NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 875, 22 July 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Sir Eobert Stout deserves high praise for the courage of his attack on tobacco, but we are really afraid that commendation must stop there. The question that perplexed the Victoria College Council really was whether the fumificent majority should impose its smoke upon the non-smokers amongst the students. But Sir Robert reached his decision through his whole-souled objection to "tho weed" in all circumstances. That tobacco in excess is bad is beyond question; it is equally true that the cigarette is almost always bad for boys. But against Sir Eobert Stout's unqualified declaration that "tobacco smoking is one of the worst habits the students could possibly acquire" and that "it is injurious mentally .and physically" there rises up a body of testimony from the illustrious dead. Mark Twain, it is said, died ot his cigars, but while he lived they did not blunt the keen edge of his fine mind. And he is only tho latest of the really great smokers. Did not Carlyle and Tennyson spend their happiest evening sitting over a fire in a long, rich silence, broken only by the faint dry sound of the puffs, and, we suppose, the creak of the chairs as they leaned forward to light the "spills" 1 Bishops smoke, and statesmen, and scientists. We think it has been sho.wn that the majority of our great men are, and have been for a century, faithful smokers. This does not, of course, prove that smoking is an aid to greatness; it only proves that fine nwntal power is as possible to heavy smokers as "to those who shun the practice. Of course Sir Robert may urge that a great man who loves his pipe would be a greater man if lie did not. To that it is sufficient to say that Tennyson and Oama'LE are as good as we want them.

i It is not often that Ministers tread so heavily on their colleagues' toes as Mr. Millar did yesterday. "If," he said, "yon aro going to try and make people righteous by Act of Parliament, then it is a poor lookout for the country." And it was only on Tuesday that the AttorneyGeneral, sneaking of a Bill in the Council, said that it was not an iso-

lated measure, "but part of a general process which will see our Statue-book, sooner or later, aiming at the elevation of our morals and the bettering of our lives as a peo-' pie." But Me. Millar's ruthless mowing down of the bright flower of his colleague's imagination was nothing to his plain home talk at his chief. Many times lately the Prime Minister has encouraged the idea of a referendum on the totalisator: he has achieved some popularity in some .quarters for his championship of the idea. And \\;hat does Me. Millar say ? That the referendum in general, and a referendum on the totalisator, is "the sheet anchor of the Shuffler." We should say that the meetings of Cabinet must be extraordinarily entertaining.

In connection with the _ Government's new device of finding out what it believes by asking the House to say what is wanted there are two or three points calling for notice. The first is the Prime Minister's assertion that it is "a common practice" in other Parliaments, including the British Parliament, to which reference had been made. The PRIME Minister is not stating the_ fact. There are some regions in which the Government must by law move by means of resolution. ' But in matters of policy the Government's proposals are made known_ first. No Government in the Empiresave cur own would dream of submitting resolutions which simply ask the House to order the Bill, as the cook asks the mistress to order the dinner. The second point to be noted is the' significance of these gaming resolutions as evidence that the Government, as one would expect of a Government anxious to hold_ office at any cost, is rapidly _ reaching the point at which it will not dare to make up its mind on any matter upon which there is likely to be_ a division of opinion. No doubt quite good law:; can be passed by asking the House for orders beforehand, and if Sir Joseph Ward decides on "government by resolution," wt> shall offer no protest. But we shall certainly insist that he shall not pose as the author of the legislation. Let him, if he chooses, leave the House to give the orders, but he must not expect to be permitted in that case to point to the Statutebook as a tribute to his statesman-, ship. The hodman might with equal reason claim the credit for the design of the building. A third, and not unimportant, point is this: How can the Prime Minister, who has talked so 'loudly in the recent past of Ministerial responsibility, expect the public to accept' the doctrine of Ministerial responsibility that he has on this occasion repudiated so completely? If 'the nature of the Gaming Bill must be decided by theHouse, why is the House not allowed to have the decision of the'affair of ihe Income Tax Department? s Although Me. Russell's Bill for the reform of the Legislative Council is unlikely to reach the Statutebook, yet the fact that it passed tho second reading must be taken as an indication of general discontent with the present arrangement. As we have said before, if we could get a succession of ideal Ministries, a nominative Upper Chamber would be a very good thing. But we must deal with facts as they are, and no fact, is more generally recognised than that the Legislative Council of ' this country is a standing argument against the nominative system. Many of the appointments made or renewed by the' Ward Government are everywhere allowed to be entirely indefensible, and at .the prosent time, although the Council'contains several very valuable members, it stands oven lower in the public estimation than tho House of Representatives. Exactly where the Government stands on the reform question we do not know. In one breath the Prime Minister savs he favours reform, and in the next asks where is the objection to the present-sys-tem. The general principle of Mr. Russell's measure (we do not'here include the details), namely, the election of a. smaller Chamber on large constituencies, is in our opinion sound, and the one most likely to appeal to sensible people.