CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 81, 14 July 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

GI'ARANTEED RAILWAYS. In a recent issue of the Wellington Times the following paragraph was published:—"lt is the Government's intention to legislate this session providing for the guarantee method of railway extension. As already indicated by the Prime Minister, future railway extensions will have to .show promise of a return of three and a-half per cent, upon the capital if they are to be made by the iState. Unless this is insisted upon, either a less vigorous policy of construction of a very great increase in freights would have to be made to provide a reasonable return over the whole system. If local faith in new railway's prospects is greater than that of the Government's advisers, the line can be provided, according to the proposed measure, upon receipt of a local guarantee to bear any loss for a term of years if the receipts do not produce the minimum return of 3% per cent. The security for this win in all probability Ibe the same as for a local loan, and the new Bill will provide a method by which any deficit may be met annually by a special rate over the locality benefited by the line." This ; announcement, coming as it does from

Cabinet's mouthpiece, may be taken as evidence of the intention of the Government to further and make workable the scheme the Premier outlined over a year ago. We are committed to the principle of State railways, but to prevent the construction by the aid of private money simply hampers the development of the country. If the Waihi Company had not offered to find the money for the Paeroa-Waihi line Waihi would probably still have been waiting for the Government to give them railway communication. And the same would have been the case in connection with the GoreWaikaka line, in connection with which the settlers found or guaranteed the funds. In the matter of guaranteed railways, the Government finds the money and the people served by them make up per rates any loss in their working. We presume the Government will not share the profits with the ratepayers should the railways prove successful. If the scheme is given effect to, it will mean a good deal to Taranaki, particularly the' southern part of it, where the rates, though the heaviest levied in any rural part of the Dominion, are totally insufficient to keep the roads in good"order. There is not the slightest doubt that a guarantee in respect to linking Opunake with the main line would be forthcoming, just as there is no question of a railway in such a closely settled and rich district paying, and paying handsomely. The progress of the scheme in Parliament will be followed with, interest by the folk oi this province.

A YEAR'S CRIME RECORD. The annual police report for the Dominion, which has been submitted to Parliament by the Minister for Justice, contains a' good deal of highly interesting matter, and affords an opportunity of ascertaining the pdsition of the country as regards crime. The, statistics deal with all offences reported to the police during the past year, and show an aggregate net increase of 420 on the figures for 1908. The proportion of offences to population was 2.32 per cent., as against 2.33 per cent, in the previous year. The list of principal increases includes 314 more cases of drunkenness, 127 more cases of common assault, 131 more cases of vagrancy, ,76 more of slygrog selling, and 32 more of gambling offences. It is evident, therefore, as there were nearly 700 cases of what may be termed minor offences, that the increase in crime is more apparent than real. The list showing decrease in crime includes 112 less cases of burglary, 108 less of wife desertion, and 102 less of riotous conduct. The figures should be regarded as. in a sense, very satisfactory, and, especially in the cases of burglary,, reflect credit on the preventive efforts of the police. An -interesting feature of the report is that showing the number of offences reported in each' police district during the year. Auckland heads the list with a total of 6063; Wellington is second with 5508, Christchurch tlhird with 3625, Wanganui fourth with 2554, and Dunedin fifth with 2116. The only other district with reported offences running to over four figures is Napier, with 1994. The total for the Dominion for the year was 23,930, and the actual number of offences in which arrests or summonses resulted was 22,880. This total is decidedly large, considering the prosperity of the Dominion, and it is to be hoped that the current year will see it greatly reduced. There were 560 arrests made for what are known as serious crimes. This is 136 less than last year's total, so that: there is a satisfactorv decrease in this respect. Burglary is the biggest item, totalling 242 arrests; but, as stated, this runs to over 100 less than last year's total. Forgery led to 176 arrests, assault and battery 55, arson 27, murder 7, attempted murder 4, shooting with intent 6, and rape 8 arrests. During the last nine years the number of serious crimes, as above described, has varied from 520 to .759, so that the present total (699) does not call for comment. Indecent and sexual offences dealt with totalled 432 last year, as against 387 in 1908. The extension of the finger-print system is evidenced by the fact that over 1200 were added to the collection, to which Dl)19 offenders have contributed their quota. No fewer than 140 offenders whose antecedents were unknown to the police of the districts in which they were in custody, were by means of finger-prints identified as previously convicted persons. This method of detection has steadily grown, the number so traced rising from 72 in 1905 to 140 in 1910. As an evidence of its efficacy, the series of burglaries in Wellington last year were shown to have been committed by the same persons. The interchange of finger-prints with other countries has also assisted to identify criminals. Altogether, the report is reassuring, and points to the fact that our police system is doing good work in preventing crime, as well as in securing the punishment of offenders against property and person.

THE LONGEVITY OF POLITICIANS,

The interesting figures quoted by Mr. I W. T. Jennings, M.P., in the "News'' the other day. have drawn from the Melbourne Age' an article on the longevity of Australian politicians. Evidently 'much the same state of affairs prevails in the Commonwealth. No feature of Federal political life is said to be so remarkable as the number of men who, in the few short years of the Commonwealth's existence, have made their bows on the Parliamentary stage, and, having played their parts, have disappeared. Some of them are dead, some have retired from politics, many are already 1 almost forgotten bv the public thev served. Of the fifty delegates, all.leading men of their day, who attended the federal Convention which met in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, in 1897 and 1898,

only twenty-four were elected to the first Federal Parliament in 15)01. Although they were substantial figures in ! Australian history, only eight of them are left in the present Commonwealth j Parliament. Four of them are dead, j four are on the High Court Bench, one | is High Commissioner in England, five I have "withdrawn from politics, wearied | fcy its turmoil, one of them broken down by it. Two only have been set aside bv the electors. 'Amongst the rank and file the changes have been even greater. Of the thirty-six original members of the Senate only thirteen are left, and two of t'hese-<!olonel Cameron and Senator O'Keefe, both from Tasmaniahave spent three years and six years respectively of the ten years in the blissful calm of private life. Ten years ago I Mr. Deakin had glossy black hair. Mr. j Fisher, now white-headed with care, I looked like a boy. They have all changI exl. The young men of 1901 are the tired, harassed, grev beards of 1910, lookI ing forward to the day when they can persuade themselves to set politics aside for ever. Many that were members ot the first Parliament are dead, several of them live on as broken men with wrecked nervous systems. In one of the representatives' rooms in Parliament House, there is a picture of a group ot seventy-flve members of the first Parliament. Only thirty-one of those who appear in the picture are still in the House, and of them one is so ill that it is doubtful if he will take his seat again, while another is almost an invalid. In addition, there have been fifteen other members who came into the Federal House in 1903 or 1906, only to vanish after brief careers. The life of the politician is short, and not invariably merry. The fame that public position gives a man is brief and uncertain.