NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 624, 29 September 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

I ♦——— \ '• _ The Native ■ Minister was, very rudely interrupted during his' speech at Taihape last evening by one of his audicnco. Only ono, word appears' to have been uttered b/. this interjectbr, but it: covered , the whole ground. ,It was not elegant; it was not even .polite, fyut it was .pointedly true. Wo should not care to apply tho expression to Mr. Carroll's remarks, but in milder language wo must give it our' endorsement.'/ The .Minister's references to' tho.efforts of.thp Governmont'to settle tho Native land question aro really laughable. Mr. Carroll has been the Government in Native landrmattorß, and the . spectacle of Mr. Carroll • exerting himself to throw tho Native lands opon t;'. European settlement imposes altogether too great a tax on tho imagination. | Tho effort to picture tho Minister striving. to alienate these lands from his people requires first the_ obliteration .of nearly -20 years of consistent policy "in exactly' the opposite direction.' 'But .it is not'to deal with this aspcct of the Native lands question that wo" referred to tho subject.; '.'ln his speech the Native Minister intimated that a consolidating Bill would be brought down during the coming session'.. He also stated that this Bill had already been prepared. Past experionco in connection with Nativo ' land legislation, has' taught tho' public that nothing is oasier than to' slip a clause, or a sentence in a clause, into a Native Land Bill which will have most unlookedfoi effects—to all save the fow interested people. _ Tho history of Native lapds,legislation is; mado.-up of trickery and muddlement.', To reduce the risk, as miich as possible with, tho consolidating Bill, tho; Government should see that it fa, circulated as soon as the House meets. With so many questions to be dealt withi and ; with only'a short session in prospect, it seems hopeless to'think.of passing sucli n measure this year. 'But the Bill'snould ; bi' , circulated'" immodiately_ tho House i meets.' \This'.,should bo insisted on. hot ■ merely by' the Reform party, but. by all' members.who rcajieo'tho great.importance to tho country of at Qnco placing the Native land question on' a satisfactory footing. '■ ■■• .

The present is. an age of. conferences and congresses—commercial, .'political,' social, rcligiousr-and the latest, though certainly not'thb least interesting,'is tne Australasian Catholic Congress now being hold in. Sydney. ' •When it is borno in mind that the -Roman Catholic Church! is the largest religious body in: the Christian : world, it becomes icvidenfc that tho carcfully-wcighed pronouncements of its represdntativo'inen on some of the' most difficult intellectual. social, and religious problems of tho. day must be of exceptional'interest' to all., thoughtful people even though they may'differ very widely from many of the opinions expressed. . Tho. Sydney Congress is all the more, important ..from'■ii' .N'cw ■ Zealand point of view by reason of the fact that the. Roman Catholics /pf; j tliis Dominion are represented; by /Archbishop, RedwooD arid : qth&r, leading' mbii, one' of whom has road a paper on the question of religious education.. The: majority of .the 'pcoplo of this colony, are opposed to :the -principlo of thp claim's ana policy of > the > Roman .Catholic Church on.this mattery-'but.few ■will withhold their admiration for the great, sacrifices its people havo made;' and aro/making,. in order to provide an education system on lines which they feci- to bj the best. '.Thoy have shown, their sinceritv in this-matter by t tho heavy burden which they, have voluntarily .placed upon: tlicrflsolycs the. ..support. ■,of ~ their ''8chool?;f ;It/is,ia-. ; remarkaplo : thipg • that whiloVthis 'great Church has lost' ground', of late yfears; in; France'; Strain,"ana Italy, it has'made a. vigorous recovery in such progressive, countries as Germany, Switzerland,'.tho United- States,, and Australasia. It has, its external and internal .troubles, yet owing to its, splondid organisation it, is.,ahle to cope with difficulties with wonderful cffectivenessj and it exercises, a powerful'influcnoo .even in communities where its adherents are comparatively few. ' As .Professor Krdoer, of Giessc'n—who is not a Roman Catholic,;, and .who writes purely as'' an historian— points- out "in/Lis recent': book; oil Pa,paey; 1 'To-day, Rome •is still a, worldpower. :. Tho spirits;of tho great Popes still walk the world 'and,'will continrio"t6%alk;aslong,as:thero is a Roman 1 Catholic Church." >. . ./;.,/'/ ~' .

Thekb . is u blunt candour about: tfio' Minister- for' Public Works at times that is in pleasing contrast 'to-.tlic: evasiveness' and indefinitehess which;wo have oomo to j associate with , Ministerial pronouncc-' ments/ Mii: M'Kenzik is'an. extremely unreliable guide to-follow in matters affecting the West' Coast, of the South Island, but whore'lie is not influenced by local bias;ho generally forms a shrcwcl judgment on matters .within his range of' knowledge.' He was on sound .ground when', he condemned in' His- blunt way tho scandalous bungling that has' been going on for Bomo time past in connection,with thi*': Mount' Egmont stone-crushing works. Accordinjg to the Hawera Star, the Minister, after ; a visit to the .works, unburdened himself as "follows:— — ' 1 Questioned by. Mi-, 1- J. Qtnn, chairman of_ tho Elthain County' Council, tnc Minister said; -th.at; lie was';! not! favourably impressed with what .ho caw there, and./tliat'if tho quarries were under the control of his' department'he would knock all hand 3 off on Monday morning.'.. Thp-Minister was of opinion that the lino should bo extended to ; a point at which good lurd stpuo could bo got.He was satisfied that a great proportion of the metal, at , present being quarried was absolutely useless for roading purposes. As a practical.man,,he did not-think'much'of tho methods adopted at the works, cither. - At tho works the Minister went even fur-' ther than this,: and said; "With regard to tho metal-gotting, ; so far as ho had seen it, he was disgusted with, the " whole show." He added. that he was glad to say that his DopartmCntiwas riot "responsible for-the . metal-getting- oporations.Whilo this outspokenness on Mb. M'Kenzik's_ part " must bo very galling indeed tr his colleague who . is, responsible, the Minister, for Railways,' it should afford encouragement" to, the _• Taranabi people, I who so urgently require good metal for the roads of. the district. ! The history ;of this business discloses what amounts to a public scandal.: In response to repeated requests from local -publicbodies tho. Government some time ago: decided to tap the pxtensive stone deposits at Mount Egmont by means of a'branch railway line. A huge quarry situated about 9 miles from tho main line was to bo. the spot from which tho metal was to bo obtained. .After constructing about Gj lnilcs of tho branch. railwaVi. howo.yer, and installing cxtonsivo crushing plant, etc., tho lino uat, diverted to'a ballast pit a few chains distant, and it has got no further. A 'sum. of. £64,000 .has'been •expended , iiv carrying this line Qj miles to a ballast

pith .Stono is also obtained from tho bed of-.a'stream near; by, but the metal is inferior and tho cost of handling excessive. Tho local bodies do not appear to havo been'able to get oither the quantity or quality of metal they required, and the cost—although' admittedly the metal has been sup'plied by tho Government at ■i loss—has been regarded as unduly high. Now that Mr. M'Kenzie has sndkon out so plainly, and Messrs. Hike, Dive, and Peauce, the local members of Parliament, arc moving '.-actively in tho; .matter, _. '.with tho • .'.■ weight. ; of' . the. ..local bodies ' and the. whole '.district behind, them, thcro should be hopo of the existing.'scandalous coh.dition of' things being;terminated.- ,Wc shall probably j hear .something definite" on the . subject .during the,'coming session^