NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 536, 17 June 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

\Vb have received a large number of letters urging the public to assemble at the whnrf to-morrow to make a hostile demonstration on the occasion of- Sin Joseph Ward s departure for England Demonstrations of this nature are liable to be converted into disturbances of the pcacc and should be diseouraged. "o strongly opposed the action of the Government in shelving the business of the country; we have urged members of Parliament to oppose it by every constitutional)means within their'

I power; and we have endeavoured to stimulate public interest, in tho matter, and have given our heartiest support to tho citizens' emphatic and proper protest by public meeting. Our views on the subject have not changed in the slightest. We still regard the prorogation of Parliament as detrimental to the best interests of the country and a slight on members. \Yc still hold the PniiiE Minister and his tongue-tied following guilty of sacrificing the public interests to serve the interests of their political chicf and their own party ends. But we are not prepared to support a course of action which may lead to personal insult and public disorder. We know the feelings of the people of Wellington and the country as a whole have been treated with an indifference amounting to insult, ■ but there is a proper constitutional way of redressing such insults. Wellington citizens have mane their protest;—a very convincing Protest too. They can now reserve their energies for an occasion when thoy can give a further and more effectual protest —at the ballot-box.

There is a passage in one of Sir Joseph Ward s speeches in the House on Tuosday which ought not to be denied the honour of special noticc. Here it is: Tho time had come when, in the inter- • e-sts of all classes, they sliould protect the country from -tho people who were prepared to destroy the fmanoial fabric, and they should legislate so that a penalty should fall on tho peoplo who wore prepared, for some reasons of Uieir own, to injure their country by destroying" its credit. So we are to have a Bill for the Prevention of Political Criticism? After the boycott, tho -gag 1 No doubt there are some people who may imagine that it is difficult to frame such a measure. At first sight it might appear, 'difficult to frame a general moasure for the suppression of official facts and figures. . We,however, are prepared to assist the Government in the matter, and offer the following_suggestion, which could bo covered by a Bill of one clause: ' jL'-T? P ol " s ™ print, publish, or cxTabit/ Of cause to bo printed, published, or. exhibited, or mention by word of montli or otherwise, the amount of : the Public Jirbt,, tho rato of growth of • the Public Debt, the rate of frrowth of taxation, the speeches of Mr. Hogg, the ; growth of the Government's expenditure, the existence of unemployed, the neees- . sity for retrenchment, the tightness of : the money, market, the annual loss on the railways, or any other thing or fact of a . like nature."

But there are traitors who may find a loophole of escapc oven from such a clause as that/. Therefore,' as we have said, superficial thinkers may conclude that an effective Bill is impossible. But that would be a wrong view to take. What e( "'ld be simpler than a short measure to u i C i Ct t ' lat n0 n(!WS P a P° r or person should.be allowed to express any opinion, or state any fact, relating to tho. Government, unless it 3 or his name appears on a Ist of newspapers, and persons approved by the Government 1 That would be even simpler and more convenient than the appointment of a ■censor, and would entail less labour than a news supply system, under winch no news items or articles should be printed excepting those supplied'by the Government. .|