PRESS COMMENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 August 1928, Page 1

PRESS COMMENTS.

Mr. Holland’s sapient suggestion a low weeks ago that tho Government should wash its hands of tho administration and return tho mandate to the League oi Nations with an admission that it had failed completely in the task that had been entrusted to it was not revived. The discussion gives generally an impression of dullness and lilelessnexs. The Leader of the Opposition must ho seriously disappointed over the way in which events have gone. He had hoped to make a great deal of political capital out of Samoa. There is none now to he made out ol it.”—“ Otago Daily Times.”

Statistics show a heavy fall in the number of “assisted” immigrants received by Australia and New Zealand, which strikes the board as deplorable, and Hie report suggests that high fares, heavy contingent, expenses and complicated procedure are the chief reasons tor this diminution. But surely members of the hoard must be aware that Australia and New Zealand have their own industrial troubles, that their labour market is overcrowded, and that the workers on this side of the world

would naturally object to a large influx of British labour which, by intensifying industrial competition at a time when oponings for employment are limited, would tend to lower their own wages and force down their standard of living. AVe have always hold that, under favourable conditions, emigration from Britain to the Dominions must bo beneficial and profitable to the* whole Empire. But there is nothing to be gained by shutting our eyes to the many serious obstacles which just now prevent such a transference of population to the Dominions as this report suggests.—Auckland “ Star.”

It is especially the fact of the fecundity of the unfit that calls for protective action in the public interest; and the measure, in this respect, lias salutary safeguards against harsh proceeding and goes only ns far as the most enlightened and compassionate opinion dictates. ’l’o this portion ol the measure most attention should he directed in its passage through Parliament,, with the object of making it .serve sufficiently the purpose in view. The creation of a separated Department of Mental Hospitals seems a useful departure, and certainly the alternative procedure for the admission ol patients to these hospitals is a step in the riglit direction. But the proposals for dealing witli social defectives call for very careful, and at the same time very sympathetic, examination and discussion.—“ New Zealand Herald.”

To make t(ie railway system pay it is essential that, as much traffic as possible should he encouraged, and to ensure this the public must have every confidence in the safety oi the 1 ailwavs, a confidence that is not being fostered by recent happenings. The fact, that the mishaps are to he. classified as minor does not affect the principle, for there is no telling when the good fortune that lias hitherto favoured the Department may desert it. -wt the same time there is no reason for alarm, hut the Department would he well advised, in its own interests and for the satisfaction of the public, to take the people more into its confidence regarding the causes of mishaps and the measures that arc taken to prevent their recurrence.—Ashburton “ Guardian.”

Undoubtedly the South Island is suffering from the present shipping arrangements and it should he possi > c to develop better communications between Melbourne and Bluff along n line that covers a shorter distance than any of the other main routes between Australia and New Zealand. But it is necessary to consider the issue from all angles and to recognise that no subsidy can he justified in *" s m stance, unless there is an indication, or at least a reasonable hope that wit in a few years the service will show that it can maintain itself without artificial aids. The conference here was of very real value because .t has brought the adjoining provinces in closer touch and will assist to further co-operation between them and the other parts of the South Island in the future.-—“ Southland Times.”