Newspaper Notions

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 85, 15 February 1902, Page 7

Newspaper Notions

THAT the sons of Austiaha Canada Maonland and Af 1 ica — those beast 1\ kaw limes' of «i shoit vcar or so ago — sliould bo selected to finish the Boei job ma\ be too much to expect from the Wai Office It would suielv be a, confession of incapacity — Clutha Fiee Pi ess " * * * How man> men will lotuin to New Zealand from South Africa a,s good men a-s they left? Veiv few How many wall be piepaied to go bark to the peaceful occupations of cultn ating the soil and cleanng the bush- Yew fow —Thames "Star " Mr. Pirani has been the sworn foe of anything shady his aim has been to have everything political fan and above board. Men of his stamp aie few m number and Ins retirement from the House is a decided national lov- — Egmont Post " * ■/■ ♦ With all his faults and despite grievous deficiencies in taste and manner. Mr. Seddon has made good his title to kinship with the bleed of political giants and the lace of pigmies onh make themselves ridiculous when they lav claim to equal honouis — Dunedin ' Star." * * * It appeals to us that persons starting business m New Zealand under the Act (Workmen's Compensation) are very much like the erivl in the recent test case, only instead of putting theii fingeis under the guillotine' they put their whole busmen heads there.- — Haw era Star " -A 1 - This complaining about the Army meat contracts lavs the colonies open to a sneer of the Napoleonic kind which called us a nation of shopkeepers Our help to the Motheiland should be given without the semblance of expectation of reward bv way of preference in tiade. — Hunterville "Expiess " If the Piemier weie not the soul of tiuth, we should be astonished at some things w Inch he says and promises The man with an empt\ treasury who can flaunt a quarter of a million surplus in the face of detractors can do anything even though his coat, as Mi Hogg suggested, is worn threadbare. — Masteiton ' Times." The gambling evil lias infected the police themselves, who to a gieat extent disregard the law and refuse to see any bleaches of it committed bv those with whom they bet themselves In Wellington, foi instance, the 'bookies" openly ply theii trade in the busiest tboioughfares, and in many of the hotels but it is raiely a police prosecution for gambling takes place except in the case of a Chinese pak-a-poo establishment — Wanganui Herald " - * * The colonies in then excess of patriotism looked upon the Boer war as their own quanel. England encouraged the feeling and patted them on the back She told them they were born soldiers, and had saved the Empire. The Old Country has done nothing to deseive all this, beyond the fact that she has patronised colonials who have gone Home Whatever ma? be said to the contiaiv colonials as a rule, like patronage — Cheviot ' News " +- * T W 7 e w onder how many schools there are in New Zealand transforming a proportion of the children attending them into tuberculous wrecks and condemning not a few to an early grave ? It is a ghastly mockery that the Health Department of the Government should be flooding the country with leaflets on the prevention of consumption, and that the Education Department of the same Government should be actively engaged in the manufacture of the disea&e amongst the youngest and brightest of our population — Christchurch "Press " * # * If Australasia had some veais ago united in the matter of trade and established in England depots foi the storaee and distribution of meat butter fruit, gram, and othei products, the Wai Office could never have committed the blunder which is now the subject of complaint The six States of Australia and New Zealand should be strong enough to form a combine quite as great as the one which has caused the acceptance of a contract about which. Australians are so much exercised — Sydney "'Mai! "

Laid Ranhuix is like a tl\ mp, pieman He ha.s obtained anothei yeai ot office This is because lie lo\e^ Now Zealand Dunechn Libeial In e\ei\ lespett the Aijientme is miles ahead ot New Z( aland and so long as we ciawl at oui snail-like pace theie is little hone ot oui doing much business abioad - Waihi Daih TeleLike Mi Seddon we fane\ we can tiace at woik the übiquitous hand of the British capitalist who having: invested hea\il\ m A latent me secuntie* lias a keen e\e to dividends - Picton Pic^-s Mi Seddon has no moie light to lecture parties" m Kngland then Loid Salisbury has to make saicastic lemaiks about the feebleness of the Onnosition - it theie is one- m New Zealand "—" — London ' Sunrise Let eveivtlung be encouiapred that draws the New " Zealandei to the sea. the natuial field ot lils race the field which the fact of the countn being an island makes it inevitable that he must orcupv — Waimate 'Advei tisei ." We consider that it would be beneficial if no encouragement whatever was given to gambling, but, at the same time if the State is determined to pievent it m onefoim, why not be consistent, and pi event it being cariied on in othei w ays. — Danneviike 'Advocate." * * • Appaientlv Mi. George Hutchison is doing as well in South Africa defending Boers, as Mr Seddon is doing in New- Zealand, sending soldieis to fight them so that even in Africa the«e two hostile politicians are opposed — Westport ''News " Since Australia has become a Commonwealth the State Premier doesn't cut much of a figuie and it looks as though it would be better to be a dooikeeper m the house of Barton than to be a Minister in a State Parliament — Sydney Newsletter " * > * One would as soon think of adding to the social status of the late William Ewart Gladstone, the maker of nobles bv miscalling him Sir William " 01 of painting the hlv or of gildino- cold as of calling Tom Mann "Mr Thomas Mann " — Masterton ' Times." ■f + ¥■ The experience of New Zealand has been that it simply lost revenue bv suppressing "sweeps," and that many thousands of Dounds weie annually sent to Tasmania for gambling purposes So Australia will send its thousands to the new address. - Rangitikei Advocate" * ■*■ * It is useless to talk of abandoning a borrowing policy — it can't be done. In a young country like ours, with suoh extensive demands tot the piosecution of public works, it is impossible to cease borrowing without bunging about commeicial stagnation — Stiattord Settler." Federated, the weight of the Australian connection, which is against our ideas would have efficient.lv helped the world to buiv us in oblivion Fiee we soar into the political fhmament, the admiration ot all and an example even to the Australians — Ashburton Standard." The Rev. F W Isitt announces in a Gisborne paper that he is about to commence the prohibition campaign We counsel Gisborne people to discountenance men of the Isitt stamp they nevei under am circumstances accomplish any good woik and onl\ succeed in stirring up strife where all would other- \\ lse be peace — Opotiki ' Herald " * * * It is affiinied that at Carterton the Government Vet" passed as a re-mount a, hoise sixteen years of age -with broken knees, while another neddy had the marks of a sore back. Why are the&c palpable mistakes made ' We know of one case in which a hoise locally valued at £(5 was purchased for the Government at £lo — Cartel ton Leadei " Now we have tlw? chance we might send aiva\ a few lawyers to the front If they did nothing else, they could charge the Boers Also we might send a few paisons. They might coiral the Bot 1 s and make them yaw n until their ]aws weie dislocated We could al«o spare a few politicians Bilh Eamsliaw for example never would be missed — Dunedm "Libeial * * * A man who was only sft 4Vin high was passed into the Eighth Contingent on the personal order of Seddon, who said ' he'd grown half an inch during the evening'" The Spectator also knows of other cases of men who were rejected because they were over the standard of sft lOin, but were subsequently taken in on the strength of political influence exerted on and bv Seddon — Christchurch "Spectator "