NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1128, 16 May 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

■# The people in this country who are keenly interested in the large issues and smaller incidents in British politics are numerouscnough to warrant our giving some further information about the famous "old Dartmoor shepherd." This dear old fellow, of whom so much was heard some time ago, was pathetically referred to by Mr. Lloyd-George in his Mile-end speech during the December election • campaign. A harrowing picture was painted of this .1 shepherd's cruel treatment, three years' imprisonment, we think it was, for stealing a few shillings. Mileend 'understood it was all due to the House of Lords. On January G the noble old'martyr was liberated from Dartmoor by _ Mb. Winsto:; Churchill, on condition that he remained for six months in a situation that had been found for him. Few people were surprised when tho old fellow bolted next day. Many inquiries have since been made concerning him: some of the lighterhearted Unionists in the. Houso of Commons never wearied of putting questions to Mr. Churchill about his prottijß. And now he has turned up. The English papers by yesterday's mail report that he was arrested in Wales on April 3, and charged with breaking and entering a dwelling and stealing four bottles of whisky. The news caused great amusement in tho House of Commons, and Mr. Churchill had to run the gauntlet of some ironical questions. Between them Messrs. Lloyd-Ceoege and CttUßcniLL and the old shepherd have a most entertaining episode for the historian of the lightsr side of presentday British politics, but tho affair has its serious side. As tho Morning Post observes, the case is.typical of "the devices to which Ministers will stoop when elections are to" be won and office is at stake." "The sequence of events shows how recklessly the administration of the country has been used for party purposes. In order to excite the mob to antipathy against the rich, Mn. Lloyd-George appeals to their sympathy with the poor, arid depicts in .vehement language the hard fate of a poor old man sentenced to a long term of penal servitude for a small offence. The purpose of the demagogue is served, indignation is roused, the [harshness of law towards the poor is contrasted with its leniency towards the rich, and the harvest of votes is Isafcly housed." The other clay, in an article in which we showed that the South Island railways had lost nearly £50,000 last year, and the railways in this island had returned a profit of more than double the amount, we suggested that if Mr. Millar had any real desire to "hand back to the public" any of the "profits," he might begin by so fixing 'fares and freights in this island as to produce that return per cent, which he thinks good enough in the South. Beading this, tho Christchurch organ of the Ministry broke out in its anger into a fit of figures. To take the actual facts and figures of_ the Department, it 'seems to argue, is to be unfair, and it kindly edits tlie figures so as to show that the greater return comes from the South. How does it do this? Very simply. It first cuts down the capital cost of the Southern system, and then says you mii.it not count the Manawatu and Otago Central lines. Forget all about them, and the South comes out on top. Why should these lines be excluded? That again is simplicity itself: "Because these two lines stand apart from the systems with which they are associated in the Government's books." Or, to put it more plainly, because there is a great profit on the Manawatu line and a large loss on the other line, and everybody knows that in this matter you must not count the profits in the North nor the losses in the South. Our contemporary, by the way, still grieves over our including in the capital cost of the Southern system the cost of the few miles of line taken from the provinces. If it were honest it would have amended its own funny calculation by deducting from the.Southcm revenue the receipts from these lines, but even then its argument would have boon irrelevant. The fact is, of course, that tho South did a good stroke of business for itself when it handed over the lines, enjoyed the use of them, and left the North to pay the annual loss on them. It only wanted our contemporary's latest argument to complete the case against a continuance of the present railways and railway-con-struction policy. For it is now_ obvious that the Southern apologists' case requires that everyone shall' be willing to treat as non-existent all the facts and figures that matter.' Oub evening contemporary, which at times displays a curious sense ot humour, iiiuulged itselt yesterday with a lacetiou's reference to an alleged act of law-breaking ou the part of a Minister of the Crown. Ine humour was as strained as the subject was inappropriate. We suppose tnat it is quite m keeping WKil Uie views which appear to be field in eertaiu quarters tnat what in an ordinary citizen would be treated as an offence or may be a crime is merely a joke or a mild indiscretion if the person responsible occupies .a sufficiently exalted public position. In the case which enabled our contemporary to air its idea of wit, the Hon. R. M'Kenzie is reported to have openly broken the law regarding the payment of toll. The story as told, by the Waimalc Witness is as follows: Tlie Hon. E. M'Kenzie, Minister of Public Works, has a robust contempt for the toll-gate as a device for raising county I revenue, and lost no opportunity whil« in Manaia. of giving expression to his opinion on the subject. In motoring through from Blthnin to Manaia, his objection to this medieval survival tcolc the'practical form of refusing to pay toll, and. with his party, he passed through the barriers, smilingly indifferent to th<j veiled threats of the gatekeepers. To one of the latter the Minister remarked: "This relic of barbarism is a vanishing institution, and when it gees, as it will one of these early days, I shall see if 1 can't find something better for you to do than interfering with the freedom of the lieges on tho King's highway." We cannot say whether or not this version of the" incident is correct—it > certainly has the appearance of being founded on fact. And if so, where does the humour come in ? If the story is true, the Minister has not only openly and flagrantly broken the law,, but he has in his position as a Minister of the Crown set an cxanujle which mkht easily, lead to

serious consequences. We know the trouble which occurred here on the Hiitt Road many years ago when a strong force of police had to be sent out to protect the toll-gate from the mob. There was- serious disorder, some of the police were assaulted, and the incident afforded a most unpleasant illustration of how easy it is at times to provoke an outbreak of lawlessness, even in a usually law-abiding community, where ail unpopular institution is concerned. But apart from such possibilities the Minister's action, if correctly re ported, was most improper * from every point of view, and, if guilty, he should be punished even more severely than any ordinary citizen would be punished. He may not like toll-gates any more than lots of other people; but so long as they exist it is at least incumbent on him to pay the toll required, even if . he may feel that he owes some duty to the high office which he adorns. '