NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1398, 26 March 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Ix the later stages of' the Chinese Revolution the features that most impressed the English newspapers were the "genius for etiquette" which marked thy negotiations and the dramatic swiftness with which a vast and ancient Empire was transformed into a republic. "Once again," said the Chronicle, "tin; slow-moving East has fascinated and astounded the West by rapidity of movement." But the movement'clocs not end with the, establishment of the republic. A little later came the news that conscription for China was proposed—a measure ■ which would enable the republic, comprising, as it does, one-third of the human race, to outnumber all the armies of the West, and would alter the whole Chinese conception of society. And now the suffragette has appeared. "A mob of women," says the, cable, _ message, "dissatisfied at the Nanking Assembly's lukewarmness with regard to women's franchise, invaded the Assembly, smashed the, windows, mauled the guards, and terrorised the members into opening up the question." This, in what was but lately the country of female obedience and foot-binding! How much of all this passion for change comes from the heart of the people, and how much is a mere craze of the "intellectuals" for imitating the West"!

If .Mr. Mackenzie does not hurry up with his new Cabinet, Sir Joseph Ward will get ahead of him in the making of certain important appointments just as he got ahead of him with the scandalously-hurried laying of the foundation-stone of the new Parliament Buildings. "We really do not know why. Mi:. Mac-. KENziB did not come out on Saturday with the prize-list. Why this bashful caution? He has already settled what the Governor must do as to the summoning of Parliament; surely it is just as easy a thing to settle who shall join him in his brief joy-ride down the precipice under the flag of a wild Radicalism. He might at least consider the nerves of his Party, nearly every one of whom considers.himself deserving of preferment, although not one of them, perhaps, would claim that his title to a portfolio is so good as that of Mr. Payxe, or Mh. Robertson, or Mn. Atjiobe. In any event, Mr. Mackenzie must know that it does not matter a bit to whom he throws his handkerchiefs: nothing can avert the smash. The latest rumour is that Mr. Millar will refuse any lieutenancy under the new leader, and that Mr. R. M'Kexzik may not after all terrify his namesake into retaining him. As for the other "eligibles," their chances are merely waxing and waning, so far as the public is permitted to know, from hour to'hour. Nothing is quite certain excepting that the position is a deplorable one from the point of view of constitutional government s.nd that the credit of the Spoils Party is sinking lower and lower as time passes.

Co-operative methods in this country find favour chiefly with the farmers, to whose prosperity they have greatly contributed. In England, however, the co-operative movement which was started at Rochdale some eighty years ago chiefly flourishes among the working classes It is best known through distributive societies in which the purchasers are the shareholders, and which are a powerful instrument of thrift. There arc also large productive societies, and the movement as a whole covers the land and is still growing The Labour Departmentof the Board of Trade has published a report showing the remarkable advancement of co-operative business during the years 1899-1909. The principal features of the report are clearly summarised by the Daily News;

J akin;,' the aggregate membership of distributive nnd productive co-operative societies of all kinds in 1909, we havo the following figures: Total membership .... 2,597,230 Increase over lSf>9 917,221 Increase per cent 55 The value of the total trade of all societies (exclusive of banking, credit, insurance, ami building society transactions) was in 190!): Total (nearly) ~ 130 millions Increase since 1899 .... SCJ millions Increase per cent 75~ By far the greatest volume of co-opera-tive trading is still done by industrial societies. In 1909 there were 15S0 of these societies, with a membership of 2,512,048. In round figures their distribution and production amounted in 1909 to: Total £128,000,000 Increase on 1599 .£51,000,000 Increase p.c. on 1899 73 Turning to distributive business alone, the total trade of the distributive societies in 1903 amounted to nojirly A' 70,000,000, an increase of over ,£25,000,000 us compared with 1899; while the trade of the two wholesalo societies amounted to over 33 millions, an increase over 1899 of nearly fourteen millions. Including agricultural co-operative societies, it is calculated that about 50 per cent of the goods sold ivero produced under conditions controlled by co-operators themsolves. In the midst of the daily records of the terrors of syndicalism, it is reassuring to meet with thie evidence of sound and thrifty instincts on the part of tho British wage-earning classes.

The taking over of the London telephones by the Government seems to have been immediately followed by a sudden deterioration of the service. This was the more remarkable in that the staffs remained the same and the instruments were unchanged. Could the trouble be due lo tho fact that the operators had suddenly becumo employees of tho State"? Whatever the cause, it seems that the public complained of "nlinosfc every conceivable form of mistake." The Times details some of them:

The chief criticism is that of persons who fail to get connected with numbers for which they nsk, sometimes over and over ngain. Die operator tells o subscriber in one ca?e that a number is engaged, in another that there is no reply, in a third that tho line is out of order, and in a fourth that it has been temporarily disconnected. This is not the only source of irritation to the giver of nils. He complains that there are timed when he can get no reply from the Kxehaußi? for a considerable'period, when he- is switched lo another number in the middle ot' a cciiuei'sntioM. when ;i thin! psi-snn is put on I he Mm- while u cciiilideiilial coiiiiiiiuiiciiiioii if, being mail!' ami ivlii-ii Ihe sunici; i- suspended iillu(,'ollier without imlite. Then wrojijf numbers are lroqiitntlv givcu. A man wantui(f a \vestorn call gets a Urixlon oncj thn fijfitfM 8 Bij« li n\v. freqnonHy trail.

plni;!:= nf receiving many calls, and on lifting flu- receiver getting no reply. Kvcn in Wellington, every user of tlii! telephone lias suffered*' in tliesu ways, hut thu trouble in London must have been, far worse than anything ever experienced on our comparatively well-operated system. The Postmaster-General issued an explanation in which he referred to wires disabled by the January snowstorms, and alterations made to bring Ihe old exchanges up-to-date, and told of stringent orders that were being issued to the employees. Perhaps by this time the public are being better treated, but it is not without its significance that muddle instantly followed the introduction of tlio large, coarse and inefficient hand of the State.