NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1330, 6 January 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Hawke's Bay deputation which waited upon the Minister for Public Works yesterday to request that fiH'thcr consideration should be given to the question of the route of the East Coast railway did not receive a very encouraging reply. The Minister for Public Works has demonstrated during his tenure of office that he is a very stubborn man, and, he is not unduly modest in the estimate he places on the value of his opinion when it conflicts with that of experts on the question of railway routes. As a matter of fact, he appears to be possessed of the extraordinary idea that when the mantle of Minister for Public Works descended on 'his shoulders it endowed him with a great many gifts which if claimed by him in his capacity as a plain member of Parliament would have provoked laughter and perhaps a little ridicule. Directly, when the Ward Administration passes into oblivion, Mr. M'Kenzie will 1,0 doubt fall into his proper place and see himself in a truer perspective than that which at present dazzles his vision and makes him a somewhat difficult person to deal with. The position regarding the East Coast railway is that the Government has determined to carry the line along the where, it will have to compete with sea freights, and where it will be of comparatively little value in opening up the country. It is true that it will open up certain Native land, most of which is of poor quality; and somehow the impression has become very strong that there is quite a remarkable anxiety on the part of the Government to give the Native owners of this land the enhanced value which must result from the construction of the line along this route. Those who know the country best are very emphatic in declaring that the best route is undoubtedly one of the more inland routes, which would not only open up a much larger area of country, but better country. This would not only benefit Hawke's Bay, but the whole of New Zealand. However, it is not worth while going into the merits of the matter just now. The Ward Administration will very soon give way to au Administration which can be expected to give tho whole question of future railway construction most careful consideration,' and, amongst other matters, the merits of the rival routes for the East Coast railway will no doubt receive attention. The request of yesterday's deputation introduced by Mr. Campboll that a Commission should be appointed to .inquire into, and report on, the different routes was, in the circumstances, a reasonable proposal, but it was practically a foregone conclusion that the present party in power would not accede to their request.

Tiie strange, and indeed ludicrous, suggestion has been put forward that his Exccllcncy the Governor has no power, or no moral right, to act otherwise in the present political crisis than as Sir Joseph Ward advises. _ It js solemnly asserted that while it will,be an outrage upon the nation if the I'in jib Minister advises against an early session, it will be a national calamity if the Governor should avert the outrage—if he should act otherwise than as the mechanical registrar of the Prime Minister's decrees. Nobody is so foolish as not to perceive that this extraordinary suggestion involves the doctrine that the Governor can at no time have any existence and power* of Hla o*n- Whet used i* were for a Govwaoj at all if lis is

in all political situations to possess no power ! It is expressly laid down that while the Governor shall ho guided by the advice of the Executive Council, yet "if in any case he shall see sufficient cause to dissent from the opinion of the said Council, he may act in the exercise of his said powers and authorities [including the summoning, proroguing, or disselvingthc legislative assembly] in opposition to the opinion of the Council." The present case is obviously just one of the eases contemplated here. The Government is in a minority; it lias lost tiio confidence of the country ; the public is kceuly desirous of an early session in order to have a Government with a stable basis; the press of the country almost unanimously agreed that the Government must either resign or meet Parliament without delay. Should his Excellency see in all these facts_ "sufficient cause to dissent from" any advice by his Council that Parliament need 7toj.be summoned without delay, and should he so dissent, he will not only give cffcct to the manifest will of the people, hut will fill the people with satisfaction at the knowledge that the King's representative can thus be the guardian of tho popular will. It is simply grotesque _to pretend that the democracy is so jealous of its rights as to insist that a Government in which it has lost confidence shall not be prevented by the Governor from defying its_ wishes. "We have lost confidence in the Government. But we cannot permit the Governor ti prevent that Government from defying and insulting us." That is the foolish argument that has been raised. And how foolish it is!

