NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 880, 28 July 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

1 Some of the comments provoked by Lord Hosebery's rcccnt letter upon the dccay of thrift are worth, a little attention. Lord Hosebeby, it will bo remembered, saw in the public life of England a total . disregard for economy, and in private life a corresponding disregarding of the principle of prudence. The Scotsman pointed out that all the world over the question is how to make ends meet. "France is stinted of funds for her necessary Navy. Austria has been embarrassed by her excursion into territorial aggression in the Balkans. In Germany the raising of 20 millions extra taxation' has not been accomplished without difficulty. In tho United Statos there is the same trouble—tho steady increase of expenditure and the discontent of those interests which are called upon to provide revenue. Japan is making effort to lead the way in retrenchment. Mr. Lloyd-George himself has yet to ask Parliament to sanction a Budget which will, as a peace Budget, outdistance all records.

What the position would be in New Zealand had wc to provide, as Britain has to provide, 30s. a head.for defence,'can only be imagined. The London Times makes a good point: "Public expenditure tends to undermine private thrift and simplicity,' and so we move in a vicious circle. . . . We may have -luxury upon economical terms or upon prodigal and wasteful terms. We may be careful or careless about getting the best value for our_money; we may take pains to study efficiency or we may go along in a haphazard fashion content? to have our growing wants met, without inquiring into the waste that may be going on."

TJie Petone Borough Council may be pardoned for having expressed some surprise upon receiving from the Officer Commanding the Junior Cadets (Major T. \V. M'Donald) a request that a member of its clerical staff should bo excused from his official duties every Friday from 10.30 a.m. till noon for the purposs of drilling the local corps of Junior Cadets. We confess to some_ surprise ourselves. We should like to know—and we hope this question will be asked in the House—by what authority the Commandant of Junior Cadets'was able to suggest to the Petone Borough Council that one of its employees should be permitted to absent himself from trie office for this purpose. Under the regulations issued not long ago it was provided that cadet corps should bo officered by members of the teaching staffs of ,the public schools—"All malo teachers on the staffs of schools are liable to act as officers in the Junior Cadets, and may be appointed accordingly." There is no provision that we can see for an arrangement such as has been suggested to the Petone Borough Council by the Commandant of Cadots, and it has been clearly stated that boys will not be allowed to act as officers. Obviously, Junior Cadet units must be officered by teachers, and assisted by permanent staff instructors holding, appointments in the Cadet Department. If the conditions of staffing at any particular school are such that its Cadet unit cannot be officered' according to regulations, some other ■ form of training must, alternatively, be adopted. Such an alternative has been provided.

Before the debate upon Mk. Massey's motion is concluded, it may dawn upon the Government that a rather bad blunder was made in forcing Ministerialists—by treating the motion as one of "no confidence" —into voting against a set of propositions which are beyond question supported by a majority" of the people. It may realise that it has burned a great many , boats in order to cover up its lack of a policy— that it has paid a very heavy price for the privilege of a short respite, [n the meantime those Ministerialists elected by freeholders' votes may be glad of an outsido suggestion as to' what they should do when the division bell rings. Perhaps they will see light ahead if they will remember the attitude taken up by many members lately in respect of the Gaming Act-of 1907. That Aci, although it was stained by a blot which is approved by only four members in the present House, contained also some excellent clauses; and many members decided, aB they have been explaining, that in such cases it is the right thing to swallow tho evil rather than reject tho good with which it is mingled. Should they object to any item in Mk. Massey'n motion, it will be their duty, on the same principle, to declare for what they must admit arc tho good things by voting for the motion as a whole. So far as they are concerned, the cases will be similar; and the public will, not be slow in placing the proper interpretation upon the action of any member who acts in opposition to the principle that governed his attitude towards the Gaming Act. The Ministerialist _ freeholders no doubt recognise the unpleasant circumstance that the public will not care a penny piece at election time about the fact that the Government treated this motion as a noconfidence motion; it will remember only that such and such a member voted against tho freohold with limitations, and against tho speedier opening up of Native lands. The position is not altogether a pleasant l one for some of tho Government freehold following ■

A letter from the secretary of tho New Zealand Veterans' Association published in this issue bears out our statement as to the views held by tho Association concerning its petition to Parliament. _ It is confirmatory of the general opinion of tho members of the Association, and shows very clcarly what little reason Sin Joseph Ward had for his bitter and offensive attack on The Dominion, Our statement as to the views of the old soldiers regarding the fate of their petition jvas quite correct, and if those views wore incorrectly held it was entirely due to the failure of the Prime Minister to notify the petitioners of what had happened to their petition. _ We do not think it was an intentional discourtesy on his part, blithe was to blame for an oversight which has caused so much concern and anxiety to those old soldiers, whose treatment in the past has not been at all creditable to New Zealand. What is now asked for b,v

the Veterans' Association is really a small thing. Cabinet has decided against their request, and the Prime Minister's letter does not hold out any sign of hope. Sir Joseph Ward, however, in hiS statement. to Parliament asserted that Cabinet was merely awaiting the decision of Parliament on the petition. That being su, it is to be assumed that a favourable recommendation from Parliament will be given effect to. We cannot wfcll see how Parliament can fail to grant a request which, though small in itself, is of so much importance to the old soldiers concerned.