NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1523, 20 August 1912, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Public interest in the Waihi strike, which has lately been small, will be revived by the interesting telegram whuh wo print to-day. At a meeting of strikers a motion was put forward affirming that the time nad arrived for a ballot as to whether the Federation should not endeavour to conclude a settlement with the mineowners, the settlement to be ratified by the Arbitration Court. The motion was ruled out of order- by the chairman, Me Parry, and his ruling was upheld by the meeting. This was to have been expected, -but the open revolt of the unwilling amongst the strikers against the strike "bosses" is only a matter of time. There is much hopeful significance in the mere proposal of a ballot on the question of settlement. The mover made the point that a ballot would decide the true feeling of the strikers, "seeing that they had been called out without a secret ballot." 'It is highly probable that if a secret ballot were taken to-day the strikers would decide'to rid themselves of the agitators who fatten upon industrial war, and tako their own affairs back into their own hands. The new Government has acted very wisely in making provision in its Arbitration Act for the removal, by means of secret ballots, of existing obstacles to the fulfilment of the desire of a body of strikers for a-settlement. At Waihi a settlement appears to be coming very near, but it is unfortunate that the "United Labour Party," which professes a dislike of the Federation, has chosen to stand aside and do nothing towards ending a grievous industrial deadlock. "•

Nothing could be more appropriate than that Me. L. M. Isitt should move that the House has no confidence in the Government. At the time of writing it is not entirely certain that the member for Christchurch North will move the hostile motion. Whether the motion is moved or not is of little practical consequence, but we rather •hope Mk. Isitt will do so. Ho certainly has every right to claim tho leadership of the Opposition, sinco nobody else on his side has been courageous enough to throw his hat into the ring; and it is high time anyway that, by some act of leadership, somebody on the Speaker's left showed a mystified public what the Opposition stands for. If it stands for Isittism, the sooner the public knows it tho better. The member for Christchurch North, as one of his colleagues explained, was governed, during the funny "Caucus crisis" of March last, by his concern for the No-License cause. It will presumably be in the same pause that he will lead the Opposition if he gets tho The report is that he will make his bid for tho leadership by attacking tho Government's land tax proposals, but he might just as. well choose any other ground for his purpose. He can find somebody, probably, to give him something in the way of argument, and Mn. Russkll find Mii. Laueesbos can uclij. him,

out with the invective part of it, if lie needs help there. That fclio Opposition should liiive to fall back upon tho member for Christchurch North as a. leader is really an entertaining thing, although Aln. Isiit certainly can talk. But we fancy it will require some courage in Mil. Myeiis, Mr. Vigor Brown, Mr. Wh.ford, and Sir Joseph Ward, amongst others, to fall in behind him. Still Mil. Isitt fell in behind Mr. Myeus and Mr. T. Mackenzie. At Eltham, according to a Press Association telegram, "a meeting of Liberals," to be attended by Mr. Buddo, was to have been held last night "to select a Liberal candidate." What is meant is, of course, an Opposition candidate. The meetings addressed by the Opposition candidate, ought to be rather entertaining. He will have to admit, as the Opposition has had to admit, that tho Budget is a Liberal Budget, and that the Reform Government is a Liberal Government. "Why are you standing as a Liberal then, if you are opposed to the Government'!" he will be asked. What he will reply we cannot conjecture. At the best he will have nothing better to say than that you cannot trust the Government to carry out its Liberal programme; and the electors will decide that they can hardly swallow that at this stage of the proceedings at any rate. The unfortunate candidate will be unable to name even the leader of the party he is attached to. Of coiirse i anyone can see through the pathetic little game. The "meetings of Liberals" could only be a meeting of peoph opposed to llcform and hankering for a return of the vanished spoils reijimc. An opponent of the Government cannot be a Liberal, since the Government is a Liberal Government. He can therefore only be an antiReformer, a reactionary. Of course the anti-Reformers will go on calling themselves Liberals as long as they can, which probably will not be very long.