CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 123, 2 September 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

I THE DEPUTATION CRAZE. Even a Premier, like the fabled worm, wil] turn, and Sir Joseph Ward's decision that Ministers will not receive deputa- [ tions while the House Is sitting is good for the Ministers, good for the country, good for the funds of local bodies, and good for overworked reporters. During ia session of Parliament Wellington absolutely seethes with deputations, and I they have become an unmitigated nuisance. Most local Ibodies in New Zealand gladly send a deputation to a Minister on any pretext. It provides a cheap trip for the members of a body, any one of whom would at once assert that he was giving up his valuable time to the work of the State, municipality, road board, sludge channel, association, society or company. The disadvantage of the personal deputation lies in the fact

that Ministers who are switched off their ordinary duties to attend to them, cannot master details and do their work with satisfaction either to the body represented or to themselves. There are few things the average spokesman of a deputation can say better than the sec-' retary of his corporation can write, and it is certain that any Department of Government is much more likely to' arrive at a correct understanding with a ■black and white statement as a guide. The fact that in the majority of in- 1 stances Ministers who receive deputations can only promise to "'keep the matter steadily in view" is the best'reason! for saying that the majority of personal. appeals to Ministers are unprofitable except to the individuals who are awarded a trip to Wellington. It is a fact that ! in the deputation season Ministers are' ' shockingly overworked, and it is re-j markable* that they show such greatcourtesy to orators who might just as profitably use the Post Office for the communications. As practice for Parliamentary candidature there may be an j advantage—to the deputationist—in a war of words with a Minister.

THE JAPANESE CONSTITUTION. The annexation of Korea by Japan has drawn attention to the constitution of: the little brown men's country. What 1 puzzles the student of Japanese history is that no sooner had the Shogun retired than the opposition to his policy began to melt away. The foreigner whose cause he had championed soon .became an invited guest. A number of causes conduced to this result. First the bom(bavdment of Kagoshima by the British in 1803, and by the United European Powers in the following year, convinced the Japanese that however much they wished to ibe rid of the foreigner they could not compel him to depart. Then

the subsequent association with him proved that he was not a ".barbarian," and that he might even be a. useful model. The death of the Emperor Komei, in. 1867, and the succession of his son, a boy of fourteen, advised by Liberal statesmen, greatly hastened the change. These ' men saw that there were many domestic matters needing their attention, without ! their embroiling themselves with foreign Powers. A decree was promulgated by which injuring a foreigner was made a. breach of good faith on the part of thej nation, whose Emperor was pledged to maintain, friendship with the Powers. Noj sooner had Japan adjusted her foreign| relations than the minds of her states-1 taen were turned to internal affairs, and the Emperor subscribed to the "solemn •oath of the Constitution," a marvel in I its generous distribution of power. It j has been the basis of the Japanese Con-' ! stitution ever since. It provides that I . pulblie councils shall be organised and j all governmental affairs "be discussed and j decided in open meeting; that all classes, ( tooth rulers and ruled, .shall with one j heart devote themselves to the advance- | nient of the national interests; that aiO i the civil and military oflicials and all| ( the common people shall be allowed to | realise their own aspirations, and to' ' evince their active characteristics; that I all .base customs of former times shall j ; be abolished; that justice and equity as they are usually recognised shall be fof-' lowed, and, finally, that knowledge shall 1 be sought for throughout the world with' a view to extending the foundations of the empire. If this platform is applied | to Korea there should be no fear for tlie ■ | .future of that interesting country. j

EMPTY SPACES. A writer has lately pointed out that the problem of the future will be to feed the people of the world. He shows the enormous increase of town population, the ( decrease in the supply of necessities, the immensity of man's' operations in winning coal and other I supplies from the earth, and so on. He makes out a very good case for the cessation of supplies. The fact remains, however, that the vast bulk of the world's population lives merely in cor-j ners of it, speaking broadly, and that countless millions of acres are not in-' habited. The population of individual countries seems to wax in greater proportion than in olden times, mainly because there are better means for numbering the people. Nature probably supplies enough people to gain a sustenance from the whole world, and if she overtaxes the productive capacity of any territory, it is a clear indication that she intends the overplus to hive off into colonies in empty spaces. There are unthinkably vast spaces in all the continents (except Europe), which are so undeveloped and so laeking in population that the surplus population of every crowded country in the world could be comfortably accommodated ana supplied with every need of existence. Over-populated countries regard the poorer class as the surplusage, and it is, as a matter of incontrovertible fact, the "pushed out" element of older countries that have supplied the thews, sinews and brains for the new ones. Australia is not settled. Only a fringe of that. glorious country is inhabited, and sooner or later, when that much governed Commonwealth with its multifarious parliaments gets down to business, it will not talk about the price l of land at all, but will ask people of the Old World to take it up freely—for whatever price is put on land, it is absolutely worthless if it produces nothin. Western Australia knows that it has vast fertile spaces that could feed the population of Europe, and so it has devised a scheme by which workers can get to that country from Britain for £2. These people are to be treated exactly as if they paid ordinary fares. Domestic servants will have their £2

returned to them on landing in the State, and the workers will be encouraged to go on the land. It is likely than an absurd Australian idea that an almost empty country means wealth to the few who are in it, is dying out. The dominating idea in Australia today is that, if she does not encourage, by every legitimate means, British "overplus" to come to it, some country not British with more people than it knows what to do with will make the wilderness blossom without permission from either Mr. Asquith or Mr. Fisher. ,