NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 616, 20 September 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

, The. r scene is-.edifying." ': ! Thus through.the evening; paper—which seems to .havo become a sort of resort for angry Minjstoni-tho Hon. ■ J,,Gabroll expresses the indignation which boils up in' his righteous bosom aa" he thinks of Ma. Mamw in the Bangitikei seat. Uβ asks us to compare "the Opposition tactics" with "the honourable course pursued by tho Government. , ! Mr. OABBOLL.,BB a judge of what is edifying is. a surprising oircumstance, but that may pasa. Ho evidently ratee tho intelligence of-tho public,lower than he is warranted in doing evon by its tolerance—fast coin-* ing to an_bnd—of the present Administration, Otherwise ho would not imagine that the public hae forgotten ithe tactics pursued by,'tho Government during tho last olection and during previous elections for many years. Ho aeoma unaware that the public is oven now, every day, drawing tho obvious conclusion from the zoal of Ministers in travelling all ovor tho country to catch votes and to perauadotho country districts that only by enlisting the poraonal intaroat and goodwill of Ministers on its side can a constituency hope to receive grants from the pubho funds for its local needs. But wo need not spond any time upon this point. Aβ a.matter, of fact the public knows very woll.why Ministers refrained from "interfering" with the choice'of the Rangitikei electors. They had learned by bitter oxperience, as wo pointed out some days ago, that,they would almost certainly 'back tho wrong horse." They had not forgotten how constituency after conetltuoncy.waa careful to reject tho official' nominee of tho Government in

favour of his Ministerialist rival. In any event the public is not so stupid as not to bo able to distinguish between Mit. Massey s "interference" and the interference of Ministers.'.. Mb. ,Massey has no bribes to offer the constituency. Mb Massev, moreover, will pay his own travelling, oxpenses. Nor will the public have to pay Turn 30s. 9, day over and above his salary and,his actual expenses tor his appearance.in the Rangitikei district. Upon the whole we think that Mr. Carroll as a lecturer upon the proprieties cuts ian even poorer figure than Jin Carroll asl the guide, philosopher, and iriend of the amalgamated bookmakers.

A little notice is duo to the cable rnessago, (.printed on Saturday, which reported the' acceptance by the British Government of an important amendment w>c Development Bill; We discussed this Bill the other day, and ventured the opinion that Ma. Lloyd-George would admit the validity of the argument that the: allocation of the Development Fund should be placed under independent control. With this object Lord Eobert Cecil, having in mind the abuses created by political control of the Public Works l'und in this country, moved to substitute for the advisory committee proposed by Mn. Lloyd-George as .the administrators of the Fund a permanent commission' independent of the Executive. , This amendment has been accepted by the Government. Lord Eobe.rt Cecil's object, it is stated, was "to guard against tho dangers of corruption. The people of this country will not be likely tooverlook the significance of the fact that the evils of such a political control of public works expenditure as we have here arc reedgmscd by both the great parties in Britain. That it would be thus recognised was, as we suggested last week, very highly ■ probable. The soundness of • the principle that , non-political control by a commission independent of the Executive is necessary 'if abuses are to be excluded was of course able to dispense with tho testimony it has just received in Britain, but the acceptance of Lord Robert Cecils amendment by Mr. . LloybOrEonoE. will assuredly assist a great many doubtful people in New Zealand to make up their minds. It is at' any rate useful to bo able to Bay, when Sir J. G. Ward next condemns, non-political control, that his viows are opposed to, the united , judgment of British statesmanship. : time is close at hand when thcro will be nobody loft to believo Sir Joseph when he propounds; tho- ridiculous 'doctrine that a! commission which is independent of the Executive (even although ifr.fs subject'to Parliament), will bo an "irresponsible autocracy." ■'■..:/. ■; ■: '

.On Friday Mr. Millar again laid down tho principle/that the railways ought to pay. We should mot notice his statements here but that there.appear to us to be two .good reasons for doing so. ihe first is an inclination on the part of some .of the Ministerialist journals,' and even at times on the part of the Minister himself, to r'erert impossible to the old Ut ia therefore necessary to piri the iMinieter to his. admissions that the railways should.be run on business lines, for when hotter times come again .we aro certain to seo an attempt made by the(joyornment to reinstate the • abuses of which they havo lately been forced to ad-' J 0 . 1 "; the,; existence and the impropriety, Our second reason for.noting the Ministers latest statement-is that it-was put in; a very : interesting;form ■''■-.■. ; .'.' ■ ;

