NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 916, 8 September 1910, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Sydney..cable item, in yesterday's paper, to the effect that the Sydney Hospital authorities;;.i;have Miss Nellie -SiEivABT,.. a life" governor, and given;-Jher.': name to a cot in the children's .- ward, in recognition of her. services ;in.arrang-. ing 'a matinee,in aid .of ..the; .Radium Fund, constrains us to.'refer ;to ,a' matter We should have. , liked to leave unnoticed. The ; cable:- item:.; must have been , read with mixed feelings by thousaudsK-ofv Wellington people; for on the preceding day they',had read the..report of the proceedings' at.. Monday's, meeting;■ of : the/ , Children's Hospital Fund Committee. At that.meeting the ihosti'abundant praise was...given to everybody con-: hected with, the campaign,excepting the person to .whom'- , the huge/success of the campaign was very, largely due, We.refcr, of course, 1 to :Mn. Hugh -Ayiitp'.;■■■ It is unquestioned;iby; anybody that, quite, apart from the £560 which, by. a ge.neious , direct gift and by the.generous work of himself, and liis company, .he. added-to the fund, he created a great ;part. of the enthusiasm, arid endrgy that was exhibited. We :do , not- suppose/ he cafes, g'rea'tly whether* or not' he receives credit for his good.serylce to the; city,'. ,but it., is not-to the credit of- the city that, after contributing (iio largely to tlie success of'the. move-. >hent, ■' He should have been' slighted: by; the Oommittee. .It was-only by un afterthought,, near the : ;end:oi'-tho meeting, when .ill.,the. ; Jiiurels. h«.d been distributed,; that somebody ventured, to. suggest th'atV.MR.NWpD should be thanked, and—the (ineptitude :of, it!—furnished with.a,copy, of i the paper meeting., Ordinary' courtesy, \ and'. ordinary gratitude, -not to .speak., of ordinary prudence,, might havej'.bee'n' expected to prevent the meeting' from committing a bad'blunder which the public , (flust.have observed .with , regret. The. Uieafcrical. profession ■,■ as : inauy pap'-, ors,have.been p)inting'out'here and ; in Australia dit ring 1 - the, last 'month, is "proverbially: generous ;in these, matters, and we think,. : in \view of the 1 action of the Sydney people,, thatthe theatrical, prdfession ,;shbuld not go; withoutvaii that the strange behaviour : of the/ Children's Hospital, Fund Commjttee must-not be taken' to reflect the .feeling of the Wellington public. .'■ -. ' ■ . .:; It: is not often that one: can get typographical- evidenccr-riot printed evidence, but evidence ; based on typographic ._ technicality— of.■'.•■• want of principle in a Government. Such evidence is beautifully, fiirnished by the printed copies of, the Land Bill circulated The first eight lines :of the. Bill of 1909. read as- follows, beginning exactly a,t the top of page 2: .:/■■.u ... , -./'.-r-. \ ;A , BILL INTITULED' . y. an act to amend the Law v . relating to Lands of the Crown and Piivate Lands . BE IT. ENACTED ty , the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and'by the authority of tho Banie, as follows.:— ..' ,; ■ .' \ 1. (1) This Act may, t0 , .-cited as the Land Laws Amendment-Act, 1909, and it shall be read and construed with the Laud Act "'•; '. .'■ .■ ' The. first eight lines of/yesterday's Bill are identical with the above. Even the date 1909 is retained. It "was ■ this - mistake—it... 'should, of course, have , been 1910—that '-drew our ■ attention to the. matter. _' We thought at first that it was simply a slip, but .further "investigation, with an eye typographical for the moment instead of political, revealed an extremely interesting fact. Tho "a" in "assembled" is "battered":— ■which is to say, frayed'and defaced —in a peculiar,manner, the deface--nient being thVsame in the printed copy of both last year's and. this year's Bills. Moreover, the "w" .in the word "Laws" has a chipped.corner in both cases, and the "c" in tho second: last "Act" has in both cases a broken top. These reseru- ! lances would prove, to . any printer that the _ words we have ■luoted wore printed : from ■'.tha same type. Other. points of resemblance pkree the' matter, beyond all doubt. The Government, it /is perfectly clear, has kept the : typo standing ready for use, so that the policy can be added to the introduce tion at a moment's- nolite, and changed as often as necessary. There are volumes of political criticism in that chipped ,"w." '"The history of the Wahd Administration is written in that broken "c" and battered "a."