Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9462, 3 June 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, JUNE 3,1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THOUGH the farmers have much to gain by union, and can gain nothing without it, many remain blind to their own interests, and the Farmers’ Union, which should be supported by every farmer, has reason to complain of lack of support. Mr Allen Bell, the president of Auckland Conference, had a few words to say on this subject, which we commend to the attention of the apathetic. He said: —“It is an unfortunate fact that the average farmer appears to be willing to take advantage of any good that may be derived from the efforts*of the union so long as he has not to pay for it, or ppt himself to any personal inconvenience in the matter. If the farmer wishes to attain that honourable post in the country that the Almighty intended be should fill, he will have to oast aside the methods of the past, take a leaf out of the book of the trade unionist, band together, and whilst working on friendly lines with other sections of the community and recognising their rights, be prepared to stand up as a man and fight for that honourable place in the political economy of our country to which he is justly entitled.”

WHILE we congratulate the Ministry on the progress which is being made with the work of retrenchment, we regret to note that the last Department to be dealt with is the costly, useless, and injurious Labour Department. This Department costs the taxpayers £30,000 a year, and this money is not only absolutely wasted, but the Department itself seriously affects all our industries, and is “responsible for moat of the troubles that have occurred in connection with their working. Now that the Ministry have been compelled to undertake the work of retrenchment, there should be" efforts made to simplify the public services, out off all useless or unnecessary branches, and abolish red-tape throughout, making each work together so far as is possible. The State coal merchant business, accident insurance, and all undertakings that compete with private enterprise should also be discontinued.

IT is very doubtful whether there will he any improvement in the matter of Native lands unless the management of the Native Department is altered. But there ought to be no difficulty in regard to the rating of Nativa lands, and members of Parliament should insist that these shall be no longer exempted. Though there would still be difficulty in collecting the rates, until titles are individualised, the rate charges dould be set against the land, to be payable when the title is individualised. This would not give the local bodies present income, but it would create an asset for ! them, the value of which might possibly be hypothecated as security for advances. The process would be perfectly fair to the Maori owner. The public expenditure adds to the value of his land, and there is no reason why some of this value should’not be returned to the State by the levying of rates each year to pe set as a debt against the land in the meantime. The European is taxed up to the hi it, and under present oonditions Maori lands pay nothing, and their owners have the satisfaction of seeing values increase by the expenditure of the money taken from the pockets of Europeans. '

THE ” Wellington Typographical Society evidentlyfbelieves that Parliament should be rnn for the benefit of the printers. It is protesting against the proposed adjournment of Parliament on the ground that, the Government Printing Office would then be unable to find work for unemployed printers, ; This Society has for some time guided the labour unions in their injurious work, and naturally has conceived the opinion that it shonld rule. Its leaders are principally employees in the Government PrintiugaOffioe, that oostly institution which is supported by the taxpayers. The protest displays the arrogance of labour ‘ unionism, and indicates the desirability of very largely reducing the starf of the Government Printing Office, and getting most of the work done by private contract, which would certainly be more economical to the State. s