Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9149, 19 May 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

WE referred the other day to the tendency of Government to shift the responsibility of expenditure from the general revenue on to the rates. This course of action is well illustrated by some of the provisions of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Bill, which is to be discussed by a conference of the local bodies interested early in June previous to its presentation to the House. At the present time the Government subsidies to Hospitals and Charitable Aid ale as follows: —On bequests, ten shillings on each pound, the total not to exceed £SOO, on voluntary subscriptions, twentyfour shillings in the pound, on contributions from local bodies twenty shillings in the pound. Under the new Bill it is proposed to reduce the subsidy on voluntary subscriptions to twenty shillings, and that on local bodies’ contributions to fifteen shillings. Three years after the passing of the Bill these subsidies are to' be reduced to fifteen and ten shillings respectively. It is needless to point out that the result of this course would be“tomake a material increase in the rates, unless voluntary subscriptions can he raised to fill the deficiency. At the same time that Government subsidies are being reduced the control by the Minister is to be made more instead of less effective. The Minister in this case means the Inspector General of Hospitals, and though Dr, Vallntiue, the present holder of that position, may be trusted not to use his powers except with the greatest discretion, itjj does £uot follow that future officials will have the same qualities or that future Ministers will not be tempted to meddle in hospital matters. We predict that the Bill will have a somewhat rough handling at the conference though it is far better that it should be licked into shape by representatives of the bodies concerned, than that it should go in its present crude state before the House to be dealt with by members, many of'whom know "nothing .ofjj.the interests involved.

SOME extraordinary remarks by Cardinal Logue, Archbishop of Armagh, to a New York interviewer were cabled last week in which the Cardinal was made to say that he saw signs of the certain dissolution of the Empire. His reason for this statement was that Australia was already practically independent, and the trend of every movement there was in the direction of rebellion. New Zealand was indifferent and Canada was legislating in a manner which showed a desire to conduct her business in her own way. We made no comment on these remarks at the time, because although the Cardinal might have made some statements likely to appeal to Irish Americans, it was hardly probable that a man in his position would have been so injudicious as the report made him appear. The American interviewer .moreover, has a reputation for absolute unscrupnlousness and disregard of truth which should cause all unverified statements from such a quarter to be received with a good deal more than the proverbial grain of salt. Whatever may be the exact truth as to the opinions of the Irish Cardinal the garbled cablegram has given Cardinal Moran a fine opportunity to express in the plainest language his opinion of those, if there are any, in Australia who are disloyal to the Empire. He held that in Australia the citizens had the most perfect freedom that men could aspire to, and he pointed cut that if Australia were dissociated from the Empire instead of receiving a friendly visit from the United States fleet, they might be receiving a visit from some other fleet which would bring ruin and desolation on the land. Wo are very glad to have Cardinal Moran’s emphatic statement on the subject, as a certain class of Australian politicians too often make remarks which if they do not show an actual desire to cut the painter may easily be understood in this sense.