CURRENT OPINION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 190, 15 September 1909, Page 3

CURRENT OPINION

NEW ZEALAND EXPERIMENTS. New Zealand experiments in small holdings so far.have been a failure. As n matter of fact, men don't want tlwc suburban *icres and a cow. They like to be 7iear a school, they prefer to be close to n ehweh, and in some instances handy to a theatre. All sorts of schemes are pressed upon them, b it. they one and all possess an element of failure because the people don't wa->it them. The reference made to the Small Holdings Act ig instructive. There the first point is to ascertain "Mic demand." In New Zealand we put the cart before the horse; the supply comes first, and the demand does not usually follow. We mean well in New Zealand, Fut we are too clever to do common-sense things. The State offers workers certain bunches of carrots, but the workers do not take kindlv to carrots, and prefer to choose their own vegetables. —Masterton Times.

A n GRADUATING SCHOOL." Is it not comforting to know that the "bookies"—we write the word with becoming revewnee—*have the-imprimatur of Messrs Carroll and Millar, two great pijiars of social reform? How condoling lo be assured that "bookmakers' pay incut* had materially assisted clubs." What more does a club want than money, m> matter from what sourc? And y. t there are clubs who wot.ul rather be without the gentlemen rendered rcriMrctalile by Act of Parliament, jii.il *o highly recommended by the Minister*. Such clubs have a warped au.l narrow vu-w of what decency really is. One won gets aenntonu'd to the pro pi'.njuity ol the gentlemen with the bag and voice, aiifl they arc something to remember. To "the graduating" school for bookmakers—kind, of college i, i which one may learn things—young men may be drafted from our Sunday schools. Rut why should Wellington b.» the only favored community? If Taitersall's possesses all th;; virtue* cla; ned for it bv Measis Carroll and Millar wc nave >\ right to a branch in every centre of the Dominion. What have ,ve j done in these parts that we should be deprived of so Christianising an agenev! Whv ;ot jT,rnt< in thin district have an establishment in which their sons and daughters—for what is good for one should not be denied the othermight be taught to bet in a thoroughly moral, orthodox, and up-to-date manner?— Oamaru Mail.

RAILWAY RETURNS. The capital cost of Northern lines, according to the latest o/lieial figures, is .£12.744.754, and of the Southern lines £17,945,700, and the earnings of the former during the four mouths have been at the rate of 3.12 per cent, per annum upon the capital cost, and the earnings of the latter at a rate of 3.72 per cent. We arc aware that South Island railways usually show to greater advantage during the earlier part of the year than they do during the latter part, but if we carry the comparison back for seven months we find that since the beginning of the present year they have earned £37,058 mote than the Northern lines, the figures being £312,1)58 and £275,!100 respectively. We have not encouraged this comparison ourselves, because we arc just as much concerned for the sucoess of one section of the railways as we are for the other, but we arc sure the public will be glad to hear both sides of the story. —Lyttelton Times.

COST OF "HANSARD." From the appropriation returns for the last financial year we find the total cost of reporting members' speeches in Parliament was £.5235. The cost of printing Hansard last year wa6 put down at £SOOO, giving a total expenditure of over £IO,OOO on this one item. We have no reason to believe that this total is much above the annual average, and with the help of a little simpic arithmetic our readers may prove' to themselves that during the past twentyfive years we have spent on this one object enough money to build any one of the half-a-dozen great railways that | now, in various parts of the so urgently demand completion. More I especially now, when rigorous retrenchment is the orde r °' the day, it w surely time to consider whether this heavy expenditure is justified, and, seating "aside our natural prejudice in favor of traditional institutions, whether the country is really getting value fo r its money.—Auckland Star.