WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 17, 27 December 1919, Page 4

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

I JO one is so foolish as to seriously * argue nowadays that the drinking habit is other than a wasteful one, or does not cause inefficiency, unhappiness, and misery. It could be tolerated perhaps before the war, but to-day, when we must produce and save more, it is economically— to take the most material ground— impossible to do so.—New Plymouth "News."

The profiteers have not demobilised.—Sydney "Truth." • • *

Sectarian strife can only put back the clock of progress, and play into the hands of cunning self-seekers, who care much more for their own welfare than for that of the nation. Let the electors seek out those candidates whom they believe to be honest, and well-informed, humane and capable of governing wisely 5 and let these men be given the electors' votes, quite regardless of convictions, honestly and conscientiously held, as to matters of religion.—Sydney "Truth."

As soon as. Reform attained to power it commenced undoing the work of Liberalism in regard to the huge estates which are the curse of the true farmer and of the seeker after land for settlement, while at the same; time retarding the progress of the country gen-erally. —Napier "Telegraph."

In his address to shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, the Act-ing-Chairman (Mr. J. H. Upton) uttered, or rather repeated, the emphatic warning issued from the chair of the Bank against high prices— high prices for produce and high prices for land. The general public may not be aware that the chairmen of institutions like that of the Bank of New Zealand do not speak off-hand or without reflection. On the contrary, their statements, based upon long experience and access to information of a confidential nature, are well matured and carefully compiled before deliverance. In these circumstances, then, Mr. Upton's warning is entitled to the highest respect.—Wellington "Post."

Much disquietude is being caused in the local carpentry business by offers (certainly of a tempting nature) being made to reliable craftsmen to transfer their quarters to the North Island. If our best workers are spirited away after this fashion, building operations will soon come to a standstill.—Dunedin "Star."

The working class is both here and elsewhere by far the largest section of the community, and with a fairer and more effective presentation ot their claims to justice and fair consideration in the economic sphere henceforth, they should exercise a controlling voice in the attairs ot the district and the country commensurate with their size and importance as an entity in the community.— Gr,eymouth "Argus.

The fact becomes obtrusive that very large proportions of the pronts of these tobacco concerns were obtained from the soldiers in the fighting line—from soldiers actually fighting to safeguard these tobacco concerns, amongst other businesses. These points seem to introduce th«

fact that the merchants in the Dominion are beginning to f««l some uneasiness at a new trend of th« tobacco trade. They sense, rather than know, that a movement is afoot to cut them out of the tobacco trade altogether. To argue that such an excision would ultimately be in the interests of the tobacco smoker would be foolish. Merchants are now closoly watching tko position. Whether they will combine to protect themselves remains to hv aeon.— Otago "Times."

As the law of Britain stands at the moment, the ex-Kaiser is liable to Im> arrested the moment he sets foot-in the country and brought before the Courts in the ordinary way, coroners' juries having brought in a verdict of wilful murder against him, and though that course is unlikely to be adopted, the incidents will doubtless form part of the , list of crimes for which he will have to answer.—New Plymouth "Herald."

\Vh«n an eclipse of th» sun occurs in China, the slant-eyed Yellow Men raise a far-resounding hullabaloo with whooping voices and clangorous gong and all manner of earsplitting instruments. The object of the uproar is to scare away the wicked Dragon that tries to devour the harmless, necessary Sun. Another Yellow Peril—the Orange Lodge, to wit—lately started a Political Association to help on its strident clamour in order to scare away the Catholib Dragon from making a meal upon the body politic of New Zealand. The urgency of this danger may be realised when we remember that "Papists" are actually one-seventh of the total population of this Dominion; that (tell it not in Gath!), several of them are known or suspected to be members of School Committees; that (horrible to relate!) as many as three of them have even dared to climb into Parliament on a democratic nianhood and womanhood suffrage; and that the balance of God's universe is thereby upset. It ..obviously follows that the most urgent need of our time and country is the adoption of the good old rule, the simple plan of the Ulster Secret Brotherhood: Debar all "Papists" absolutely from every elective and other public position!_ Slam the doors of all such positions likewise in the teeth of every Protestant who declines to dance to the Lodge's piping and to sing and act the Lodge's Hymn of Hate!— Auckland "Month."