NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1006, 22 December 1910, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

' In our comments last Friday upon the railway returns for the first 32 weeks of the current year we gave some figures to show the relative earning capacity of the lines in the North and South Islands. The earnings per mile of. line were £278 in the case of-this island and £195 in tjie case of the South Island, and by a slip we said "per train mile," instead of "per mile of line." We are obliged to the Lyltclton Times for pointing out this slip,- which, of course, could lead to no confusion.

sincc we have scores of times dealt with both points. Our contemporary goes on to say that tho net revenue per mile is not a proper test, but no doubt the propriety would be clear if the figures were the other way in respect of the two islands. It says that interest on cost of construe tion must be taken into account. Very-well. The cost, of the opened and unopened lines, with annual interest (at 3f per cent) for 52 weeks, and for, 32 weeks are hero given: Interest Interest' Cost. 52 weeks. 32 weeks. £ £ £ North 13,655,054 512,001 315,110 . South 16,49!),491 -■ ' 018,731- 380,757 If we set side by 'side the net earnings of the two systems and the interest charges, for the 32 weeks, we get this result: Net Interest Profit revenue. bill. or loss. £ £ £ North 810,774 315,116 4,658 profit South 308,891 ' 380,757 ■ 71,866 loss The latter end of the year is the better end for the/' North, and we shall find, the position shown here —the Northern profit and the Southern loss—greatly intensified by, th 3 end of the year. But even the table giveij is quite..enough to. set at rest all doubt as to what is happening .in the railways, system.

The Labour view of the political problem .in the present situation in Britain-is explained very clearly by Mr. J. Hodge, M.P., in the-inter-view. we print in another column. Mr. Hodge, we-are rates the. amount of attention' that ■is paid -here to British politics.,. He said, for (Oxample, that people in New Zealand "don't seem to understand the full bearing and extent of tho Osborne judgment." This i 3 a little amusing, but Mr. Hodge's mistake is excusable. He may rely upon it that they arc very many in New Zealand who have heard all his arguments before, and who know ho>v unsound they are, and; also'how incorrect are some of his. statements as to'the facts of the case. Ho speaks, for example, of a reversal 'of the Osborne judgment as a thing that will "restore to the Unions the power they possessed provious to the 'Osborne judgment." Now, it is not a matter of opinion, but a matter of fact, that the Osborne judgment destroyed no existing right: it merely affirmed the illegality of a . certain trade-union custom. The Unions have never enjoyed tho rights'that they demand shall be "restored"; they have merely enjoyed a long immunity in a certain illegal practice, which was naturally not challenged so long as it oppressed-nobody,' but which, just as naturally, was challenged so soon as developing conditions did make it oppressive. That, at any rate, is tho opinion of the highest British Courts of law. Of course,. Mr. Hodge may disagree with these Courts as to the meaning 1 of tho laws. It is interesting to note that Mr. Hodge holds that a Trade Union should be empowered to use its members' funds to finance any particular religious sect. That statement is a sufficient commentary upon the-spirit of the British Labour-So-oialists.'Mr;' Htooß'Vwas doubtless expressing'the Labour' View when. he; suggested 'that the threat of a horde of new Peers would force the House of Lords to swallow anything: "The old families don't like tho idea of tho ordinary manufacturer _ -being mad(i a pefir." Of course it is just possible that , this'is good political psychology, but there has' been an abundance, of testimony,, from, quar- 1 t-ers rather more likely . than Mr. Hodge to know , the minds of the old families, that the Peers are quite free from any fear of such a. threat.. Such privileges and graces as old family carries with _it cannot be affected by. the'" creatibn, of. a. small army of'/dummy'Peers!.;','" " : v I

Beyond the fact that a parcel of £100,000 worth of bonds had been sold by one of the underwriting firms that took up the £5,000,000 loan which the Prime Minister dccidcd to float at a time when the bank rate was high and the whole press had learnedj and was- proclaiming for all . the world to hear, that the failure' of the "Veto" Conference was about to be announced, wc have heard nothing of this unhappy transaction. The British papers of November 11, to hand yesterday, have references to the loan that contract as artistically with' the Prime Minister's statements that the loan was a great success, as fact so often contrasts with fiction., The Financial Times, dealing with the break in Consols,* referred to the weakening effect of the unofficial statements that the Conference had broken down, and added that "a further influence which depressed the ifunds was the preparations being made for the issue, of a New Zealand loan of

£5,000,000. . . . The existing Now Zealand ,3i per cents were marked down a couple. of points to 96J. . . . The Conference talk and tile New Zealand loan, referred iro above, drove Consols down. to 79| casjh and 79| Account." The Times said: "One of the chief features in the stock markets to-day i was a decline in gilt-edged securities, the market being depressed, by the news of a forthcoming New Zealand.. Government loan for a. laj-ge amount, the underwriting .of .which was completed to-day.The Morning Post put it in this .'way: "Gilt-edged . securities were depressed by the news of the early appearance .of. £0,060,000. New Zealand'3J per cent Bonds, to be offered at 98?,' due in 1914." .The Westminster-Gazette noted the. New Zealand issue as of greater importance, so far as. the value of money was concerned, than _ any other of the impending operations in its list. Tho Manchester Guardian said that the heaviness—which means the -sinking gilt-edged issues was "owing to the announcement of a big new loan for the New Zealand Government, which also lowered tho price of New Zealand 3i ■ per cents." It may be mentioned that there was simultaneously a'general rally in Home railway issues. We think we have . quoted enough to show that the loan, which tho Prime Minister, said was so "successful,was shocking and depressing' in its effect. It certainly caused a stir. But there is more than one sort of stir; and it is plain that, this particular stir was not . very good for New Zealand's credit. . -