CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 256, 19 March 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE ITALI'-IhILIDAY QUESTION. Petitions for taking a poll on the halfJtoiiday question arc being freely signed in New Plymouth, Stratford, Elthani, Ingle wood and Uaitara. It is expected that Jiawera will fall into line also, and that a poll will be taken on the question 111 the six Tai-anaki towns oil April 30tli. tiie date of the municipal elections. iiULDIXO OF RAILWAY LINES. As long as Governments refuse to build urgently needed lines, preferring to waste money on such projects as the Otira Tunnel, Xew Zealand will be behind Canada and other countries where the practice has always been to first take the railway out and to depend upon the people following. No better illustration of the short-sightedness of this policy could be given than the failure to make an effort to push forward the East Coast railway from the Waihi end. By the absence of this line what should he one of the most prosperous dairyingdistricts in the world is cut oil' from markets and rendered almost unoecupiable. .Many other districts in the Dominion aw in a similar plight. Whilst these conditions prevail it is obviously impossible for the Dominion to successhold its own with those other English-speaking countries which, whilst they have less natural advantages than ours, are conducting their immigration on sound business lines. This is from the Auckland Herald, but we defy any open-minded man \yho jias made the between Waihi and Tauraiiiia to justify the construction of this piece of railway. The East Cane, should be linked up. certainly, but a different route must be chosen iron! the one our Auckland contemporary suggests. AX IMPORTANT HIGHWAY. Work on the Lower Awakino Valley road, which will considerably shorten the distance between Awakino and Te Kniti and avoid the terrible Taumato- < maire Hill, will probably be re-started next month. Work was stopped 011 the road some time ago on account of a dilliculty having arisen over a claim for compensation made by the owner of the land through which, _ the road is partly to go, but this has now been settled, whilst money,, which has been scarce with the Govern-' ment. lately, is now available. The cost of the work will run into nearly,-£10,(100. The deviation made, and the improvements now in progress at the northern end completed, the road between Te Kuili and the Mokau should be in good enough condition to permit of motor traffic throughout the year. There will then be only one bad patch, that be-1 tween Tongaporutu and Uruti, and particularly the road over Mt. Messenger.; The trouble here is a shortage of metal. P.urnt papa has been tried with fairly satisfactory results, but the process is slow, and the material consequently expensive. A good road between Te Kuiti and New Plymouth, one that could be safely traversed during ,any part of the year, would bring the two provinces, Auckland and Taranaki, into closer touch with each other and be productive of a much greater volume of trade between settlers and commercial firms of the adjoining provinces. At present the bad roads forms a bar, except for a month or two, when the weather is fine, to through communication. FRENZIED FINANCE." Some trenchant criticism concerning the disposition towards "frenzied finance" was indulged in at the annual meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce recently by the retiring president (Mr. <!. Elliot). There was a growing inclination, lies aid, on the part of many firms and. limited companies to run and increase their businesses on loans from private' individuals at call or on deposit for fixed periods. Banks, as members of the Chamber were aware, were compelled bv law to keep a gold reserve of about 20 per cent, of the total amount deposited with them, and some kept as much as 33 1-3 per cent. ■ There were occasions when firms were justified in taking loans or deposits when it was good business to do so. as in the case of companies where they had sufficient uncalled capital to meit their loans or deposits, or where they bad other firstclass securities which, could bo called up or realised 011 at short notice. Otherwise. however, the practice was dangerous in the extreme —dangerous to the firm itself and dangerous to the depositors. Manv depositors in such cases as ' these considered they had a preferential claim over other creditors in cases of liquidation or bankruptcv, and comfortedo themselves with this idea. Such, however, was not the case, as depositors onlv ranked eouallv with all other creditors in the distribution of liquidation dividends. Notwithstanding all the warnnas uttered by the press and b'- responsible men. continued Mr. Elliott: there seemed to be little inclination 011 the part of citizens generally to curb extravagant expenditure.