PUBLIC OPINION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2527, 14 June 1909, Page 2

PUBLIC OPINION.

AN EXPENSIVE LUXURY. Much of the matter -which appears in “Hansard” is parochial verbiage unworthy of permanent record, and very few of the speeches) can escape this condemnation. Parliamentarians themselves acknowledge this, and yet this useless and expensive service is kept on year after year. It is essential in the interests of economy that if “Hansard”, cannot be abolished it should at least be curtailed within reasonable limits. It is certainly not worth £IO,OO a year. —“New Zealand Times.” MAKING DIVORC® A LUXURY. • There is a groudug feeling, strengthened by the last experience in Auckland, that divorce is becoming too much of a vogue, induced by our make-it-easy laws on the subject. Here is a way to check the vogue. There may be some who will have divorce, no matter what the cost, but it is equally certain that there ar© many who seek that avenue of release from an irksome and hastily-entored-into bondage mainly because the means are easy and cheap. By all means let the means be there, but let the man and the woman who have the fetters knocked off pay the State for its work ns blacksmith; and when the decree nisi makes the operation final, it should he well worth an extra £lO. As it is, the State provides the easy means, and the lawyer gets tho client’s means. Unstatcsmenli'ke? Well, is wholesale divorce good for the State? —“Feilding Star?’ THE PEOPLE’S FOOD. It is a singular thing that, while co-operation is making considerable headway in typically conservative countries, it has not commended itself in New Zealand, which prides itself on advanced ideas in other directions. The palliative for all evils nowadays is to loan upon the Government, but what tho community really wants is self-re-liance and self-help. The State cannot be the foster-mother and pap-dis-penser to tho whole population. It is no use expressing disapprobation of the methods of the millers and the bakers who have, got brains and combination too. If the law is. impotent to prevent speculators gambling in the people’s food, it should be amended; but the real remedy lies in competition—tho competition of open markets and open ports.—“ Wellington Times.” A FINANCIAL DUTY. While this country’s industrial prospects continue as hopeful as they are to-day, we need have no fear that any financial depression through which we may be calle'd upon to pass will be more than temporary, unless indeed, in the very improbable contingency that our Government and our banks should combine to prudence to the winds and forget, absolutely the necessity for those adequate precautions that it is the duty of all private and public financial administrators to take. —“Auckland Star.”

DIVORCE AND' DESERTION. The individual who leaves his wife and family to provide for themselves, or to be provided for by others, should find no refuge in civilisation, but should be brought back from the ends of the earth like the criminal lie is. We cannot restore the controlling influences of a period that is past, but- we can replace them by a civic influence equally potential and equally calculated to ensure the general permanence of marriago.—“New Zealand Herald.” LOCAL INDUSTRIES. If, as is asserted by the Ironmongers’ Association, “the conditions of tenders drawn up by some Harbor Boards favor British and foreign firms to the detriment of New Zealand engineers,” then an injustice is being done to New Zealand manufacturers. Favored treatment o,f this sort must have been unintentional, and now that the matter has been brought under notice local bodies will doubtless take special care that any preference which it is in their power to give is applied locally. As a matter of fact, while some local bodies may have been at fault most of them already act on the jn’inciple of encouraging local industry, but it is possible that with a little more care the application of the principle may be extended.—“ Southland Times.” A QUESTION OF URGENCY. It is quite time that the country realised that, however desirable it may be —we fully agreo that it is desirable—for a more satisfactory understanding between the oversea dominions and. the Mother Country on the question of Imperial defence, it is not in 'keeping with the traditions of our race to deal with the subject in the “scare” manner that is being encouraged here just now. We suspect that many, well-meaning but impressionable citizens a few months hence will • experience some uneasiness as to the lengths to which they permitted their feelings to carry them under the impulse of a mistaken estimate of the situation.—“ The Dominion.” UNEMPLOYMENT.

Taking a broad view of the position

wo can find no justification for pessimism and the labor leaders who have been complaining of tho dearth of employment have furnished no evidence to show that the condition of the workers generally is any worse than it was last winter. Still, there is no good reason why any willing hands 6liould lack work for more than a few days at a time, and we hope the Government will take steps to ascertain the full extent of the trouble and to put an end to the distress that does exist.—Lyttelton Times.” CAESARISM.

Caesar Ward must go to London, and Parliament must wait till Caesar Ward returns from London. Wo agree that Caesar Ward should go to London, but great actors usually possess understudies, who assume their parts when compulsory absence takes them from the stage. Has Sir Joseph .Ward no understudy in his Cabinet who can look after Parliament ? If this be so, he has chosen but poor colleagues. We believe that the. Hon. Mr Millar is quite capable of looking after Parliament in Sir Joseph Ward’s absence, and filling the part which Sir Joseph Ward himself took when the late Mr Seddon attended the previous Conference. This is obviously the common-sense solution of the. difficulty. New Zealand cannot stayid too big a dose of Caesarism. —Wairarapa “Times.”