Sayings of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVLI, Issue 10, 6 September 1911, Page 3

Sayings of the Week.

Civil Servants in Paradise. IF we hand over the public service of this country to a Czar we should have ructions of the most awful kind, and yet that is what the honourable gentleman proposes in regard to the public services. In a country such an this is, it is of the utmost importance that there should be a good public service. and that the Civil servants should have as good a return made them for their services to the State as is possible. The present position of the public servants, as compared with what heretofore existed, is as paradise to the other extreme. —*S’fr Joseph Ward. • « • » Fermentation. The whole of the staff of the Railway Department are in a state .of ferment and discontent.— Mr. Herdman, M.P. ♦ * * * What is a Tory ? A Tory is a man who uses public funds for his own private purposes. If there are any Tories in this country we don’t .want them to support the party in opposition. — Mr. W. F. Massey, M.P. «• * * * Fighting or Skiting ? T believe Mr. McLaren calls himself f Fighting Mae,” but if the public , were here night after night and listened to him they would call him ‘•Skiting Mac.”— Mr. Herdman, M.P. Only Second Class. Unfortunately it is well nigh impossible .to get the best el<iss of workman to emigrate from the Old Country.— Mr. 'Michaels,- Auckland- Employers’ Association. ' . * ♦ • * Patronage. The principal reason why I oppose the Public Service Reform Bill is because It throws open to almost everybody who has any society or wealth in the .Community the whole of the Civil Service. The very composition of the -bill from the beginning to end is patronage.— Mr. E. [{. Taylor-, M.P. • * « * Political Purity. Tn no country is there less political influence than in New Zealand at the present time; in no country in the world.—Ur. E. H. Taylor, M.P. Unionism or Home Rule? Some young women, on entering a factory, said they did not bother about unionism. They looked forward to another sort of union later on.— Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C. • » « » The Public Service Reform Bill. If this bill yvere submitted to a vote of the public service, there would be, if not a unanimous, an almost unanimous, vote against it. From what quarter of the public service has come any demand for an alteration in their status.— Mr. G. W. Russell, M.P. *■ * * • The People’s Pocket Pays. Personally, I do not care if the country gives the railway men £1 a day, so long as they know that they will have to put their hands into their pockets before this lakes place. T am prepared to pay a higher wage to honest men. — Hon. J. A. Millar. * * * * Thieving Made Easy. It often happened that the amount of Customs duties was disputed, and while the matter was being adjusted the good* were left on the floor of the shed, and could be removed by anyone with business about the wharves without let or hindrance.— Mr. Duncan Macdonald, Auckland. • « • • Brains .Coat Money. I do not think wo pay half enough •alary for the men in the higher positions of the public service. We want to encourage men with brains, and to give them something to look forward to. It »s cheap to pay a man well; in order to got the best out of his brains if always jmys to pay brains,t and search out the man who has brains.— Mr. J. Viyor Rrown, Napier. . • r »r.

A Timely Plea. 1 think we should exercise a greater amount of generosity in our criticism of public men. It should be our endeavour to avoid mistaking parochialism for patriotism, or, in other words, contracting the habit of grasping the telescope at the wrong end. That besetting sin is part of the mission of this institution to counteract. The club stands for the recognition of honest motives, the condonation of honest mistakes, and the generous appraisement of public services, honestly performed. Post-mortem eulogy never did a statesman any good, but even the (post profound patriot may fall a prey to evil thinking.— Mr. Pierce C. Freeth, president of the New Zealand Club.

The Bard as an Irishman, If Shakespeare were to. come back to us talking as he did in his own time, his speech, not only in pronunciation, but in many more essential characters, would be better represented by what we know as the Irish brogue than in any other way.— lh\ J. J. Walsh. inquire Within. For the last four years the Opposition hail been urging increased rates —anything. in fact, to relieve the railways from the consolidated fund. We heard them again and again before last election on the same plaint. Now the cry is: Reduce the rates, reduce the upkeep, reduce everything, and inquire into everything. —The Prime Minister. The Great Unwashed. Solicitors, clergymen, actors, writers, and others had nothing in common with the wage-earner. These were the very people, who in the past looked down upon the working class as “the great unwashed,” and treated them with the utmost Scorn. — Mr. Canhant, Auckland. «... A Distant Relation. A good many of the English people seem still to hold to the idea that New Zealand is a part of Australia. In one case at a dinner, Mr. Blomfield was placed beside another colonial, because they would probably lie acquainted, al- . though the other man ; had come from ..Canada,— Ur. ft. J. Geddes,- Napier,

