PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17180, 25 October 1923, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION.

WHAT OTHER WRITERS ARE SAYING. Scout ism inculcates Service as it# slogan, and it gets at. the small boy during his most, awkward age. when: he must I>© offered something that aptpeals to his better nature and at. the same time grips and holds his attention. Scoutism satisfies the boy. and it lays the foundation for good citizenship.—Feilding “ Star.” With money wages stabilised, every improvement in productive and distributive efficiency, finding its natural reflection in lower prices for goods and services, will increase the purchasing power of money wages. At the same time the general prosperity of trade and industry is assisted when traders, manufacturers, and others know definitely what their working expenses* will be over a. fairly extended period.—Wellington ‘‘ Dominion.” A fisheries expert has declared the fish caught on the Chatham grounds, particularly the blue-cod. to be superior to those taken in New Zealand waters. The prospects for profitably canning the swarming crayfish have been described as excellent. 'With the. stock-breeding possibilities also counted, it appears as if the Chatham Islands form an asset capable of much greater development than that at present in progress.--Auckland “ Hera id.” Hie lives <cfi innocent young people are not secure where they are compelled to associate witli the mentally deficient, and’ it is a question whether even though children may escape physical injury, constant contact with those of unbalanced minds may not be productive of mental deterioration if long continued, for there is a great deal more in the influence of environment upon minds in process of development than is generally recognised.--Oama.ru “ Mail.” Authentic cases have been cited to us of consignments of goods accepted by the department for delivery at Dunback, bur never received by the conj sigaecs who. however, in the circumstances of the-case, have never obtained redress. Necessarily the settlers, having some regard for their own interests, are discontinuing the use of the railway for the conveyance of their supplies. And. because they have been driven from the railway to the road for the transport of their goods, they are exposed t-o the departmental taunt that the line does not pay. Otago Daily Times.” The true remedy for a shortage of houses and high rents is to build as many houses as possible at the lowest possible cost. Under the generous extension of the State advances legislation which became law last session, very large numbers of people are being assisted to build or acquire homes of their own. Attention might still be concentrated very profitably, however, on the question of lowering building costs. There is undoubtedly much scope for practical enterprise in this direction by the factory cutting ** of wooden houses and in other ways.—Wellington lC Dominion.” The proclamation of a -Republic of the Rhineland” is by no means an unexpected outcome of Germany’s downfall in the Great War. for the Germans of Westphalia and the Rhine country have no love for Prussia., and like most of the other German States they permitted themselves ‘to he included in the German Empire fifty years ago only because Prussia seemed to have given convincing proof that under her leadership war could be made to pay. . . But if Germany breaks up into a number of separate States it. will be harder than over to fix or enforce the responsibility for reparations. But France, no doubt, is prepared to face this difficulty if only ber still formidable enemy will thus reduce herself to impotence. The suggestion that the - Rhineland Separatists are endeavouring j to sever themselves from Prussia so as to disclaim all liability for damages in connection with the war is not likely to impress France favourably. But the erection of an independent buffer State on the Rhine, which would bold Prussia at a distance from the French frontier would be such an inestimable advantage to France that she might well be content to forego some portion of the prospective. but still elusive, reparations to secure it.—Auckland ’-Star.” There seems to be a competition among spokesmen for tho farmers of the Dominion to advance the cause of co-operation by discovering new extravagances for tho disparagement of private enterprise. Typical of this misdirect© zeal is the remarkable speech delivered by the chairman of the. Feilding Farmers’ Freezing Company, in which it was bluntly proclaimed that in the freezing industry the proprietary concerns regard the farmers as objects out of which dividends may be squeezed, while the primary purpose of the co-operative works is to protect the producers and give them a fair deal. There was a greatdeal more in the same strain, leading up to the peroration in which Mr Gobbe envisaged such a triumph of co-operation that the farmers could dictate the policy of the. Dominion, send the trusts packing, and take that place in public estimation that their real importance warrants. If of* similar nonsense, it might be ignored as containing its own condemnation, hut there is a danger that by frequent repetition, such assertions may break through the defences of shrewd common sense with which the •vreat maioritv of farmers are equipped. Auckland -Herald.” It may be regarded as somewhat unfortunate that the director of the A al© Observatory was not more specific in his references to the several sources’* from which it. was gathered that it an impecunious Government of the entire Dominion would be unable to interest itself with reasonable promptness in the project - for promoting astronomical research in the Southern Hemisphere an opulent, city in the Dominion was prepared to step into the breach. Tt is to be surmised, however, that the offer with which the Auckland City C ouncil lias closed was not an unsolicited one on the part of the 5 ale University. The New Zealand Institute and the Australian Association for the Advancement of Science had innocently assumed that the University was in treaty only with the Government for its co-operation in promoting the cause of astronomical research. There seems, however, to be no reason to doubt, that, while the scientific bodies in the Dominion were under this impression, the University had been approached from ' several sources * with suggestions that the finances of New Zealand were so desperate that there wa.s no hope of any negotiations with the Government being carried to a successful issue, and that, if its plans were not to be brought to nought, it was to the Auckland City Council that it . should -apply.- f “Otago-Daily^Tijnes.”