NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1401, 29 March 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The space which we must devote to-clay to the appointment of a new Ministry limits the notice that we can give here to the very succcssful gathering of the Reform party at Stratford last night. Mr. Massey was in good fighting form, and the enthusiasm with which tho audience received his stripping of the political situation to its bare bones is symptomatic of something wider than- the firmness of the Reform sentiment in Taranaki. There is perhapsnot much need for further emphasis of the means. whereby the "Liberal" party, although beaten at the polls, contrived to preserve its life in Parliament, but, Mk. Maskey's plain statement will have the effect of focusing public attention upon tho facts at a very appropriate time. We cannot omit to express our satisfaction— a satisfaction that will be felt by the friends of Reform throughout the country, including those friends of Reform who do not consider themselves attached in any party sense to the Reform party— at the well-deserved tributes to Mk. Hike. The member for Stratford possesses in a degree above the average the qualities of courage, modesty, patriotism, and coolness. When ho made his exposure of tho misdeeds of certain members of Parliament he was subjected to an organised assault, bitter and unjust and persistent, that would have shaken tho nerve even of most hardened and sophisticated members. Yet ho came through the ordeal with dignity and credit. He is a member whom Stratford is wise to cherish, and in honouring whom the electorate docs itself honour and credit.

The proceedings in the Magistrate's Court yesterday when the Tramways Union pleaded guilty, and was fined_£loo, on a charge of breaking Section _6 of the Arbitration Act by organising a strike were not of a kind to inspire the public with any respect for the Act or its working. The prosecuting official seemed to be almost as much concerned to apologise for tho Union as to prosecute it; the secretary of the Union appeared to think —and nobody corrected him—that the really important tiling was t-hc Union's hostility to Mn. Fuller; and tho Magistrate was quite sorry to have to inflict 'a- fine of £100. We affirm that between them the parties and the Magistrate treated with disrespect. the spirit of the law. Tho breach having been admitted, it was surely the business of the Magistrate to cut short tho eloquence of the Union's representative and inflict the fine, without any further comment. The strike was a Serious offence against a very important law Mn our opinion a bad law, but a law all the sapic—but it was actually treated very much as if it were a mere trifle, as if it were rather a pity it had to come before a Court at all. The law, wo suppose, has been ''vindicated" by this preposterous proceeding! The Union has done extremely well. For £100 it' has had the pleasure of disorganising flie tramways service and bringing tli? City Council to ifs knees. The cheapest bargain a union ever made. And of course there is no werrf of prosecuting the violent and abusivjo agitators who forced the

nidi to strike. The Act lias been very successfully dragged in the dust once more. We do not know whether flic Wellington correspondent, of the Dunedin SI fir correctly indicates the intentions of the new Cabinet when ho states tlnit "one of the first things likely (o lie suggested to Parliament is (lie creation of two more Ministers,'' but we have no doubt as to what the general public would think of such p. proposal. They would sec iu it a device for satisfying the ofiicehunger of as many members in the Government following as possible, and they would realise that the extra salaries-would bo just one item in the price they have to pay for a Cabinet which tliev do not want. We hardly think Mn. Mackenzie will have the temerity to make this demand for more Ministers, but wo can quite believe that fiomo of his political associates are suggesting it. What more natural than for the Spoils party to look round for more spoils ? We may be told that Ministers are overworked, but, as we pointed out on a previous occasion when a similar scheme was being talked of, if they are overworked the remedy has all along been in their own hands. It is of their own choice that they have scurried to and fro over the country opening post offices, turning sods, and officiating at all sorts of tuppenny functions from the North Cape to the Bluff. The real work of administering the affairs of a little nation of a million souls can very well be divided among eight men without unduly fatiguing any of them. It is said that eleven Parliamentary Under-Secretaries are to be appointed, with the probable approval of all parties, to relieve the Cabinet Ministers of Canada of some of their duties, but the Federal Government of the great Dominion, with its vast affairs and far-reaching responsibilities, is in a very different case from New Zealand. We must add that we are .anticipating this argument of overwork; it. is not used in the Duncdin Star. The corrcsnondent of that paper merely makes the rather curious assertion that it is "considered" that the "direct representation of Labour" in the Cabinet, will be "adequately covered by Mr. Laurexson and Me. Hanan." Then follows the forecast of an increase of the number of Ministers—with, this addition, "when Mr. Vf.itch will certainly bo offered a position." Clearly, if the correspondent is well informed, the Cab-inet-makers simnly want to have some more "positions" to give away.