NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1576, 21 October 1912, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

During the hearing of a case before the Appeal Court last week the Chief Justice indulged himself in a very wise and important obiter dictum. "Every departmont year after year," he said, "tries to he a little stronger than it was before. All the Government Departments are engaged in a continual struggle for more power." It was the same nearly everywhere, he added. This is no new discovery, but it badly needed to be said here by someone of authority. The great difficulty in the way of the financial reformers in England at tho present time is this very anxiety of every Department to steal every possible inch of importance. It was made clear enough in the report of the new Estimates Committee at Home, and in tho newspaper comments upon the report, that the Departments are all more or less hostile to the Treasury. Between Departmental ambitions and Ministerial autocracy, our own Parliament has been elbowed out of any control of the national finances. "Apparently," the Spectator said in noticing tho Estimates Committee's report, "one of the most persistent of all human ambitions is tho desire to exercise uncontrolled authority." When tho Departmental instinct for self-aggrandisement chimes with Ministerial party plans, things are as bad as they can be. In this country to-day one of the best things to be hoped for is that tho Minister for Finance will set himself to check the Departmental ambitions. This task can be more easily performed here than in Britain. There, as the Spectator points out, the Departments have a very free rein: "There is no check upon Departmental expenditure other than that exercised by the Treasury, and of necessity the Treasury must go cautiously when dealing with other Departments." With an Estimates Cora-, mittee at its back, however, the Treasury would be so strengthened that "tho Departments would automatically begin to draw in their horns." Tho continuance and development of the function of Estimates revision allotted by the new Government here to the Public Accounts Committee will in time, we trust, make it possible to set New Zealand aside as an exception to the rule mentioned by Sir Robert Stout.

That "economics is an oxact science" is a proposition that nearly every Radical, including even those Free-trade Radicals (for there are many such, queerly enough) who are satisfied of tne mathematical soundness of Free-trade, will probably deny. .At the meeting of the British Association last month _ Sir Henry Ounvnohame, tho president of the Economic Science Section, sought to establish this proposition in a most interesting paper. Ho quoted Comte's contention that the social and economic sciences wero subject to laws as exact and absolute as those governing the physical sciences, and Comte's famous principle of the three phases of thought: a science begins with a theological stage, passes through a metaphysical stage, and ends by becoming positive. All the social sciences, Sir Henry Cunynghame said, were in the middle stage, as, indeed, is obvious. Men talk of "the right to work," "the right to vote," and other metaphysical propositions. Tho core of his paper was an absolute mathematical proof, by means of graphs based on actual figures, of somo tacts concerning the price and production of corn-; his purpose being, as he said, tb show that there were economic laws whioh "were as exact and unfailing as tho laws of ■physics, chemistry, or engineering, and which if neglected by political ongincers, would as certainly bring tho State to ruin as the miscalculation of an engineer in designing a boiler, or of a civil engineer in designing a bridge." Replying to those' who said that political economy was no science, that it had "gone to Saturn," he said:

Was it meant that tho so-called laws of economics were not laws at nil, and that the whole pretended science was built on false foundations? Or was it meant that those engaged in the practical politics of tho country had resolved to legislate in defiance of tho laws of economics, and to settle the problems of Frcp-trmle and Protection, the taxation of food and ' movable property and tho regulation of wages as though these problems wero not subjected to natural lnws at all? The latter position, of course, would 1)0 dangerous if it turned out that there were laws and that they were being ignored. Unfortunately, there is at present, and as yet, a great body of disbelief in the existence of social and economic laws as absolute as tho laws of motion. "We have changed all that." is a common Radical cry. One does not expect that everyone will agree as to wliat these laws are; but it is not unreasonable to expect sane people to agree that thcro nre. such laws, whatever they arc. In Rome near future, we are sure, the Radical sentimentalists who linger on from Rusk,in will bo forced to retire before the spirit of positive science.