A Rival to Hansard. It is not the duty of Parliament to provide a library of fletion for the citizens of Wellington.— Hon. Geo. FowUts. • • • • Libraries for Schools. I should like to see boxes of books from our libraries sent out to our schools for educational purposes. That is a branch of library work that would be of great value.— Mr. McLaren, M.P. * * » • Evolution of Conscript System. Modern militarism in Europe was a growth merely of the last 40 years, when after the Franco-German war. Bismarck and Von Moltke—those men of blood and iron—imposed for the first time the conscript system on the States of the Fatherland until Germany had become the greatest military power, to be followed very closely by France, Russia, Austria, Italy and the other States of Europe.— Mr. Herbert Corder, Wellington.

Mixed Marriages and Daggers. To prevent apostacy and adultery. I will never sanction a mixed marriage without having a dagger driven through my heart.— Archbishop Kelly, Sydney. • * * » Boycotting Novels. The only way to put a stop to the ‘'corner” in books is for the booksellers to hold meetings, ami send their united pro test to the Publishers’ Association of Great Britain. If this is not sufficient, we shall have to adopt more drastic measures, and we may, if necessary, go as far as to boycott the fiction controlled by the “trust”. — Mr. W. E. Arey, Auckland.

Government and Daylight. I am quite willing to apply this Daylight Saving Bill to the Government offices of the Parliament of New Zealand for two years as a trial.— Mr. Massey, M.P. • • * • A Credit to Parliament. I believe our Parliamentary library is well maintained, and equal to any Parliamentary library in Australasia. I hope it will develop into a national library, and that it will contain a complete record of all books on New Zealand. —H<m. Geo Fowl ds. Taking His Measure. The Boundary Commissioners had been fairly kind to him in regard to his electorate (Wellington North). They had extended the electorate nearer to Porirua, and on the west had brought it closer to the cemetery. At the southern extremity also he still had the gaol.—l/r. H erdman, M.P. A Corner in Books. If (h • majority of the larger booksellers stood aloof, and refused to sell controlled works of fiction, the result would Im* that huge stocks would be left on the syndi cate’s hands. Of course, the public would suffer in not being able to obtain certain novels, but the booksellers could not be blamed for protecting the interests of their trade.— Mr. H. J. Edmislon, Auckland, Beautiful New Zealand. In New Zealand was to be found the greatest variety of beautiful scenery in the world. The fjords there surpassed those of Norway, and he had seen both Tropical plants could be found in the North Island, ami also gigantic trees which had taken centuries to grow, but were unforunately falling fast under the axe and could never he replaced.—/.ord Ranf urly. A Plethora of Pictures. Getting in tin* Academy or Salon means nothing. There is splendid work refused at both pla -es. I realised the absurdity of the present method when I acted as one of thv jurors appointed io select the paintings for the Autumn Salon last year. r lTiinl< of devoting four solid days to the scrutiny of about 3000 pictures! the most, sincere man loses judgment under these circumstances. and selecting becomes a caprice. Mr. Rupert Runny, Melbourne. Liberal Interest. The rate of interest which we paid for our loan money when the Liberal party came into power was 16 per cent higher than the rate of interest paid last year. £3 14/6. On the total amount to date if we had got the old rate that the Tory-( Conservative antiquated prclleces s«»rs left us, it would have cost us £608,627 a year mon* than we paid last year.— Sir Joseph Ward. Britain's Weakness. What was the evil that beset the Motherland to-day Y What was it that was weakening her? The answer was found in the figures that John Burns gave to the Conference, not in a spirit of despair, but in a spirit of profound sad ness. lie showed that in 1906 no fewer than 190,000 British people left their native country to scatter in places oyer the seas. In 1910 this number had gro,wn to 240,000, while in 1911 Mr. Burns mated that fully 300,000 sons and daughters of Britain would leave their motherland for other countries.— Sir John Find lay.