PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9273, 27 June 1908, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION.

FROM YESTERDAY'S NEWSPAPERS. (By Telegraph.) ELECTORAL ROLLS. This is the first year that the printing of the main rolls has been undertaken by the Government Printing Office. We have made a cursory examination of the roll before us, and it | fairly bristles with errors. The fault rests with the headquarters, which has been seized with a desire to centralise all the electoral work, regardless of cost or public convenience. — Dunedin " Star." POISONS AND PATENT MEDICINES. A considerable proportion of the patent medicines in which poisons are . active ingredients that are bought in the country aTe obtained from grocers' shops, and as the proprietors of these are not registered, and as no control is exercised over the 6ale by them of these medicines, it seems a reasonable conclusion that the law as it stands either goes too far or does not go far enough. An any rate, the enactment by which the sale of poisons is regulated is distinctly in need of revision. — " Otago Daily Times." MANCHURIA. Perhaps the most reassuring item of news that has reached us from the Far East for many months past is the intelligence that Japan nas withdrawn her opposition to the continuation of the Shan Hai Kwan Railway past Hsinminting to Fakumen. Not only will this step obviate any serious friction between China and Japan, but it will reassure British public opinion as to the honesty of Japan's intentions, and will tend to re-establish her reputation for sincerity, which has been somewhat damaged by her recent actions in Korea and Manchuria, — Auckland "Stair." FARMERS AND FARM HANDS All round the case it is impossible to see any undue interference with cub- J torn or anything that will make the working oi the farm or station in any way more difficult than it is now. Indeed, with the lines of wages and hours clearly drawn up there ought to be more security or tranquility. On the whole there is much reason for the employers to feel satisfied with, the results of the measure they have so long neld in horror; and as for the farm labourer, if he is not very well pleased he can at all events make up his mind that he has been fairly, though not prodigally, dealt with.—" New Zealand Times." I?HE PRETENCE OF DEFENCE. The reduction of New Zealand to the last shilling and the last man. will do no good to anybody. We want to avoid that ultimate disaster by early preparation. The Government has the machinery of national defence, as provided' by Parliament, ready to its { band. It needs only to set the wheels vn motion, and it is no answer to the Argument for the utility and necessity o\ this when Sir Joseph Ward says ogee mgre } '■- 1 am not m f avftux of ,