NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1170, 4 July 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Wadestown has been waiting so long for its tramway that it is not surprising that now that the line is an accomplished i'act and the cars running there should have been a special demonstration to cclcbratc the event. The speeches made at yesterday's opening cercmony by the Acting-Mayor (Councillor J. Smith) and others were in a most chccrful vein, and very proper congratulations were extended to the City Engineer (Mr. Morton) and tho Electrical Engineer (Mr. Richardson) for their share in the undertaking, as well as to the Wadestown people themselves. Although there were numerous and vexatious delays prior to the work being put in hand, when once tackled it progressed with excellent dispatch under the direction of the officers of the Council. It was very fitting that Dr. Newman should have taken a prominent part in tho opening ceremonial. The Wadestown people no doubt recognise that it was largely due to tho driving power generated by his tireless energy that so many difficulties were smoothed away and the work pushed forward. Dr. Newjian is usually inclined to take a cheerful view of things, even under depressing circumstances, and it is not surprising, therefore, that where the prospects are not at all depressing he should wax enthusiastic. The future of Wadestown in his eyes is a particularly rosy one, now that the tramway has conic to open up the land available for building purposes and .so swell tho population andmake tram revenue. The tramway may not pay. f t or a time—it was not expected to—but if Mr. Newman's advice is followed, the loss should be a rapidly-diminishing amount. Meanwhile, Wadestown is to bo congratulated on having at last obtained the reward of many years of strenuous effort.

The Gazette, of last Thursday contained particulars of the working of the railways for tho four weeks ending May 27 last. In the first months of the year the returns from the South are always higher than-from tho North, although, of course, smaller per mile of line, and smaller as a percentage on capital cost. A Ministerialist newspaper in the South collccfcs the figures for the first eight weeks of the last three years, noting that the excess of this year's figures over last year's is due to the Easter holiday traffic. Tho figures arc:

. North. ■ South. Total. 1009-10 92,271 110,812 203*113 1910-11 97,097 110,-14-1 207,541 1011-12 116,620 132,313 248,933 Our contemporary admits that these figures are no basis of comparison between North and South, but says it is sure tho people up here will join in complimenting Mr. Millar anyhow. We should like to; but we would prefer to know just how Mr. is making his- "saving" in expenditure. He got his ; "improved results" for 1909-10 by higher charges and in some cases unwise economiesjuggling with the pay. of the men, cutting down the maintenance charges, and so on. But we must wait for the Railways Statement. In the meantime it occurs to us that there have been a good many evidcnccs lately of something wrong with the' 'management—acci'dcnts, blunders; discontent in the, service, and discontent ,on :thc part of the public. "

May 26 last, in the midst of the debate in the House of Lords on the Veto 'Bill, the London Times printed an enchanting letter about "a political masquerade." It was set in the largest type of the Times, and put on tho leader page, and was signed "A Peer." In language of the utmost gravity the writer deplores a fancy dress ball given by Mr. F. _E. Smith and Earl Winterton. Wc clo not know if the letter is ironical, but if it is the irony is very high and fine. After some solemn Johnsonian sentences about the characteristic . impersonality of British party warfare the writer describes the ball. It was attended, not only by young people, out tor a harmless-evening's amusement, but »y many of those engaged at tho present time in what they themselves have chosen to describe as the greatest political crisis since tho Great Rebellion It shows no deficiency of humour, I hope to note with a sense of painful surprise among smart ladies arrayed in evenvariety of costume from Cleopatra to a pink tulle ballet giri, and among elderly peers masquerading as Tudor Kings, tli'e figures of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

It seems that one of the hits of the evening was made !jy a young Unionist M.P. whq came arrayed as a peer, with the number "499" attached to his tinsel coronet. Mn. AsQuitii, whoso costume is not recorded in the Times, was very pleased with this light-hearted young man's idea, but "A Peer" was not, or professed not to be: "A sense of humour," he said, referring to Mr. Asquitii's amusement, "is a saving grace, but is it a grace at all if it saves a statesman from realising the gravity of issues which he himself has raised, and which he is endeavouring to persuade his countrymen to believe are vital to the public interest ?" On the whole we fancy "A Peer" intended to bo satirical, and it is certainly a satire upon tho Government's talk of revolution and crisis and the chains on Liberalism that in the middle of it all Garnet Ministers and their womenfolk, and Dukes and Duchesses, and Piadical and Unionist M.P.'s should throw themselves with zest into the enjoyment of a fancy dress ball. But we wonder what the Socialists thought of it? And tho Nationalists 2 And Mr. Hilaire Belloc?

The response which has followed on the appeal of Mr. J. Ilott apd others for assistance for the widow and children of the late Mb. Hepple, who, with his two eldest sons, was drowned in the harbour on Coronation Day, has afforded an evidence of the readiness with which a large section of the public responds to any genuine call to their sympathies. But it has also served to demonstrate the (ine spirit and high courage with which the afflicted widow and mother is meeting the great tragedy which has come into her life. We refer to Mrs. Hepple's letter to the Hutt Committee which has been collecting funds in her behalf, and which we have no doubt will aujjcal

more strongly than anything that has preceded it to the sympathies of all wlio can appreciate tho sentiment underlying it, The following extract speaks for itself:

"Will you plea.-e repress m.v gratitude In the people for tho sympathy unci kindness shown t:> me and my family in tho great k.ss we have sustained. In fact, Mich kindness lias overwhelmed me. I cannot express what 1 feel. I did not know 1 had so manv friends. . . . 1 wish it to be clearly understood that when my baby (aged seven months) roaches the age of fourteen years, my wish would be that the remaining funds should go to tho benefit of the Salvation Army Children's Homo. Mother Aubert's Home, and the Presbyterian Orphanage. By no means whatever do I encourage the suggestion of leaving legacies to my children from the funds raised on my behalf. Ity that time, and with God's help, I feel sure that my own girls, then grown up, will be only too willing to help and support me. . . ."

An endeavour is being made to raise a sum sufficient to ensure that Mrs. II bpi-lb and her seven young childvcn shall not only be placed beyond tho fear of immediate want, but will be provided with a small income which will enable them to view the future with some confidence.