PRESS COMMENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 March 1929, Page 7

PRESS COMMENTS.

The New Zealand nation is essentallv British, and should Ik? able to administer Western Samoa wisely and well. The first thine to tin it to find out il such disaffected Samoans as .MiNelson and Tamaso.se have a real grievance, or if they are merely contentious individuals prompted by some obscure motives which are difficult to understand. To that end perhaps a .Maori Commission might be useful, and we can think of no one more suitable for that purpose that Sir Apirana Ngntn, if it i.s thought necessary—which is doubtful—to reopen the Samoan Question officially. Doubtless, .Mr Nelson has published his pamphlet with that end in view, but it contains nothing which warrants serious consideration. Sir Joseph Ward’s recent statement of the Government's attitude was sensibly linn, anti reasonable. In no case should Parliament or the Government reopen the Samoan Question on Mr Nelson’s representations. In no case should any action be taken which would be likely to embarrass the present Administrator. whose- good work under difficulties deserves high appreciation.— Nelson “Evening Mail.” Not having found work for himself, the man for whom the Government provides it appears to develop a habit of working far short of his full power. NVnen the wages paid on Government' relief work were below the standard wage for the same class of work there was some excuse for this, since it is almost a universal experience that if a workman conceives lie has a grievance lie decreases output. But since the new Government established similar rates of pay on relief work to those ruling outside that excuse has vanished. But it is evident that there has not been a commensurate return in work performed, because it is freely stated that men arc leaving outside employment for the relief .works Ikiesmse they can secure easier conditions without any sacrifice of money obtainable, If the Government is to be consistent it will speedily take stops to rectify this by one means of 'another, for Ministers have lately been disclaiming any intention to perpetuate the State interference in trade which alienated so many of the previous Government’s supporters.—Dunedin “Evening Star.”

The discovery that firebliglit, which ~ns been very troublesome in the North Island for several years, has spread to the South Island, the presence of it in .the Kaikoura district having been established. is a matter of grave concern 1.0 fruitgrowers That the disease could not lie kept out of the South Island, since it had appeared in the Wairnrapn and Hutt districts was twice predicted recently in our colums by correspondents who urged the necessity for the taking of such safeguards as might furnish some protection to the fruit industry. The officers of the Department of Agriculture were, we under stand, not .apprehensive of the extension of the disease to the South Island, partly, no doubt, because it was considered that the climatic condition v.-ould be unfavourable to the establishment of it. Tt would be unwise to rck too confidently upon any assumption I hat firebliglit will not survive under < onditions that render South Island orchards immune from some of the causes of vexation and loss of which I hose in a warmer climate are exposed ft may be doubted whether enough is known concerning firebliglit to convey any assurance that it is incapable of establishing itself in the orchards ol Otago. Tt would be safer to assume that wherever its favourite host, hawthorn, is growing there a danger exists that it may reveal itseli.—“Otago Daily Times.”

It is the height of absurdity to contend that what are called trunk lines should end in the air a hundred miles from their 'objective. Of course, il it can be demonstrated that the journey hot wen Parnassus and Wharanui can he efficiently covered hy motor services under State control—both in regard to passengers and light and heavy freight

it would be unwise to lay an expensive line for the additional 80 miles. That is a question that could easily he •oilled. The report of the "Haven-Fay Commission in regard to this matter is interesting. “It is not so much,” 1 rays, “in the local advantage of such a line that we view its completion as of greater importance than of some other railways upon which considerable sums have heen spent: it is because of the possibilities offered hy its construction of making a complete railway transport system between all parts of the North and South Islands without change ol carriage in I lie ease of passengers or break of bulk or delay in the ineidenc'* of goods traffic that we advocate its construction. ” “ Southland Daily News.”

Apart from the fact that the prosperity of the Dominion is dependent upon the successful cultivation of the land, from which 00 per cent of its exportable produce is derived, it is plain that the greater the number ol people who are settled in country puisiiits the larger must he the demand for the output of the secondary industries

and the more extensive the opportunities for the employment of young people in these industries. Yet it is not by telling them this that the Dins towards work in the towns on the part o r the young will he overcome. It has to he brought home to their m_. ds that,

aiter all, their material interests are more likely to be served by their turning their attention to rural pursuits Limn by their remaining in the towns and hanging about the streets in the hope of their securing a place in an • lilice or a shop or a factory that may ultimately not lead them very far. It iias been pointed out that the pr p lion of persons engaged in the rural industries who are their own masters is several times greater'than it is in any ). the .secondary industries e meree, and eon.so<|Ucntly, that the voutli who is induced to accept employment on the land lias a better •bailee of attaining independi'nce than be ba.s in any calling outside the learned professions—“Otago Daily Times.”