PRESS COMMENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1927, Page 4

PRESS COMMENTS.

Luckily but few of tlic children o*. he I> .'millions me fated to endure the oiuli'vous of poverty and want com--011 to so many of the lands in the -id World. Abundance of food, '.Vliy housing conditions, and the fresh air and sunshine of this favoured country assist in no small measure in the growth of a child population that, for healthy physique, cannot he surpassed, and is rarely equalled by any other country in the world. We do not ignore the value of mental and moral training, hut it must necessarily be the conspicuous health of flic: children that has so impressed our 1 loyal visitors. In any ease, physical power is the basis of all power. It makes for a firmness of physical texture which is one of Nature’s ways to moral and intellectual strength, and these arc the foundations of a nation’s greatness.— “ Lyttelton Times.”

It may he said that thus the main bui'k of the outgoings for interest and sinking-fund is kept within the dominion instead of going abroad. On the: other hand, it is quite open to argument than this heavy volume of loc:a 1 investment in local body loans plays a very appreciable part in accounting for the scarcity of capital available for private borrowing. As this must have had. and still continues to have, a very decided deterrent clfcct on the development of the country’s resources, wc are inclined to thin': that the change in the position is laf'er one to he regretted than to he pleased with. Tribune.”

It is of much more importance to give consideration to what ought to he done to counteract the depression, to lessen its severity, and shorten its duiution. Public borrowing cannot cease, hut it can he very greatly curtailed. It must he remembered that our public works policy, which has expanded in the post-war period, lias created a Considerable class of citizens dependent, with their families, upon Government expenditure, so that any material curtailment of such public expenditure would throw more people out of employment. To meet the needs of the unemployed, Parliament last session authorised local bodies to borrow without the sanction of the ratepayers, and what the local bodies have been authorised to do the Government is unlikely to refrain from doing. There appears to he little chance of any tapering-off of borrowing.—Wanganui " Herald.”

The various trading combines compel the Xew Zealand worker to pay for Xew Zealand products the same price as they fetch at the other side of the wori'd. so that the rate of profit shall he here as high as to make good any lessening at the other end. It is often urged that unemployment and consequent wage-reductions are duo to a failure to correlate and co-ordinate agricultural and industrial production bni the truth is that the banker is the great arbiter to-day. and can influence the volume of production and trend of trade.—“ Oamaru Mail.”

It is very poor consolation to a farmer who is making a have living, perhaps not even that, to be told that there are farmers in other countries wb i rrc even worse off, and when he is tci'd that the wages of frecydng works employees must he brought into alignment with those ol the* workers in (Hiier industries he‘may fairly point to the fact—-for it is in many cases a hut—that freezing works employees c.re already receiving better wages in handling stock than he can earn in raising and fattening it.—“Taranaki Herald.”

It is quite true that an embargo nu hour might lead, sooner or later, to price-fixing, but an effective dumping duty would involve nothing at alf but a common-sense interpretation of a not very sensibly drafted law. And "'hat is most needed, after a dumping duty, imposed to protect our own fanners, and not to avoid hurting the feelings of Australian merchants, is a thorough investigation, by a competent tribunal, of the whole problem cl wheat-growing, milling, and baking. t ntii' the Government grants this, every wheat-grower in the Dominion is engaged in a perilous industry.—Christchurch “ Press.”

I his perfectly true that the Dairy Control Board has certain statutory rights and powers, and that the Pie-ir,i->r cannot interfere with the operation of the Act as it now stands. Hut does this mean that the Government and country are alike reduced to absolute impotence, and that nothing at all can he done to check the activities of the board, or 'to modify its powers, it it can be shown that these have proved injurious to the best interests bi the Dominion? The suggestion is simply ridiculous. In our opinion it is the manifest duty of the Government to take action at once, and even if this necessitates the immediate summoning of Parliament and the passing of fresh legislation to reconstruct or to aboi'ish the board, m the light of recent experiences then that responsibility must he faced.— Auckland “Star.”

Wo may have to revise our methods of assessing wages, but before that is done there are several reforms which should be made. The Government have consistently supported high prices. The paper standard has made