PRESS OPINIONS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 421, 21 May 1902, Page 4

PRESS OPINIONS.

There is very much for Mr Seddon to talk over with the Secretary for the Colonies. If Britain can see its way to tax the imports of breadstuff's as outlined in the Budget speech reported to day, why cannot it do the same with butter foreign• made ?—Hawera Star. Commissioner Tunbridge has done good service to the oolony, but if he is to be made the shuttlecock of the Cabinet at the instigation of political wire pullers, he may be expected to surrender his position, and it need hardly bo said that the man who succeeds him will not be chosen because of his fitness so much as his pliability.—" Wellington Post.

It has at last come to a stage in the working of the Arbitration Court awards that a private detective has been appointed to shepherd employers and sit them up for penalties. At a meeting of the Cabman’s Union this week a resolution was moved and carried that each member of the union should contribute one shilling per week for the purpose of paying a private detective to watch cabs at night to see the conditions of the award observed. This carries with it its own condemnation. The employers of Auckland are to be treated as criminals.— Saturday Night. So far from suitable remount horses being purchaseable in Now Zoaland at £7 a head, doublo that price is demanded and paid, and in some instances a 3 high as £25 a head has been paid for superior animals lately.—Wanganui Herald. Factory-owners are not allowed to work children under a certain age, and why should the same law not apply to parents and employers of labor on farms ? The same reason for restriction obtains—that arduous labor in childhood nips true manhood and womanhood in the bud.— Wanganui Yeoman. From recent events it would appear that the polioy of the Government has settled down into a fixed intention to borrow about a million a year, besides the occasional millions required for what may be called the remunerative or interest earning service of the State. —Hawera Star.

The Blue Star liners will shortly run from New Zealand to Africa, but at the price of commodities at present, Spectator doesn’t quite know what to fill the boats with, except it be —say a few shiploads of frozen candidates after next general election. —Christchurch Spectator.

So called authorities in this colony have attempted to horrify the reading public with stories of the alleged sufferings of children who milk a few cows and ride or walk to school after the operation, and while there may be some grounds to justify the cry for reform in one per cent of the eases, it is positively certain there is none in the other ninety-nine per cent. —Waimate Witness.