NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1426, 29 April 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

. It would seem that the new Minister for Internal Affairs is about to give his attention to the question of the issue of totalisator permits for next year's racing. It will be recalled that as the outcome of the recommendations of the Racing Commission appointed under the Gaming Act, a number of clubs, practically without any warning whatever, last year lost their totalisator permits. Strong protest was made. It was pointed out that in many eases the dubs affected had conducted meetings of a popular and sporting character for years past; that in more than one instance heavy liabilities had been incurred, and yob remained to be extinguished, and that, apart from the hardship which would be occasioned the public in robbing them perhaps of their only opportunity in the year of attending a race meeting, there would also lie a financial hardship on thono who had undertaken the responsibility of recent improvements at the courses. Sir James Carkou, who was then the Minister in charge, of the Department, expressed his sympathy with the clubs most seriously affected in this way, but explained that nothing could be done in the matter at that time as the recommendiSions of the Commission for the year ahead could not be interfered with. Next year, he pointed out, the allocation of permits could lie reviewed and readjustments made. The time has now arrived for that reconsideration, and although there has in the meantime been a change uf (lovernment the situation otherwise remains unchanged. One ijf the most, if not the most, striking case of injustice done by the Commission's report was thai of the Rangitikei Racing Club, which has its course at Bulls. This club is one"of the oldest racing clubs in New Zealand, and had held race meetings on every New Yenr : s Day for over fifty years. It is claimed for it that for its size, its course and aupoinlmenU are second to none in NVv Zealand, and there is no doubt, that its annual fixture was looked forward to each year by a wide circle of country people as a sporting event of gronl local interest. Moreover, the club (|iiite recently saddled it?.plf with n liability nf ■ioui'- £?nnn u> meet the public coiiveuiouce and im,

prcivi' its course in various directions, and this heavy liability still remains. When the mutter of Die issuing of totalisator permits was before Parliament, in 111 , . , session of 1011 .several members went out of their way In emphasis;' llrj hardship and injustice which had been dune tin- Kangitikei Racing Club by the withdrawal of tin: permit it had been accustomed to secure, and in fact it was generally conceded that the circumstances warranted the club receiving better treatment. It is interesting to recall that when Ihe Bill introduced by Hi:. Jksxjncs to give this and certain other clubs a tolalisator permit for the current year was before tin- House. Mi:. (!. Yi'. llitshku., now the Minister in charge of this Department, expressed his sympathy with the .Bill and the attempt it made to remedy the errors which, in his opinion, had been made by ihe Commision. " I think," he said, "the cases quoted to-night by the member for Tauinarunni, the member for Manawatii, and the member for Waipawa must have proved to the House that mistakes have been made [by the Commissionl in connection with the matter.' . Seeing that the two first-named members both emphasised the case of the Itangitikei Racing Club, it is fair to assume that now he is in a position to redress the hardship imuoscd on that club, Mr. Russeu, will not neglect to do so.

One of the Unionist newspapers in London the. other day drew a contrast between the methods of Ministers when handjing a question upon which the divisions would bn honest divisions of principle and their methods -when dealing with a policy based on chicanery. One of the latter kind is Welsh Disestablishment, and, as a cable message to-day lets us see, Ministers are abandoning the ordinary methods of clean fighting. Mn. Lloyd-George appears to have abandoned the "House of Commons stylo" which everybody used to contrast with his violent style when appealing to Limehouse. Lord Hugh Cecil reminded him that the House of Commons was not a Limehouso audience, and the. Chancellor replied:"! thought I should get home!" Nothing is easier than"to "get home," by means of untruths and insults, but the resentment of untruths and insults does not mean that the man who resorts to them has triumphed in' debate. We are afraid that there will be a great deal of violence over the Disestablishment Bill. Ministers have evidently made up their minds not to be bound by the ordinary rules of conduct in debate. A few weeks ago Mn. Bjrheix, who is not usually associated with vulgarity and violence, did not shrink from making this deplorable appeal to Radical prejudice: "Are we not a Christian nation i Isn't it a pre-eminently desirable thing that there should always be a steady and constant supply of educated men who are able and ready to put crowns on the heads of our Kings and Queens, to read stately and moving prayers by the graveside of our illustrious dead, and, what is still more important in our national life, to be ready always to invoke the god of battles when, with our hearts aflame, we go out to war, and then to sing psalms to the Prince of ■Peace when, sick and sorry, we are only too glad to come out of it?" With Mn. BinnELL adopting this unfortunate tone, and Mr. LloydOeoijge aiming to "get home." the British Government is clearly not oroiiiß to enhance its prestitm over the Welsh Disestablishment Bill. At Stratford, as we noted the other day, the Hox. T. Mackenzie, in the course of an attack upon the Reform party along the lines drawn by Sin Joseph Ward, made the following statement: It seemed that party prejudice had so blinded Hie Leader of the Opposition and some of his followers that they were determined to destroy the credit of i\ew Zealand and the reputation of its public men in order to clamber into power. It was well known what the Opposition had done to injure the flotation of tho loan—the wail of despair thai' was sent Home by the Conservatives to leading financial journals before the Dotation. In a speech in the south Mn. Massey .challenged the Prime Minister to substantiate his allegation, and now •<vc are told that Mr. Mackenzie has accepted the challenge. But Mr. Mackenzie has altogether shifted his ground. What he now appears to have undertaken to do is to "give his authority for the wail of despair that a certain financial newspaper at Home had said was sent from New Zealand." We do not know what this means; but what Mn. Mackenzie has to prove is quite clear. He has to prove that during the flotation of the £5,000,000 Joan certain members of the Reform party sent home to several English financial journals "wails of despair" designed to prejudice, the loan. With a very close, knowledge of what appeared in practically all of the leading London papers at the time, we can say that no paper printed any wail of despair sent, by any member of the Reform party or anyone else. Of course Mn. Mackenzie will shirk his responsibility; but, we trust that lie will realise that he cannot afford to be quite so careless about facts as was his predecessor.