NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1113, 28 April 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

It is pleasing to learn that the Acting-Minister for Finance is about to take the country into his confidence regarding its finances. Still more satisfactory, however, is it to discover that Mr. Millar proposes to break away from the bad ha&it of his political chief and to give both sides of the story. Sir Joseph Ward has established the practice of breaking the news regarding the financial operations of the year in instalments. He has for years past confined himself to stating the revenue for the year, leaving the less pleasing record of the expenditure for some future occasion. As a matter of tactics this may have served some purpose, although we cannot believe that the public is so simple as to accept the announcements of the Prime Minister concerning the receipts for the year without troubling itself as to the expenditure. B-i that as it may, however, it is gratifying to note that Mr. Millar proposes to break away from his leader's methods in regard to informing the public as to the state of the finances of 'he country, just as he did in regard to the railway policy of the country. Sir Joseph Ward, it will be remembered, said tho railways, which cost at least 3| per cent., should not be made to earn more than 3 per cent., whereas Mr. Millar contended that they should be made to pay for themselves, and no one can doubt which was right. Unless the official organ of the Ministry is in error in its announcement on the subject, we shall have very great pleasure next week in congratulating Mr. Millar on his latest departure from the methods of the head of the Government,

The very determined effort of the Labour party to introduce party politics into the municipal government of the city was decisively repulsed by the votes' of the electors at Wednesday's poll. It is. made very jicar by tho result of the election that citizens are more concerned with the individual worth of candidates than with what they know of the programmes -which tliey advocate ; and especially are they disinclined to commit themselves to voting for a. "ticket." The positions of Messrs. Hindmarsh and M'Laren, who completely outstripped their fellow Labour candidates, go to. prove this. The Labour vote proper was probably less than 4000, and although the supporters of the party wore urged to vote solid, the number of the votes nolled for their, candidates ranged from 3908 to 8032. This wide difference shows plainly that the public is not prepared to follow the dictates of ariy sectional interest. The Citizens' League candidates were much more successful, but the electors exercised their own discrimination with this "ticket," as they did with the Labour "ticket." It is perhaps worthy of notice that with two exceptions the whole of the Labour candidates are the paid officers of trades unions. One of the exceptions headed the -poll so far as tha Labour candidates arc concerned, and the other was well up. It is possible that the Labour unions arc not able to secure candidates outside their paid officers, although this seems open to ques- j tion. The fact that the paid servants of the unions play so prominent a part in the control of the Labour party's affairs may perhaps account to some extent for the attitude of the public towards the candidates put forward from time to time in the name of Labour. We have for long contended that, with one or two exceptions, the leaders of tho Labour party arc more frequently engaged in stirring up strife than in studying the real interests of those they profess to serve; and we have no doubt that the public, which reads and hears so much about these mischief-makers, is. not very anxious to place them in a position to do still further mischief. '