The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, March 13, 1915. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1373, 13 March 1915, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, March 13, 1915. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

It is the duty of the Government to encourage our industries and exports by every possible means. This can be done by closer settlement of the land. “The people for the land and the land for the people'’ is a hackneyed but nevertheless true solution to our general prosperity. We have land in plenty, rich fertile country capable of intense cultivation, but we lack population. New Zealand could easily stand a population of five millions instead ot one as at present. Look at the country in this district in the hands of a few people which could accommodate hundreds of families. The Government has improved swamp land up north and sent people there, but settlers are dissatisfied because of difficulties in getting their produce to the market, while here is land ready (or occupation and cultivation at the back door of the Dominion’s chief commercial centre. If the Government acquired Ibis and other adjacent land for settlement first, the means would be provided for opening up the hinterland.

The press has been flooded with suggestions in respect to the imposition of a war tax, and legislators should have a clear indication as to what form the incidence of such taxation should take. In discussing the imposition of a war tax, the Prime Minister at Auckland said : “It is a matter that concerns Parliament—it is not a matter for any Government. When the House meets, the Government will be ready to submit certain proposals, with the object of providing revenue necessary to meet New Zealand’s share oftbe obligations incurred by the Empire.” Among the many proposals submitted, the most equitable appear to be au increase on laud and income and exports.

The decision of the Election Court with regard to the c.osts of the . Northern Maori election petition should have a salutary effect, says the Auckland Herald. It is essential to the purity of

elections that the Court should be available for the thorough investigation of all seriously disputed contests, but it is none the less desirable that official returns should not be open to challenge on frivolous grounds. Heat is inseparable from an election contest. In the vast majority of cases :t js hopeless to expect either candidate to take a judical view of the election proceedings. It election petitions are allowed to become cheap—if the petitioner does not run the risk ot having to meet the costs when he fails to establish his case—they may easily become so numerous as to be a serious tax upon the time of the Supreme Court judges. In the Northern Maori case there was no good ground for the petition and the costs have rightly fallen on those who needlessly appealed for a hearing in the Election Court.