WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

Observer, Volume XXX, Issue 39, 11 June 1910, Page 3

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

MR ARTHUR MYERS will, we doubt not, be returned as M.P. for the Auckland East seat. It is well that he should be. He has had a successful municipal career, but he is no Little Peddlington borough councillor, obsessed with ideas on drains and the vast importance of mayors and borough councillors. He' is a cultured aud travelled man, who loves his country and his city, and a man Nvho would fill any position of honour in the Dominion with dignity and credit to himself and his fellowcolonists.—Wellington "Free Lance." ■■'■'■;.' -■'■ '..v.':'« ' In view, of the somewhat chaotic state into which the question of public holidays has just been thrown, the Government should take action this session with the. view of reducing it to order. «• Press." '.'•■' ' v-.'* ,; '"''■;*" Is it not a fact that in England, Australia, Canada, and the United States, immense strides have been taken in the improvement and extension of university teaching during the last few years, while New Zealand lags far behind ? Who can say that the University as a whole is in touch with the needs of New Zealand to-day '—Wellington " Post." _' * ._-.'.- We have little doubt that both primary and secondary education will be placed under the control ot elective bodies directly responsible to the people in the near future, and that when that reform is about better results will be attained. — Lyttelton "Times." • • •'•■■.'■ In the interests of the young people, it is urgent that the opium habit should be entirely rooted out of the Dominion. When the Chinaman attempts to introduce opium smoking, or to indulge for his own delectation in opium smoking, the law should be firm and inexorable. — Southland "News." • • - •. Fully adequate provision should be made for university work in Auckland, but a large sequestered preserve, with professors' residences and nursery gardens for professors' children, is unnecessary, and, indeed, distinctly undesirable. —Dunedin " Star." -•'--.'•-. ',■ ■ For an uncultured man, Mr Massey can always be relied upon to fire off a speech with an easy fluency and debonair manner that at least satisfies the multitude, if it fails to convince the critical, whose discrimination leads them to look for something of real value.—Greymouth *\ Jfrgns." '*'■'- v • ' '"'.''. ■ .. It has long been a commonly accepted fact that the Government is perfectly ready to take up any policy that it considers likely to assist it to maintain its grip of office.—Wellington ■" Dominion." m. ~ a « The Minister whothrows his energies into the reorganisation of the Department of Agriculture will deserve well of the people of the Dominion. The task is a heavy one, but the reward will be in the realisation' of a great public service rendered.—Wellington oTimes." a • • The Southern part of the colony does not enter into Auckland's calculations at all, except as a contributor to an exorbitant subsidy towards a mail service for Auckland's special benefit.—lnvercargill" Ttttes." • ■ ,; « Things are coming to such a pass that Parliament will have to step in and fix the holidays for all, unless more sane arrangements can be arrived "at without Parliamentary assistance.—New Plymouth " Herald.?' . 'j , : ' ' ' , '— 4 - * ''' **v- v

-5 r. t — ~ *, Anyone can see that .land settlement \<; is dragging, and especially in the North %£ Island, where there is no necessity to ";•.'; give excessive prices for the, land; >, where everything is at the hands of the Government t6 push the work forward, and where it is plain it is not .i. being ' pushed forward. — Oamaru '', "Times." -: • • • , We ask why the Government should -.* not recognise that the time has come when the large tracts of unoccupied ■• ; Native land must be brought into '<,' cultivation, and that such as are not , wanted for use by the Native owners should be purchased and opened > * for European settlement. — Napier " Herald." • • • Ministers can but recognise that one of the most damaging indictments ■ which can be brought against them is x , '] the muddling which has characterised their management of the native lanquestion during the fourteen or fifteen years they have been in office.— Hamilton " Arguß." ■ • • Although the worker is supposed to be on a very superior footing in New Zealand, he certainly does not live in a superior house, and in each of the four centres there are slums that ' would be a disgrace to Sydney, Man-, Chester, Liverpool, or London.—-New Plymouth " News." The time is opportune for a general - reconsideration of the holiday question. Every year there is discussion and un- ~' certainty as to which days are to be observed. A list should be drawn up and rigidly adhered to. Then the public could make their arrangements with some, degree of confidence. —Palmerston " Standard." '. *' ■"*■ : -' . '•■ ' We do not sympathise with the craze for importation of everything from men to goods, because we believe that the Colonies can produce both as well as any other country, given the requisite training and experience.— Palmerston "Times." '■*'•"•; -. • New Zealand is doing something in the way of replacing its forests, but _ not nearly enough, and we hope yet to T see following upon the very successful experiments that have been made at Rotorua and elsewhere upon lands comparatively poor in quality, the establishment of an extensive and thoroughly organised Forestry Department.— Gisborne "Herald." /•■'■■•.'■•■ •■'■ The pity of it is that the Government does not take a firm stand and , be democratic always, instead of trying, by making concessions to every party, to please everybody, a thing which no Government has ever done, or ever will do. — Wanganui " Herald." « • • Labour candidates here in the ," Dominion have had, in the past, and 4 ~ will have in the future, to rely almost "' > entirely upon a purely and strictly Labour vote, and in not half-a-dozen constituencies in New Zealand is such a vote strong enough to ensure the , * success of a Labour candidate strictly so-called.—Blenheim " Express." > " \ * * ' 'i One of tha best signs for New Zea- ".t land's future lies in the fact that so * v great a portion of her population has refused to be drawn away by the Tom Mann and Ben Tillet sophistries so t - J blatantly proclaimed to them in person by those arch humbugs.-- - ¥ Hokitika " Times." t • • • Not all who champion the cause of "j Labour—and it is a good cause—are '" tainted with disloyalty j indeed, we > ( ** believe it is only a small body of ex- '| tremists who do not possess that v )j\ patriotism which is so essential to the ."') ; preservation of a nation, great or small.—Hawera" Star." . % A policy of progressive land settle- ;'ti ment, supplemented by a vigorous ,"sl appeal to men with the required capital ~ M experience to make a success on the land, would assuredly result in the v more speedy development of onr }$% splendid natural resorees and thus make for the well-being of every olassof tbe»';t : |i community.—Wanganui