CURRENT OPINION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 193, 18 September 1909, Page 5

CURRENT OPINION.

DISCHARGED PRISONERS. • JEvsry reasonable opportunity should be allowed to oue who lias not given the • "most complete proof that lie has adopv . ed a downward course to become once more an honest citizen in preference to ■; forcing him to adopt the life of a crim- ;': inal. If a man with a tarnished reput;i- ---' tion finds that despite bis persistent en. ;.. deavors he cannot obtain work, it is obvious that he must either starve, \ t . steal, or -commit suicide. The Minister of Justice is inclined to adopt a humane *. coarse in dealing with the habitues ot f the gaols of the colony, and we trust, '-': now that prominent attention has been v directed to this matter, there will be no - cause for complaint under this heading i n future.—Dannevirke Advocate. I THE EXPLORER'S MISSION. I The whole theory of cyclones of attuo- :; spheric and ocean currents awaits prei ci» knowledge of polar conditions. It I is not too much to say that every ? weather forecast in the daily Press will 1 be the more trustworthy if ,the Shackleton and Peary observations are collated and tabulated, which will be the work of many laborious months. Navigation -will be safer, and by the aid of ethereal messages ships far away will be advised of approaching danger, and ra a way of which we Know not now men .will benefit by the call to which, we owe our Arctic and Antarctic heroes. Truly their self-sacrifice is well worth whileWellington Post.

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY. _ It clearly remains for manufacturers to tee to it that justification for the criticism levelled against the quality of much of the New Zealand butter that Was sent Home during the past season is removed as soon as possible. In so doing they will consider their own ultimate interests and place the exporter •ad the importer in a sounder position than Uiey occupied last year.—Otago Daily Times. A GOOD ' SCHEME MARRED. New Zealand certainly has never succeeded in developing any intelligent idea as to what sort of naval defence she really docs want,, and it looks very much as though an excellent plan of

\ Imperial naval defence has been marred I from a desire to please the one Do- }•/ minion of the Empire that is alleged to l : prefer to stay at home and hire her kinsmen to defend her instead of bearr, ing the responsibility herself. New Zea. '/ land and Australia together could go a |l. very long way towards relieving Great W Britain of the cost both of providiig

» and maintaining the whole Australian If unit Canada is building a fleet of four $ or five cruisers, and South Africa will '■• probsbly be doing something of the ', game sort once its Federal Government fr" ia established. Fantastical, freakish 1 New Zealand, calling itself the Britain m of the South. the one Island Dominion, ij.j country whose chief highway is the K sea aad whose future is on the oceanic New Zealand alone of the Dominions if- stands aloof—Wellington Citizen. LAND SETTLEMENT. r (The Country does not want explana- [■■ tione. It wants settlement, and evcry- [ body 1 • >ws that settlement has been | suspirf'b ' that there has been no proIt; r- »v «hich the pakeha' who wanted | i of his own and was prepared to | • r nto the bush and to carve it out of j| tue wilderness could do so upon these '* huge tracts of idle Maori land, and the A consequence is that our national expands sion has been checked, that our indus--1 trial development had not kept pace with our capacities and requirements, and that, when men "have walked unemployed in our cities, hardy settlers I lave been leaving this Dominion for Jg laads where the pakeha settler can win 3 a freehold and is not asked to become p- the serf of a Maori landlord.—New Z«- ~ land Times. <' jj. MR. HOGG. ■ It is to the Liberal Government and ', party that the "country has to look for . progressive legislation, and Mr. Hogg is f leallr playing into the hands of the .» reactionary section. Having regard to <• the mischievous character of his opinions on the currency and one or two other matters, wo cannot regret that heis no longer a member of the Cabinet, tut we do protest against the implica- ; tion contained in his owji speeches, and ', 'in the praises of his friends, that Sir i_* Joseph Ward and the other Ministers >s| jrt to blame in some way for the recent g& fiasco. The plain fact is 'that Sir Joseph SK gave Mr. Hogg credit for more, practical Rnnue and sagacity and savoir faire than Ppthe event has shown him to possess.— jffiDoneain Star.