NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 906, 27 August 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Members took very full advantage yesterday of the opportunity afforded them by an Imprest Supply Bill to discuss various important matters which have been engaging the attention of Parliament. * Indeed, on no previous occasion this session have members covered such a, rango of subjects with the same thoroughness as was shown yesterday. Railways, Defence, Immigration, and various other subjects were touched on, and some interesting facts unearthed. We would commcud to the , attention of our readers Mr. James Allen's 'review of Defence matters. The position certainly calls for inquiry and full explanation.. Mr. Buchanan's comments on the exodus of population which has been recorded is also worthy of careful consideration. The attempt of the Minister for Internal Affairs to explain away the statistics quoted by the member for \Vairarapa was so very feeble and inadequate that it cannot be treated seriously. During the proceedings yesterday there was at times the customary discourtesy shown to members who for the time being held the. floor. On several occasions when, a member would _bo directing his remarks to a particular Minister, seeking explanation or enlightenment, another member would cross the lloor and enter into conversation with the Minister concerned. On other occasions tho bim of conversation would bo so loud that the member speaking o,t the time must have found it difficult to retain the thread of his speech. Mr. Speaker frequently called members to 'order for these tactics, lint had habits aro not easily cured. There was no excuse yesterday for the incidents referred to, for the speeches, as\a whole, were considerably above - tho average in point of interest.

A quarufJ;, which may lead to a vory serious split in the ranks of Labour, is now- proceeding merrily between the rcceutly-fornicd Fcdcr-

afcion of Labour and the Trades Councils. The' Federation, which was established by the miners at their conference last year, aims at linking up all the trade unions in one great body. The miners, it seems, have decided that the Trades and Labour Councils are behind the times, and unlikely to further the amalgamation of all the unions in one corporate body. The Councils retort through their' newspaper, which deals with the matter this ' week in quite violent language, that they have in the past made h, canvass of the unions, and have discovered that there is so much division of opinion that federation is impossible, for the present, at anyrate.. What the outcome of the quarrel may be it is impossible to say, for the miners!, organisation is a large one, and its members, if one is to judge them by their leaders, are very fierce and positive fighters. . In the meantime the language that the combatants are using is strangely out of tune with the sentiments of brotherhood that we have been led to believe arc peculiar to organised labour. The Weekly Herald refers to Mr. Semple's speeches as "the mouthing of a blustering and to the leaders of the Federation as "people with a very low conception of their duty to their fellow men and a very poor sense of decency." It .is impossible for us to believe that the agitators on either side are at all representative of the average worker, who ought to be realising that his interests are ill-served by his tolerance of the reckless demagogues to whom he entrusts Ms cause.

In their criticisms of the railways administration yesterday Messes. Herdsian and Heeries were a good deal kinder to Me. Millar than they need have been.. They would probably have insisted more strongly on the very doubtful features of last year's working had they imagined that the Minister was going to evade practically every- material charge brought against his'management. We are not very greatly surprised that the Minister's subordinates found a clay too short for the manufacture of any satisfactory reply'to our criticisms of yesterday. We showed, it will be remembered, that- by raising fares on the one hand, and on the uther eating into stores, reducing 'maintenance and curtailing the expenditure on improvements out of revenue the Department was . able to make (.be results of working during .. 1909-10 compare favourably with the year 190S-9, which was the worst on record. In due course, no doubt, the officials of the Department will put some sort of reply into the Minister's mouth, and we shall then have more to the subject. Mk. MiLLAit, of course, can know little of railroading. We believe, however, that he is honestly desirous of doing his best with the system' under his control, and that to that extent, r.nd it is. a large extent, he-is infinitely preferable' as Minister for Railways to Sir Joseph Ward. He does desire to make the railways pay, and he is probably a good deal shocked to find that the 3.80 per cent return showed to him is.largely bogus, the , product of slim bookkeeping. In time, we feel sure, he will realise how important it is that the supreme head ot the system shall be a railroading expert. We are bound to add that bad : as the results are they would have been far worse had the 'railways been conducted on the principles followed when Sie Joseph Ward was Minister for Railways.