The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15. WRITHER WEXNDING?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8004, 15 December 1905, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15. WRITHER WEXNDING?

Optimism is a very fine qualify. It. is a quality that, is evenly distributed amongst the people of New Z-Miami, wlki, content willi hingsj as they (iiul them, have ,slk)'.vii s) clearly ill the lecent election that what lias been g'Kiil enough fur fourteen years is go-i.I enough for .seventeen. We liave been very prosperous dining those yeirs; they have Wen fat,years in the sense that natmu has isuiilc'l, industries have thriven, the wag.i-earning power of the people has increased. The average person doesn't trouble himself whether prosperity is tiiipposelorre.il. '• Suflieient unto the day" is a v?ry CM.sV ineilnxl oi disposing of the, iiiitter. H", must nit forg"', however, 'hat though he euns a big wage lie is rather highly taxed, especially for the necessaries of life. The heavy dotie.s chargeable on .-rticles of common use aie, of course, levied as a protection to the colonist. who can not eompe'e with older countries. The individual--, however, wliy are protected are in such small proportion to the public who have to pay the cash to protojt them, that the system is strikingly like benefiting a few producers at the cost of a great many users.

We know that there are men now in the I lousy who have mult; platform promises to reduce the tarill'on articles of food, but the man who enjoys a decent billet that makes it a small matter to him whether flour is duty free or otherwise, oftentimes does not see eye to eye with his platform self when a stampede to the lobbies sets in. We, must not forget either that we have oeen carrying oil not only with seven millions of ruvei.uc, lint with two md a i|uarter millions this past year to meet the necessities of State enterprises. Up wards of fifty-nine millions is a lather large item for 800,000 or so people to owe, and it is to be hoped that however much seeming prosperity there may be, continuance ol borrowing may induce the new Parliament to curtail our expenditure whei e possible.

A hii: party is an unwieldy weapon to use. It's use suggests the feasibility of killing a blow-flv with a naval gun. The Only hope of anything lively in the lii'st session of the new Parliament is the pot-sioil tv of ilis ille'-l.ion alining in the ran'is, of the men who were faithful until t-hey got there. T;ie land question wiil be a work that uii! take a deal of skilful negotiating, seeing that the freeholders and le-is. !;oi-iets jne in fairly even piMjiji:i->ii. an.! ;hit even the of the reni'iiiut of t-lie Opposition lei I, do not 'jo j ; e Icnow w here tlii'V are. 'i'ue I'.•■•mi";- jti iiciously iv-.ided the quest i -n 1.i.n.-.eli, and the people showe 1 by their aetionsa! the pills that the matter was of little interest- to them as a whole.

In thediivtion of a nnif e ouomical M-iern of governing this country. and in a more epiit iMc way of raising revenue there ar- large sum.; iliat almost wasted. That {'193,1 iM lor delenee is an alarm ing it-in and for all the good it does the country which is absolutely entirely de-fenceless-it might- jii.-xt. as well lie spent- in emptying water inloa sieve. An expensive Health Itup.irt.mcut exists. Its otlieers Invo an excellent in e-lneaiing the people. The frantic rush the Department makes for every stray pimple that comes ashore would bo amusing if it, didn't. ee,t over ("iD.OfIO n year. The ,implo fact that, the death-rale hasn't decreased since the Department came to lite,and that, the slid death-ra'e has always; been lower than that oi any of twenty other civilised countries, s ( -enis to indicate that the Health Depniment, is more ornamental than tl.-eful. j

1 hk 111 osl. serious fluty ill our judgment, the new lWlimwnt ought to perform— urul it >liuuM be no party i|iii'stion —is to •lerreiso tlie (mormons taxes on evory-iky necessities. Als», on tLe bcuib of humanity audwi re*

gaid tor the future rather titan the piesont, rice of Now Zealanders, it should set its finances in order and try to pay one money-lender without borrowing from another to do it. We aro at presatit piling up a bill for our children to pay that gets bigger liv millions every year, and in n country where everyone concerned if anxious for the welfare of the " nation yet unborn," the children will benefit in a milliner that will startle them and give tliein mixed feelings about our humanity.