PRESS OPINION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 144, 20 June 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRESS OPINION

BRICK SCHOOLS. Obviously, it is impossible to re-erect brick schools in other materials, so that | I the ill-chosen words of Mr Atmore aie . likely to create an atmosphere ot fear , among pa-cats children arc! housed in brick buildings, when non.! should exist. Tiiire arc several bricx schools in this citv. only one of which is definitely unler a cloud, and the Minister is doing a wrongful act oy cn- | gendering fear in the minds of parents that the others arc unsafe. There has been no suggestion of this. The committee appointed by the Government to consider building regulations and safeguards against future damage failed to reach unanimity on brickwork con struction. Where experts differ, it would be wiser, perhaps, for the Minister to follow the lines of his present, policy and to refrain from instilling fear into parents whose children are taught in brick schools. —Manawatu Evening Standard. THE UNEMPLOYED ACT. The dairying outlook is distinctly brighter, and there is greater activity in the markets for fat sheep and lambs for export at rather better prices than have ruled lately. This will give confidence to farmers and to trades people and encourage them to employ a little more labour. Larger exports at ever, only a little highei prices will improve tho trading balance of the Dominion and release more money for expenditure in the best possible direction, that of still further increasing production on the land. The freezing works will be kept in operation a little longer by the better demand for mutton and lamb; the better prospects may induce an increased demand for fertilisers, thus providing more employment in the fertiliser works; and the greater volume and value of exports, with a greater volume of imports following as a natural sequence, will provide more work on the waterside and in the transport services. The process will be slow perhaps; it will not absorb 20,000 or 30,000 men in a short time as the Unemployment Board has endeavoured to do; but it will be a cumulative process gathering strength, not weakness, as it goes on. Parliament’s efforts, when it meets, should be directed the encouragement of productive industry, rather than to finding more money to bo spent on unproductive [works put in hand with the primary oo- ■ ject of relieving employment.—Taranaki Herald. I I THE TRAFFIC POLICE. | A well-merited compliment was paid by a correspondent of The I’ost to rhe i police, who arc now, after many years of efficient service, discontinuing point j duty in Wellington. Efficiency, couri tesy, and helpfulness are what we exIpect from the police in New Zealand, 'no matter what duty they may under(take, and perhaps the greatest praiso ; that can be given to tho .officers is im plied in public acceptance of this I service as if nothing different could lever be expected. Point duty may 1 «• 'a comparatively simple part of police I work, but the police themselves, by tact and patience when the system was I initiated, have helped to make it so. In this country traffic regulation may i be monotonous and unexciting work, lit is not so everywhere. A few months ago a young policeman in New Jersey, U.S.A., arrested one of the most desperate of American criminals without a , fight by pretending to caution him for a violation of traffic rules and covering him with a pistol before the criminal could draw a weapon. The man, wh< had escaped from Sing Sing Prison, had a revolver in each hip pocket, a teargas pistol in his waistcoat, a revolver in the pocket of each door of his ear. an automatic pistol under the dashboard, and a sawed-off shotgun on the floor of the rumble. Moreover, .lu\ man would evidently have been pre- ; pared to use this armoury, judging by . the history of the gang of which he [ I was a member. Two killed each other,' a third committed suicide in prison, a fourth was killed while trying to es- ' cape from prison, a fifth was serving a . life sentence, and the sixth was re- [ ported to be in the French Foreign Legion. Traffic regulation in Welling ' ton has had neither the perils nor tiie thrills of encounters with such gang-, only the minor Liinoyances and discomfort of unskilled drivers, unwary walk | ers, and bleak southerlies. But the! .work has been taken as it came, in [ 'good weather or bad, ami always with good temper and efficiency.—Evening i Post. UNEMPLOYMENT. J There is only one specific that will ' give the desired result, ami that is “\ I tension of business -primary prodin ' ■ tion, secondary industry and commerce' alike. This country is too small anil ' too little developed to carry one-ten th ‘ [of its population on its back. Jt. can I [not continue to find huge sums of J money to pay for work that, is not es- |' isential. Employment must be made |' [available in legitimate industry ami: ■business, ami at a cost which will en-[ ; able it to pay for itself. That is the! crux of the whole matter. For a long! [time past New Zealand has been pay- i [ing a great deal more for work than it ;' ■ was worth. The recent reduction oijl [wages is but the first step in the direc- I ' tion of restoring the balance between the cost, of production and service and P the value of the output. The step.-. 1 that remain to be taken necessitate!’ I first of all the abolition of the arbitra ' [tion system, under the shelter of which i 1 utterly unreal standards of worth have • .been created. .If Parliament will re 1 • lieve industry and commerce of this in- 1 cubus the operation of the natural economic laws will do the rest. Once f I artificial ideas are scrapped and tin ’ [Country gets down to hard facts there' 1 i will be settled employment for even man who can do a fair day's work.- 1 Taranaki Daily News. TIIE FIVE MILLIONS LOAN. I We are afraid that the lesson is : that we must not expect, at all extents I a* long as the present world’wide de- J

