NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 529, 9 June 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Some weeks have elapsed sinco the Gov-! ornmenfc received the report of the Commission appointed to investigate the condition of the Addington Railway Workshops. The public expected that as the allegationsVwrcre publicly made, and publicly inquired into, the report would be | published, without unnecessary dolay. At j tlio ond of March' the Ministerialist nows- ] papers were saying that as the.charges against the management of the shops had been disproved the matter was no longer of any moment, and the .Commission should be instructed to do nothing further. Since then, however, it has been rumoured that th'o report is being withheld- from publication because it deals with "questions of policy, such as the employmont and discharge of hands." There is reason to believe' that the report does contain some very important observations upon certain undesirable mothods in the management of the shops. Iti is being assorted,' indeed, that- although Mr. Ronaynb withdrew the charges made in the circular which ho issued and' tho publication of which precipitated the inquiry, the Commissioners havo found that those charges are- in substance correct. The public is entitlod to know ■without any delay what are tho facts of tho matter, t The general unsoundness of the whole body of railways administration is r.ow so generally realised throughout tho country that Parliament, when it meets, should, insist upon the production of the Commissioners' recommendations. Sinco he took chargc of the Railways Department Me. Mlllais has made plain, by his speeches and-his actions, tho urgent necessity for the reform that the Prime Minister strenuously'resisted as unnecessaryright up to .the day of the General Election. Tho public is quite tired of tho position, and the question is of such hioh importance that it calls for tho earliest possible attention from Parliament.

It u very satisfactory to note that the exports of tho principal products from Aow Zealand again show a decided tendency to increase. This is most markod in the figures of the past two months, tho totals for which compare as under, with the corresponding period of- 1908; ; 19(19 1908. . 1,552,755 1,160589 *** 1,053,186 1,231)375 3,505,-941 2,381,664 The two months of this'year show an inorcaso in the aggregate of £1,124,277 over the corresponding months of last year, which is a remarkably fino showing. There has been a magnificont expansion in tho export of dairy produce, tho frozen meat figures are vory much larger, and it necessarily follows that there is an increase m hides, skins, and tallow; wool, by reason of tlje rise in price, accounts for a fair proportion of the expansion, and coreals are now running into 'comparatively big figures. The returns for the month nf "Way g IV o a fair idoa of the position, and they arc as uiicjor: May, Mav. \ 1009. 1903. 2{ lltw 28,419 27,570 83 702 57 029 61,068 47 329 '™H on •: 170,803 74 646 Mutton pieces io'sso - a m 383,595 ■ 2'13)724 J} 1 '™ 1 20,-147 33 ° ala 42,911 8,674 $ cm l> ■■■■■ 33,63!) -4.1,001 f!' w "1,769 1,500 Ivatfrimini , ... 45,178 21,517 Gram ami jmlse y,4So a,ICO SMI' 489 ■ > 23,078 12,784 $ ; >ns 100,221) t ->7,770 «'!?«' •• 83,71:! .14,106 limw .. 35,437 22,890 J}'™ 1 •••• 623,779 370,070 Cold 185,271 179)487

The gain in frozen meat is as much as £253,242, equal to about 70 per cent., and wool accounts for an increase of £247,200; these two items give an increase of £500,442, out of a total increaso for th« month of £721,811. This is a very encouraging sign indeed.

The Hon. A. W. Hooo has already achieved something of a reputation as a financier by his staunch' faith in an inconvertible State note issue. At Pahiatua last week tho fascinations .of finance again proved too strong for.him to resist, and he laid down a new and comforting theory of national indebtedness, Ho> is thus reported in tho Pahiatua ■ paper:

