NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 832, 30 July 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The comments on the division upon Mr. Massey's motion on the land question reveal nothing more clearly than the strength of the Ministerialist party feeling. Its strength is of course duo to the. fact that, unlike party feeling in other countries, Liberal party feeling here rests on the instinct of self-preser-vation. The Liberal party is fighting, not for principles, but for its means of livelihood. Yet the Government's dealings with the land question are disgusting some of its supporters. Our evening contemporary, which on most occasions evinces much friendliness to the Government, could not restrain itself from saying this last night:

Thoso who considei that the virtues of courage and self-respect, of clear thought, and decisive action, should not he entirely banished from politics, and that statesmanship consists of something higher than procrastination, evasion, 'and counting heads, will feel a hundredfold more contempt for a Government which manages to keep its political skin whole by such paltry tactics than for one which, however wrong in its convictions, had at least the courage to put (hem'to the test and to abide by the result. There are men of principle and backbone in the Ministry, yet on this great question their collective attitude is utterly unprincipled and invertebrate.

Even those who do not find this candour refreshing may admit its significance. Even the friends of the Liberal party are beginning to say, "We can endure much, but this—this is too much."

The City Council is to be congratulated upon the unanimity of its protest against the Tramways Bill, a protest in which it is supported by the municipalities everywhere and by everybody who has any sort of civic spirit at all. With nearly everything said upon this subject at Thursday night's meeting of the Council we, and we" believe almost everyone else, are heartily in agreement. The case against the Bill has often been stated in our columns in the past in comment upon earlier appearances. of this obnoxious measure. In brief, it is the case against the invasion by the Ministry of the citizen's rights of self-government. We say "the Ministry" rather than the State because the Ministry is no longer the Executive, but the master, of the State Parliament. Mr. Roderick M'Kenzie made that expressly clear, where it had before been clear but not express, when he proclaimed the supremacy of the Ministry and of any individual Minister over Parliament in some vitally important respects. But even without Mn. M'ifErie's candour, this fact has beon ' clear for a long time. The greater part of government takes place by means of Orders-in-Council, by the that is to say, of a Ministry responsible to nobody but its Parliamentary supporters, whom it has unlimited means of keeping in good humour. The Government is well aware that its Tramways Bill is objectionable to the municipalities and to almost every citizen. Yet it brings the Bill down. This should impress the municipalities with the need for vigilance against trickery, say at the end of the session.

The announcement that consideration is being given to a cheaper cablegram service under which the Pacific Cable Board would send delayed plain language messages at half the present rates is of general interest. "Plain language", of course, signifies other than code words, and in consequence the new proposal, if given effect to, will not affect the larger business houses so much as the smaller firms and the general public. The present rata is three shillings a word, and the. proposal to reduce this to cighteenponce in the case of delayed messages—that is messages which the company can transmit at .any time within forty-eight hours of their receipt—is no doubt expected not only to load to an increase in the number of messages sent, but to. enable a more satisfactory and economic working of the cable lines. By securing the option of transmission at any time within 48 hours after receipt the Cable Company can spread its worlj full working hours of each day so as to maintain a steady use of its wires instead of working them at heavy pressure on some occasions and having them practically idle at others. The proposed • departure however, would appear to bo a somewhat risky one irom the financial point of view, it is open to question whether the increased business is likely to compensate for the reduction in charges, and already the loss on the Pacific cable is a heavy one. According to the Post and Telegraph report laid before Parliament a few days ago the deficit last year was nearly £60,000, and New Zealand's share of this loss was £6631. A further reduction in press rates would be of wider benefit than the proposal now under consideration, it would not be of any material advantage to the newspapers themselves—Uteir outlay vr'onld not be reduced—but the publicwould got the_ advantage of a more ■extended foreign news service. It was expected that at no distant date a reduction of this nature would be brought into effect, but it is probable that the present proposal will indefinitely delay its accomplishment.

It was with a great deal of pleasure that we noted a few evenings ago the very emphatic manner in wliich the Speaker rebuked tho senior Government Whip, Mb. Ei,l, for his incessant and noisy interjections during the speech of the Leader of the Opposition. Mn. Guinngss's action, we feel sure, had ttio hearty endorsement ol ever,? member of the House who has the slightest regard for the dignity of Parliament. We had hoped that this was the beginning of a new and bettor era. Yesterday, however, the old conditions reasserted themselves, and the Speaker was quiescent. Among tho offenders, we regret to note, was the Leader of the Opposition himself. "Oh, you are very unhappy Tom," he interjected on one occasion whilst the_ Hon. T. Mackenzie was speaking. Not long afterwards the Minister was addressed in equally familiar terms by Mr. Davey, who called out: "Speak up, Tom, we can't hear you over here." In the course of his speech Mb Dive, who followed, was subjected to a series of interjections 'by Mr. Hanan. "Oh, leave him alone, Joe," cried out Me. Colvin, who was seated at some distance. The next step will be for members to familiarly question the Prime Minister as "Joe," and to direct their attacks not ac the Loader of the Opposition, but at "Bill," while the rank and file, when addressing one another, may

well descend to the adoption of such playful sobriquets as "Whiskers" or "Cold Tea" or "Slim Jim," or anything else equally light and fanciful. Surely members must sec that the loose ways that are growing up are not only entirely out of keeping with the dignity of Parliament, but are liable to end in unpleasant personalities, if not trouble of a more serious kind.