NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1061, 25 February 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The mail brings full particulars of tho schcmo of Second Chamber reform which was rejected last week by the Italian Senate. Tho Committee that took the question in hand advocated the substitution '6f"' ! the electivo principle for the present system of nominate for life. The number of Senators was to be reduced to 350, and' of theso 120 were to be nominated-by tho Crown, the rest being elected by different bodies and by electoral colleges. The rejection of tho reform scheme will no doubt lead to a crisis, or series of crises, after tho British example. We have not learned the fate of tho now Reform Bill, the main features of which aro tho extension ,of tho suffrage to all who can read or write and tho establishment of the principle of compulsory votiiig. It is an excellent satiro on democracy, as ona critic points out, that the elector, who is supposed by theorists to bo clamorous for . the suffrage, should havo to bo forced to exorcise it. The causes of abstention are not far to seek i ; arc-no'burning questions 'in" Italy,' arid no sharply defined political parties. In 'New' Zealand there are" many burning questions, and tho parties are quite sharply divided, as Mr. Massey showed . the .othor''day. There is therefore no oxcuso_ for the clcctor who does not exercise his vote, and as a matter of fact tho jjerceritage of electors who neglect their duty is not high. Ono of the Italian newspapers reminds tho opponents of compulsory voting that they can avoid' the new measuro by declining to become electors. This -\Vay of escape can bo cut off by a law providing penalties for thoso who fail to enrol And such a.law would to most people appear a decisiyo proof iof the absurdity of making voting compulsory, sinco it involves the principle that tho direction of. a nation's af-. fairs must bo participated in, and may in.some circumstances bo.finally decided,' by, persons who know and caro nothing for public questions, and whose votes are accordingly utterly worthless when not positively noxious. .

The disclosures made at the meeting of the City Council last evening regarding '.tho scorning inability of the Council to enforce the demolition of a condomncd building aro disquieting. Tho building, that occupied until somo months ago by Messrs. Warnock and Adkin, opposite the Polico Station on Lambton Quay, appears to havo been con-demned-by the Health Officer, Dr. Erengley, as far back as 1907. Some agreement .was then entered into between the. solicitors for the owners and the City Solicitor, under which the owners were to bo allowed three years in which to demolish tho building. This agreement was afterwards repudiated by tho owners and the repudiation appears to Kivc been upheld by a magistrate. On what grounds this decision was given was not mado clear .during the discussion by councillors. . What is most surprising, however, is that any members of tho Council, in faco of tho condemnation by tho Health Officer in 1907 'and the subsequent happenings, should havo the least hesitation in pressing the matter to extremes. The ■ contention of Councillor Barder that 'becauEO therri' aro other buildings in the jjity in a worse

state the Council should reconsider the matter is simply absurd. It merely serves to show, if ho is correct, that the other buildings should also be condemned—not that the one already condemned by the Public Health Officer so long as four years ago should be spared.

We are inclined to welcome the Eroposal, fathered by Loud Curzox, ord George Hamilton, and Sir George Reid, that' "the Georges of. the Empire" should subscribe "sums between one penny and five pounds" for a present to his Majesty the Kino. For it is just sufficiently ludicrous to pull up the public and set it thinlcing whether, some of our busybodies _ are mot : carrying their- Imperialism and loyalty to absurd lengths. His Majesty requires no such assurance of the loyalty of the Georges amongst his subjects, nor can the Georges, if they are sensiblo men, feci the need of such an outlet for their loyal sentiments. It would b8 rather absurd to write seriously upon this proposal, and we shall not do so. But it is worth consideration whether the idea is, not in, the least more absurd thanmany of the istic suggestions that are constantly being put forward. To our mind, jt is .not, and we say. this .without abating our respect for the sincerity arid ardour-of the loyal people who arc never happy unless they are discovering some now way of expressing their Imperial consciousness. This opens into the larger questions: Is it in any way neoessary to the Empire that one should never be allowed to go to bed without having cither witnessed or assisted in sonic "practical demonstration" of Imperialist sentiment'! We have faith enough in the Empire ■ to. believe that it is not at all necessary. The Empire can get along very well without the attentions of the fussy and anxious people who must always .be doing something, and if the appeal to the Georges makes the public realise how foolishly far the fussers have gone, there will be matter for ,'rejoicing. , What is wanted is more, thought ahd lest talk, more silent and sober service and less trumpery display.

The acceptance by the Government of the tender of a company.having tho agcncy for a German system of wireless telegraphy seems _to have led to some severe criticism being passed on Ministers. The complaint underlying this criticism is the fact that a.British system—the: Marconi system—was offered New Zealand and should have been. accepted in preference to that of a. foreign .country. Ifc is not necessary to go in detail into the reasons why _ the Hahconi system is advocated; it is sufficient to state that the representative of the company points out that the British Government" adopted the system as far back as 1903; that it hasbeen specially adapted to the re-' quirements 01 the British Navy; that over.soo of'tho principal mail and passenger steamers have adopted it, and that South • Africa,, Canada. Fiji, the Indian Government, and various other parts of the British Dominions have established Marconi stations.. As an illustration of the desirabl6nteks J of establishing •a-'uni-form system throughout the Empire the following extracts from a circular issued by the Marconi Company's representative are quoted:

.. In trar'titoo tho country's .wireless communications is one of the main features of defence, find it is essential that it should bu under ono control' and capablo of systematic .variations in' tuning, ar : rangement, etc. Such a fact has been recognised by the British Government in taking the coastal stations under their control throughout the British Isles. ; It is also demonstrated in Germany by tho exclusion of systems other: than tho Telcfunken. In tho event of a country using its own system on its war and mercantile ships but having the coast stations equipped ..with tho system of its enemy it is easily 'ooinocivabl© that tho enemy would havo a :great advantage. ' Most systems' are distinguishable by the noto of their signals therefore tho enemy could mislead their opponents by using a note exactly like that of the coast stations and transmitting, false and misleading messages. Another reason why tho systems used by the navy, merchant marine, and .coast stations of one country should be identical, is because variation of tuning for purposes' of secrecy, and selection would be necessary in wartime. This could bo directed from a central source by private code, but could not be effectively carried out except between stations lisine identical systems. A wry strong bearing on this point is the fact that tho British Admiralty compel the strictest sectecy to bo maintained in connection with nil naval wireless operations and equipment, likewise do tho German naval authorities.

The point of all this is that the system adopted by the New Zealand Government is the Telefunken system, essentially a .German system and alleged-to be "practically controlled by the ■ German ■ Government." -To adopt this : System in New Zealand, it is alleged,, might place the Dominion at a certain disadvantage in time of emergency. This contention may or "may not be correct—we do not profess to know. The weakness of the Marconi Company's position, however, appears to lie in the fact that it harps a little too much on, the Imperialistic string; which, in' conjunction with'the fact that its tender .is more than , twice the amount of that of _ its German rival, would incline one to tfye opinion that it has hoped to trado on the 1 sentiment of the Dominion in order to secure' a very excellent business bargain. Mjich as w.c .would like to have the British system adopted, in view of the difference in tho tenders of the two com : panies, and in the cost of working, we cannot see how Sir Joseph Ward can-be blamed for the course'he has adopted. We are assuming that all proper inquiries have.been made and that the system adopted will, as stated, meet all requirements.