CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 161, 6 January 1912, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE POLITICAL SITUATION 7 . The Premier, it is said, will make a, pronouncement next-week as to his intensions. It is held by a section of the Liberal Party that the answer given from the polls is not of such a decisively adverse character that it is inconsistent on the constitutional precedent, >or likely to prove detrimental to the interests of the country, to delay themeeting of Parliament till after the financial ,year closes on March 31. To accept this position would, in our view, be a mistake. It is far better : for the Government to face the situation boldly and immediately, and end the suspense that is operating, against the best interests of the country, which, after all, are. of more consequence than partisan success. As the Dunedin Star, a suppbrter of the .Ministry, puts it:—"lt is not constitutional necessity so much as a fine sense of the fitness of things that should dictate this policy. The Governmerrfc have no assurance of being able to command a working majority in the new House; and there would be something undignifid and even petty, something' inconsonant with the best traditions of British statesmanship, in-hanging on to office for four months after the election, in the hope (for such it would be) of conciliating the Independent and Labor members in the interval. - Far better, we should say, even from the standpoint of party expediency, to face the issue boldlj and promptly—and perhaps with happier fortune than some pessimists suppose. Furthermoi'e, 'we do not like the idea of Cabinet Reconstruction prior to the meeting of the Legislature. To be candid, Sir Joseph Ward's position is too dubious to justify such experiments. .Sir Joseph Ward will jdo well to think twice and thrice before adopting a line of action upon which an unpleasant construction will inevitably be placed." EMIGRATION FRAUDS. For many years intending emigrants from the Old Country to the British dominions have been the prey of various kinds of land.sharks,.and the cable tells us that Canada has just secured the conviction of a couple of fraudulent agents. A favorite method of defrauding potential emigrants has been to book passengers- by outgoing steamers and- to take either the whole of part of the passage ftioney, the tickets issued being franduV lent and the issuers not connected with any shipping company.' A particularly lucrative business is undertaken in England by agents who induce batches of emigrants to travel by certain boats on promise of large and luxurious ''jobs" at their destination.. These agents are chiefly responsible for many of the misfits the colonies get, their whole object being to get the commission paid by the shipping companie.B out "of the passage money. The.Canadian frauds probably refer to emigrants who have landed in Canada, for Canadian papers, have lately reported numerous cases in which agents have received from British people large sums of money as deposits for land at a distance. Many of these people have Been sent hundreds of miles by railroad to their "new homes," only to, find that the lan.d they have paid deposits on is being .held and farmed, or that it is a hopeless wilderness which-the agents have never seen and know nothing about. On the whole a term of three years' imprisonment for a man who probably steals the life's earnings of a family seems fairly benevolent.

ADVERTISING AUSTRALIA. A sensation was created among Australians in London a few weeks' ago by the publication of a remarkable advertisement setting forth the attractions of the Commonwealth. The correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald relates'that on opening the Daily Majil' he was astonished "to find spread out, .rather like a poster, all over a single page of it, one huge splash about Australia." "It was a soul-satisfying proclamation," he adds.' "It contained all the things that Australians like to say about Australia, and said them all at once. It said that in Australia the sun shone for 325 days in the year, and there was room for twenty million immigrants; it said that the men worked eight hours a day out of doors under conditions which added twenty years to their lives. It said a whole lot of things which every Australian who comes over here—Labor and Liberal alike—always does say privately; but which no Agent-General or Commonwealth officer dares say, because the' Government are very particular about telling rather less than the literal truth about Australia for fear immigrants should be deceived and should think Australia a better country tban.it really is." The extreme boldness of the advertisement was the cause of the sensation. The responsible officers of the States have been very modest in their efforts to attract population, and of late they have been compelled to be very circumspect by their inability to secure sufficient berths on steamers for intending immigrants. The advertisement caused the Australian representatives a great deal of trouble. It gave the names of'the Agents-General and the High Commissioner, and their offices were besieged by applicants for passages to the promised land. When they could snatch spare moments the Agents-General telephoned, to the High Commissioner to ask whether he had suddenly taken leave of his senses and what he proposed to do with the eager immigrants. The High Commissioner could give them no satisfaction, and it was not till -some days later that they all discovered that the successful advertisement was not "official." It had been inserted by an Australian who had hit upon this method of showing his confidence in bis country and his gratitude for what it had done for him.