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Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1920, Page 2

In Canterbury the proposal is being revived of carrying on an active propaganda through the daily press with the object of educating the people on economics, and above all to secure an adhesion to fixed principles for civic as well as national government. On this subject tlie Lyttelton Times remarks that the people recognise the need for guidance in their attitude towards the social and economic problems—and therefore the political problems—of the day; indeed, it is doubtful if ever before the public mind was readier than it now is to respond to the reasoning of competent counsellors. The politicians and other would-be leaders “are snatching at every shallow expedient and bogus panacea and making tile confusion worse confounded,” and there is urgent need of clear thinking. Not many sensible people will be found to dispute this view i melancholy though it may be. Devotion to principles may not as a rule be strongly characteristic of political life in ..this country, hut principles were never so completely subordinated to oxpediency as they have been in recent years. The war, of course, has been largely tlie cause of this. New laws were required at a faster rate than they could be properly considered. Financial problems had to he met quickly rather than solved. Taxation was imposed hurriedly, the currency was expanded, the economic effects of the war became inequitably distributed, the cost of living advanced t waires were increased in tlie attempt to meet the additional prices of commodities, bonuses were paid out of the public purse, and all kinds of palliatives ■were tried and are being tried. Much of the war-timo legislation was frankly and' admittedly unsound, submitted by Ministers with apologies and accepted by Parliament and the country because the peril of .the war outweighed other considerations, and because there was no time then for real,, deliberation. These excuses were not in all cases valid, but they existed and a patriotic community felt that It must treat its statesmen with a degree of patience 1 which it could not in normal times accord. But the timo has surely arrived when the mistakes of the war period should be oxamlned and corrected, while some attempt ought to be made to clarify the political atmosphere, since tlie Dominion is now experiencing the economic effects of those mistakes. Bad political economy means social unrest. Careless treatment of the public finances is, at the least, a bad example to the whole community. There are many things in the existing political conditions that no competent body of economists or of business men would approve, such a* tlie proposed issue of bank notes to cover ndvances against wool that many be with-held from market, or compulsory 7 loans, or the camouflaging of ihe price of butter by, arranging that part of it should be paid direct to the grocer and part to the Minister of Finance. The latter of course through the extra revenue raised to pay tlie butter subsidy. The politicians no less than tlie public should be educated clearly on these matters, and newspaper columns could not be turned to better advantage in so doing.

The holiday season of the year is at hand. The present period is the most festive season of the year because it is more universal in Recognition. Trips and trippers are the order of the day, and the present being the more genial season of the year, .it is tile specially apportioned time for sport, pastimes, and holiday-making. New Zealand, despite its load of public debt, the dislocation of markets for primary products, and the continual complaint against the high cost of living, is not going. to allow these considerations to weigh too heavily on its demeanour over the holiday period. The folk are going a holi-day-making, and whether it be to the Davis Cup, to the metropolitan centres, or to the minor regions where sporting gatherings hold sway, all roads and routes are congested; coaches and trains crowded; and hotel and other accommodation used up to the extrema limit. The Dominion is going to observe its summer vacation in the usual holiday style, that is by leave of the master of the situation—the trade unionist. Threats to strike fill the air even at the joyous Christmas-tide, and many folk are fearful lest their holiday arrangements will be dislocatod by such a simple process as the cooks and stewards on the principal link in the Inter-Island traffic, walking ashore and refusing further duty. Here we are rather remote from the inconveniences which such a dislocation might cause, hut some effect will be felt here, and it is comforting for the South Islander to know if he may not get to the North Island, lie can come West and enjoy the round of gaiety prepared for the public. The Christmas on the Coast promises to be a good one. Labor lias been plentiful, and employment well filled on all sides. Now the workmen will be out to enjoy themselves. The Christmas trade already shows a substantial routine, and there is the promise of a considerable influx of visitors right through the holiday season. The Coast will show good signs outwardly of that volume of prosperity which has prevailed now over a considerable period.