PRESS COMMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 9 March 1928, Page 4

PRESS COMMENT

AA'e have seen the process of centralisation going on in many Departments of late years, and in none more than in that of Education, where the powers of school committees and of education boards have been curtailed, methods have been standardised and liberty has been restricted. The same process is at work in other directions, for commerce and industry have been hampered by unnecessary restriction and intericrcnee. Probably, indeed certainly, tbc ultimate cause of the evil tendency has been the inadequate education of the electorates. That a larger interest in local government would have its corollary in a keener interest in national government cannot fie doubted. AA e are indebted to the Chancellor lor this reminder that the system ol government in this country is not accidental, that it has a sound basis ol principle, and that interference with that basis can result only in harm. —” Lyttelton Times.” Patience has been given a very lair trial in Samoa, hut it has not succeeded. The time for action has come, and action has been taken which, lie feel, will he productive ol tar bottci results. Under the mandate, _ >C \v Zealand has a definite duty to perform in helping the natives and improving their lot, a duty* which has been almost impossible to fulfil owing to the recent disturbances, and the Government, in taking the steps Unit have now been taken to ensure a resumption of normal conditions, is hut meeting its obligations to the League and to the people of AYestern Samoa—- “ AA'anganui Chronicle.” The people of New Zealand have been assured recently hv economists and employers, claiming to speak with authority. that one chief reason for our own industrial depression has been the antagonism of tlie trade unions to capital and the assistance that they have received from the Arbitration Court. In the United States there is no statutory fixation of wages, and trade unionism is limited in scope and singularly ineffective as the defender of the workers’ rights, yet unemployment is painfully acute. The conclusion clearly is that, whatever causes trade depression in New Zealand, ti cannot he trade unionism or the Arbitration system.—“ Auckland Star.”