NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1324, 30 December 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The very best comment upon the extraordinary position of the "Libcial" party with its anxious caucuses is a statement made by Sin Arthur Guinness at a social held in Christchurch last night: — 'J'hoy rihe "Liberals"! hud a very difficult task to perform if they wore to retain the Liberal parly' in 'the Uousfl for Hi ;i next three years. . . . Ito believed Sir Joseph would shape the party's cniu'rw and the Liberal policy in such a direction as to relain (he position lie had held in Parliament for so many years pa.st. And Mr. Witty, who can always be trusted to bo nearly as naif as M.K. Buddo, said that "the Liberal party was not biatcn, and the other side had to prove they, were in the majority." There we have it, plump and plain. The unhappy "Liberals" have forgotten that there might be any other end worth seeking than the comfort of the party; and they delude themselves with the idea that all that is afoot is a sort of contest in sharp practice and that by merely refusing to quit they can prevent "the other side" from "proviug" itself a majority. They will not yet admit—some of them obviously cannot understand—that "the other side" is tho nation itself. Here are tho plain facts for the nth time:

Members elected expressly to destroy the "Liberal" regime 40 Members elected to uphold' the "Liberal" regime 35 The other five members received no express mandate. In its indignation at -the "Liberal" party's defiance of the country's plain wishes, the public will perhaps find room for amusement at the pitiable figure cut by "the great Liberal party." Once a big, loud, overbearing mob, it isnow a scared minority dividing itself into sections in holes and corners and trying to persuade itself thatit is persuading the country that .its various bits add up into a majority. A section of the party has already made up its mind that all the trouble is duo to the leader, and is ready to sacrifice him if sacrifieinghim will stave off the day of reckoning. Of course they are wrong on both points. The Prime Minister has led his party no better than he has, governed the country. But the mcii .who docilely aided him, who obeyed his bidding, and who eneourtificd him in the policy against which the country has risen, are the real culpviLs. It is no concern of ours if, after thriving on him in his era of success, they turn and rend him in their ruin; but they need not hope to save themselves by casting him overboard. The country has demanded,. Dot the reconstruction of the "Liberal" Ministry, but the death of the "Liberal" party, and government by the true Liberalism of the party of Reform. That the country wants;, and that the country will have.

Although the tramwaymcn have had the plainest proofs 'that their attitude in the Fuller_ affair is sharply resented by the citizens, they have been unwise enough to break the temporary truce pact entered into on Wednesday between their Executive and the Mayor. Instead of waiting until the Council has heard their formal complaints against Inspector Fuller next week, they have decided to hold a special council of war—for that is what it is—on Sunday next. It is possible that by Sunday they will have realised that they can only damage stiU'furlhcr any case they may have by repudiating their Executive's undertakings to await the upshot of the hearing of their charges against the Inspector; and perhaps by Thursday next' they will also have come some way towards realising that, should the Inspector not bo sacrificed by the Council, the public will bo quite prepared to accept the declaration of a strike. Wo would urge the men to reflect that no body of public employees has over yet succeeded in a fight against a just publie opinion, and that should the case for the Inspector's dismissal not be established, the public will loyally support every official resistance to coercion. In the meantime, we feel .sure that every clay will strengthen the public's.indignation with those responsible for the miserable, and indeed disgraceful, aspects of the present position. It' is disgraceful that Mr. Ftuer. should still be placed in a position of acute unpleasantness and difficulty, that the Council should have permitted such a disordor of the mutual obligations and responsibilities Of itself, the Tramways Committee and the Manager, and that a majority at the Council meeting should have ordered, at the bidding of the men, and in opposition to its Executive officer, the dismissal of an employee whose case is yot to be tried. The voteseeking politicians on the Council aro chiefly to blame for this discreditable and dangerous travesty of good city government.

In another column wc print from a contributor a useful criticism of the "public finance" section of the Year-Book for 1011. (Tho Year Book is issued in sections, and appears to be extraordinarily late this year.) The writer points out that on Page (185 the total amount raised by taxation ill 1910-11 is given as £<i,8:)7,!!22, whidi is stated to be an increase, of £656.806 over the amount in 1900-10. On the two following pages there are given figures representing the increase in indirect taxation as £359,4'!9, and in direct taxation as £397,812, making a total increase of £757,251. No attempt is made to explain the discrepancy between £757,251 and £656,806. The sum of the direct and indirect taxation as given on Pages 686 and 687 is £4,9:57,767; yet in the opening table on Pago 668 it is given, as a total, as £-1,8:17,322. Not only do these totals disagree, with each other: thev disagree with the figures given in Ike I

PnuiE Minister's Financial Statement. Moreover, the Year Book figures do not include tlic increase in the railway fares, which wo have shown in earlier articles to be, taxation in the strict sense, anil which the PiuiiE Ministkii himself, in a statement in I'M, frealcd as taxation. The Year Book figures, upon which is based the statement (Page til!!)) that the taxation was £d Ids. 11(1. per head, are obviously finite unreliable, and designed merely lo hide the fact that the taxation is well over X'a per head. Hitherto people have been accustomed to relv upon the Year Book. lint where rail safety he found when the official statistics appear to be manipulated in this fashion ,'