MEASURES OF RELIEF.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 129, 24 February 1908, Page 6

MEASURES OF RELIEF.

Tiie decision, of the; Government to grant State aid to the sufferers from the disastrous.fires that have been raging in the interior this summer, involves a principle tliat. may not meet with universal favour, but one which, in the circumstances, it is difficult to quarrel \yith. _ If the fires had. resulted only in individual hardships affecting only the individuals immediately concerned, there would hardly be, warrant for _ State' assistance, but the 'actual position appears to be otherwise. The individual losses, by their extent and their nature, mean a loss .to the commonwealth—not factually, but in the nature of, a national calamity; and it is, therefore, a legitimate concern of the Stat6 as a whole to assist to cure its wounds. The Government has decided to supply grass seed at cost price, and free of interest, for. some years, to all those who have, suffered from the conflagrations. In' extreme cases the seed will be supplied free. For those who have lost homes, or outbuildings, or' fences, the material for building purposes or for fencin'g will be carried on the railways free of charge. Unoccupied Crown lands will be thrown open for grazing. Approximately what sum these concessions .will represent it is impossible to estimate just yet, but with the present high prices ruling for. all grass-seed the sum may be a large one. The -greatest care, therefore, is necessary in the distribution of aid. The occasion must not be seized as an opportunity to lay down in grass, with. State assistance, areas which were never sown before, or which were not grass lands, but which have been made available for sowing through the fire itself. The State has no business to do more than assist in the replacement of the grass thAt has been destroyed. There is always a tendency to indiscriminateness and, waste in relief work of the kind which is contemplated. Caution, not lavishness, should govern the distribution of the seed. In many instances settlers will have really benefited by the fires, and in practically all cases, in a year or two's time the losses of to : day, in grass pastures at least, will be amply recouped by the clearance of land formerly littered with logs and'stumps or ovetgrown with scrub. The appeal to seed merchants to assist the State by refraining from charging unduly high prices may be well meant,_ but is not likely to have any practical result. Merchants will'be guided by the prices ruling, and in any case they can hardly be expected, alone of individual traders, to sell below the market-rate created by the demand. The Government would , have done better service by getting quickly and quietly to work and purchasing seed before it announced its intentions. Naturally, it could not have delayed its announcement any length of time, but, a very brief delay would huve. enabled it to secure a fair, .auautitx. .of ;eed at the

existing price. We trust that such care will bo exercised in tlie distribution of the seed that there will be no possibility of suggestion in the future of political favours, or of needless extravagance at the expense of the community at large.