Independent.

It is difficult to believe that the Main Trunk railway has been in course of construction for twenty years ■or more. In any other country it would have been out of the hands of the engineers and navvies, and carrying its train of blessings to the settlers, in half the time. — Hamilton Times.

In view of the fact that the practice of tohungaism is not so generally made apparent to outsiders as it used to be, can it be concluded that tohungaism is dying out, and that the proposed enactment is unnecessary ? We fear that the need of suppressing these superstitious dealings is just as much required as ever. — Whangarei Advocate.

The Government is only Government under pressure. It is an indiarubber Government — that acts as a "fender" between Conservative pressure and public opinion. The Government indeed can no longer term itself Liberal. — iteef ton Times.

If the native land question had been dealt with in a proper manner years ago there is no question that it would have been the very best service that the Government could have rendered the native race. — Masterton Age. •

Writing, reading, and arithmetic are the prime instruments of the civilised man. Without them he is a savage, and it is a matter in which every member of the community is interested to see that our young people are trained to the efficient use of these instruments. — Napier Herald.

In some respects the New Zealand law is weak in its protection of the public health. With one hand the Health Department is endowed with power, and with the other its power is taken away. It is clearly the duty of Parliament to unravel the tangle.— Waihi Telegraph.

It is a good thing that the young people of the country .should be interested in forestry, for the question will be a more acute one in their time than it is in ours, and if they .can be induced, now to realise the value of trees, and the importance, of oarjng for trees, much' will, have been accomplished for posterity. — Gisborne Herald. /