PUBLIC OPINION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2451, 16 March 1909, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION.

the minister op labor. Mr Hogg fails to grasp the financial position of New Zealand. The Dominion is spending nine millions a year on its .government when it ought not <--o ‘-Popd more than .seven millions. If -ne Minister- or Labor had- his way it would probably spend eleven millions. It is all nonsense about the country mat having to fear debt and taxation. It lias every reason to rear dent \-\TrCi taxation at the present time. It is Crovera incut extravagance that has been a large factor in bringing about Hie present depression. Ve* sympathise with Mr Hogg’s eagerness to develop the resources of the back-blocks, but there must be a certain amount of prudence it New Zealand is to prosper, and a responsible Minister or the Crown mould at a time like this preach c-coxcniy. • Wairarapa Times.’ - COOKERY FOR NFEbEA

We are - pleased to note by recent enactments that cooking is taking its rightful placefso far as the qua!ilocations of nurses are concerned, and an adequate knowledge of the culinary art is now necessary before a nurse can be certificated. A great deal has been done of recent years to diffuse a knowledge of cookery in the Dominion, and in this connection our technical schools arc doing splendid work. No class of the community needs instruction in tire way to increase with simple means the variety and relish of loeds—ncoesisarily the preparation of luxuries for the table—more-than do our nurses, and it is .therefore a source of satisfaction to know that tlie matter i; now receiving the attention it deserves. — 'Wanganui Herald.’ THE METHODIST CONFERENCE. If interest in Church work in New "Zealand is declining, as the pessimists say it is, the Methodist C'onierence at least furnished no evidence oi the-ten-dency. There was an unusually large attendance- of members, who devoted themselves to the consideration of Church questions with unflagging enthusiasm. We find evidence of it in synods, convocations, assemblies, and gatherings of all the churches, and in spite of the pessimistic utterances of those who describe New Zealand as_ reverting to paganism we are convinced that there has never been, in the history of the Dominion, a more earnestly, religious tone among the people than there is to-day.— * Lyttelton Times.’ TOO MANY FIRES. Probably Captain Hugo is right in attributing the extraordinary prevalence of fires in New Zealand to the carclessncss engendered by over-insurance. No doubt a certain number of people set their properties on fire, but a much larger number allow their properties to take fire by culpable negligence. In both cases the insurance companies arc to blame. The competition between them has become so keen during recent years that in their anxiety to do business they have dispensed with some of the precautions that formerly assisted in the protection of their interests. There are thousands of policies issued now without the companies making more than the most superficial inquiries concerning the property they are covering. The owner’s word is taken almost without a question. _ A man might easily insure his house or his uirniture up-to its full value, or even a good deal beyond its value, without exciting the least suspicion. His intentions might .bo perfectly honest—merely x-o set his .own mind at rest —and he might continue to exercise the greatest care in the protection or the property. But another mail, with, equally honest indentions, might havo_ his mind made so easy by the possession oi a generous insurance policy that, he might grow careless about a defective chimney, or .a mii-nlaced gas iet, or the disposal or ■ the ashes from the kitchen grate, and in the end ho might find his policy ■ created into a claim upon tiie insurance . company. Tins is the man t-o whom the Government Eire Inspector directed .attention when speaking at the Fire Brigades’ Conference in Auckland. There is, of course, no impropriety in insuring property for as much as it is worth. If the company is prepared to take the whole of the risk it is very natural that the owner should prefer to retain none himself. The inconvenience of a fire is serious enough apart from the loss, and a few shillings or a few pounds in the way of additional premium is usually of little consequence. But it is clearly in tlie interests of tiie company that- the owner should be left with a strong incentive to exercise every care for the safety of his property. This is the point which Captain Hugo wishes to emphai-and it the companies are who they will -not allow liis remarks to pa-s. unheeded. New Zealand is having far too many fires, and it is time the number was reduced. —‘Lyttelton Times. 5

A DIVIDED OPINION. The mistake the Government made was in appointing Mr Giles to the Auckland district, where the peculiar animosity has been raised to hnn, and where it existed before the district of each Commissioner was defined. r lbe stand taken by the Dunedin Trades and Labor Council is a manly one,' and if the Auckland Council is amenable to the influences of reason it will at once withdraw it? objections to Mr Giles, and allow the work of conciliation to go on in the northern 'district. As it is Mr Giles’s Avork is adversely handicapped by the action of the head centre of the employees, and if his services are to be of any use to tjie Dominion he must either be removed from the district where there is so strong an objection to him or the objection must be withdrawn. Even the most conciliatory conciliator could not smile through such a'tragic condition as has been cheated • v the Auckland' Trades and Laboi v .Council. —‘North Otago Times. SIR ROBERT STOUT. Education, in which, from his earliest days in Otago he has taken the deepest interest, has engaged the Chief Justice’s attention to the very last, and it is hoped that he may he strong enough to attend, in his official capacity as Chancellor of the I; diversity _of New ’ Zealand, both the Darwin centenary at Cambridge and the University celebrations in Geneva about the.inul e of the year. As lawyer and as judge, as statesman and legislator, as educationist and social reformer—in all these capacities Sir Robert Stout has worked with industry and brdhance in dhe cause of humanity. New Zealand c/ratefnl for all that lie has done, and the good wishes Avith Avliich she speeds him are not entirely free from that kind of gratitude which is concerned- AVitn the o f favors to •‘Wellington Posj/.’ < K v' i J