NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 645, 23 October 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

v We mußt.cohgratulate the;Pkime.Minister, on.bringing forward at this early stage oftho session his Land Settlement Finance Bill, and. must also' again; express oiir approval of the object' aimed at in the "measure. Briefly put, it provides that any five'or' more persons desirous of securing land for settlement can band, together and approach : a largo landholder with the object, of -.purchasing a block, of land sufficient to provide a farm for. v cach ~of their .jiurnbor. When ,thcy havo. secured an option- over the'land they can-approach the Government,, which, if satisfied'with the. price and the suitableness of the land for the .purpose -required; -'will finance- the. venture,' including subdivision, roading, -itc. The.money,.with interest; is to be repaid in easy instalments, and-tho settlers .will havo the freehold of their; sections when tho: payments arc completed. .There are restrictions, of .course,' as to area and f-B to the;qualifications of purchasers, and the titles of the holders' of the sections are to; be loaded with the'limitation imposed by the Land Act of 1908 to prevent the land drifting,back into the hands of large landholders. It is quite'probable that amendment will bo required in the dotails of the measure after tbey have beeu closely scrutinised, but the idea underlying it is well wbrth-a.trial. ;•'

Ik-referring yesterday to the excrciso by the Minister: for Railways of his power to veto' decisions'of tho Railway Appeal Boards wc mentioned,' by way of illustration, the case of an employee named Kearin. It appears that in this particular case the Minister did not veto tho decision of the' Appeal Board, although the manner in which, when speaking on tho subject yesterday, he referred to some imaginary person disclosing office business to us rather seems'to imply that something of the kind was originally intended. However, wo are pleased to learn that tho Minister has done the right thing in this particular caso, and we regret that he should have been wrongly blamed in the matter'. But tho fact that in this instance Me. MitLAR upheld the decision of tho Appeal Board does not in any way affect' Hie general position as stated by us; and seeing that tho member for Rbca'rtbn showcaso much concern over the ono case mentioned in pur article, wc would direct his attention to the real issue involved, and Which both ho and the Minister ignored. Our contention was stated a.3 follows:— .. What eartlily. use the Appear Board is under such circumstances fas the Minister overruling the decisions.of tho Appeal Board], it is difficult to understand. why waste time and trouble in carrying out theso investigations at all? If tho-Appeal Boards aro to bo a mere pretence, and an autocratic Minister can override . their unanimous decisions just. as he § leases, appeals might just as well bo made iiect. to the .-Minister, and titno, and. money saved. Either that or Pnrlinmont should tee that justice is done the railway service,-and the decisions-of-tho Appeal Boards made binding on'.tho'Minister.' ■ ~-.,. This,is tho position, and both Mr. Witty and Mr., Millar woro caroful to avoid it. Tho Appeal Boards woro. created to ensiira that 'all ;mombors of .the railway service should bo safeguarded against injustice—or at least that they should ha« the right of appeal to t an impartial tribunal should they consider l they hatlbe>»n treated. We.hoed not rejjeat the

arguments, advanced', yesterday to show the necessity for some such safeguard Being provided .with bo large'and bo widely scattered a body of State employees. Evsn the Minister'for Railways himself—whoever ho might be—might do injustice to an employee, and why should' an employee in such circumstances bo at the mercy of the Minister after an Appeal Board has docidod that he should receive rodress? The position, is an utterly absurd one. If the Appeal Boards-deci-sions, arrived: at after hearing all. the parties interested, aro to be overridden oii.M parte evidence supplied privately to tho Minister,, tho members of the railway scrvico might as well have 'no Appeal Boards at all. Indeed,, they would be without them, for the cost of the investigations, would bo. saved and membors of the Boards would not bo placed in the improper position of having their carefully-considered judgments flouted.

