NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 932, 27 September 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The celebration of Dominion Day yesterday can hardly be said to have, aroused. any great enthusiasm. This is probably due to the fact that the public at present see very little in the day to be enthusiastic over. The change in the" designation of the title Of the country has been .accepted from the outset' as, an in* cident of interest "rather than as an event of: importance,.--and. the an-, mial celebration is chiefly enjoyed by citizens and deplored by the busi-, hess, community as another holiday added to the already long list of public holidays..' This ii Some respects is to be regretted. We are quite in accord with the Prime Minister in his belief that a National Day of celebration is. a good thing for a young country and we should, be very glad to see some of his enthusiasm on this point instilled into th 6 public. What he stated' as a fact, that is, that the day "stirs our sense of national life and fills our hearts with pride in the land _ we live in," will hardly be recognised as depicting the prevailing feeling' associated with Dominion Day. as it is' treated now, but it expresses very. Well what Dominion Day should be if properly appreciated as New Zealand's National Day. Possibly that feeling will come later and .references suoh as that of Sir Joseph Ward quoted above should stimulate the public's imagination and hasten forward the day. Perhaps the most interesting, cerfcajnly tjie most' important, matter, touched on in the. speech-making yesterday was the briet reference of his Exoellency the Governor to the future, relations of the self-governing States of the- Empire towards oneanother. There are many matters of copamon interest between, the various Dominions of the Empire which will call for attention during the next few years—to quote Loed Islington's words: ' 'The next few jeare in this- reEßecb are goiaa

t6 be Crucial years in the history of the Empire." It is most desirable that such of these questions as are in the immediate forefront ,of Imperial affairs should be thought over and talked over by our politiciansso that Now Zealand may be equippod to confer with the Mother, Country and the sister; Dominions when occasion arises. We- have previously urged that Parliament should discuss the questions likely to be brought Up at the Imperial Conference to be held next year so that this, Dominion's representative may be. in a better f position to advance" the views of' New Zealand, than if ho attended without .such guidance. There is a risk -that unless this opportunity for disoußsion is afforded at. an early date the matter may. be kept back until the pressure of work inseparable from the closing hours of the session may prevent full justice being done to the subjects raised. We would commend this aspect of the matter to .-.Sib Joseph Ward.

The position created by the House of Lords' decision that .trade union; funds may "not be used for political purposes continues a subject of vigorous controversy .in Britain. . The other day it was reported that'the Trades: Unions Congress had, by. 1,717,000 votes to 13,000, passed a resolution demanding the, reversal of this decision. Yesterday a cable message gave us the comment of Me. Osborne, who, as secretary of the Walthamstow branch of the Amalgamated . Society: of -Railway -Servants, brought the suit that, led to the present position. He says- the Socialists, have captured the machinery of the'. trades, unions, and .'that this.. is ; the true explanation of the. vote of the Congress. "' The resolution,; Mr. Osborne- adds, is "a screaming farce,", and does not represent the feeling -of the mass of. trades unionists. . The position in " Britain is much the same in this respect- as the position in New Zealana. At the Tradcß Unions: Conferences here there are carried resolutions' which nobody would. dream .of accepting as representative' of the: mind of the : workers.For ih New Zealand, as in Britain, .the unionists have, as their leaders men- 1 who are frankly Socialist in their opinions. A writer in the. Quarterly Mevieu'i discussing the general question, of -Socialism and trades unionism, tells us. that the rank and; file, of :the, nniolis takeno part in union politicsV '

