NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

, . .. ' . The Anglican Synod has agreod, almost unanimously, to the, mptkm of the Rev.. T. H. Sprott affirming the principle that the Church of the Province of New Zealand should have power k> alter tho fundamental provisions' of its Constitution/ 'Additions Virro matfo'to Mli.' BtEOTt'S moi felon* oa tha auggcatdon of tho Hi shop, and

Mr. Martin, with the objcct of ensuring that no changes "in the Constitution may bo ma'de without the general consent of tho, Church as a whole after due delibora? tion and of safeguarding the property of tho Church. One can well sympathise with. Archdeacon FANCoußi's.dread of rash and hasty alterations in matters'of 'fundamental importance, but with the proposed safeguards Mr. Sprott is probably not far wrong when he expressed a doubt as to whether he would live to see, a single comma altered in the Prayer Book. However that may be, most Churchmen' will agree with the Bishop of Wellington when he. declared that changes : should only be made with caution, but "it would, be a terrible thing, to say that the Church was to bo bound for the generations to; como by regulations that wore framed, three centuries ago, and to have no power' to alter them." Tho motion carried by : the Diocesan Synod.is only an expression of opinion, The whole question will now , come up for discussion at the' General Synod which meets in Wellington early next year, when - the advisability of ■ approaching Parliament to secure the right of complete self-government will no doubt be considered. \

:, There can bo no doubt that the - attitude adopted by Mr. WitFOBD, M.P., at the meeting to assist'the unemployed last week, and the aggressive iope of Trades ; Unionist ; leaders, in insisting that in ; any effort to relieve the prevailing distress full-rato wages must be paid irrespective of the capacity of the-workers to; earn them, has had a most harmful,effect; on, the interests of the worklcss i.them- : solves. From all parts; wc hear ' bitter comments on the conduct of those who,themselves well provided for, are' urging, their less fortunate fellows to demand.full; rates Of pay, regardless, of the conditions under/which work is.being provided for them.Throughput the; city and country, appeals are being made to privato citizens to provide to Enable work to be. found for those who,' owing to tho scarcity of employment, are forced to turn to the; Stale or ,the Municipality for themeans 1 of living!.; Citizens are asked to put their hands in; their pockets; .to assist . in .-ithe> movement to make work, jpd accompanying the request: comes the ,demand, from the professing friends of the worklcss fori full pay. "No work is hotter than half a ; loaf,'' the "motto which Mr. ,Wimord and; his friends appear, to favour, may, be .; a! very fine Trades Union statimentj but it has not a stimulating effect on the man? who is asked to make the sacrifice of putting ,his hand in his : pocket to bear, the• cost. ■ Our. recent appeals for. assistance for families in distress, which preceded the generalmovement to help the unemployed,' met, with a response so generous, as' to make it abundantly■■•dear/that'--the; public is iquite, as ready as eteir to come ' forward voluntarily and help by such means af lie within its-power.; But'.when' demands are substituted for requests, "and 'the half-loaf which it is within; tho power of. tho public to give is spurned; because;! ,'iitis.,not the whole.loaf which,the public cannot afford io offer, tho kindly desire'to , help is changed into a spirit of resent-, ment which notpnlvjaffects'the immediate'; situation, but is liable to leat'o Unpleasant ! We have felt it-necessary to : refer "to this aspect of the position because we believe that the great- bulk ,pf the unemployed, do not hold the views of the' noisy; and wcll-providcd-for persons who have-constituted themselves as their, .mouthpieces, V It .will bo., a deplorable thing, if, because of. the aggressive•selfisjlne'ss of the few,' the public Should dlose'iW' purse, to the urgent heeds of the many. We feel;*certairi that 'the. bulk of tho,unomploved would bo ouito filling to' Work for what they aro able to>earn, and, indeed, would;bo only too glad of tho opportunity to secUro Tvork tyfehayfe' no, sympathy with, any cffo'rt to unfairly reduce the ' standard of wages, but we have still w.ith/thosiS Tyh'o;''. ignoring the special circumstances, r would,, at a time-like the-present;-for: the sake of an itaaginary. pnnciple where no principle is. involved at all, prevent-a man from carping the half-loaf wjiich would: atJcast keep hisfamily from-dire want and misery. ■ ;■■ .■' ', .;'•• '•/. This- habit of mis-stating or concealing facts in order to serve tho purposes of the momont is, growing very much more common in our public life than it used'to bo, - In ..out- evening'! contemporary; yesterday', there was published a. statement upon tho] movement'; of population between • New Zealand and other countries which is an excellent example of ; the kind* of pithing we mean. : On the auliority of' the'. Tourist it was stated that "the Quarter ended March 31 last" the arrivals in New 'Zealand froml Australia numbered. 31,201 and the departures to Australia from -New' Zealand - numbered 26,988, .leaving'a balance of gain to New Zealand of 4373 immigrants.. These figures are plainly absurd; .The statement goes on that "it will be'thus seen that for the first three months of the year, at, any rate, New Zealand has been a gainer rather than a loser, of population, and. there has been nothing; scl far. as the Tour-! ist Department, is aware, to .khow that tho. quarter ended Juno 30 will disclose any more than the normal ebb and flow of population.' Here are the figures of the total movement of population for the first fivo; months of this year as givon by Sir Joseph Ward on June 11 last: 1909. Arrivals. Departures. • January ... 5.822 . . *2,233 ' ■ February 4,141 ■■ 2,857March ;; ... 3,347 4,785 April . •... 2,372 4,015 May 2,437 3,551 18,119 17,441 The gain of 3438 in the first quarter was reduced to 678 by the'slump in April and May. Wo have not got the figures for June, -but it is practically, certain that, they will: wipe out the gain altogether. The) gain for the first six mouths of -1908 i was somo 3000—it was 2885 for the first fivo months. ;To talk; therefore, of the ; figures this ,year as indicating "the'nor- : ; mal .ebb; and flow".' is manifestly ' dis- \ honest. ' ;Wd havo only noticed the matter as an examplp of tho very foolish methods that the Government and its friends are : adopting.: Time was when tho Govern-' ment and its friends at least admitted recorded facts. But that time seems to havo' passed. Whit good end can be served by , the policy of .suppression and halftruth !

The. deputation which l waited on the Actino-Phime Minister yesterday' in respect to the possiblo developments connected with the proposed Tattersall's Club undoubtedly had at their back the. spirit of the Gaming Act of a eouplo of sessions back. ' Gambling on horse-racing under it was to be confined to the racecourses.' The Government, however, must: have realised long ore this that their vory : unwise action ih. licensing the bookmakers:'defeated their own professed purpose. The bookmaker to-day is in a stronger position than over, and there is probably as much, or very nearly 1 as much, gambling away from the; course as ever there was. Worse than that, the army'of tiridosirablo hangers-on to the" sport has grown largely in consequence of the protection afforded bookmakers under the now law. We have directed the attention of Ministers to this aspect of the position on previous occasions, and will revive the subject with some emphasis\during the sitting of Parliament later in the year./