NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 890, 9 August 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

• A.little incident at the Durham Assizes which will recall to.readers with good memories one or two, recent incidents in.this country reaches us by mail. Last January some strikers at Horden, in the Durham mining district, broke into riot, damaged the colliery shaft, wrecked and pillaged and then burned the Social Club, and then attacked the residence of the mine-owners!-agent. Ton men were arrested, and they appeared at the .Assizes before Me. Justice Grantham, who, in his charge to the Grand Jury,_ made the following general observations:— . "When men used the brute force which, the power of vast numbers of men congregated; together gave them, with. tlie. advantages they had as . members of a trado union, they could not he surprised if it made people hesitate to support trade unions. Still he believed 'trade unions were a necessity of tho times, and in many case 3 they had done good, though in some cases they had done harm. This certainly was .0110 of tho cases whore a trade union seemed to have done harm. Let them imagine the mischief which was caused.by the futile efforts of these men on strike, and let them look at the cost. Four hundred' extra police had to bo hired to protect the 'life, liberty, and property in the county. These were in addition-to somothing like 800 policemen of their own. The telegraph and telephone wires were out, and there w J as snow on the. ground, so fhat it was impossible to keep-up.'com-' munication. The result was that 500- or 600 of these men got together in a riotous way and did the damage referred to. .

One or two of the Radical papere hastened to attaGk the Judge in language that would quite , satisfy Mr. Laracy, of the, Shearers' Union, whom Me. Justice Sim, by the way, has asked to desist from writing any more letters to him. Of course, the facts stated by the -Judgd were not in dispute, and he said nothing to prejudice the case of the ten persons proceeded against. Most people will agree that it iss' the piopei; business of the Bench to issue public remonstrances of tho kind quoted. Nobody objected to Me. Justice Chapman's assault on the bookmakers. Why should anyone object, therefore,' to a Judge'a strictures on the misuse by another class of , its privileges? It is an interesting fact that these assaults on the freedom and independence of the Bench seem to be the special delight of Radicalism everywhere. • . ■■'.'■''

Though .the information given- to Parliament by the. Prime Minister (Sib Joseph Ward)) when announcing the appointment,of Colonel R. H. Davies, 0.8., Inspector-General of tho New Zealand Forces, to the command of an infantry brigade at A-lderahol, was eupublo oi no other interpretation than that this country was about to lose that officer's services altogether, this opinion is not held in military circles. LieutenantColonel Bauchof, who is leaving shortly for England, stated at the valedictory function tendered to him on Saturday by the Port Chalmers "Old Boys," that he did not think Colonel Davies had bcen_ kidnapped —he was only lent—an opinion which is supported by what has been learned of previous similar appoint-ments-by the British War Office to the Aldershot Infantry Division. Of the six brigadier-generals in the Aldorshot command, four hold temporary rank only, their substantive rank being that of colonel. These temporary appointments arc usually for a term of two years, sometimes four years, but in the case of Colonel Davies the appointment may only ho for one year. The special advantages of tho, appointment just conferred on Colonel Davies will bo that instead of being; as heretofore, a spectator, ho will bo once more in active command, under the supervision of tho Divisional Staff, and assisted by his own brigade staff. He will have the opportunity of "extending himself" at the Imperial autumn manoeuvres next month, and if, as we assume, ami hope, tho PnniE Minister has misunderstood tho DoSition, the geueral training

thus obtained should be of material value to New Zealand when Colonel Davies returns—always supposing that he does return. One important point in this connection is worth noting. If Colonel Davies is eventually to return to New Zealand, who is going to pay his salary as bri-gadier-geriurd! on the staff of the General Olh'ccr Commanding at Aldcrshot? The salary of the position is anything from £700 to £900 annually. "Will the New Zealand Government continue to pay the salary ol £625 attached to his position as Inspector-General of the New Zealand Forces, lending Colonel Davies to the War Office in consideration of the Imperial authorities paying the balance ? It is hardly conceivable that the British War (Mice will pay. the whole of the salary, for the suggestion that Colonel Davies is the best man to be found in England for this position cannot be taken seriously. Tho appointment is a, complimentary one; a similar compliment was paid to the Canadian Forces not so long ago. Some discussion in -the British press about the salaries of Cabinet Ministers has prompted the Morning l J ost's Rome correspondent to givesome facts about Ministerial salaries in Italy which will be of interest to New Zealanders. An Italian Cabinet consists of eleven Ministers, each of whom receives £1000 a year, which taxes reduce to £920. The net salary of each of- the Under-Secretarics is £410. "With one- exception;" the I'ost's correspondent continues, "the Foreign Minister, no member of the Cabinet docs, or is expected to do, much entertaining, and this system has the advantage of allowing the Ministers to attend to the business of Parliament. . Signou Giolitti, when ho was governing Italy, never went out into society, , never made speeches out of Parliament, and never, 'stumped' tho, country, but he worked twelve hours a day in his office." It should bo added that life in Italy is no longer cheap—indeed, many necessaries are dearer than in England. The Italian Deputies, fortunately for Italy, which is not j without other political troubles, are unpaid. In New Zealand the lowestpaid Ministers receive £ICOO a year, but of course they all greatly enlarge their sal'aries through the liberal travelling allowances and expenses that are provided for them— allowances so ample that' they really are losing money, as it were, by staying in. Wellington and attending to business) But it may be urged, of course, that Italy, which has a population of only 34,000,000, and that spends £6,000,000 a year on her Navy, is of small importance compared.with New Zealand. ' It is widely believed by thoughtful and observant people—and with some reason—that tlie progressive nationalisation of charity and social service is drying up the springs of private benevolence in this country. That they are still far from dry is proved by the splendid success that ,is attending the campaign started by Mks. Wilfoed for funds for the Children's Hospital. Yet it does not do to draw any very optimistic conclusion from that success, the rapidity and extent of which are so largely due to the .intervention of ivtn. Huqh Ward and the sudden and unexpected ■ publicity-, given to ..it through his .idea for raising 'funds. We may leave to those who are interested in what has been called the "crowd mind" the solution of the interesting problem set by the readiness, ■ nay, the eagerness, of the public to.make to n novel and dramatic appeal a response that could not bo worked by tho ordinary method followed in these matters. Although Mit. AVard is responsible for the achievement in less than a week of what in ordinary circumstances could only be achieved after months of slow and wearisome work, there is no doubt that the subscribers to the fund have beer, inspired less by a "sporting" keenness to make the scheme "go" than by a simple desire' to serve the children. The campaign's initial momentum is still oinexpehded, and it is now practically certain that it will rush to a full, success with a bang. At the same time we do not think it is out of place—indeed, the circumstances make it proper and necessary—to say that this unusual experience we are having only brings out in deeper colour, the difficulty with which most appeals to private goodwill in the na'me of social service usually have to contend. Every sensible person knows that good 1 works that spring voluntarily from private kindness are better .than the good works that are vicariously performed by the State ■with the taxes that everyone grudges in proportion £3 ho realises tho bad economy of State expenditure. We have quoted bofore, and we quote again, Me. Gladstone's generalisation: "Of one thing I am, and always have been, convinced—it is not by the State that, man can be regenerated and the terrible woes of this darkened world effectually dealt with."' And yet a good,many well-meaning people aid and abet the Socialists in" their campaign against the better-off. The Radical glories.in pillaging thoso possessed of property in the name of Society.' .Is it any wonder—men with money having as much human nature in them as men who have none —that tho naked preaching of "the gospel of ransom" has a tendency to make those who would gladly give a free-offering of ten pieces reluctant to pay a forced' ' tribute of .one piece 1