NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 703, 31 December 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

* Ths statement that unless the miners omployed in .the State Goal Mine at Point Elizabeth are conooded their demands in full they will again go on strike is, we hope, an idle rumour. The Minister for Mines has promised to inquire personally into., the matter and is even now on his way to the West Coast. Until he has investigated the _ conditions existing at the mine it is of course impossible to anticipate what his decision will be. ,' There is every reason to bel;cve, however, that Mr M'Kenzie's sympathies will be with the men and that if he errs at all it will be on the side of meeting their, demands But there is something more than the wishes of the 1 miners to be considered. The whole mining industry and the public interest are both concerned. The State miners should certainly be as well paid as the men working in the privately-owned mines, but ijho State mines must bo ran business lines If a special standard of wage is set at the State mine it '/must injuriously, affect the whole of <the mines on the West Coast. 'It would bo a most improper thing to pay the State miners at a rate thai would make the working of the mine unprofitable merely because it' is a State-owned undertaking. So lone as-,the State is in competition with' private enterprise it must act fairly both to the taxpayers and to \ its Rivals in business. We trust that lilr. M'Kenzie will be able to smooth over the' trouble with the miners, but "peace at any prico" would be too dangerous a policy to contemplate with equanimity. ~

I In yesterday's issue a telegram was I published from our' Napier correspondent tcthe effect that the Minister fdr Railways will do something oarly in the new .year to remodel the railway time-table which has evoked' indignant protests and emphatic condemnation from so many, different quarters In fact, it seems' to have satisfied nobody. It is sincerely to be hoped that the i Minister will lose no time in taking the matter in hand, and that very careful' inquiries will be made in order that the requirements of the various districts concerned will be met as far as the exigencies of the service as a whole will permit. Reasonable rpeople know that the Department'cannot do impossibilities, and that" the individual needs of the separate parts must to a large extent be subordinated to paramount claims of the complete system; but the almost universal outcry' against the re-cently-constructed* time-table is sufficient proof of its unsuitability to the'requirements of the country. .It Bhould always be borne in mind that the,railways were made for the,community, and not the community for the railways. Recent developments, however, almost compol one to think teat the official view is that the people should order their lives and conduct their business to suit the timetable, instead of the time-table being made to suit the reasonable 'needs of the people. , A complete revision of the present arrangements is absolutely necessary, and the sooner it is undertaken the better for all concerned. ' , i , ' The appointment of Sib Arthur Wilson, Admiral of the Fleet, as First Sea Lord, in succession to Sie , John Fisher, appears to havo been a very happy choice. It was generally recognised that the naval officer to succeed Sir John Fisher would need to bo a strong man, high in the eßJ«em of the naval service. Accord" ing to the London Times Sir Arthur Wilson is > this and a great deal more. He is, fortunately, unidentified with any pronounced or particular School of naval thought, and a man in whose professional capacity and k soundness of judgment not the naval service as a whole, but tho country at largo, has implicit faith. The Times, writing before tho appointment was made, said: ■ Sinoo the days when ho defended hia corner of the squaro at El Tob with his fißte and won tho Victoria Cross, Sir Arthur Wilson hiis had tho confidence of the public. The Navy roßarda him as its finest tactician and strategist, and has generally assumed that ho would be called to the supreme command afloat in caso of war. . . . His selection for tho post of First Sea Lord when Sir John Fisher retiree could not'fail to exciciss a soothing iaEjieaoa. upon the coatta*

versiea and contentions which have had such a disturbing effect. What tbe Navy wanta is peace and an opportunity to assimilate the many reforms which have been initiated during the last few'years. One of the most important factors in determining tho selection of Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson 'for the post of First Sea Lord was no doubt tho desire to securo "the soothing influence" referred to. The bickering which has been going on and the strained relations which have grown up between the" leading exponents of the different schools of naval thought in Great Britain havo been viewed with grave concern on all sides. It is fondly expected that with Sir Arthur Wilson's accessiftn to office the trouble will gradually pass away.