NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1726, 18 April 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Tub facts disclosed in a telegram published in yesterday's issue regarding a- Maori tangi in the King Country, which is still in progress, though the Native over whose remains it is being _ held died two months ago, certainly demand serious attention. 'A matter of this kind must surely comb within the sphere of operation of some Department of State. If not, it is high time steps were taken to prevent the recurrence of certain very objectionable features of these gatherings. We are told that "in one corner of the pacldock stands a newly-built tomb of concrete, vyith an air-tight cloor-vrh-y. Here reposes the corpse. No attempt has been rAade to inter the remains beneath the ground, and two or three times since the tangi opened the mausoleum has been opened and the dead man has been brought out for further mourning attentions." Proceedings of this kind are a menace to public health, and oujjht to be prohibited both for the sake of the Maoris themselves and of tho community as a whole. There is, no doubt, a natural disinclination to interfere with the aneicnt rites and- ceremonies of the Native race, but there is also a limit to the things that can be tolerated in a civilised community, and it is surprising, that the religious and educational influences which have been brought to bear on the Maoris for so many years have not succeeded long before this in abolishing the worst features of Maori burial ceremonies. The Young Maori Party, the Missionaries, and the educational authorities might well inaugurate a vigorous crusade for the reform of the tangi. It. would be better if the evil could be remedied by the spread of enlightenment in this way than by the more drastic method of an Act of Parliament.

The falling-off in the number of j students at Victoria University Colj lege for_ the present year, as com- ! pared with 19i2, need not cause any anxiety to the iriends of higher education. The report of the Professorial'l Board quite fairly explains .the decrease, even apart from the difference of opinion as to whether the matriculation examination during recent years has been made more i difficult. The genoral opinion seems ito .be that it has become a more searching test, uiid this more careful weeding-out 1 is certainly in the best interests of University education. It is altogether a good thing that yuupg pcoplo who aro v nofc-specially 'fitted by nature for a' university career should have this fact brought home ,to them by a fall at the preliminary hurdle—assuming, of course, that the test is a reasonable one. This will prevent them from wasting some of the best years of their life which, might have been turned to profitable account in some other direction. It is not suggested that the raising of the fees lias proved a barrier to specially-gifted and exceptionally promising . students. As a matter of fact the new scale . merely brought the fees up to "the same level as those charged at the other University _ Colleges. The ideal of ' a university should be quality rather than quantity.

_ In an articlo on the "disappearing Chinese" the Sydney Daily Telegraph discusses a matter that is as interesting to the city populations * lew,I ew , ea l a nd as it is to the people of Sydney. It seems that certain cvidencc given before the Food 'Commission pointed to the fact that there will soon be no more Chinese in New South Wales. In 1901 there were over 11,200 Chinese in the btate, but according to the last census the number, had dwindled to 7GOO.

"At this rate," remarks the "Daily telegraph, another few years must see the last of them here, and tho evidence fi T i n -j.i ? Commission shows that the ■ decrease in their numbers is being felt even now in tho matter of vegetable growing about Sydney. But why should the gradual expdiis of tlie Chinese vegetable-gardener niake any diflerenco in this respect. There is talk enough nowadays about getting back to the land; why do not moro of our young men try eqing back to the vegetable earden, in which even Chinese can now earn big. money? The Chinese should surely not be to fcartul a competitor. Ilj's methods are the reverse of scientific as anyone with eyes may see for himself. As n matter of fact a large proportion of Sydney s vegetables is m fact grown by wluto labour. But the Chinese oftem manages to get as much out. of a patch , . s 9", lr; , a near suburban gullv, for which he has to pay high rents,'as the unite man gets out of a much larger and cheaper-urea farther-from (lie cit\\ How does he manage to do it? By ha'rtl work and practice. AVhite men are successful at intense culture in other countries,"and a few in this. Unless our vcetablegiwers generally can learn to make as much out of as small an area as " Chinese gardener does, there is no doubt Sydney will soon Imvo to pay more for her vegetables.

In view of thesr; facts it is pointed out that tlio disappearance of the Chinaman may have a hearing on the cost of living problem.

Some cf the anti-Reform journals arc getting themselves into'difficulties just now on the question of large holdings and land settlement. They are so very ' anxious to find fault with the Massey Government that they have been led into tho indiscretion of attacking tlio Government on the amount oJ land held in large areas and to make good their case have been stupid enough lo quote the census figures of ion. Even then they have as usual muddled tho figures. Tho amusing feature of the business is, of course, the fact that the figures of the 1011 census record the condition of things which ha j been permitted to exist under 20 years of so-called Liberalism. If anyone is to blame at all for tho state of affairs about which our anti-Reform friends . are suddenly showing such concern, it is surely the Continuous Ministry, not the Masssy Government, which lias only been in office a few months. It may interest the journals which are so rashly delving into tho census statistics to learn that the figures are really, a damning indict-

mcnt of the professions of the political party which tlicy support and which is now very properly relegated to the cold shades of opposition. Amongst other tilings the census returns show that whereas in 1901 one person in every 12 was a land-holder of more than one acre, in 1911 only one person in every M was in that happy position—a tribute to the efforts of "Liberalism" to place the people on the land. Whereas the population increased by over 130 per cent in the 10 years, the land-holders of from one acre upwards increased by less than 18 per cent. The Prime Minister, despite the misrepresentation he has already been subjected to at their hands, should really encourage the anti-Ikform press to prosecute their researches. It should certainly serve a useful purpose in further enlightening the public as to the neglect and incomflctcncc of the Continuous Ministry.