NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1207, 16 August 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The discussion in Parliament yesterday on the Cook Islands ended, as so many Parliamentary discussions end, in a vague and evasive statement by the Acting-Prime Minister. :Sir James Carkoli,-.is preeminently the advocate of taihoa and in this respect, if in no other, he practises what he preaches. Ho is always going to do somcthing._ "We have' the matter under consideration," is his stock evasion, and everyone, even the Government following, arc heartily sick of it. In reply to the urgent demands for removing the medical deficiencies at the Cook Islands he stated that arrangements have now been made for another doctor to make a circuit of the Islands, and when pressed for the name of the doctor he could not give ifc.i It is the same old story. This

position at tho Islands . has been known and discussed for months past—the strongest- possible evidence has been afforded that things are seriously awry there, but the Acting-Prime Minister drones out his everlasting platitudes and professions of good intentions and idles along in his' sluggish indifference to the need for action. He promised last session to go to the Islands himself, and broke his promise. He will excuse himself no doubt on tfyo ground that the absence of the Prime Minister prevented him from making the.trip,''but he knew when the promise was made that Sir Joseph Ward was going to England and he had ample time to visit the Islands before the Peime Minister's departure. Now he wants to shelter behind the secret investigations of the Chief Justice and tho report of his Departmental official, Mr. Waldegrave. We shall in due course have something to say regarding the" actions of the last-named gentleman on his recent visit to the Islands.

The Hon. G. Fchvlds has made a statement concerning the Town Planning Bill which should place tho defenders of municipal rights upon their guard. It will be remembered that on Friday last the House carried an amendment against thr>, Minister, the effect _ of which was to destroy the despotism that the Government had coolly proposed to assume in further nullification of municipal existence. The Minister now suggests that the House did not know what it was doing when it decided that it was time to check the aggressions of the clique who have been in possession of the keys of government for nearly twenty years. We shall remember this statement when, at the end of the. session, members being weary and preoccupied, the Government attempts to rush Bills through and pretends a virtuous indignation at the suggestion that the House does not know what it is doing. The point to be noted just now. however, is the fact that the Minister has dropped the Bill only for the present. "It would be unwise," he says, "to proceed further with the Bill in the absence of the Prime Minister." The implied incapacity of the Acting-Ministry to act in the absence of the chief without' whom they arc mere rag-tag and bob-tail is interesting, but of course wo have all known what the Acting-Ministry amounts to for a long time past. Members will do well to note carefully that the Bill is not finally dropped and may be smuggled through later in the session. This little trick has been worked in past sessions. It is merely a matter of inducing those Ministerialists who voted against the Government to reverso their votes or absent themselves at some future date. . The public will not be allowed to forget that the following Ministerialists are bound in honour neither to vote for tho Government nor to_ be absent if the trick is tried again: Messrs. Arnold, Craigie, Glover, Graham, Hanan, Jennings, Myers, Russell, Sidey, and Witty.

General Godley presented to Parliament yesterday his first report on the new defence system, it being chiefly explanatory of the work done and tho purpose in view. No one reading the report can fail to bo struck with the thoroughness with which the Commandant has set about his very responsible task and the clearness with which he places the whole position before the public. The report will strengthen the confidence which is so generally felt in the head of the Defence Forces and will also dispel some erroneous ideas. The impression has gained ground in certain quarters that the New Zealandcr has little, or at anyratc not sufficient, chance of advancement under the scheme as it is being carried out —that the importation of military officers from England ' is a bar to the legitimate ambitions of local aspirants. This,

of course, is quite wrong. It was I necessary in order to place the scheme on a proper footing that Gexeiul Godlky should secure a staff of trained and experienced oflicers to assist in the detailed work of organisation as well as in instructional duties. At present we have plenty of the raw material in New Zealand which will gradually, under training, qualify for the positions now filled by officers appointed from outside the Dominion; but that will br; a gradual process. It is made clear, however, that it is an inevitable process, which is the real point about which some people have shown concern. We shall have something to say about the details of General Godley's report in a future issue and in the meantime will content ourselves with congratulating the Commandant on the very lucid manner in which he has placed the position of the defence scheme before the public and also on the, very great progress which he has made with it in the short time he has been at the head of affairs here.