CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 295, 8 May 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE. MOKAU BRIDGE. The settlers along the coast got very little satisfaction "from the Minister for Public Works regarding the bridging of the Mokau. In fact, they must have been keenly disappointed and surprised at the nature of the Minister's reply. "The best the Government can do is to offer a £ for £ subsidy," said the Hon. McKenzie, vouchsafing the advice that the people of the district should form a county and have a commission set up to apportion the cost of the proposed bridge among the local bodies affected. This marks a new departure for the present Government, whose past policy has been to build such works out of the Consolidated Fund.' As has been so often said, the bridging of the Mokau i? a national matter; the bridge is the connecting link between the two provinces; it is the missing link of a main arterial highway. As such it should be constructed in its entirety out of the i Consolidated Fund, just as other bridges,; not even of such an important character, ] have been and are being built all ovcri the country. The Mohakatino and Tongaporutu bridges, along the same road, were a charge on the public purse, no bones being made over them by the Government, the same Government to which the Hon. R. McKenzie pays allegiance. The late Mr. Seddon recognised the need of the Mokau bridge, and promised it would be undertaken. But this promise is evidently of no consideration to the present Minister for Public Works, for he refuses to be bound by it. His attitude is indeed difficult to understand, as it reverses what we ahvavs considered was a settled point in the roading and bridging policy of the present Administration. Extensive borrowing powers have been given them for raiding and bridging the country, for the very works as that of the Mokau bridge, yet we are told that the most the Government can do is to subsidise it to the extent of half-cost. The sug-1 gestion to raise the balance of the cost by rating the immediate district and making the neighboring districts contribute, is quite beside the point. It is a j national work, and the cost should be defrayed out of the national exchequer. Last session, if our memory serves us 1 rightly, a sum of money, in excess of the estimated cost of the Mokau bridge, was placed on the Estimates for bridging a river in Mr. MeKenzie's own electorate. We did not hear then of a £ for £ subsidy, the whole cost being borne by the Government, and rightly so, too, if the work is half as important and as necessary as the bridge over the Mokau. We believe that the settlers of the district should fprm themselves-into a county and take over the control of the roads themselves. They would have quite enough, and probably more than enough, to maintain out of rates without contributing to the cost of the proposed bridge. Anyhow, if the Minister thinks that the settlers of the locality are shirking their responsibilities by not moving in this direction, he has the remedy in his own hands, for he can bring the proposed county into being at any moment. We hope the energetic member for the district (Mr. Jennings) will not allow the matter, involving as it does such a radical departure from past policy, to remain where it is, but will take it direct to the Ministry and House and succeed in obtaining what is only justice for a long-neglected district.

CHINA FOR THE CHINESE. The western nations are apt to regard the hundreds of millions of Chinese in the great yellow empire as belonging to a species of worm that refuses to turn. But there is, promise of a "turn" in China ■that may change the empire and shake its rulers as they have not been shaken since the Manchus became the dominant factor. One of the first indications we had of the coming revolt against Manchu authority was in the passing of the "pigtail," the wearing of which was an indignity thrust on the Chinese by the iManchus, against whom the bulk of true Chinese are apparently now violently opposed. The Manchus obtained ' preeminence by seizing an opportunity. In HIG4 there was hot rebellion in China. Peking fell into rebel hands, andTJie Chinese Emperor called on the Manchus, who seemed to live by fighting, to help him quell it. The empire was in such a hopeless condition that the emperor chose suicide as a way out of his troubles, and a,s he had no heir, the J fightable Manchus saw a unique oppor-1 tunity of stepping in. At any rate the I Manchu chief ascendod the most ancient

of all existing thrones. From that conquering Manchu chief sprang a successsion of the most intellectual rulers China ever had. It is due to the Manchus that the "foreign devil" was fostered, and subsequently humiliated when he had established valuable trade relations. Although it was a Manchu emperor who nearly a century ago fought the opium trade so carefully nurtured by the said "foreign devil," his inability to suppress it has been visited on the reigning house ever since. By the opium war of 1840 Britain was able to open mnny important Chinese ports to the trade of the world. There have been international disputes and wars of blood and greed ever since. Rightly or wrongly, the Chinese regard the Manchus as the cause of most of their troubles, the introduction of the hated white man, the opium traffic, and caste conservatism. The Manchus have been able to obtain great places and perquisites without trouble, and this probably rankles worse than all else. The revolutionary element is supplied by what we call the Young Chinese Party, which, although antagonistic to Western influence, is using the western method of education and western methods of stirring a great people out of their lethargy. The events of the immediate future in the gigantic empire will be of vital interest to the world at large, for they will be the herald of a new era in Chinese rule and Chinese ambition.

THE PRIOB OF FRUIT. New Zealand grows fruitj but it is a luxury for the rich, In other fruitgrowing countries fruit is a cheap and common food. The point for the consideration of townspeople is that the retailer purchases from the grower cheanly and sells to the customer at a price that is prohibitive to the average head of a family. Lately the Lyttelton Times made some inquiries, and as tne conditions in Christchurch—as far as the buyer is concerned—are the conditions that exist elsewhere our contemporary's investigations are of general interest. The president of the Fruitgrowers' Association told the Times representative luat the beßt dessert apples were sold to me shopkeepers at 2'/jd a pound and tnat the addition charge of 3 ] /jd a pound represented rents, losses on bad fruit and the "turn of the scales," as well as profit. The margin, says the Times, seems to be excessive, even after the most liberal allowance has been made for all these contingencies, and we are inclined to believe that it is apparently justified in practice only because the big prices prevent a large turnover. It is not reassuring to be told that the large orchards send only "rubbish" to the local market, reserving the best part of their crop 'for more favored centres, because the small growers can "supply the demand." Obviously the demand is regulated uy the price, and it would increase very rapidly if the public were given an opportunity to buy cheap fruit. It may be true that the ordinary citizen can purchase case lots at auction on equal terms with the retailer, thouqh this admittedly was not the case a short time ago, 'but of course the consumer seldom wants a whole case, and in any event he cannot conveniently attend auction sales. We are forced to the conclusion that the only hope of improved conditions lies in the establishment of a municipal market, where the public could meet the growers without the intervention of either the auctioneer or the middleman.