The announcement that his Majesty the King has been pleased to confer upon Colonel A. W. Robin, C.B. (Adjutant-General of the New Zealand Forces), the Companionship of the Order of St. Michael and St. George will be received with approval as a distinction due to a capable officer, and a compliment to the New Zealand Forces. As Chief of the New Zealand General Staff during the closing years of our voluntary system of military defence, Colonel Hobin achieved a great deal in the face of unnecessary and some unjust criticism, and under an Administration which was swayed by every wind that blew. When in 1909 the voluntary principle of military training was abandoned in favour of the principle of compulsion, a great mass of detail work had to be done with regard to the collation of the necessary data which was required for the information of the Government in framing its military legislation, and this task was complicated by Parliament's acceptance in 1910 of Lord Kitchener's report, and the subsequent amendments which were made to the Act of the previous year. The value of this foundational work was publicly acknowledged by General Godley soon after his arrival in the Dominion, and the. distinction which has now been conferred upon Colonel Robin has been well merited.

The position respecting the tramway employees and their charges against Inspector Fuller has again changed. The tramway rcien now want an entirely new tribunal t try their case. They in effect tell their employers, the City Council, that they arc not competent to decide between their own servants, and should appoint some outside body to do so. It is not many steps further for tho men to decide that the City Council is not fit to have charge u the tramways at all, and to insist on the dismissal of councillors. The situation is really quite farcical. Since the decision of the Council, on the votes of the Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilford) and Councillors Fletcher, M'Laren, Hindmarsh, Fitzgerald, and Barber, to dismiss their inspector at the dictation of the men whose work it was his duty to supervise, the Council has found itself involved in difficulty after difficulty. No sooner are the tramway employees satisfied on one point than a fresh demand is made, and so the thing goes on. The interests of citizens count for nothing. The persons chiefly to blame arc the Mayor and the Councillors named above. Their pandering t the demands of the tramway employees and the overriding of the responsible head of the tramways department has been the real cause of the trouble. But for their action and attitude the tramway employees would certainly have behaved more reasonably. At tho meeting of the Council on Thursday last the Act-ing-Mayor showed commendable firmness in dealing with the situation, and, we should hope, succeeded in making_ it clear that the patience of the majority of the Council has readied its limit. If the men are determined to strike unless they get things their own way, better to lot them strike and have donb with it than to be everlastingly humouring them at the expense of discipline and to the detriment of the city's interests. The conduct of certain Councillors must make the public realise that the interests of the city are not safe in the hands of men who arc looking for the votes of organised bands of employees, and the question of placing the control of the tramways in the hands of a nominated Board, as in Christchurch and other towns, deserves their consideration. In the meantime we trust that the City Council will, make up its mind that it has given way to the tramway employees quite enough.

One o£ tlie amusing aspects of the political situation is the endeavour of certain Ministerialists to show in one breath that the Ward Administration possesses the confidence of the country., while in the next they declare the necessity for an extensive reconstruction of the personnel of the Ministry. The changes outlined in the telegram from Christchurch which wc publish this morning provide for the jettisoning of Sih'Jajies Carroll, and Messrs. 1?. M'Kenzie and Bunno. Why not Shu Joseph Ward also ? The Ministry must he in a very desperate plight indeed when Sin James Carroll, after all his years of service to the party, is thrown as a sacrifice to the people's wrath. For ourselves, wc doubt the accuracy of the suggested readjustment. Why has the faithful 3lr. Ell been passed over—the senior Government Whip and obedient servant of the party—in favour of Messrs. Laurenson and G. W. liussell : ! Where does Sir Arthur Guinness come in ? _ Is the West Coast, for the first time in 20 years, to have no representative -in the Cabinet ? Of course the reconstructed Government would not be likely to fare any better at the hands of Parliament than the present Administration, but while the.y were about it the Cabinet-mak-ers'might have shown a little more regard for the feelings of some of the faithful ones whoso claims have been ignored.