iNorder. that: there may hot bo"•. any doubt as to tho accuracy of our contention that the Minister for Railways is using his power of veto to upset the decisions pf the, Appeal Boards, wc quote below a letter written last month to Mil. Millar by a member of- tho South Island Board, Me. Reddington. It reads as follows:-; 0 v : "'■' '•', Christchurohi September-1. Sir,—l beg most respectfully to record- my protest ngainst tho recent action of, the Minister in relation to the recent decisions of the North and South Island Appeal Boards, for the reasons stated'below;—' .:. 1. Use" of the voto in no less than five recent cases, thereby destroying'tho unanimity of action of the Board. ; 2. Whilo tho Minister affirms that .it would be the greatest absurdity to place'tho' management of the railways in. the handset an: irresponsible body, I olaim.the Board never assumed in tho remotest degree such a position. 3. Tho:Board should bo viewed by the DeSartmontand its: servants with confidence; its _ eoisions t respected, calling for no Ministerial interference-unless its decisions, bo clearly ; shown to novo been based on wrong premises. 4. -Having sat on both North and South Island Boards, I can confidently say that each Board has been actuated by tho highest motives, basing., their decisions on equity; and jus. tico, and in support of these essentials I regret the Board has been' Shorn of its usefulness by tho exercise of the veto. -■■' . I have the honour to be, •.'-•. '-. , >'•.-' Your obedient servant, '~ . . ,(Sgd.)' M. REDDINGTON. This, letter from a - railway employee -to the Ministerial head of the service naturally states-the position as mildly as possible, ,biit it leaves no room for doubt ?s to tho actual facts.'. The Appeal Boards are made ■ farcical by "the Minister's Repeated exercise of his power to.vototheir ■decisions.'. It is not to bo 'assumed that in .these matters it is' the. 'Minister personally .who is most to blame. Ho, we ■have nodoubt; acts' on the advice" of someone in the head office, and.it is freely assorted that' this is tho main cause of iho .trouble. ; Mr. Millar naturally knot's nothing of the' technicalities of ' railway management; but he.should know that'he ,is _doing injustice -when he: accepts..; the opinion of an individual officer, iowevw highly placed, and overrides the decisions ;of a legallySconstituted.tribunal specially provided to safeguard tho interests of the. memberspf -the railway-service.'; ;; '.:: ,

The introduction of a Loan' Bill caused tho usual ..flutter in the Hoifeo. yesterday on tho. subject of finance. ■ The • Prime Minister", who was. very reticent .'at first; unbent a' litfclq Mar in the evening and delivered ,a long speech on the finances',, which'threw some light on.the particular iniattcrs about which members and. H\6 'country arc most concerned. It must lu conceded, that,the principle; of. bringing down a Loan 'Bill before, -making .the House fully acquainted with tho financial ~pbsiti«h').bfi.theicbuhtry-( V idhd..>thbWuturc 'intentions of.-.th*'Goverrlmentlinvrdlation to finance, is an extremely bad one.. We are.'inclined- to agree with' Sir /Joseph 3Vard :j that it isI}perhaps1}perhaps 'desirable.' to 1 'get tiro Loan Bill' passed 'as 'speedily' as-, pos-' siblo.in .'order to avoid tfie. risk;pf-,any" possible dislocation of the London money fmarkcfcVlatcr in* the.'year, but':that : is no ! reason-:''; why', the .'Financial' Statement shqiild not.have been brought.down before the LoaiTßill. Jndccd, thcro is.no excuse at all for the/Financial Statement not,bJ- : ing'in .the-hands of members at tho pro- , sent, timq fund' the Prime Minister has | only' himself.to' : 'blame if his .'Loan Bill makes.slow".progress. Members.naturally ,will_ seize the, opportunity: to, elicit, infor-, mation which, tlioy are_entitled,to. There is no doubt some justification " for "'■ the' PrijieMinister , S i reticence, in relation to j the last loan! but it is asking too much to oxpect, the Houseto forego, its .right,to I .the', fullest information beforo- granting supplies... v ; .."'>;:;' ,