NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1374, 27 February 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

, T' rp ' fabled pot that called the kettle black has been antiquated by ri'i l lo ' "which, out of the gnmo of its twenty years, apparently labours under the idea that it is the only white object in the world. For example, a southern organ protests against the ( ururur play ' of the Reform party. rho mouthpieces of the Opposition," it says, "do not state in so many words that Sir Joseph "Ward has filled the Civil Service with mcmbers_ of his own religious denomination, but they allow the cruel lie to circulate when they could kill it by a frank and generous statement of the true facts." But does "tho cruel lie" circulated AVhere is thcro_ evidence that it does '! And even if it docs actually circulate persistently, as the southern organ of the beaten "Liberals" implies, it has heen abundantly denied. For every case that can bo quoted in which The Dominion, for example, has ever given the smallest countenancc to the "cruel lie" complained of, or, when directly tested on the point, has failed to denounce the "cruel lie" we shall quote twenty specific cases of gross mis-statement's by "Liberal" newspapers and "Liberal" politicians. We remember an occasion upon which -we went out of our way to defend the Prime Minister, and were met by a blunt statement in a "Liberal" journal that our real object was to give publicity to the rumour we censured. How can we possibly be blamed for not denying stories we never hear of i But in reply, let us ask this question : "When has Sut Joseph Ward frankly and generously acquitted the Opposition party of responsibility for the Black pamphlet? Never, is the only reply. "\Yhy, the Kusseils of the party are still trying to make use of that pamphlet against the Reform party. And what of the Isitts of the party 1 ! Mr. Isitt, in his speech last week, pleaded for honesty in the same breath as. lie said that men had been slinking about asking "What about the commission Sir Joseph Ward made on loans?" Can'lie give names? Of course he cannot. Really the "Liberal" pot is not making at all a graceful exit on its way to the rub-bish-heap.

What the London papers call "a dramatic announcement" was made by the Ef.v. Hugh Chapman when about to 'marry Miss Una Peel to Mr. Victor Duval in the Chapel Royal, Savoy. Miss Peel, who is a niece of Viscount Peel, is a prominent suffragist, and so is Mr. Duval. It had been announced that, the word "obey" would lie omitted from the marriage service "in order to emphasise the objection of the parties to its use"; but the Archbishop of Canterbury wisely dropped a hint to tho chaplain, the chaplain's announcement was to the effect that the omission might taint the validity of the service, and so the service would be read in the usual form. The chaplain's statement concluded with what most people will regard as a very disquieting statement: "We sincerely hope that before long there may be an amended form of service which shall render it possible for Christian people to receive the blessing of the Church without hurt to their susceptibilities, and, as we believe, in the true spirit of the Gospel of Christ." "For Christian people to receive the blessing of the Church without hurt to their susceptibilities"—their political susceptibilities! 0 happy day ! when a Christian can accept the Gospel of Christ in a form that will not do violence to his or her political inclinations! And still happier day! when the Ten Commandments shall be revised so as to suit those who object to them !

It is thin ice everywhere for the "Liberals," and everywhere they are falling through it. Thus Mit. T. Mackenzie said last night that "the Opposition were now seeking to capture some of the occupants of the cross benchcs whom they had failed to kill during the election campaign." Let us see. Mil. Veitch, loyally supported on December 14 by the Reform voters, had to facc all the Liberal forces behind Mr.. Hogan, his rival. Mit. Payne—fancy ! even Mil. Payne—owed to the Reform voters his triumph over the Liberals who sought to kill him with Mr. Fowlds. Mil. Robertson owes to the Heform voters his success against tlic party that moved Heaven and earth to kin him with Mit. Field. Mn. Atmore in the second ballot was fought by a "Liberal." Is there anybody else concerning whom Mit. Mackenzie wants information 1 Tho Reform parly certainly did'have a candidate in the second ballot against a non-"Liberal." It did oppose Mr. Hindmarsh. And Mr. Hindmarsh, unfortunately for Mil. Mackenzie, is the only cross-bench man who knows he can do as he chooses. Really Mr. Mackenzie will have to be more careful when lie succeeds Sir Joseph Ward as Leader of the reconstructed party.

The recent tramways strike convinced everybody that the constitution of the tramways management, if not as bad as it could be—we refer, of course, to the allocation of the powers of the Manager, the Committee. and the Council—was yet extremely bad. It was inevitable that a change would be made. Last night it was decided that tho management shall be placed in the hands of a Board consisting of Messrs. Morton*. Jlichahdson, and Cable. This is a good.step, especially since Mr. Morton is to be the chairman of the Board. The Council appears to have left to the new Board the complete care of the administration, questions of policy being reserved. Everything now depends upon the spirit in which the Council will interpret its delegation of powers, and it will lie obvious to everybody that the best thing the Council can do is to leave the whole administration entirely to the Board. What is a (juesiion of administration, and what a matter of policy, are i|uite easily determinable things. The .Hoard will become merely a fresh criniplicalion instead of a 'solution if the Council is not careful in dis-

charging its_ right to revise the Board's decision. The new arrangement- contains the possibility of turning out to be the best way of giving the true interests of the public the first place in tramways management. The working of the experiment, at anyrate, will be carefully watched.

Mr. frank explanation of the reasons which led to his quotation of a letter he had received concerning the vote of the member for Grey Lynn on a no-confidence motion and his withdrawal of any imputation which his words may have conveyed do credit to his courage and honesty. It requires more courage sometimes to confess an error than to stand by the consequences of it. But while Mr. Massey has in a very manly fashion expressed his belief that no member of the House had cither offered or accepted a bribe, the fact still remains that Mr. Payne says he was offered a bribe to vote for the Ward Government; and the matter is far too serious to be allowed to drop. Either Mr. Payne was or was not made a grossly improper proposal and the onus rests on Mr. Payne of bringing the offender to book. According to May's Parliamentary I'raclice, the House of Commons has decided that "the offer of money or other advantage to a member of Parliament for the promotion of any matter whatsoever depending or to be transacted in Parliament, is a high crime and misdemeanour." The same authority says: "And in the spirit of this resolution the offer of a bribe in order to influence a member in any of the proceedings of the House or of a Committee has been treated as a breach of privilege, being an in suit • not only to the member himself, but to the House." It will thus be seen that the plain duty of Parliament is to defend its own dignity and honour and to sec that Mn. Payne's allegation is fully investigated.