NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 694, 20 December 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

■ Could the people' of Zealand attend in a body ajid witness, the manner in which the business of the country is transacted in" the "Houso' of! Representatives at the. present ,time 1 wo have little doubt that there "iyould be; a change of Government at .the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately this is not': possible, and as" a ' large : portion 'of the : press' of the country, either from, sheer .hopelessness of -being able to remedy, the evil practices that have grown up,'or from indifference, make no 'protest, a great part of the public is either ignorant : of what is happening, or does not appreciate its significance; We,.however,, shall continue to make our' protest, and to make known as .widely vas lies within, our. power the disregard shown for, the proper conduct of business. ; The ; House mot at ' 10'.'on', Friday 'morning to consider i the Estimates for the current year. _It sat. continuously■ ;.(with the usual adjournment for meals) until 5.30 the following morning—nineteen hours and a half—then had a brief respite _ until 10 a.m. and sat until midnight: . This oh- top of a heavy week's work. At times there was not a quorum of members present,. and soma of those in attendance were asleep. Can it be wondered at? And yet the business before the House was of, vital importance. The matter- for consideration was the voting' of supplies—the consider-, a,tion of Departmental expenditure concerning • which even the Government has admitted the need for economy. It was a .pathetic sight,.to witness' members,,exphysically' and mentally, endeavouring to. secure elucidation of ;tlie votes asked for and striving: to do their duty as guardians ,of the public purse. Whenever ' these- ' conscientious . workers found anything, to which cxceptiqii could be taken, tho division bell would be rung, and the. larger body of members who had been gossiping in the lobbies, or sleeping on couches in other parts of the building, would swarm , in, arid, without knowing anything, about the merits of the matter,' vote as the party Whips told them. Arid this is how tho business of the country 'is attended to. This- is what comes of late sittings and tho process of' forcing, business through; to suit, the wishes of Ministers. '.'•-Between tho hours , mentioned over two millions of the people's money was voted away. We ,do not wish to suggest that the greater part of this money, would not have been voted under; any circumstances, but what hope is there of a proper scrutiny of public expenditure when business is forced through linder such conditions? It is a scandal which the . dominance.i. of-, the * Ministry, permits, and which apparently only' the public— at the ballot-box —can remedy.

We aro glad to know that the, City Council has a deputation to wait on'the Government to-day in protest against the Tramways Act Amendment Bill introduced by. Mr. . R.. M'Kenzie. Two years ago, it will be remembered, tho Government aroused widespread astonishment and 1 indignation by bringing forward a similar measure designed tci' destroy, the control of the municipalities over their tramways. The new Bill doss ' not go so far, in some particulars, as its predecessor: the Government has dropped that' clause, for. instance, under . which the municipalities would bo required to placc all their books and documents at the_ disposal of the Govcrnmont . In the main, however, the scope and intention of: the old Bill have been preserved, and if the Government were to get its way, the municipalities would cease to dxercise any real ownership of their transport undertakings. It is to give tho for Public Works power to send an inspector to examine- cars and plant, and to compel the promoters to make any alteration that; he. chooses. The Government is also seeking powor to> inspcct, license, and rojcct carß, - to fix the number- of passengers who shall be carried on each car, the distanco that must. aonfl.rfl.te tho care on any route; aa'd the

speeds at which the various cars shall I travel. The power of licensing cars is I at presont enjoyed by the local authorities, and this power the Government proposes to centre in the Minister. To complete the destruction of local control, it it also proposed to give the Government power to make regulations "providing tor such other matters as he thinks fit in order to secure the safe and convenient working of the tramway." It iidifficult to believe that Parliament will pass such a vicious measure as this, but tho local Council is wise to take no risks in the matter. The public docs not require to be told that the local authority will .manage the Wellington tramways far hotter than they, can bo managed by the Government. But there is a special reason why the Bill mast be rejected: the urgent necessity of preventing any encroachment by the General Government upon tho rights of local government.

The Ward Administration sustained another defeat just before the House broke off its, consideration of the Estimates at midnight on Saturday. Mb. Eield moved the reduction of the State coal mines vote by way of affirming that the Government must -no longer persist in its use of the Grown Suits Act to inflict an injustice on the Farmers' Distributing Company, and the reduction was carried against tho Government by 30 voles to 28. The facts of this case have been so often set out in our columns that we need not give them again just now. The public mustrhave. been astonished that the Government has for so,long been able to 'maintain its ' defence of as .plain an injustice as it is possible to; imagine. Wo regard the success of Mr. Field's motion as a happy circumstance for. reasons apart from the. natural satisfaction that one must feel when success comes to ! a jiisfc cause. The vote,, considered, in I connection with the deletion of the vote of £400 to'Mn. W. P. Reeves and the success; of Mit. Sidey's motion to protect tho; sinking funds-of local bodies, indicates that the Government can no longer plaoe perfect trust in the willingness of its, followers to support everything that it chooses to propose. If this, spirit of independence continues to grow, as we hope and> believe ;it will, the first result will bo a greater circumspection on the part of the Executive. Ministers will not keep on! exposing themselves to censure; they will amend their political behaviour, and the interests of the public will receive closer attention. ; _ The' more independent of the Ministerialists should realise thb power for good 'that they can exerfc In a sense, they are masters of the for at any time they can provent the Government from doing anything to which they really object. It is "to be hoped that Saturday's vote is the grecursor of such fan amendment of the. rown Suits Act as will givo to, the public the common right of redress against injury' calused by State trading. enterprises which they possess as against similar trading enterprises in private hands;

Members of Parliament are often forced by their sense of duty to do things which cannot bo very pleasant for them, but which simply,must be done in the public interest. : This was the case on Saturday night,' when Me. - Jas.yAlleiJ and Mr." Massey had to criticise very severely tho Government's great kindness to a Departmental/officer not only, present in •the : ohambe.r at the time, but wno was also ; assisting ; his Ministerial chief to de'fqnd the Government's action. We refer to the ease of Major M'Donald, the officer in command of the cadets. .This gentleman receives ,a > total salary of £450 per annum, exclusive of travelling expenses. His Ji pr8 r decedsor,.tOoiiONEL Lovedav, received only £320 _ per annum, and there are other facts which fully warrant Mr. Massby's comment that "the. terms of the .appointment seemed tobe extras ordinary, especially .in these times 'of retrenchment'.' It. is, certainly very remarkable ,that while the, head of the defence forces, 'Colonel Robin, receives £525,; the head of the cadet forces should receive a salary very little less than that. , - Mr. Allen gave . some particulars of majors and captains: who, although senior to Major M'Donald,- receive smaller salaries. Some of these officers have given up their lives to military study. The Minister's reply, even although hp had Major M'Donald's assistance in framing it, was moat unsatisfactory. Because this officer has been connected with/ an Education Board, we are asked to believe that he was therefore peculiarly 'fitted to - receive a . large, salary for taking charge of the , - foroes—a Balary larger than that paid to officers of higher rank and longer service who are in charge of districts. ■: If he is not overpaid, then all the other officers' referred to, in the debate are grossly under-paid. Can anybody doubt that the facts of this case disclosc a position which cannot be encouraging to the officers of tho defence forces generally ? : .