Notwithstanding their fine public debtand, oonsidonng the size of tno community —there was no doubt that their debt was a most creditable one—they could not bo accused of over-borrowing. Tho money was spoilt on reproductive Works, and thoir creditors were under n huge obligation to them for tho splondid return they had received. ■ . . The borrowing of money helped to keep John Bull and his family employed. . .. . Last year, on account of the great demand for money, they had to borrow a million to help the funds in tho Advances to Settlors Office. All ho regretted was that they did not borrow three or four millions, and instead of having from £100,000 to £120,000 coming in every month as at present, they would have bad a quarter of a million coming in to bo lent out again. Soo what a good thing that was for the country. It must bo confessed that these sentiments do not surprise us coming from tho Minister who spoke so proudly of the fact

that wo bravely met the current depression by "throwing a Dreadnought at our chief creditor." The obstacle in the way of Me. Hogg's pleasant theory is tho fact that there are two parties to every borrowihg transaction. Even the lender has his feolinga. ■ How long would Now Zealand be able, if Mr. Hogg's theory ware put into practice, to borrow at all, or, at any rate, to borrow, at a price that would enable the cash to be "lent out again" at less than an usurious.rate of interest? It would be interesting to know whether Mb. Hogg has the authority of Cabinet for his opinions on financial matters. - ;

A pronounced Ministerialist journal in tho south gave prominence on Monday to tho views of a member described as "an old, tried, and cxpcrionced Parliament tarian," This gentleman, whose opinion, it is added, "will be found to fairly re--fleet tho views of tho majority of his party," made the following observations upon tho position of tho Piiime Minister:' ■ . ■ . \

It would bo fatal to. the prospects of tlio Liberal party if ho were to leavo tho Houso in session. . . , With a' fractious Opposition to contend with, tho' party simply cannot "afford to consent to any such arrangement, • It would bo the height of political madness.

Wb had imagined, from tho Psume Minister's speech, and from tho silent support which he rocoived from bis party, including men whose last published opinions wero hostile to tho adjournment of tho session, that the demand for prorogation was to be considered as hav-. ing an Imperial basis. But it would perhaps bo wrong to blame the people who make "tho prospects of the Liberal party" the first consideration. "What does it profit," so they may honestly feci, "to save tho whole Empire if the Liberal party in New Zealand ia embarrassed 1" Tho country will take another view. Wo can ovon conceive a patriotic. New Zealander. saying: What does .it-profit to shiold the Ministry'.' if tho affairs of tho country are permitted to drift from bad to worse as they have been doing 1 ■ ...

In hii speech at the meeting of members of. Parliament on Monday, tho Prime Minister, in order to show that tho urgency of the naval situation is so vital as to'domand the susponsion- of tho sossion, quoted "a great name in tho Navy," Lord, Chahies Beresfoud.:

"Lord Chnrles Boresford," ho said; "writing 011 April 20 to a Navy League meeting; wished the League sucocss in rousing the country to a sense of. its gravo danger. 'If tho country know tho whple • truth/ ho declared, 'thero. would bo a panic.' I don't boliovo a man like him would make a statement like that unless ho beliovos it." ■ Tho. Prime Minister did not tell, the meeting that- on April 2* the British press published a statement by Lord Charles Beresford concerning tho words attributed to him. • This statement took the form of an authorisation of tho London Nows Agency to

j"dony that ha .had, made such a statement or v.-roto a letter for publication to that eftoct. ' ■ , . •

On April 23 the Daily News printed an interview with Loud Charles Beresford, who then said, 'amongst othor things:

What senso is thero in working up a panic? As a matter of fact, thero' is no panic, and there will be no panic if fussy, politicians and hustling journalists will only use a little restraint ' and some common sense. It is nonsense to talk of a scare. Wo can strengthen our Navy without becoming cowards. And because I ' demand a strong Navyj there is no reason why I should become a scaremonger."

This extract was quoted by Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P., on Monday evening. The Prime Minister, when he quoted Lord Charles BEREsrora's alleged opinion, was, no doubt, quite unaware of th'o correction so -promptly made by ( Lord Beresford, and tho misleading impression conveyed to members was therefore unintentional on his. part.; But: it affords ample proof of our contention that the Prime Minister is just as much in the dark as tho majority of tho public as to tho real position of affairs,, and that he is,, dependent on the ordinary news channels for his information on the question. It is singularly unfortunate fo'r him that the ono export opinion which ho considered it safe to quoto to imprest mombers with tho extreme gravity of the situation should have proved so" unsubstantial. It is, much safer to keop to vague gonoralities. •