AUSTRALIA’S EFFORT. The Australian Premiers' Conference, after a session extending over a fortnight, has reached certain definite [conclusions, which have now been subjoined to the public by Mr bcullin. The main features of the scheme are a 20 per cent, “cut” on all Government expenditure capable of such readjustment, and the conversion of Govern- | ment stock held by Australian bondholders from a 5 to a 4 per cent, basis. The conversion is to be voluntary, and an appeal is to be made to tho patriotism and the common sense of bondholders to accept the proposal at once. A a to the “cut,” it will cover salaries, pensions and all Government allowances, while other administrative expenditure is to be reduced on a corresponding scale. It is certainly a comprehensive and far-reaching scheme, and it does credit to the courage, the statesmanship and the public spirit of the political leaders of Australia that they have ventured to propose such drastic “self-denying ordinances” to their people. As to the urgent need for some such effort at balancing the Budgets and making financial ends meet, there is no room for difference of opinion. The estimated deficits, IState and Federal, for the financial year now closing total more than £30,000.000, and if this terrible “drift to leeward” is not checked it can end only in shipwreck. Mr Scullin is most emphatic in his assurance that unless something radical is done at once to relieve the situation the various Governments in a few weeks will be unable to meet their obligations; and this would mean so complete an economic collapse that the whole community would be reduced to chaos and “no wages or pensions would be available for anybody.” Of course, the reductions in salaries, pensions, wages and public expenditure that must now be accepted will entail heavy losses and sacrifices on the whole body of the people. Against this, as the Primo Minister has pointed out, must be set the resultant fall in tho cost of living, the extension of employment and the maintenance of the various relief schemes now operating. But whatever may be tho precise effect of these efforts and experiments, there can be no doubt that the decision of tho iPremiers’ Conference in favour of vigorous and courageous action hns already produced a most beneficial effect in Australia and outside it. In Sydney, though Mr Lang is still obstinate and recalcitrant, the opinion is freely expressed that business will at once improve ami that Australian securities will be stabilised. In London and New York, Australian stocks have already risen, and the leading British newspapers commend highly the, proposals of the Premiers’ Conference, more especially its final choice of voluntary conversion. The scheme for rehabilitation and reconstruction has been inaugurated under the best auspices, and the people of Australia cannot and will not allow it to fail.—Auckland Star. A LIBERAL-LABOUR CRISIS. Thu crisis reported to have developed in British politics over the proposed land tax comes as a surprise. It is not long since observers were saying that the chances of a dissolution were much smaller now than toward the end of last year, largely because the Labour Government and the Liberals seemed to have reached something like a solid basis of agreement. Then, when Mr Snowden included in his Budget provision for taxing land values, it was given the official blessing of the Liberals. Air Lloyd George, indeed, wished the Chancellor better luck than he had had himself with his land tax proposals dating back to 1909. Now the calm is disturbed by a Liberal amendment to the taxation proposals, not acceptable to the Government, concerning which a compromise has so far proved impossible. The affair, as described, has several puzzling features. Mi bnowden, for distance, is reported to be inflexibly opposed to the amendment because it would upset his entire Budget equilibrium. But returns from the land tax were not included in this year’s estimates because, it was ex* plained, no revenue from it was expected until 1933-34. If Mr Snowden has planned future Budgets closely enough for such an item to be so disturbing, he has looked further ahead than is customary. Again, the Liberals ajipcared to be so thoroughly in accord with the Government on the principle of land taxation that it is difficult to understand the su<lden development of a deadlock which cannot yield to negotiation. Differences of opinion alleged to portend a defeat for the Government have not been infrequent during the life of this I’arliament. The novel features of the latest are its sudden appearance in what was supposed to be a period of tranquility and the subject responsible for it.—New Zealand

pression lasts, to get cheap money for our requirements. And if the country can not get cheap money, it is certain that the farmer and the business man will not get it. It would, no doubt, have bet'n better for us all if we could have done without recourse to the money market this year. But our finance is based on the annual loan. Our public works policy depends on it. If we could not find the money large numbers of men all (.ver the countrv would be thrown out of employment. The unemployed list now numbers 40,000 aud the Government has recently been paying the. enormous sum of £lO,OOO a week on unemployment relief. It has announced that this can not be continued. But .if we had no loan bill the number of unemployed would be vastly increased. The money is to be largely spent on railways ami electrical undertakings, described ns remunerative works. Incidentally they find employment for many hands. But the Government should begin to consider what is to be done when it becomes impossible, as it soon w ill, to raise an annual loan in London. Reform was right in desiring to taper off borrowing. Their viewi are confirmed by the reception of (lie, live million Joan.— Hawke's Bay Herald. •