PUBLIC OPINION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2601, 8 September 1909, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION.

IMMIGRATION. It has been well argued that a necessary preliminary of any admirable immigration plan is the reorganisation of the State Labor Bureaux to enable these institutions to be converted into a reliable “intelligence department” for the guidance of the Government. Clearly there should be a system by which the State’s representatives could be in close touch with farmers, so that accurate estimates of the country’s ueed may be available. Another factor which must not be omitted in any immigration scheme is the land policy which the Government intend to carry out. And when the Government have made all the necessary preparations at this end, there is a very important duty to be done thirteen thousand miles away in the careful choosing of the persons (bona fide farm and domestic workers) to be assisted. It is very pl'ain that the making of an immigration scheme should not be a matter of casual consultation and a few light sweeps of the pen.—“ Wellington Post.” ' ONE FLEET, ONE FLAG. We hold, as ,New Zealanders have always held, that every ship which flies the white ensign should be placed where it will do the most possible amount of good and possess the greatest strategic value. Whether our “Indom-itable-Dreadnought” should be stationed in the China Seas or in the Brazilian Seas, or in the Home Seas, is a matter of indifference, for she will fight our battle wherever she is, and will’ guard our trade and our coast wherever she strengthens the Imperial Navy. Sentimentally, few will be sorry that she is in the Pacific and on the China Station, for most of us believe that whatever our alliances, the storm centres of tlie Pacific lie that way. As for the weakness of “little fleets,” there will be only one fleet and one flag wherever the Empire is threatened. Of that we may rest satisfied. —“New Zealand Herald?’ RAILWAY RETURNS. The capital cost of Northern lines', according to the latest* official figures is £12,744,754, and of the ' Southern lines £17,945,709, and the earning of the former during the four months have been at the rate of 3.12 per cent., per annum upon the capital cost, and the earnings of the latter at a rate of 3.72 per cent. We are aware that South island railways usually show to greater advantage during the earlier part of the year’than they do during the latter part, but if we carry the comparison back for seven months we find that since the beginning of the present year they have earned £37,058 more than the northern lines, the figures being £312,958 and £275,900 respectively. We have not invited this comparison ourselves, because we are just as much concerned for the success of one section of the railways as we are for the other, but we are sure the public will be glad to hear both sides of the story. —“Lyttelton Times.” COST OF “HANSARD.” From the appropriation returns for the last financial year we find the total cost of reporting members speeches in Parliament, was £5235. The. cost of printing “Hansard” last year was put down at £SOOO, giving a total expenditure of over £IO,OOO on this one item. We have no reason to believe that this total is much above the annual average, and with the help of a little simple arithmetic our readers may prove to themselves that during the past twentyfive years we have spent on this one object enough money to build any one of the half a dozen great railways that now, in various parts of the Dominion, so urgently demand completion. More especially now, when rigorous retrenchment is the order of the day, it is surelv time to consider whether this heavy expenditure is justified, and, setting aside our natural prejudice in favor of traditional institutions, whether the country is really getting value for its money.—“ Auckland Star.” A SOUTH PACIFIC FLEET. With a strong British Fleet patrolling the South Pacific it would be extremely difficult for an alien force to successfully raid our ports, while the

transport of an invading army woqld be rendered almost impossible. It wifi,however to be a £reat misfortune of our people allow themselves to be carried away on a wave of jingo sentiment, and induced to devote their whole resources to the support of an Imperial Navy. Naval preparations should be regarded as merely subsidiary. The safety of our country will be much better assured by the establishment of a citizen army, and to this plan there attaches the signal advantage that jt is infinitely less costly than any other large measure of naval preparation. Moreover, the training undergone by members of a citizen army would interfere comparatively little with their every-day peaceful pursuits. This consideration should be reckoned of paramount importance, for preparations for war are a regrettable necessity, and the less they interfere with peaceful progress the better, provided always that reasonable provision is made for possible emergency. —-“Patea Press.” DOING NOTHING. In New South Wales, as In Queensland, Victoria, and other States, the various Governments are making strenuous efforts to place suitable land at the disposal of the would-be settlers, and numerous Australian industries are already feeling the beneficial influence 1 of a .wiser 1 land policy than has prevailed in past year. Only New Zealand sits paralysed and bewildered among the sparsely-populated dominions of the Empire, gazing at the emigration.-of hen* sons, wondering at her falling revenues, and waiting for Mr. James Carroll to amend his political ways, or for Mr. Buddo to do something. Mr. Millar has just given an opinion to the effect that before any more public money is spent on acquiring improved land for closer settlements the great unimproved estates known as Crown and Native lands should be settled. We agree with him heartily. These wilderness tracts, these vast locked-np wastes, these huge, embargoed, unimproved elates should be thrown, open at once under conditions attractive to bona fide settlers. —“Auckland Herald.”