A few days ago it was reported that Captain Ateo Frandi, whoso name has recently been prominently before the public in connection with a dispute in regard to a question of seniority, bad resumed tho command

of the company of Senior Cadets which he resigned as _n protest against being superseded in the seniority list by Captain Simeon. It will be remembered that Captain FitANDi ventilated his grievance very freely and candidly in the press, and ultimately a question was asked in Parliament. Both sides of the case—Captain Fiundi's and the Defence Department's—were placed before the public at considerable length, and we do not propose to go over the ground again. The incident, however, has had a peculiar ending. After stubbornly standing his ground in contending for what he claimed were his rights, Captain Fiianjh unexpectedly withdrew from the position he had taken up, and made a public "amende." The sequel to the "amende" was his appearance on parade the other evening, and his resumption of his command—an inexplicable sequel. Cai , - TAIN Frakdi was either right or wrong in his public protest against the action of the Defence authorities with respect to his position on the seniority list. If he was right and could obtain no redress from the Department, we could understand and sympathise with his action i in resigning and ventilating his grievance in public. But his unexpected "back-down" could only be interpreted to moan a public acknowledgment of an error of judgment on his part and if, as appears to be inevitable, we arc to assume that his actions all through cannot bo regarded as having been consistent with fitness for command. According to the meaning of the Defence Regulations, they would constitute an act of insubordination. It is therefore somewhat inexplicable to note, firstly, that his resignation was never accepted, and secondly, that he has | now been allowed to resume his command. Our understanding of the .word "discipline" would have led us to expect a different result.

It seems to have' become the custom nowadays for the inaugural addresses at ecclesiastical assemblies to be mainly devoted to such matters as social and industrial problems, church and labour, and Bible in schools, or questions relating to church organisation and finance. These problems are no doubt very important; nevertheless many people will be grateful to the Hev, It. Kempton, the President of the Baptist Union, which.is at present holding its conference in Christchurcn, for striking out into what might almost be called a new line. In choosing "Christian Mysticism" for his subject Mr. Kempton gave his hearers a welcome change, lifting them for the time being into another world, and enabling them under expert guidance to contemplate some of the deepest things of the human soul. Mysticism, whioh has been defined as "tho science of tho hidden life." certainly has its dangers and its pitfalls: but at its best it has proved itself one of the highest and most fruitful of spiritual impulses: it is (as Pfleiderer says) "the fundamental feeling of religion—the religious life at its very heart and centre. Of course many people will say that mysticism is quito impractical; but how much that has helped to make the world a place worth living in has been pronounced impractical by men of narrow vision. IJow much poorer and meaner human life and thought would be to-day but for tiiq work and example of those great minds who loved truth for its own sake, and sought for it quite apart from all considerations of material gain. Wo all owe a great debt of gratitude to mystics like Philo, St. Paul, St\ John, Plotinus, Origen, Erigena, Eckhart, Paracelsus, Bohme, Tauler, Thomas A Kempis, Suso, Fenelok, the Cambridge Platonists and the mystics of our own day. The mere mention of these great names is sufficient proof of tho importance of the subject. These men have tried to teach us that life is something more than a mad race for wealth, place, and power; for ease, luxury, and amusement; and have stood out from age to ago as witnesses to the fact that man is meant to play a nobler role than that of an exceptionally clever animal, for eternity has been written in his heart.

It seems that some effort will have to be made'by the City Council and the Orieket Association to arrive at a reasonable arrangement for deciding the availability of tho city reserves for cricket matches. Once last season an unfortunate muddlo was created through a certain eleventh-hour postponement; and now, at the very beginning of the present season, the summer sport has recoived what may easily prove to be a very nasty set-back. Some time on Saturday, too late for cricketers to know before they got to tho ground, notices were posted to tho effect that the city reserves wore not available for cricket, but that practice could bo had round the edges of the grounds. Saturday was a glorious day for the game, and the fixtures wero the opening matches of the season. Cricketers gathered at tho grounds, many of them only to be told that they could not play. A senior match set down for Kelburne Park was not allowed to proceed, though experienced cricketers declared that tho ground was quite fit. It is quite probable that somo of the more oxperionced city cricketers are better judges of when a wicket is fit than the Council's caretakers are, and it seems regrettable that they should not be consulted before such a dictum is allowed to go forth. Then again, "the practice" which was pormitted would do the ground in general as much, if not more, harm than a match, or several matches. . And, moreover, if Saturday's play had done the wicket injury the city reserves authorities could have fallen back upon next Saturday as a.diiy of rest if an offdny were necessary. In another sense it is well that this difficulty b.as arisen now,, because it may be possible to prevent a recurrence. The main thing is for the Council and the Association to arrive at a satisfactory understanding, and this might be come to if the City Council invited the Cricket Association to appoint an experienced cricketer, with special knowledge of wickets, to act with a oualified City employee for the purpose of deciding any questions as to the fitness of grounds or wickets.