Sayings of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 17, 27 October 1909, Page 3

Sayings of the Week.

Windy Agitators. E are not to be driven by the ■fl windy agitation of ignorant, interested, excited hotheads into wasting public money upon armaments on a scale clearly not designed merely for the purposes of material defence, but as part of a showy, sensational, aggressive jingo policy.— Mr Winston Churchill. « • • • Parliamentary Sleepers. Parliament is the most difficult of all audiences to address. When the young member rises to speak, he may notice his best friend sound asleep. Another member, perhaps, closes a book he has been reading, gets up, and walks out of the chamber, with an expression which plainly says, “I can stand a good deal, but I can't stand that!” I assure you, gentlemen, there are some very able sleepers in the House.— Mr Herdman, M.P. • • • • Labour and Protection. We have declared that, provided the consumer, the manufacturer, and the workmen are protected, the Labour party is solid for protection. This is not the first, second or third time that that declaration has been made, for we have announced the fact to the country at large.— Mr Fisher, Federal Labour Leader. • • * • Led by Faddists. The education system of this country is coming into general contempt. It is recognised throughout the country that our children are not being educated as they were some years ago, that the Minister for Education has allowed Rimself to be led by faddists, and that the administration of our education system has not been on sound lines. An attempt has been made to make the schools smalluniversities, which give a smattering of every sort of education without the children getting the thorough gronding which they ought to have in necessary subjects.—Mr Malcolm, M.P. for Clutha. • • • * Lest We Forget. New Zealand was the first country to establish universal penny postage, the first to establish non-contributory old age pensions, cheap money to settlers, cheap money to workers, State fire insurance, compulsory conciliation and arbitration, compulsory purchase of large estates for closer settlement, State maternity homes. New Zealand was the first to provide competent midwives and nurses for those unable to pay for them, the first British country to afford to women the Parliamentary franchise, the first to establish State life and accident insurance, the first to establish reciprocal trade with Great Britain, the first to establish workers’ homes, a Department of Public Health, and various operations dealing with superannuation.— Mr T. W. Wilford, M.P. • • • * Too Many Regulations. I really can’t go into raptures over your railways. The trains are slow and not too clean. Comfortable. Well, I didn’t find them luxurious. There wasn’t a seat one could lie down on to go to sleep. But, I suppose, lying down is against the rules—like some other things. I had my bag open on the seat in front Of me once, with some papers in it that I was using. There were several empty seats in the carriage, but the guard came along and told me I mustn’t have the bag there; it was taking up space that Somebody else might want, and it ought to be in the luggage van. There seems to be quite a lot of what I call “keep-off-the-grass” regulations—such as “No Smoking on the railway platform.” I Wasn’t allowed to smoke in a railway car m the midst of my own party, and with no passenger in the car who objected. It wasn’t a smoking car, and that was enough for the official.—lf r Foster Fraser. Readiness in War. It is the bounden duty of every Com-mander-in-Chief to strive for readiness *n war, but never to fritter away ths resources of the country in unnecessary ■ulitary adventure.— Lord Kitchener.

An Experimental Farm. New Zealand was a kind of experimental farm, legislating experimentally for the benefit of the world at large. Employers of the Dominion found themselves in a disadvantageous position, being the only side to a dispute that was in any way bound by law. Men wanted the Arbitration Court and the power to strike as well. — Mr Bennett, Master Builders’ Association.

The Foundation of Democracy. There has been a feeler put out in the shape of a suggestion that some part of the cost of education might be thrown on the ordinary taxpayer as an ordinary tax. So long as I am in the House I will resist most strenuously any attempt of the kind. We have a right to have the best education that can be designed, not as a result of any class taxation, but as a first charge, if necessary, on the whole revenues of this country. It is the best expenditure the country makes, and we will not allow any tax to be imposed on the average, citizen for the purpose of having children educated as was suggested. The very foundation of our democracy is that we must get the people educated, and their power can be rightly used only if it is based on knowledge and character. —Mr. T. B. Taylor, M.P. • • • • Secondary Schools. The average length of a pupil's course in our secondary schools is not long enough to secure the greatest benefit to the community from the secondary school system, and every effort should be made to extend it. Among other things, the raising of the standard of the Uni-

Matriculation Examination, and still ■Kore the acceptance of a certificate of four years’ satisfactory work in a secondary school as a qualification for admission to the university, would tend to increase the duration of secondary school life, and to raise the standard of work both in the secondary schools and in the university colleges. — Hon. O. Fowlds. e • • • Three Weeks. If it were not for the presence of the reporters in the Press gallery and “Hansard,” the session would not last three weeks. But we cannot do without them, for if we did, we would have had “star chamber” legislation.— Mr. T. W. Wil ford, M.P.

The Untameable Hogg. The leading newspapers of the capitalistic Press raved and howled against me on account of my speech. I had committed the unpardonable sin, and I awoke a simultaneous editorial chorus. Why? Because I maligned the fat man, the monopolist, the man who is responsible for the share register that holds so important a place in every one of these periodicals. I had calumniated the ex-

ploiter, and the poor editors raged and tore their hair, that is, those that had any. The Christchurch “Press” described me as “the untameable Hogg.” That is perfectly true. I have never been broken in, I have never had the bit in my mouth, the harness on my shoulders. — Mr .4. IF. Hogg, M.P. • • » « Geological Knowledge. As far as my “geological” knowledge goes, Leipzig is in Germany.— Hon. F. Trask. • 9 • • Not Enough Scare. Much has been said about a “war scare” in England. There is not enough of a war scare there. The conditions

which confront Great Britain are ominous, and it is to be deplored that we are not better prepared.— Lord Northcliffe. • * » • Coronets in the Melting Pot. So long as the King remains outside party politics he can be tolerated. The moment the Throne begins to interfere the crown will follow the peers’ coronet into the melting pot.— Mr. Keir Hardie.