NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 790, 13 April 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

In connection with the issue in Australia of silver coins minted on behalf of tho Commonwealth Government, tho Auckland '-Herald quotes some .interesting figures showing the profit upon silver coinage.. The British Mint, it states, purchased during tho year 1908-09 silver bullion to the value of £350,666 and manufactured therefrom silver coins to the face value of £945,897, all of which was issued at.par. The difference after deducting cost of minting and cost of alloy, was profit, and. is said to have equalled about 150 per cent. Last year when the Federal Government decided to exercise tho minting powers vested in it by the Federal Constitution,, an order was given by the Treasurer of the Commonwealth to the London Mint for, various silver coins to the face value of £200,000, these coins to be supplied.' at manufacturing rates. To,.meet this'order £70,000 worth of silver bullion was purchased, and the minted issue of this purchase is now being circulated in Australia at a very large profit to the Commonwealth Government. The point that is of interest to New Zealand is that the Commonwealth apparently expects to supply the silver coinage for the Dominion as iwell as that required 'for Australia, and if this .is permitted, will reap .a very substantial profit from this country. Moreover, the Imperial silver coinage will (cease to' have legal currency in Australia, so that a New Zealander will not be able _to pass his silver coinage in Australia; but unless >• New Zealand decides otherwise Australian silver coins will be accepted as legal currency here. It must be perfectly plain that under these circumstances the Commonwealth has very much tho best of things. Unfortunately New Zealand has not tho right to mint coin, and attempts made in the past to secure this right have not been successful. The position to-day, however, is different to that which oxisted when previous applications wero made and there appears to be,no good reason' why the Dominion) should not have at least some share of the profit on the silver coinage required here. We believe the Government has not ■lost sight of'the possibilities in this matter and Sir Joseph Ward can, we think, be relied ok to press' the claims of New Zealand in the proper quarter. ■ . '.

The Sydney correspondent of a contemporary has some unintentionally amusing things to say about the Hon. J. A. Millar's visit to Australia. Altogether ho will spend a month looking into the methods adopted bythe railways authorities in the various States—not a very long time, one would suppose, for the study of the science of railroading. Some men, but these are the slower-witted English and ' Americans, find a lifetime hardly too long for that kind of study. It is comforting, however, to know that Mr. Millar does not intend to be precipitate. He "will not," we gather, "be in a position to speak definitely before ho has completed his tour, and even then it is likely that some little time will, elapse before he can, mature his conclusions from the mass of details now being collected and elaborated by Mb. M'Villy." One must be a railroading expert, no doubt, proporly to appreciate the excellence of this joke, but oven a layman can safely permit himself a smile at the picture of_ Mr. Millar solomnly sitting down in front of-a mass of railroa-ding details to, "mature his conclusions" as to the right way to run our own railways system. If Mr. Boddo were appofnted Minister for Defence, and were to run Home to spend a_ month at Portsmouth and Kiel with the object of securing data from which to mature his conclusions as to the way in which warships should be built, the public,' if it were not alarmed, would be greatly entertained. What Mr. Millar has undertaken is not so very different from that. With whatever good intentions he may have_ gone to Australia, the fruits of his personal investigation—the results that ho could not obtain excepting through personal investigation—cannot amount to anything more than some rou.o-h ideas"about the shape of the cars and some more definite ideas as to the cleanliness and _ speed of the trains. One other thing he will, certainly discover, that nobody wants Ministerial control of the railways To-established in tho States ho will have^isited.

The Mayoral election contest is not at present exciting 'any very great amount of interest. Citizens, probably because there are no very big undertakings in immediate prospect, are not displaying so much concern as usual over the selection of their Mayor. Yet the occasion calls for the exercise of the utmost care in choosing the man best able to seize the opportunity thus afforded for a general overhauling of the city's affairs. There are one or two matters which urgently call for attention. One of these is the position reached in connection with the municipality's electric lighting business. Dr. Newman's explanation of the falling-off in the profits of this large business undertaking plainly showed that the city is confronted with a very serious problem. Instead of the electric lighting purchase developing into a relief to the ratepayers, there are signs that unless the business is carefully and skilfully handled it -may prove a further drain on the city's resources. Mr. Crawford has already given, evidence that this matter has received his attention and that he has ideas concerning it which should prove of value to the city, and we should like to hear him enlarge on these at one of his future meetings. His campaign so in enabling him to get into personal touch with ' citizens—has greatly strengthened his chances. While noi so skilled in oratorical fireworks as his opponent, he puts forward his views with clearness and force, and leaves no room for doubt as to his sincerity and earnestness of purpose. His long experience of municipal government naturally gives him an advantage over Mr. Wieford who almost invariably gives the impression of having hurriedly "worked un his brief for the occasion, and of relying more on a glib tongue and a quite amazing assurance than on any real knowledge of the matters under discussion. .