WHAT OTHER WRITERS ARE SAYING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17906, 23 July 1926, Page 8

WHAT OTHER WRITERS ARE SAYING.

A Lost Opportunity. New Zealand has just lost a great opportunity, and it is the fault of the Government, or at least of the Postal Department. Many months ago the postal authorities notified the general public that a change was to be made in our postage stamps. Three new values were to be issued—a new Id. 2s and 3s—and the stamps were to bear the likeness of his Majesty the King, in naval uniform. This sounded promising, and not only a number of people interested in stamp-collecting, but that> large section of the general public which is inclined to take seriously everything that concerns the dignity and prestige of the Dominion awaited further developments in pleased anticipation. Meantime the stamps issued to commemorate the Dunedin Exhibition burst upon our astonished vision with a stupefying shock. Without analysing these extraordinary productions in too great detail, we can safely say that they were by far the worst stamps ever put into circulation in New Zealand. And now that the new stamps, representing “ his Majesty in naval uniform ” are before us, we have some difficulty in deciding whether they are better or worse than the curious specimens of colour-printing which made the Dunedin Exhibition ridiculous some months ago.—Auckland “ Star.’’

Mental Ailments. The appeal of the Inspector-General of Mental Hospitals for a more sympathetic attitude to sufferers from ailments of the mind will not fall altogether on deaf cars. The bad old days when mental disease was customarily regarded as beyond cure, and the victim of it as a potential murderer needing nothing but secure confinement, are rapidly passing. Among medical men, at all events, the growth of knowledge has brought better understanding of the nature, the causes and the cures of many forms of such disease. i No longer are cases grouped by even the inexpert public as equally hopeless. Nevertheless, Dr Gray’s appeal is timely. It will strengthen desirably the growing view and win additional support for those entrusted with the ministry by saner means to minds diseased. There is still some public misconception, and so long as even a small measure of that persists the means will lag behind the need.— “ New Zealand Herald.” Coal Strike Outlook. In accord, perhaps, with the belief that the darkest hour is just before the dawn, it is being suggested that the British coal strike is now coming nearer a settlement. On disclosed facts there is little to warrant the belief. The miners, and especially their official spokesman, Mr Cook, have given public indication of a desire to compromise, but all that has been said so far has been so hedged about with conditions that it is very poor evidence of settlement prospects. Hopeful possibilities can be dissipated as rapidly as they rise. A da}* or two ago the proposals of representative churchmen were considered the basis of hope. Now they have been rejected by the Government because of the subsidies involved, and by one great organisation of miners because they are not in tune with policy already laid down. Next has come the suggestion that a loan should be made to the industry, all parties being levied to provide interest and sinking fund. Many things in the changing situation are uncertain. Two stand out as often repeated and least likely to vary. The one is the improbability of even a modified subsidy being available for any purpose whatsoever; the other is the unlikelihood of the Government taking the initiative by proposing terms.—“ New Zealand Herald,” Auckland.

Immigration and Work. An important question was raised at the meeting of the Auckland Unemployment Committee—the influence of the present immigration stream upon unemployment. The committee had not previously considered this phase of the problem, but it unanimously decided that the Government should be requested seriously to consider the present immigration policy with a view to modification with the object of preventing additional people being thrown upon the labour market during the present period of acute unemployment. There is no doubt that the committee was thoroughly justified in its action. The haphazard flow of migrants, coming at a time when the Dominion’s finances are strained, and there is n«* possibility of economically absorbing those already here, is indefensible. If the Government had an immigration policy and was able to put the new arrivals on to the land without delay so that they might add to the productivity of the Dominion, there would be. some excuse for keeping the channel flowing. But when the newcomers are not trained agriculturists and have neither the finance nor the practical ability to join the producing class, the Government should confess its inability to cope with the stream, and should dam it at its source until more favourable conditions guise.—“ Auckland i Star.” '