NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1155, 16 June 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

It is, we need hardly say, with much unwillingness that wc_ refer again to the case of the Maori murderer Tahi Kaka. It appears that Cabinet will give further consideration to the case to-day. There exists not one single good reason why, under the law as it stands, this criminal should not be executed;

of all the principles that underlie .the death penally for murder (here is not one to which appeal can bo made in this case for reprieve. The agitation on behalf of the young man is therefore really nothing more than an agitation against capital punishment itself. The Government will no doubt recognise this, and realise that what it is being urged to do is to abolish the death sentence by an administrative act. It is a painful situation for Ministers to bo in, but their duty is plain, and their function is the performance of their duty. They can count on the sympathy and support of the vast majority of thinking people if, in defence of the great principle that the law must be upheld and respected, they brave the temporary indignation of a wellmeaning but ill-advised minority.

The electoral census forced on the country by the Ward Administration last session is to be taken next month—and "hang the cost." An army of paid Government canvassers is to spread itself over the country to force electors to enrol. The next step will he to force.them to vote and then perhaps we shall find a Government considerate enough to force them to vote "the right way." What a farce this canvass is! AYh.it a waste of public money ! what a splendid engine of corruption it is possible to develop it into. Paid Government canvassers, touting for Government candidates and spying out the lie of the land for an unscrupulous Government. The present Government, of course, is actuated only by the highest and purest motives, and it desires only to ensure that all eligible voters shall be enrolled. But what is the value of the vote of a.) elector who takes so little interest in his country's government, who has so small a conception of the obligations of citizenship, to fail to secure enrolment on his own behalf? Is such a vote worth troubling about! And how many are there of those who rely for enrolment on the work of a paid Government canvasser who will trouble to vote at all ? This innovation is of no real value; it is costly to the country, and it possesses dangerous possibilities. We would advise all candidates to pursue their campaigning work as though this paid canvass had not been introduced by the AVard Government and to exercise as strict a scrutiny of the rolls as ever.

We have received a few contributions towards the Fresh Air Fund, instituted for the benefit of the poorer slum children of London. The fund is admirably managed and the joy that is brought into the drab iives of these unfortunatelysituated little ones at the cost of a few pencfi per head is so great that there is a strong incentive to all who can spare a little to contribute. Last year our readers, by means of small contributions, ranging from sixpence upwards, subscribed sufficient to give something like one hundred children what was probably the holiday of their lives—the day of days for many of them to remember. King George is a patron of, and subscribes to, the fund, and this year it is hoped to commemorate his Coronation by giving a larger number of poor children than ever before a day's holiday in the country and a larger'number than has before been possible a fortnight's holiday at the seaside. These latter arc delicate children or convalescents whose parents cannot afford to give them the benefit of a trip to the seaside—in the majority of cases the only hope they have of restoration to health. We would again commend this movement to the consideration of our readers, reminding them that ninepence will give a child a day's holiday in the country; and 10s. provide for a fortnight's holiday at the seaside.