NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2426, 3 April 1915, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

War problems continue to make themselves manifest. Tho Olayo JJuily Times recently pointed out that, as things stand, tho man who remains at home and does not offer to serve bis country has a, monopoly at the Crown lands ballots. The supply of Grown lands is rapidly dwindling. New blocks are being put on tbo market every month, and for the desirable sections the competition is keen. Manyof tho young.farmers now with the forces would have been applicants in ' the ordinary course, but their patriotic action in joining the colours has deprived them of tho chanco of securing a holding for themselves against the time of their return from the front. This is not altogether as it should be. Our contemporary suggests that an arrangement should bo made whereby tho relatives of men absent on active service, and who can be shown to possess the necessary qualifications, may make application for lands on their behalf. There may be difficulties in t.ne way, but the suggestion is worth consideration by tho Government.

In the Old Country desultory discussion is proceeding in the ,Press as to the industrial position of tho time-expired soldier at the end of the war. • That is a problem to be faced also in New Zealand. At some date in tho future, it may be near or it may bo distant, our industries will be called upon to reabsorb a. body of some thousands of men. It is desirable that as many as possible of these should be induced to go upon the land. Many of those originally coming from the country by their prolonged life among great crowds of people will probably be disinclined to return to rural pursuits. After the Maori wars an effort was made to turn tho military into settlers by giving each man a small piece of land, which in too many cases was promptly converted into cash and the proceeds squandered. We do. not suggest that this precedent should be blindly followed, but we think that suitable men among the returned soldiers should be offered every inducement and every facility to take up land. -The public has heard something lately of the possibilities of the Urewera, the largest block of virgin country remaining in the Dominion. The Natives are anxious to see this land in occupation, and why should not the Government arrange for its opening up against the return of the troops'! To young and vigorous men opportunities could here bo given beyond those to be had in most other districts. The Urewera is isolated at present, and the first essential to its settlement i 3 road and railway communication. Taken up on the right lines the undertaking should be profitable in itself, and at the same time an earnest of the State's desire to do well by the men now abroad doing their duty by the country and the Empire.

A pithy protest against the oracular way in which the modern university professor is prepared to lecture on everything under tho sun has been ma:do by Dr. Murray Butler, president of Columbia University. The war has intensified the' habit, and tho public has had the spectacle of a psychologist lecturing it on international affairs, and teachers of belles leitrcs suddenly appearing as authorities on the ethics and laws of nations. Dr. Butler, in referring to von Treitschke, "recently discovered by England and America," described him as the forerunner of that now very numerous class of professors who devote no _ small part of their time to expressing to their students their own personal views on tho politics, the literature, and the sooiety_ of the day, while in form offering instruction on anything from astronomy to zoology. A witty American points out that the root of the matter is in the public's indiscriminating deference. It is a gratifying fact that the public respects the professor, but it should do so in a different spirit from medieval Giles, certain that the parson can tell him how to raise leeks because ho knoTVs hard Latin words.