NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 795, 19 April 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The full force of Me. F. E. Smith's reference to Mr. Asqtjith as "an underling of Patrick Ford's underling" will probably be lost ona generation that has nearly forgotten the violence of the old Home Rule movement. Ford was the great Irish-American advocate of dynamite as a political weapon, and in his newspaper, the Irish World, he constantly advocated the policy of outrage and massacre. Mr. T. D. Sullivan, in his book on • the "Troubled Times in Ireland," records the following extract from, an article published by' Foed on January 26, 1884: "If dynamite is necessary for the redemption of Ireland, then dynamite is a blessed agent,, and should be availed of by the Irish people in their holy war. The Creator called nothing into existence in vain." On Christmas Day, 1883, he wrote: '-'Let Paenell and his band of. Parliamentarians go on in their way, and God bless them. Let Davitt start an agitation in Ireland, and God bless him. Every man can do service in his own way. Success, say wej to the National League, and more power to dynamite!" FoBD had for years before advocated the burning of London, and on August 28, 1880, he gave directions as to how this should be done: "Our Irish skirmisherB r would be . well disguised. They would enter London unknown and unnoticed. '■ When the night for action came, the night that the wind was blowing strong, this little band would deploy, each man setting about his own allotted task, and in two hoars from the word of con> mand London would be.in flames,' shooting up to. the' heavens in fifty different places." Me. Foed's present connection with Me. Redmond is as an active supplier of financial assistance to the Nationalists. A few weeks ago Me., Redmond warmly thanked the advocate of dynamite for sending a gift of £1000. A great many ardent Nationalists are indig-. nant that the Irish leader, should maintain such relations with , such a man. One distinguished Irishman, Mb'. F. Hugh M'Donnell, wrote a scathing letter on the subject to The Times of March 10 last. Me. M'DoNNBLii is a Home Ruler, and has fought for-the cause, in Parliament .and in thp .press, for many years. - He was a.colleague of PaEnell's.';. "I am an Irish Nationalist," he writes. "I'hold by the policy 'of Grattan and Butt. But, however opposed to the views' of the leading English journal, I am a suppliant, above all in its columns, for the right to repudiate, as an ordinary honest man, the abominable complicity in which Mr. Redmond and his party are. brazen enough -to involve the name' of Ireland. He concludes his letter, of which the text is Mr. Redmond's thanks' to Ford, with these v words: "I have only now a couple of questions to put to Mr. Redmond, M.P. —Is he going to return that money to Pat Ford? Or will he wait till he is helped out of Parliament? No civilised assembly can tolerate such stipendiaries."

While Mb- Millar is carrying out his. entertaining project of seeking proficiency as a railroad man through a cursory inspection of the Australian. railroad systems and a more careful inspection of a, mass of tables which will have for him the same educative value as a treatise on the Calculus, the Australian press is printing occasional paragraphs about him which are of some interest to the New Zealand public. The Sydney Morning Meratd of Tuesday of last week mentions that- Me. Millae has been advised that for the' year 1909-10 the gross railways earnings totalled £3,250,000 and the' working expenses £2,200,000. These figures are not wholly unsatisfactory. Indeed, compared with the figures for recent years they are very good indeed. The earnings show an increase of over £300,000 compared with the preceding year, and the expenditure an increase of only about £5000. Wo had a right, in view of the bloated condition to which the expenditure had grown, chiefly owing to the maintenance of unnecessary officials and unnecessary services in the South, to expect a very substantial rednction ' of fie expenditure. We hope that when, four or fivo months hence, the Railways Statement appears, it will not be found that such temperance in expenditure as the Minister has been able to exercise has been of the "penny.wise pound foolish" variety. The ratio of working expenses to earnings, says the Sydney journal, has been reduced to 67 per cent., but "this percentage is still 10 per cent, higher than the average percentage for all Australian railways in recent years." Mr. Millar is said to estimate the net return on capital as £3 13s. 6d. per cent. As he has stated that the interest charge is £3 16s. per cent., the net loss which he shows is, roughly, £35,000. But. ho does not show the loss that is covered up by the use of loan money under the heading "additions to open lines." What this sum amounts to this year we do not know. It averages between £200,000 and £300,000 per annum. The real loss on the railways, therefore, will probably be a little, though not very much, less than usual.

Tee compliment paid by MR. Wilbord last evening to the fullness and fairness of the reports of public meetings published in The Dominion would be more welcome had Me. Wilford made it perfectly clear that he recognised the distinction between the opinions of the paper and its reports of other people's opinions. We have no compliments to bestow on Ma- Witt'OUD for

his administrative' work in connection with his period as chairman of the Harbour Board. • Moreover, it is a little surprising to us that he, after his 17 years' experience of public life, should contuse a newspaper report of the proceedings of a public body with an editorial opinion in the manner disclosed last evening. Since Me. Wilford, however, appears anxious that our view of his conduct as chairman of the Board should receive wide publicity, we hasten to meet his wishes. At the , close of his second year of office the Wellington Harbour Board found itself confronted with what was probably the most serious situation in its existence. M.R. Fletcher, who succeeded MR. Wilford as chairman, commented strongly on the position, and said amongst other things that although the revenue had fallen away expenditure had been kept up. - The Mayor (Dr. Newman), who is a member of the Board by virtue of his office as Mayor, was "horrified with the position"—the more he saw of it the more horrified he became. "The Board," ho added, "was saddied with extravagance of the deepest dye, and the life-blood of the harbour was being destroyed." MR. Cohbn, commenting on the remarks of a very optimistic member of the Board, to wit, the Hon. T< K. Macdonald, remarked that faith, and hope did not cut much ice—"there was a tendency to splash money about without, seeing where they were going." Indeed, practically every member of the Board knew and said that the Board was face to face with a serious position. Wβ are well aware that the Board over which Me. AVilford has presided foi the past two years is not entirely to blame for that position. This, indeed, was claimed by.several of the members referred to above. But what we would like to know is how Mr. Wilfoed can escape a very serious share of the responsibility? What has he done to lead the Board during his two years of office as chairman to recognise the seriousness of the position ? What economies has he urged? Furthermore, perhaps Mr. Wilford will tell the public how long he has been a member of the Board, and how many of the works, upon the institution of which he now attempts to «hro\v t;he blaino for the unfortunate position attained, he voted against? Mr. Wilford has been: a member of the Board for a great many years, and wo cannot recall that he has ever made any effort to stem the tide of •extravagance of which members of the.Board speak. Mr. Wilford has certain gifts which have carried him some distance in public life, but he has yet to show that he has any capacity for the serious administrative work associated with local government. His record on the Wellington Harbour Board certainly does not inspire that confidence which citizens Bhould feel in choosing a Mayor for a city like Wellington at such a time as the present.