THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1910. WHAT A ROYAL COMMISSION MIGHT DO.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10029, 1 July 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1910. WHAT A ROYAL COMMISSION MIGHT DO.

Royal Commissions are by no manner of means unknown in the political life of this Dominion, and in various cases their establishment has been farcical, and practically nothing less than scandalous. On the other hand some of the Commissions have r of course, done valuable work,, and ! it must be admitted that by means of setting up a Royal Commission the rulers of a country are at times able to ma!;e investigations of such a character as to assist them in de termining what measures are necessary to promote the well-being of the people. It seems to ua that at the present time there is very urgent 1 work that might be successfully undertaken by a Royal Commission, the ultimate result being of incalculable benefit to the whole of the people cf the Dominion. It is beyond dispute that more manufacturing inI duatries. are wanted in New Zealand. j Every town realises the need of tod'us-: tries of (he kind,, and yet year after year goes ' y without any appreciable progress befog made to supply* the great deficiency.. That there is something radicalLy. wrong; with, the coun-

try must be confessed by every intelligent and unbiassed thinker, and the d figures quoted by Sir Joaeph Ward in relation to our exports and imports in recent speeches made by hini only j emphasise that there must be some c peculiar causes for the state of semi- r. stagnation that prevails in most * towns in the Dominion. ****** Of «oßrse, it is contended «n some 1 quarters that labour legislation is at the bottom of the trouble, but this i contention does not explain the position. It id true that there was a decided "drop in wool" three years ago, but if the country is being run on sjoofid lines that unfortunate experience should not have caused siH J the trouble with which it is credited. | f Why are tne towns of New Zealand at the present time not in a-flourish* j ing condition? Apparently there is every reason why they should be booming, but we all know what the state of affaiis is! It would seem that there are quite a large number of industries that could be eetab- ' lished and successfully carried on. 'That 'such'industries would prove of infinitely greater value to the working classes than any labour legislation in existence goes without saying* and it is, also, extremely patent that the Government is not taking | any genuine interest in manufactur- ! tog industries. I* « * * * * We are of opinion that if a Royal , i: Commisison were set up to go into the question from every point of view, and to report fully to "Parliament as to the conclusions which it . might arrive at, that beneficial legislation miebt follow the report, and . -thus a great impetus given to the [pace at whichi thia country is progreaI» ' sing. The members of the Commis sion should be most carefully chosen, and probably, if some of them were ] obtained from England, America, and Germany, a perfect "flood of light'* might be shed upon this i country as to the possibilities that .% lie ahead of ' it. The industrial ' workers t of New Zealand are not re- ' ceiving that degree of atteution which the Government should bestow upon them, and when the-masses are neglected it is only a matter of time until every class in the community 7 suffers. If the Government would come forward courageously with a l f : policy for establishing suitable industries in this country, they would ; command support, and deserve it too, and the first steptowarda such a desirable undertaking'is, we venture to say, the setting up of a Royal Commission such as we have suggested.