PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9535, 6 May 1909, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

♦- • .| FROM YESTERDAY'S NEWSPAPERS. (By Telegraph). ; A COUNCIL OF EDUCATION. We have in these columns again and again advocated the establishment of a Council of Education. This should be the first step in the way of reform. Then should come the decentralisation of the system by ;the formation' of three different classes' of districts, each controlled by a Board of Education. These bodies should have the power to levy local rates for certain educational purposes. The amount raised ejhould be subsidised by Government grants. Of the million pounds annually spent on education in New' Zealand only about half goes to pay. teachers' salaries. These salaries should, as now, be paid in accordance with a uniform Bcale and should come directly out of the consolidated fund. This is necessary if we are to maintain a national system of education. — " Dunedin Star. THE PRIME MINISTER QN BANKING. Sir Joseph Ward has evidently failed to realise the essential connection between the effective' occupation of the land and the creation, of wealth and capital. Speaking at Invercargill, he claimed that existing -banks ought to increase theif capital or new banks should be established, but neither panacea could possibly touch the root of the financial stringency, because banks only act as agents for the distribution through industrial channels of the available wealth and do not of themselves create wealth, however valuable their assistance- may be in the various processes of production. However much additional capital the local banks might raise in the dominion, and however much capital might be raised here by new banks, the position would not be relieved, for the difficulty lies in i;he limited amount of capital that is to be found in the community, a difficulty aggravated every time -the Government borrows money locally instead of borrowing outside. — 'X New Zealand Herald." AUCKLAND CITY FINANCES. As to our city loans it would likely be good business, as the new Mayor of Auckland v proposes, to amalgamate them all in one issue insrtead of attempting to float them in detail. Collectively tho loans already authorised reach the rather formidable total of £208,500 without counting, in, the £50,000 loan on account of drainage preliminaries. But though our fi- i nancial burdens are already heavy the people of Auckland have sufficient faith m the future of their city to face their responsibilities without any apprehension and we believe that the confidence i they have reposed in the new City Council and the new Mayor as fit and proper persons to control- and administer our finances and our municipal business will be fully justified by the result of the year's work. — " Auckland Star." THE OPPORTUNITY AND THE MAN. By consenting to alter his private plans so that his time and energy may ; be available in a public -cause, Mr M'Nab has set a very admirable Qkample in national citizenship. It will be > a soldier that will appeal for soldiers. He has not spared himself in the past in his efforts to qualify himself and others todo some good for their country in a time of need, and now his chance has come to make -New Zealand gratefully remember a "'man whose best years and best energies of manhood have been cheerfully and modestly given for his country's benefit.— " Evening Post."