Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 8960, 28 October 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

THE method adopted by the Government with regard to the Endowment Bill is to pass all the sections which have concern with the receipt and employment, of the rents received from the endowments before attaching the really important question as to whether there are to be any endowments to provide rent. The clauses passed are absolutely unimportant, and it is waste of time to pass them if the schedule of lands to bo reserved is to be thrown out. No doubt a great deal of underground work is going on on both sides to test the feeling of members, and no doubt pressure will be brought to bear by the Premier to bring his hesitating followers to heel again. Sir Joseph Ward seems as sensitive as the Kaiser himself to any suggestion that all the Ministry proposes is not entirely above criticism, and the penalties for lese majeste will bo sternly meted out to ail Government supporters who refuse to he led by the nose. We hope that some will show that their self-respect is not entirely dead, but

fear that there are many who will prefer the claims of party and place to the right of expressing the opinions they honestly hold. According to the amended schedule introduced at the last moment by the Premier the 9,000,000 acres it was originally proposed to set aside have been cut down to 7,000,000, the whole reduction taking place in tho South Island. Tills concession, however is nullified by the inclusion of small grazing funs and renewable leases an area of indefinite extent which may amount to ten or fifteen million acres.

MILLIONAIRES, after all, sometimes use their enormous wealth for good purposes, and the support offered by Messrs Rockefeller and Pierpout Morgan to the Now York Stock Exchange seems to have clone much to stem the tide of panic which threatened to engulf the oldest financial institutions. The cause of the suddou [fall in prices is somewhat incomprehensible. Business is very prosperous in the United States, and trade is booming everywhere, so that it would naturally be expected that the Stock Exchange would reflect the general prosperity. Some explain the panic in Wall street as caused by the campaign of President Roosevelt against the Trusts, and even suggest that the slump has been engineered by capitalists in order to counteract the popular feeling in favour of a general inquiry into the methods of Trusts aud Railway Companies. If this be the true explanation the capitalists appear to have raised a monster which will bring retribution on its creators, for however strong may he the financial position of the monied magnates, it cannot fail to be seriously affected by a panic which has already reduced many oldestablished firms to the verge of bankruptcy. The action of Rockefeller aud Morgan was no doubt partially caused by selfish motives of self preservation, but its effects have been far reaching in helping to restore lost confidence and put an end to a state of affairs that was threatening ruin to many besides the speculators iu Wall street.

“1 COME to learn and not to speak, ’ ’ said Mr Keir Hardio to a crowd of Indian students who welcomed him on his arrival at Bombay and wished to hoar his views on the situation. The leopard, we know, cannot change Ins spots, but a change almost equally marvellous seems to have been produced in the attitude of the Socialist leader by his journey from Calcutta to Bombay. Wo heard of au interview between Mr Hardio and the GovernorGeneral, and it may bo that Lord Miuto was successful in convincing Mr Hardio that it would be a wise course for him to refrain from injudicious speeches. Whatever the cause, wo heartily congratulate Mr Hardie on his wiser attitude. Those who regard representative institutions as the panacea for all the evils that India is suffering from fail to realise that Eastern nations have never shown any capacity or oven desire for this form of government. It is only in a comparatively small portion of tho world that Democracy prevails, and in many countries it can hardly bo described as very successful. It seems strange that Eastern nations should not long for the ballot box and tho caucus, but

the wisest course is to leave the East to develop on its own. lines rather than to force upon it a political constitution alien to the ingrianed customs sanctioned by centuries of usage.