PUBLIC OPINION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2530, 17 June 1909, Page 2

PUBLIC OPINION.

DOMESTIC ECONOMICSIt seems probable that to its other distinctions Otago University will, before long, add the honor of being the first New Zealand College to recognise in a practical form the important bearing that the weaare of the home has upon the welfare of the nation. The experiment will be watched with deep interest in Christchurch, and if it is as successful as from every point of view it deserves to be we shall no doubt in time seo the study of home economics raised to the dignity of a degree subject, and the example of Dunedin followed by the other colleges.—Christchurch “Press.” THE SPENDING OF WAGES. Here in New Zealand! the cost of living unquestionably presses very hcavilv upon people of small income. Rent is too grievous a burden. It is out of all proportion to the average in other countries. Any attempt to give expansion to the purchasing power of the wages fund which leaves this question of rent outside the area of operations would be useless. Everyone realises this, and it is a subject to which Parliament and local bodies might devote their earnest attention. So long as house rent continues to suck up a fourth of the artisan's income thore will be continual struggle by the workers to get wages increased to a stage which will permit of that exaction being levied without causing the stint it now imposes on the family cupboard and wardrobe. —Wellington “Times.” ON THE RIGHT TRACK. Mr. McNab’s scheme provides for the attendance cf the young men of the Dominion at instruction camps for a period of at least one month in the year, .and the country, it is certain, is ready to accept this. There can be no hardship attaching to such a service, because the scheme makes no discrimination among tho classes of the community and -what is a hardship for everybody becomes a hardship to none. If the scheme should be found to be insufficient in raising .a properlyequipped reserve force, then the country must go further. The volunteer system has been weighed in the balance and found sadly wanting, and the Dominion is not getting anything like the value for the money' that is being expended upon it. A S3 r stem of compulsory training would probably mean an increased expenditure, but it is better to spend more money economically than to waste a lesser amount upon unproductive service. Chris'cchurch “Star.” A ONE-MAN' GOVERNMENT. It is vitally necessary that there shall be a complete reorganisation of the whole sysytem of colonial defence. The consideration of this question and of the many other important subjects which claim” the attention of the Parliament of tho country must apparently, however, be delayed until a session in the later months of the year, when, as all experience of sessions that extend beyond the month of _ October shows, it will be scamped, if indeed it is not once more deferred. This is the price which New Zealand has to pay for tho fact that on the declaration, the amazing declaration, of the Ministerial party, the country possesses a one-man Government. —“Otago Daily Times.” THE ECONOMIC CYCLE. The time has not yot come for the people here to cease practising that prudent economy which they found necessary when money began to be shy. The “depression” so much exaggerated in some quarters, and so fantastically explained, has not been altogether an unmixed evil, as even the Hon. D. Buddo has indicated. It has been bitter for many, and, paradoxically, the country may even look worse than it is when making a recovery, for the economy and prudence of individuals have the effect of still further, temporarily, reducing the flow of that vital “'circulating medium” in the industrial and commercial arteries. The days of stress may not yet bo ended, but the recovery is in sight. The bottom has failed to fall out of the country, though some pessimists did say that the rivets were loosened.—Wellington “Post.”

THE DIVORCE LAW

“DigOTCtT'hiWs. are not intended, or at dryy' rattw-shdiild~'tyot Jbe considered, as ' aßeri'iitiohiU of' u -roarriage. They must I ■■‘hilly : &4. assistants to the < e'futienifyj SbF-* ’She- • iiis^ittrtion-.' ri 'They are AW&e fyvircn,”-''cautiously .'fr‘aflied(>"-' they amount to penalties for offences against thofinstitution.—Butthatis not a wise divorce*,fia3y /a b^t-;finarqhy/ ancLthe nega-1 tion hcarcor marriage by enabling it to be treated-.- not"as'tbe"ceirtrahinstitiit-i tin (fit)st>cidty,ffbUtf;asthing ftfrilthd. in'di-> • viduaL nvliim>—fsoip'ethirigl to , ; l)e .lightly <i f entered l tinier; !and< las. (Lightly i.-cfepartedl •from. There lias been-jSOi/fiiucK/SAp-i, ping of the foundations in -late-.years so. - iimchi disibgavd !f6rf 7ft(iidb!mental tprinoipjesv'that-Ytfifrahua; v<try> cheeking f event, iwhen -the Legislature. in ToQ7iwasr brave; enough.-fio. (adopt. fiber; reyoluifeiohr, •ary« eodrse. oh (re pda 1 ipg. :• tile fiavy /,. .that opened the door to what has been called .V/thfe conjugal; rights: 1 ;Dominium!”L.g nn> .linl xS M j In v r ]-•„! ! Ir