■ They are more interested in' football andracing than .in unionism or politics, ana they leave'all "the business I 'to the p&id' officers. These.are often, of'the stuft' ot which .Socialists are' v made, enthusiasts, talkers, agitators; that, is . why they are. officers. But there is a strong' anti-Social-ist current, levealed by the Osborne case, and it has now developed'.into organised opposition. The Labour'party depends on subscriptions from the trades.Unions, whioa wore raised .by compulsory levies and pronounced' illegal. Out of ,£13,622 subscribed to, the Parliamentary fund- in 1909, -the Socialist, sooieties contributed .£258; the rest, canle ■ from the ■Unions. Some mem-, bers object to being Compelled to support a policy they detest, and they have formed a Trade Union P&litioal Freedom' League, "to; protect the' unions .from party, politics, their ; funds. from wrongful use, and th'e members from political tyranny." Thife League -looks like the beginning of a better. day for pure unionism in . Britain,. and our own trades unionists; will be wise: if; 'they/ also; begin- to ;Conßider whether their interests 'will'- riot bo 'better served,' in the 'long by purging unionism of its, Socialist mis-leaders/-

Unless changes his mind .the Puiiiß: Minister' will to-day move to refer to tho Lands Committed Mb. Hine's charges in connection with certain Government; land transactions. The Opposition has hot disguised its intention to take the proper course of objecting. to this travesty of- justice s and. hon6st , administration,: and' we may therefore expect a very .warmj debate upon the PbiuS 'Minister's '. motion. Know-; ring nothing; of the - details •of ?the' evidence which. Mr. Hine ha-s in his possession, we can only take up the position of urging; that he is " ah enemy of the - commonweal who does anything to deny the request of the member for Stratford, or any member similarly that a tribunal above the suspicion of party bias shall investigate, in tho light of day, the /admittedly- sOrious charges made. ■') Tha,t the Government is- anxious to burke, full ..and fair; inquiry must be very plain from the Prime ; Minister's . attitude; throughout. _ It- is. regrettable, ,as well as surprising, that the .Government should,, wish to. make the • matter a party issue.. We should have thought the Peime-'Minister would be astute enough to, realise that 'it-is a foolish thing to make party, loyalty carry with it a determination to prevent tho impartial investigation and, adjudication of charges affecting probity in public life. Me. Hine has stated over and over again that he is not only willing, but extremely anxious, to have his charges investigated by -an* absolutely unprejudiced; tribunal." ' If. " a. ■{' Parliamentary Committee is to be appointed, two members 1 nominated "by the Opposition and two 1 members nominated by the: Government, with a chairman mutually agreed upon,or, in default of. agreement, . with the Speaker of the. Legislative Council as chairman, would, we venture to think,;constitute a committee in which' overybody could repose tho fullest 'confidence. This inquiry should be open to the press and to the public.. Should the Government insist upon referring the matter to the Lands Committee,; composed' mainly of their own followers, they will have .'only themselves to' blame if the very worst interpretations a,re placed oh their action. ; ;;

The comments of the Christchurch organ of the Ministry upon the latest railway returns (which we discussed here last Friday) _,are extremely interesting. It will be remembered that for' the 'first"twenty weeks of. the current financial year; (April 1 to August 20) the net earnings of the North Island railways system- showed an increase;of £50,107 as compared with the- corresponding period last'year, while in respect of 'the South Island system there was a drop of £4291. Our contemporary observes that "it must be admitted that the figures fully justify the predictions" of such critics as ourselves, and adds: "It looks at present as if their railways [the North Island railways] would earn quite 5 per cent upon the cost of their construction by the end of the year, and they may find in this, prospect a reasonable claim for more consideration to their part of the Dominion in the next building programme. In the meantime we can warmly congratulate them upon the excellent results that are being obtained from their lines." This is, not only, interesting, but amusing. We Could •fill columns with extract's from our records of - our contemporary's angry persistence during ,the past coupleof xe&i&_aQli onjy. in ridiculing our

predictions but. also in disputing the facts of predictions that had been justified. Still we welcome' the re-' cognition now made, tardy though it is. 'We' dare say that the return from the North Island system will be 5 per cent, as our contemporary' suggests, and that the return from the South will • again •be Somewhere about 3 per cent, as oiir . contemporary omitted to add.- That the bulk of the future construction must take place in this island is now universally admitted. It remains for Parliament to see that the railway development-is carried out where it will prove most advantageous-to the country, and in this respect the North. Island .Railway League may render very valuable assistance.