PUBLIC OPINION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2506, 20 May 1909, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION.

AX OTAGO SANATORIUM. It is satisfactory to learn that the Hospital Board have at length secured a suitable site on which to build a sanatorium for consumptive patients. The provision made hitherto for the treatment of tuberculous eases in this district has been of a tentative and secondrate order; and a properly-equipped institution, under the direct control of the public authority, lias admittedly been a desideratum for some time past. Of course there will be no element of private profit in the management of the Palmerston sanatorium, and the establishment of this principle will itself be a step in advance. The site which the Board have chosen is a pleasant and healthy spot between Goodwood and Palmerston, 1 and the fact of it having been strongly recommended by the Inspector-General of Hospitals favors the presumption that no- mistake has been made. We understand that the terms, of the purchase are reasonable, and it is to be hoped that no time will bo lost before the work of building and general preparation is put in hand. We take it that provision will be made for all classes 61 consumptives—not only for the indigent, but also for those who are able to pay (in varying degrees) for their maintenance and treatment. It may be assumed, too, that after the opening of the sanatorium no more Cases of phthisis will be admitted into the Dunedin Hospital. Congratulations should perhaps be postponed until the promised institution is an accomplished fact, but we are very glad to know that the first effective steps" have been taken. —Dunedin “Star.” THE "CABLE SERVICE. If Sir .Joseph Ward will compare the Now Zealand newspapers with the South African or the Canadian newspapers he will find that- they are at least as well served with cable news as are their contemporaries nearer tlie heart of the Empire. Wo must remember that the newspapers have to obtain, within certain limitations, what the public want to read, and that' there are quite a number of people who are more curious to learn how the Australian cricketers have fared in their first match than they are to know what the British public think about the latest expressions of our patriotism. If the newspapers are giving their cabling business to a privately-owned line instead of to a State-owned line, as Sir Joseph says they are. the fact is very much to he deplored; but we do not suppose that the ownership of tlie wires makes any difference in the quality of the cables.—“Lyttelton Times.”

LOCAL INDUSTRY. Protection, so far as it means the attempt to defend local industries against outside competition and to foster their growth by any rational method. is not only, the fiscal policy of the Dominion but the industrial creed, of nearly every intelligent elector in New Zealand. We need not spend time in arguing about the theory of protection just now, but we do not expect any body to deny that the encouragement of local industries lias been formally accepted by this country and as a definite public duty. Unuer the circumstances it is only reasonable to assume that our representative public bodies, and more especially those that are directly interested in industrial and commercial affairs, shall give full effect to our national policy whenever they can do so without prejudicingrtho interests entrusted to their charge. Auckland “Star.” ■

NATIONAL ANNUITIES. If the scheme could be put on a sound financial basis, it would confer an immense boon on all open to benefit by it. It is free from the objections of a non contributory pension scheme. It encourages thrift and self-romance, instead of declining to assist those who have striven themselves, to make provision for ago and need: Tins single measure is enough to,-provide work mi one session, and if it can lie successfully carried, it will confer lasting distinction on/Sir Joseph Ward: and earn lnm the gratitude of the people of New. Zealand.’ —“Clutha Leader.”

PRICE OF BREAD. Working men’s co-operative enterprises have been started in different places in Now* Zealand, and they have succeeded for a time,., the workers gradually forsook their own store, which naturally could not last when the people for whom it was established withdrew tlieir support. Pne Aucklanders naturally do not soo why they should pay more for bread-than the rest of the peep’e in the Domin'on, left +o oor> + end that vd'ort end flour c.-lmuMl be chfv'-v merelv because there has been an abundant harvest in. New Zealand is absurd’.—-Timarp “Post.”