t k have ™ P lO ? 3 right'to;use tbo money of the public in running trains that don't pay than I have to put it into my) own pocket, Aou wouldn't dp , if with your own T l ?. 7 ' ni, awin «liargo:of a business ih which £27,000,000, of capital has boen invested;;.it,]s_^'pwpi!ftylbf'thopeople as'H! Whole. : The .people, have pufrno' there to run the business, on, busiu&ss lines. You wouldn't keep, your own farms'for'five min-'' utes if you spent £500' a year to earn £300 I! ard simply, the trustee for the people of New This is .tho'very argument .whick has been used over and over again by those who, nito j.he Dominion, have' unceasingly war against the; "3 per cent, policy, and the dishonest, sophistries with which-that policy: used to be defended, it lsvery gratifyingto find that the very language, of the critics , of the railways mismanagement has at last been adopted %%^ 1 1 n » st ? i; '.; No argument used to fin ; i ™ i Ministerial :• apologists -with: greater indignation than.this one. "On business lines!". they - exclaimod. "On business lines!' Yes, on the lines of private -onterprise, that grinds the public 'down m order to;make a profit. , ' And they went on—they still do it T -t6 : denounco tho. "business lines" doctrine ; as piratical, anti-social, and utterly noxi2u?\f •■, r coursi3 ' tbe doctrine laid down by Mb. MILIAR, can bo applied to other .Departments of.the Government than the railways management. In due course, we havo not the least doubt, Dβ. Pindlay :Will coase to,defend the growth of taxation. At present ho is prepared to arguo that it ia a good thing/andlio gives us columns ofiabsurdities in.defence of his statementr-just as Sir J.,G, Ward used to-prpclaim the virtues , of tho "3 < ner •pent.- policy, , " Before long, with Hr. Millar's before him,' he '■ mav admit-what of course everyone knows is « a; .P, nvat ? Person who adopted the financial methods of tho Government would very quickly find himself in serious difficulties. '

Those of the public who are familiar Wiethe ways L ol the Ward Administration will, not v be. surprised to learn that it lSrosorting to/its old discreditable methods ;in connection with the contest tor the Eangitikei seat. The following extract from ;an Article which: appeared' m. ( ttirife««wfe:«j. Standard of Saturday.speaksfor itself:— ■■ ~,.: . , V-Barly in' tho second contest the 'Government &LS Tfft\ 11,0",,,,I 1,0 " , ,,, operations of tho b«cond Ballet Act. .When tho measure swas Y%Z /i?™£ ih ? Opposition, foresaw that it openedtho door; to ctoss abuse of political power. s They denounced .the meaiuro: a" giv- ? n over t w ? tat u th S means whereby 8 if could hold out hopes"of ■ reward or' fear ' of pawshment. to : electorates that at the first th U <° VO PS f s °i w \ candidate, or ,vhere that candidate stood a. chanco of defeat. In h?,lffSi^ersttm Election the electors were' threatened by an unscrupulous Govonurient orean with the loss of the dairy school iftbos £i'? ot « v i? 1 ? a cer k»nway. To tho Josting & ? a ) m t erstoll the People:declined to S bludgeoned, into a course of aotion.politlcally roppraaat to thorn: Other tactics, equally discrediUlo, are being followed iniangMei. Xh« electors artf.beine promised all sorts of good things. Mr. Smfth' who now repeats .tho Government in. the contest, read a telegram from tho Acting-Prime Jfinister at his meeting at .Taihapo last night etating "that tlunVvarua Block would Iβ opened up Sot settlement at an early date." I'ho Native Minister has also assured Mr. Smith that there is now nothing to prevent the purohase i■ t e Uu? ? t '.ff e Native allotments on which Utiku is built, as tho Native owners were perfectly agrooablo to,sell. It is a remarkable coincidence that these announcements should be made whon the Government has something to gain by placating tUe peoplo of tho Rangitikei-lndeed, tho public w& fend a much harsher term to describo this unwar. vantible attempt to prejudice tho mind of tho electors.

It is just possible that thoro may bo some electors in the llangitikei electorate who still huliovo in those election threats and promises of Ministers. If such arc not turned, against the WAnD-cum-CUimou Administration by reason of tho gross impropriety of these tactics they will assuredly havo, reason to regret any faith they may repose in such promises. With so staunch a supporter of: the Government as Mr; Remington representing thorn, the electors of Rangitikci could not BBCuw' their , deserts' la" tho- matters

mentioned, and they are hardly likely to faro any better through Mb. Smith. Anyone who has any knowledge of the *Taiihoa methods of the Native, Minister will realise, what his, promise—and such a typically indefinite promise—in relation to a Nativo land transaction means. Its fulfilment may bo looked forward to when the Reform party are strong enough to force the Government to place a fair sharp, of the burdens of taxation on the Native race, and to remove the restrictions which have locked up for so long the millions of acres of rich Native lands and created a system of Native landlords which it is, the chief object .in the political hfo of,the Acting-Primo Minister to cherish and preserve at the expense, of settlement, and at the cost of the white population of tho country. The electors of Kangitikei can rely on Mb, Oamoll watching the interests of/ the Natives very, very carefully indeed, and it will not be a member of his own party that will force him to.abandon the policy of masterly inactivity which has proved so costly .to the land-scokers of tho Dominion. ■ .•.;,..