NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 611, 14 September 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

When it Ib remembered that' scores of acres of the best parts of the city's Town Belt Reserve havo been taken by '. the Crown to the_ detriment of the citizens; of Wellington, it is, a little surprising to find tho Government talking about charging the City Council.for the strip of land from Parliament Hous6 grounds. necessary to carry out the widening of Charlotte Street, for iramway.purposes.,; The proposal to construct the loop-line 1 of tramwav through Charlotte Street has been held up for some time owing to uncertainty 1 as to the intentions of-the Government regarding the rebuilding of Parliament ; Houses It has now been definitely stated that -the rebuilding is not to be proceeded with, and that the City Council can have the , land required for the widening of the street on payment of compensation.,-' WllV the Government Bhould demand payment for this land-is, in, the .circumstances, difficult to understand. The encroachment on Parliament grounds will be slight,- and should not interfere at aH with building operations, whereas the widening of the street will make an immense improvement in the. appearance of the locality, and serve as well a ; useful purpose. Tho Crown,, in view of its confiscation of large portions of the city's reserves, might well afford, if only as. a matter of plain justice, to .dedicate free of cost ■ the small strip required to widen this street.; ; The city members of Parliament should join with the City; Council in approaching Minister's on tho subject. I " ""

,■ Some touching references to'the glorious freedom of British justice were made by Dr. Findlay in his speech at the opening( of the Cambridge Courthouse .last week. The building, ho said,: was "tho symbol of a national struggle"—tho struggle Of . our forefathers .for liberty. "British justice,ho said, "now came- as natural as sunshine. It was not unworthy of them to bear in mind what this great institution of British 'justice meant to them as a nutiou. Ho..'would.' like- this court of justice to symboliso tho fact that horo they uad an opon door where tho poor inan'miglit get redress. against tho rich, the weak bo protooted against tlio strong, and that' here each riinn and woman could'have placed behind thom the wholo powor of tho State to soo that tlio right thing was done."

These admirable sentiments, so it is reported,; wore greeted with applause. Can this Dr. Find lay, we, ask ourselves, be the Dr. Findlay who is the chief legal adviser to the Government that will not afford a certain Farmers' Co-operative Company an opportunity to obtain redress through tho _ courts of : justice for the injury inflicted upon it b,y the St-atc Coal Department arid that wiil not open the door of justicoio Mr. Bartok, the unfortunate motorman who was maimed and crippled by an engine belonging to tho same Department! Can this Dn.iFtm>LAY who pictures.tho British Lmpiro as a happy domain Hooded

by the sunlight of free justice, and who becomes almost incoherent over the protection that is given to the weak against the.strong, bo the Dr. Findlay who, from his place in Parliament, denied the public the right of, appeal irom a State official's decision oh tho ground that a court . of justice might undo the bondß fixed upon the individual by an "untrammelled" official? Or is it that justice' is as free and as ample as the sunlight only so long as the Government is not made subject to it 1

To-day's cable messages bring further evidences of the extraordinary importance which is being attached to the specoh in which Lord Rosebery has condemned the British Budget. Hardly a single one of- the arguments in the lengthy summary of. the speech which was printed in yesterday's paper has not been put fonrarcl before witli equal vigour and., emphasis.': Tke :importance, of the speech is in the 'speaker. Although lie has for some years been only an' inspired looker-on at. the game of politics. Loud Rosebery has carried gi'eat weight with serious politicians of every shade of opinion. An. astute politician, and a sound, brilliant and witty■ orator,' he has* only had to speak to. gain the attention of the wnolo_ nation. No other public man in Britain is capable of exercising 60 much influence as he upon tho great moderate section |of the public,., and nobody who has kept his head clear as to . what Liberalism really means has over doubted his soundness as an exponent of Liberal doctrine. The core of his speech wasthc distinction wliich he drew between' Liberalism _ and Socialism—a distinction that in this country has become so clear as hardly to require pointing out. His resignation from'his post as President of the Liberal League, of which the loading members of the Ministry are Vice-Prcsi-donts, will. undoubtedly detach a'multitude of votes from the Government.. A few weeks agd the tide appeared to be turning in favour of the Budget, owing in part to; th£. success of Mr. LloydGeorge's inflammatory appeal- to .claSs feeling in his Limehouse speech; The Tiuiei had a curiously despondent note in;which it,.was stated that the political, situation had "undergoho a change" and that the Government was stronger than it 'had been. The Morning Post contained a similar suggestion, and ' the Daily Mail, in a _ sensationally headed article,' announcpd iri effect: that the fight against the Budget had failed. The tide; appears, to .have turned again, but it would be rash to make any confident predictions. There is not much doubt that the Lords will reject the, Finance Bill, but it remains to be seen whether there will be'a dissolution. In the re-shaping of parties there can hardly be a place for Lord Rosebery—so long, at least, as Tariff Reform .is the main plank •of the Unionist' platform. He will continue to plough his. lonely furrow.

The,candidates lor the Rangitikei scat are certainly leading 'the strenuous' life. The electorate is a large-and scattered one, and in parts travelling is not easy, yet some of them aro addressing two and three' meetings a. day.' The'local papers', for' instance, '■ show -that - to-day Mr. Ho'ckly is v to address meetings at Upper Kairhatau at 11 a.m. ; at Lower, Kawiiatau at 3 p.m., and at. Ruahihe 'at 7.30 p.m., this following on three meetings in .different parts of the .electorate 'the 'previous day. .; His rivals are not letting the grass grow beneath their feet, and Mit. R. W. Smith has announced that .tomorrow, he will start, at' 10, a.m. and address meetings until 10 p.m. /Truly the country member,in a district like Rangitikei- can claim to liave earnod his seat.We,, publish to-day- some -particulars v of Mit. Smite's meeting: last .evening, and also his , views on the election.' Our spe- ; cial representative, who has gone -; totho electorate with instructions to,keep, our, readers fully posted with: tho" progress of events, forwards an interesting inter-, 'view with Mr. Smith, as 'to that, gintlei' 'man's attitude, and incidentally discloses the fact that there is a tendency on tho part of one of the Government candidates to addpt therolo of; the Government candidate. It is a. little amusing to note 1 tho. extreme confidence of,, each of' /.the Government supporters as to his position' at the first ballot. Mr. /Meldrum, v Mr.' Smith/ and Mit. Hornblow- .each profess to bo certain : of accompanying Mr. Hookly into the ,sccond ballot, while Mr. Georqetti, whose frank' admission that he is a "rail-sitter" has probably done him more good than harm, is equally confident that he will: bo. there also.': '' Mr. Smith's chances seem to have! improved a little, although ho will probably 'find! himself handicapped by the suspicion; which, in view ol his explanation, does not seem a fair one, that he has; dallied, a little with both parties in politics. Some of. the supporters of Mr.' Hookly : are so confident that they not only expect their candidate to head 1 the poll. at the 'first ballot, but, they even anticipate that he may have an absolute majority of tho votes polled on that occasion. This, prob-; ably, is expecting too much, for 'as" we out on a previous occasion, many , viptcs will bo cast for tho four other can- 1 didates' on personal grounds, ', and irre-! speetive of party considerations. A fair' share of these; votes, however, will certainly go to the Reform candidate should a second ballot; bp,.'necessary. An' important factor in, estimating tho-result of. the contest, and one which has been overlooked in some, quarters in analysing- the figures of the last election, is the circumstance that many . Opposition voters: -.refrained from voting on, that , occasion because there was no Opposition candidate. They are; not likely to absent themselves from the,present poll, and the total polling; will be very much higher than ab tho general election. .