THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1908. SIR JOSEPH'S LATEST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9024, 10 January 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1908. SIR JOSEPH'S LATEST.

The Premier isout-Seddoning St?dd'on in putting forward extravagant ideas. His motion of erecting new Parliamentary Buildings to meet the necessities of the next two hundred years, and sending rotund the hat for subscriptions to> cover the cost,, is a case in point;, but in his latest utterances, as telegraphed from Invercargill, he assumes the role of autocrat. At the port of Bluff a lunch was. given to Admiral and Lady Fawkes- by the local Harbour Board. Sii? Joseph Ward,, who has for some time past been in secret and mysterious personal, communication; with the Admiral,' was present at the function. The latter naturally took advantage Of the occasion to show the importance of the British Navy to the progress and prosperity of New Zealand. To the cobbler there's nothing like leather, anfl we suppose to the Admiral of a fleet there's nothiag like the navy. Both are right from their several points'of view. The Admiral made a speech which wa« excellent of its kind, but contained nothing new beyond the allegation that "the flag had ensured to the people of the dominion peace and protection, which had enabled them to make progress in a comparatively short time." It was the Premier who came out with something striking. Inspired to patriotic fervour by the eloquence of the Admiral and the prospect of another record surplus, he told the company that "if in conjunction with the present [naval] work they were carrying out the Government could get a suitable ship to accommodate

one thousand youths, the Government were prepared to pay for its upkeep." He added that "the Government would go further—they would provide pensions for the lads after they had completed their service." We do not know what form thu new branch of the navy is intended to take, whether the ship when obtained is to be handed over to the Imperial Naval authorities, while the dominion pays the entire cost of vessel and upkeep, as will the proposed pensions; or whether it I is proposed to keep the ship for local defence purposes. In any case the proposal appears to us to be absurd. Training youths for the navy is a good thing, but we are doing all that we are called upon to do in that respect for the present, and Sir Joseph Ward will find that the people will not view his proposal favourably, however his majoiity in Parliament may support it. Perhaps, however, it is only another of the Premier's ways of settingjhimself out in the Imperial lime-light. We hope it means no more. This dominion is pledged to increase its grant Jto the Imperial Navy; if it has any money to spare after that for defence purposes it would be spent to better advantage in further encouraging the adult and youthful population to "learn to shoot straight."