NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1280, 8 November 1911, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

) O 1 1 The decision of the Chief Justice 1 in the ease of the two young men a who pleaded guilty to charges of - arson and breaking and entering .. rails for comment. The two accused, 1 according to the admissions of their y counsel, broke into a wlnirc at AVal- , lncfivillc, and in order to cover up f their offcncc, committed a .still greater by burning the building .1 down. It was claimed and not dise jnitcd that the men wore of good i- character, but had been drinking. - Their counsel slated that both were ■- in a position to make good the damc age done, and pleaded that tlu-y ii .should bo admitted to probation as :- first offenders. _ The Chief .lustice , agreed to admit them to probation. !- He said he "always bad been, and hoped he always would be, in favour

of not sending a man to prison for the first, offence." We, are not prepared lu i:,i,v that his Honour did not act wisely in admitting them young men lo probation, although v.-e ere far from being in agreement will) (lie general rule which he lay. l ; down lliat a first offender should always escape prison. Such an expression of opinion from the head of (lie Supreme Court Bench appears to us In lie indiscreet, if nol, da liL'croilK.

young men In probation, although v.-<i i»n* fiir from being in agreement will) (ln> general nili' which In; Ifiy.s down (hat ii first offender should alv.ayi; cscn]i<* prison. finch un expression of opinion from the, head of (In l Supreme Court Bench appears to lis li> In; indiscreet, if not dangerous. What kcciiis to call for protest, however, in llii! Chief Justice's decision in tin's unitlor, is his apparent disregard of the interests of the persons injured by the crime comiiiitt".(l by the: two young nieti. Here, is ii eiise in which ;i very serious offencc involving tlirs loss of property is pi;rpetrn.Led, the offenders an; caught lifter some trouble, ami they then escape practically soot free, while the. unoffending sufferers by their act have to hoar the, cost. The whan: destroyed was insured, and the, insurance company had to meet the loss, while the owner suffered loss above the insurance; yet the Chief Justice, in admitting the accused to probation, made no order against them to make good any of the loss they had occasioned. He was content to order them to repay the cost the Court had been put to in conducting the prosecution and showed not the least concern for the injured parties. Such an attitude on the part of the head of the Supreme Court Bench is somewhat disquieting.

TnE first wool sale of the season, liclcl in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall yesterday afternoon, was marred by the withdrawal of the oversea buyers, owing to a dispute with the brokers over the interpretation of Clause 2 of the Conditions of Sale. This clausc is as follows: — "The goods to be weighed by the warehouse-keeper, taken away within fourteen days, including Sundays and holidays, at the buyer's expense, and to be paid for in cash before delivery. Such payments to be made before 2 p.m. on prompt day." This dispute has been the subject of several conferences between representatives of the Woolbrokers' Association and l/he Woolbuyers' Association, and so far there appears to be no prospect of an agreement. It is very difficult for a layman to grasp the true significance of the dispute. It would appear that the buyers expcct to get delivery of the wool and pay for it afterwards, but this apparently is not correct. It is the custom of the trade to fix a settling day which is called the "prompt date," and for yesterday's sale the prompt date is November 21, at 2 p.m. Presumably brokers should be ready to deliver wool, and buyers be ready to pay for same, on tlmt date. When the sale is a small one, as was the case yesterday, this is simple enough, but when the catalogues run to 20,000 bales there arc many difficulties, the chief being transport facilities and storage. The buyer is bound by the Conditions of Sale to pay on prompt day, but the broker may not be able to deliver through no fault of his own. The buyers point this out, and maintain that to make it a fair deal the brokers should allow interest on the days of delay, that is between prompt day and the actual date of delivery. The clause referred to has been part of the Conditions of Sale since the inception of local selling, but the clause has been varied more to suit the convenience of brokers, shipowners, and the Railway Department rather than the buyers, who insist that the transport and storage difficulties still exist. However, they arc willing to conform to the conditions obtaining in the Commonwealth. _ The matter cannot rest where it is, without seriously affecting local wool sales. A compromise is not impossible, and probably if brokers exorcised their rights under Clause 8 of the Conditions and called upon all buyers of wool to pay a deposit of 25 per cent, the principle for which the brokers are contending of securing themselves against the risk of default would be safeguarded. A prompt settlement of the difficulty is desirable. The speech of the Prime Minister at Winton last evening has been sent through by the Press Association agent at such great length that our editorial page will have gone to press before the complete report reaches this office. Much of the matter that has so far come to hand is merely a repetition of the Budget figures about the public debt and a very misleading presentation of the facts regarding the extent to which land settlement has progressed in recent years under_ the Ward Administration. There is the customary proportion of abuse for the opponents of the Government and the usual charges of misrepresentation. Ap-: parently an advance copy of the speech was supplied to the press, for according to the telegram sent to this office, the report was put in at Winton at 8 p.m., the hour at which the meeting no doubt opened. Probably Sir Joseph Ward adhered fairly closely to the text of the speech, but the _ "applause" which is carefully sprinkled through the report by the enterprising sender of the message is liable to prove somewhat misleading if taken seriously. It is a little risky to attempt to anticipate the particular points in a speech which will provoke the plaudits of a political gathering, and the Press Association, which is supposed to supply a nonparty news service, might instruct its young men that if they wish to prepare for distribution reports of the Prime Minister's speeches before they are actually delivered they should at least refrain from attempting to embellish them in this way. We must reserve our comments oil such new points as there may be in Sir Joseph Ward's speech until wo have the full report of it before us. The ending of the strike amongst the masters and pfficers of the mosquito coastal fleet is a very good thing for everyone concerncd. The officers have gained some concessions either in wages or in the conditions of their employment and the shipowners have demonstrated that there is a limit beyond which tlicy cannot afford to be driven. During the period that the steamers have been laid aside trade has been disorganised in -some of the centres served by the smaller vessels of the coastal fleet and the public have been materially inconvenienced. In addition the shipowners and the masters and officers have all suffered loss and in some instances the families of the last-mentioned have no doubt had to endure a certain amount of hardship. Truly the strike is a clumsy weapon of industrial warfare. ■■■■