CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 89, 23 July 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

LOCAL BODIES.

The man over forty years of age in New Zealand who is not a member of a governing bodv of some sort, is as rare as a private in the American army. Of local bodies in New Zealand there is no end, and the Premier's assertion that there is one governing co-operation f"' every two thousand souls in _ the=e islands makes one wonder who is not an official of some sort. Whatever may be said to the contrary, there is a distinct taste in the Dominion, not only for governing everything with as much circumstance and parade as possible, but with as manv men as possible. Tf the pearls of wisdom of the 500 local bodies in New Zealand were garnered daily and set in imperishable tvpe, there would be no room for any other jewels in the press. The decision of the Government to decrease the number of local bodies will shock many of them, because it has become an axiom that there must be a councillor or two of some sort to every acre. The pride of a man in being a member of a road board is entirely 0 pardonable, not only because it invests him with the halo of eminence, but because his position sheds rays on his neighbors. Thev have every reason to be proud of him. .Hut it is neeessarv that all these bodies should have staffs of skater or Jess dimensions, and th" circumlocutory method of most of the lesser bodies makes the work, of staffs iust as difficult ns if a province was 1">in<r administered. The sums spent in p..fb n/imiiiistvation are larsror than the country need pay, and even though

larger areas for administration will necessarily wipe out many of the existing! bodies, the men who are forced to re-j tire, being guided only by public duty, will i take their departure, knowing that the I pockets of the people will benefit. Then| again the Bill mav not pass, and ecch' local body may continue to administer' the affairs of its people. , j MATE Wy^HE^ m | ..ate proposes to assise the wives of men earning less than £2OO a year with money for confinement expenses.' The proposal suggests the desire of the State to induce the maternity that may' be avoided. The Continental peasant' who rears a family of a dozen or so on' a few francs a week would, in the first! place, think two hundred pounds a year| paradise, and in the next place would, probably become less inclined to parentage if lie received it. The suggestions may be deemed to be excellent, if the results anticipated are reached, but to the man or woman with experience, State help in maternity cases means simply a greater ability to pay fees.j That is to say, the State, in assisting, fathers and mothers during an expensive period, recognises, not so much the point that the parents should be' helped, but that the medical men and] maternity nurses should be paid large, fees. The State has entered into thisi matter by setting up some maternity homes and the work dsne in them has' been remarkably successful. It recognised the point that unskilled nufsel were a blight, and made it necessary for them to become qualified by examination, or—in cases of nurses who had practised long—by recommendation of medical men. The successful nurse, therefore, assesses her services highly. The plain fact is that the attendants at confinements value their services in higher proportion than most other people, and thus is the chief need for the State's help. It is, of course, impossible] for the Government to dictate to the. Medical Association or to place a mini-| mum on the price a maternity nurse—j licensed by the Government may, charge, and so in order to overcome the difficulty it proposes to help fathers and mothers to pay the heavy fees demand-: ed. The Government suggestion, too, is by way of discouraging the person who earns a little over two hundred pounds a year from indulging in parentage; but the child of the man who earns two hundred and ten pounds per annum is likely to become as good an asset to the! Dominion as the child of'the man with the maximum income under the pro-, posal. i

OIL AND THE GOVERNMENT. The Government were not unfavorable to the representations made by the deputation from the Taranaki Petroleum Company which waited on the Hon. R. McKenzie in Wellington on Thursday. The Minister gave great attention to

the deputation, and although he was cautious and interrogative, he was obviously impressed with the case that was put before him. The facts mentioned by the deputation are incontrovertible, and, since it seems necessary, to invite Government help, a good way to assure the sympathy of Parliament is by the proposed visit of a Parliamentary party. Such a visit would convince every beholder that enormous wealth existed in the oil deposits, if modern means were available for gathering it in. Under existing conditions the Government bonus of threepence per gallon is only available on the first 800,000 gallons, after the refinery—which is essential for the industry—is erected. But it is for the refinery that the money is necessary. U the industry were established as a going concern there would be no need for assistance. By assisting to establish its oil industry the Government must necessarily benefit the community. If it is impossible to gather in enough money from other sources to establish on a firm basis a commercial project that must be profitable, not unly to the people directly concerned, but to the Dominion as a whole, it seems rea-j sonable that the Government might speculate for assured profit on the, money loaned. It proposes, as we have] said, to set aside a very large sum an-1 nually for the development of water power, the use of which has not yet' been detailed. In the matter of oil, there is a visible and assured purpose lor the use of money. It is hoped that every inducement will be offered to members of the.Cabinet and M's.P. to visit the wells, for they would thus be convinced! that the optimistic assertions of the I deputation were not overdrawn, and that the directors' faith in refusing to quit any of their shares was the re-, suit of their entire confidence in the, future of the oil industry.