NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1533, 31 August 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The new system of referring the Estimates to the Public Accounts Committee is beginning to have some interesting and useful results. Yesterday s debate, for example, upon the llunanga estate purchase and the connection of Mn. G. AV. Russell with it—a matter referred to in the short session—would hardly _ have been possible under the old regime, and it is obvious that some inquiry into the transaction is very much to be desired. For the present wo do not wish to express any opinion upon the careless methods of the old Government as revealed by tho negotiations, but some notice is due to the attitude of some of the Opposition members. When Mit. Hine was proceeding to speak upon the matter the leading members of the Opposition displayed the utmost anxiety to burke discussion. They gave no reason, and the public will naturally wonder why they behaved as they did. During Mit. Hine's recital of the bald facts in connection with the correspondence relating to the land in which Mr. Russell acquired some interest, Mil Hanan several times interrupted with demands to know what was tho charge'! Mr. Hine had made no charge against anybody, and did not profess to bo making any charge. The fact is, of course, that Mn. Hanan had drawn his own conclusions from the facts and was anxious to provoke a confusion and tumult in trie hope that the party he is attached to might get into a position to embarrass the discovery of the whole situation. The member for Lyttelton also added his characteristic fling at the wickedness of those who dare to pry into transactions by the Spoils party in the past. That past, as t.he Southern haters of inquiry will realise in due course, is gone—and gone for good. The Government intends to have the whole matter sifted later on, and this is only fair to Mr. Russell and the late Government. During the past week the member for Awarua made a very curious statement cxccllently illustrative of his understanding of national finance. Ho, was discussing loans, and he said: We eught to stop saying or doing anything that was likely to be used by people in London to get tho highest terms tor themselves and against New Zealand, when we wont 011 the London market for moneys wherewith to continue our public works policy. It should always bo pointed out that wo. were not a heav-ily-taxed community, and that we had assets which were a magnificent security for investment. As practical advice, this is quite valueless, because, happily or unhappily, the London investors/ are not accustomed to let out their money without satisfying themselves concerning the security. The member for Awarua would have us believe that we can get our loans at easy rates if wo will only conspire together to say, and say loudly, that which is not. We had fancied that in tho past, when he was violently denouncing as "traitors" those who :porsistod in criticising his unwise administration, he was merely slashing wildly with a clumsy weapon in self-defence. Apparently, however, he really believes that it is the duty of New Zealanders to suppress unpleasant truths, and invent alluring talcs, in order to make easier the enlargement of the public debt. Since December last, the country has begun to realise that borrowing is not the and end-all of national finance, as used-to be the view of a majority of the people beforo they woke up. One cannot help wondering what comment Ballance would make, if he were alive to-daj', upon the wretched doctrine set forth by the member for Awarua.

The conduct of Mr. Willis, the Speaker_ of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, since he took offico in order to savo the life of the disreputable Labour Government, has been so disgraceful that most people outside the State must have wondered what kind of a country New South Wales must be to tolerate him. His latest feat—ftho summary exclusion of tho representatives of the Sydney. Telcyraph from the Press Gallery—ought to be, but quite possibly will not.be, his last. Unhappily for New South Wales, it possesses a Government which is' dependent upon MR. Willis, and which, having submitted to the grossest possible outrages upon Parliament by the Speaker, is unlikely to muster up courage to deal with the crowning outrage now reported. The only means of getting rid of the Speaker, if he chooses to stand firm and drag his office down to the lowest depths possible, is the ending of the Parliament. But the Labour Ministry is not so much concerned about anything as about clinging to office. It is the mark of the Labour Radical, too often, that he cannot take any but a low, materialistic view of life and of politics. Mr. M'Gowen may quite honestly feel unable to agree with the view that the fundamental principles violated by Mr. Willis's" presence in the Assembly arc of great importance. The situation brings out in sharp colours the tyranny and injustice inherent in Labour politics in Australia. The exclusion of the Telegraph's reporters is a monstrous crime against liberty of opinion and freedom of speech, as ninety-nine persons out of a hundred must recognise. But are Mr. Willis's ethics so very different from the ethics of those Radicals in our own Parliament who have affirmed, directly and indirectly, the right of a Government to punish hostile critics 1 Mr. Willis has only done what the members for Lyttelton and Awarua, for example, would Jiave done if they had had Mn. Willis's brutal courage.