Sayings of the Week

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 2, 14 July 1909, Page 3

Sayings of the Week

Three Kinds of Women. TO my mind, woman’s suffrage is almost, if not quite, the most important subject in contemporary politics. At the head of the female suffrage movement are a number of women of high intelligence; at the other end of the scale are a number of howling female dervishes; and mid-way between the two are young and impulsive women who seem to have been drawn by the mistaken idea that the question is part of the movement—with which we all sympathise —for the emancipation of women. or who have been caught by some political catch-phrase, such as “No taxation without representation.— Lord Curton.

An Unanswerable Objection. My main objection to woman suffrage is that women are not men. I think that covers the whole ground, though it admits of being amplified and illustrated.—> Lord Cromer. Brighter Prospects. The dairy industry would soon be Worth £3,000,000 yearly to the Dominion, and easily Tanked third on the list of exports. No industry was calculated to afford more employment or to contribute more to the better settlement of the country. The output this year had increased Considerably, cheese approaching to elose on £lOO,OOO and butter to about £1,600,000.— Bon. T. Mackenzie. * * * * Th© New Nations. 1 We have arrived at a time when we can dispense with the name of colonies and dominions. I prefer to call them nations, and with the nations of Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, and India cemented together for defence, we can laugh at the rest of the World.— Lord Charles Beresford, The Only Possible. In New Zealand we have had a State eystem of education since 1877, which is free and secular, and the effect has been excellent in every way. Crime has gone down, religious wrangling has ceased, and there is a general increase in feelings of humanity and kindliness. Ours is the only possible system.— Sir. Robert Stout. Prayer Superseded. Making our women voters has had a ■flendid effect on them, and on the Go-

vernment as well. They are learning that it is not necessary to go to prayer meetings and churches in order to do good. The vote has broadened their outlook on life, and, as electors, they are sweetening and purifying politics. — Sir Robert Stout. Still Rolling. A notable item in connection with railway finance was that owing to a good grain season and being able to keep the rolling stock going o n full time, the ratio of expenditure to revenue had decreased to 58 per cent in the South Island and to 60 per cent in the North.— Hon J. A. Millar. Tbe Heavenly Manna.

It was, of course,- quite clear that as long as a large proportion of the Press

and public entertained the idea that the money obtained from the general Government came down like manna from Heaven, so long would people prefer to fight for -grants rather than raise part of the money locally, believing that in some mysterious way the other fellow paid for these grants.— Hon. G. Fowlds. • • • • A Laudable Ambition. I do not think any reasonable man can raise any objection to the aspirations of Australia and Canada to have navies of their own. I believe that as in South Africa they placed their men and money at the disposal of the Imperial authorities, so it would be, should occasion arise, if they had fleets of their own. -—Mr. Hall Jones. Alone I Did It. In 1886 I passed a bill by which the State endowed every corporation in New Zealand with land, which is generally let on what is called the Glasgow system. At first, in advocating the Glasgow lease system, I was strenuously opposed, and it was suggested that a 99 years’ lease and then reversion to the State of all the buildings would be better, but the Glasgow lease was adopted, ultimately, and it has worked admirably ever since. No one would dream of substituting any other arrangement.— Sir Robert Stout. • • « « Good Intentions. The syllabus was intended to give that freedom which would enable teachers to make school life less unreal, less a matter of book study, and more a matter of developing the powers of observation—more than the mere filling up of the scholars with parcels of knowledge extracted from books.— Hon. G. Fowlds.

A Good Suggestion. If the Government could set aside blocks of land fairly easy of access, and allow the unemployed to do the bushfelling and roading, and then become tenants of the Crown, it would go far to relieve the distress.— Mr E. Kewman, M.P. • * • • Mispl aced Sympathy. I do not condemn the murder of Sir William Wyllie, but extend my sympathy to the poor Indian, mad and exasperated on account of the horrors endured by his people.— Mr Victor Grayson, M.P. «... Need for Reform. We have to bear in mind that 5500 separate offenders were sent to gaol in New Zealand last year, and of these 52 per cent had been in prison before, so that there is a very large field indeed for reform under new methods.— Hon. Dr. Findlay. * * • • Made in Germany. In Germany the employer, the worker, and the State combine to contribute to the unemployment

fund, and the workers have the biggest check upon its expenditure, because they contribute the largest portion of the money. They are consequently careful that no benefit goes to the undeserving. I will try to adapt from these examples a scheme suited to the Dominion, and I hope to have the measure ready by the coming session.— Hon. J. A. Millar. « * * « Good Advice. Before going to school see that your hands and faces are clean, and when at school try to keep your minds pure and clean and sweet. — Hon. G. Fowlds. • • • • Certain Poverty. Could they wonder that many parents were reluctant to bring the thought of ordination before their sons when they knew that the lads were certain, if they took holy orders, to be poor men all their lives ’— Bishop Wallis.

Local Taxation. There was no more urgent duty before the Government at the present time thaii to find people to go on to the unoccupied lands of the North, and local taxation of any kind would not encourage such settlement, but would only tend to discourage it.— Mr C. J. Parr, chairman Auckland Education Board. ... * An Awful Fact. Few realise the waste of child life ita England, the awful fact that half the children born die before they reach the age of five years.— The Bishop of Kensington. • » • • Art in Schools. The cultivation of the sense of arv most surely led to the cultivation of habits of cleanliness and general order. What he would like to see at every school was a border of flowers with a background of shrubs, and, behind them again, a belt of native trees. It was his opinion also that the boys and girls in every class should bring flowers to school to be placed in vases.— Mr R. Lee, chairman Wellington Board of Education Calling a Halt. I believe that the time has arrive# when the Government must, in respect of education —as in many other respects in connection with public expenditure—call something of a halt. — Hon. G. Fowlds.