The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1930. A QUIET HINT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19201, 15 October 1930, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1930. A QUIET HINT.

' I 'HE PUBLIC do not fully appredate the fact that one, of the greatest tasks with which the United Government was faced upon taking office was the restoration of governmental control as against departmental control in important public services. The Reform Government had surrendered to the Departments to an extent that staggered the new Ministers, and that loss of control has not yet been overtaken. Wc have an evidence of it in the somewhat remarkable statement of the acting-Prime Minister to-day that if the machinery set up for the carrying out of a broad and liberal land policy does not show the results expected of it, he will not hesitate to change the personnel of the Land Purchase Board or the officers of the Department. Mr Ransom’s statement comes with all the greater force when we consider the amount of land settlement that has been effected already under the brief Liberal regime. Up to March 31, 1930, there were 2091 subdivisions covering 402,900 acres, and 31 estates of a total acreage of 57,688 acres had been purchased at a cost of £547,390. Under group settlement there had been fourteen purchases of 9020 acres at a cost of £147,359, and loans for £43,987 had been granted to 108 individuals under land development schemes. If, in addition to these figures, we consider that the Advances to Settlers Department, which had ceased to function under the Reform Government, was put into full effect, with the overtaking of all arrears, during Sir Joseph Ward’s brief tenure of office, it will be seen that the United Government has much to be proud of in the matter of land settlement.

YOUTH AND NERVE. A UNIFORM DRIVING TEST for motorists is an exceHent idea, which should be of particular help to country motorists during their visits to the city. But a uniform test covering a knowledge of the laws and regulations which apply to driving demands uniformity of by-laws, and this is a direction in which the Ministry of Transport ought to have something to §ay. It may be assumed that the new regulations are intended, above all, to reduce the number of accidents, but it ought to be noted that merely inexperienced drivers are not the most fruitful cause- of accidents. The real menace .to-day is the reckless or intoxicated motorist, who is quite familiar with his car and with the regulations, but is prepared to abuse both. The new regulations, indeed, show too much timidity regarding youth and inexperience. That is not where the danger lies. In fact, it is absurd to fix a minimum age of twenty-one years for drivers of commercial vehicles. Young people in their teens make exceUent drivers, and with rare exceptions have not arrived at the drinking age. YOUNG PEOPLE’S MORALS. TF EVERY’ second girl in the Dominion is immoral, as a censorious writer tells us, it is a safe bet that every second boy is immoral. But such an allegation is sheer nonsense. Alarmists may study the vital statistics, and find disquieting enough figures there, but they should not draw dangerous deductions from them. It is a shocking fact that there are nearly ten iUegitimate births in New Zealand every year to every 1000 unmarried women between the reproductive ages—ls to 45. It is also true that for the past five years the illegitimate births and the extramarital conceptions have represented 32J per cent of the total births. But New Zealand does not stand high in illegitimacy statistics, and there is a stationary and even a declining tendency in the rate for the past five years. It is a somewhat comforting fact, too, that the number of legitimations has steadily increased, and in 1928 was 349. The censors should remember that woman is still the weaker sex, and if latterly she has shown a tendency to break many of the conventional bounds of her grandmother, it is partly because of a reaction against the double standard of morality that men have persisted in maintaining in the face of all ethical logic.