NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1610, 29 November 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

■ The Prime Minister told, an Auckland deputation on Wednesday that the Government, did not intend to lose the taxpayers' money in making advances to local bodies. This, of course, is (juite proper,'but the statement is liable to be misunderstood unless some explanation is given of the causes which necessitated it being made. Probably most of our readers are aware that under the Continuous Ministry the State Ad-' vanccs Board conducted this loans to local bodies portion of its business on very unsound lines so far as the country was concerned. It committed the country to advances to local bodies at a given rate ofintcrcst'be-. fore the money with which the advances were made had been raised by the' State. The result was that when the Massey Government came into office it found itself committed to loans to local bodies at a lower rate of interest than it could possibly borrow the money at itself. This meant that the lucky local body would get the money it wanted below the current rate of interest and the .general taxpayer would have to make up the loss. An amendment of the law was mado last Bcwion by

the new Government, which puts a stop to this injustice and prevents the Advances Board lending money below the rate at which the moneywas originally borrowed. That is the position to-day. The local bodies can still get the benefit of the power of the State to borrow cheaper than they themselves can borrow in the open market; but whatever it costs the State they also must be prepared to pay, plus a small charge to cover the cost of the administration of the Advances Department.' The placing of the' Advances Department on a tio'und footing in this particular respect is one of the things standing to the credit of the new Minister of Finance, Mb. James Allen. ,

The cabled accounts of the murder of Herman Rosenthal, the New York gamblinghoitse-keeper, the .conviction of those directly responsible for the crime, and the incidental unmasking of the, infamous' "system" under which the police and the lawbreakers'of New York have mutually profited by the grossest kind of collusion, . have failed to 1 disclose to what a remarkable degree the public conscience in America has been stirred* by these events. Rosenthal was a self-confessed and his murder was an "arranged' affair, instigated, in' the belief that he was about to expose his "graft" associates. Largely through the energy and determination of • the Public Prosecutor of New York, crime, instead of , blocking further investigation; precipitated disclosures of police "graft which' raised an outcry from the-Atlantic to the Pacific, and culminated in the conviction of Police-Lieutenant .Becker, of murder in the first degree. The result surprised everybody, and was regarded by the New York Evening Post as a "tonic event," which ".cannot fail'to restore confidence in our methods of criminal prosecution, and to make justice appeal; more swift and sure, than the community had come'to think it.'.' .. . .

"Even more important,"- adds the J>ew York journal, "is it to.'have the demonstration that theiweapons of the law are sharp and strong, enough to cut .through tho' l network of police collusion ..with crime. It has been tho boast of the sys* tern' that'it; could snap its fingers at the criminal code and defy prosecutors and the Courts, The. confederation between the police ind favoured criminals was represented- as too powerful, with too many ramifications, for the District, Attorney to •break into. But he has shown that the resources of criminal investigation and the agencies of the law' are adequate to cope with the vilest conspiracies and the most intricate crimes that the 'system can devise. Viewed, from any angle, the verdict of the Becker jury, is the most terrific blow. that: the wicked'and flaunting alliance between the guardians of the law and the. violators, of it 'has erer received."

Police-Lieutenant-, , Becker, ; who banked large sums of 'money and livecl on . a scale far beyond the resources of his official income, now lies under sentence of death, and the sentence is to be carried out in Pecember. Three of his accomplices have already "been . electrocuted, a.nd« Becker's only hope..of evading the sentence passed upon him lies in the possible use that may-be itiado by his friends "higher up'Mn the "system" of the' involved, procedure, of the American ..'Courts,, in an,, appeal on' technical grounds.: The New York Post recogniscs '.' this; : ; and remarks that it would be "a public misfortune, if the verdict, be set ■ because of some c ' merely r technical' error that" did not really impair Becker's - , rights. ■ As . the matter stands, there has been a signal and heartening vindication of justice. All must hope-that nothing in the future disposal of the case will : lessen its deep inipressiveness." New York is.leading: the ,way to' ".secure 1 police- roforms. The real: trouble in the past seems to -have, -been that -the citizens have hitherto left ths, police ancl other civic..rfffairs.-. oliiefly to local politicians; and, have been disinclined to- identify'themselves with the Public Service/ ",;-The ivystem of electing . administrative, officers, together with 1 that/.'curioiis between local .politics and the: administration of' the -lawsis mainly 1 re? sponsible for the "graft'.'; revelations which have;_scandali§ed.' the civilised world from'time'to time.... :

It .is not at all surprising to learn, that the" Waihi strikors who , have been landed in such difficulties, by: the. reckless ; blundering of the": leaders of the -Federation of Labour are growing restive utider their _ losses. These men,have been on strike now for very''many, months—they- have been ' living' on the; charity of . their fellow-workmen—they were fighting for. no better cause than the right to intimidatevand terrorise ' a weaker union of workers, who 'refused to come under the red'flag" of the Federation, with all that it implies—and they have been hopelessly beaten in the unjust fifehfc on which they tered with light hearts and a callous disregard f6r the.'. liberty. and freedom of their, intended victims. Small wonder is it that now', ; when : on top of their losses, .they are'.face to face with real hardships, they should grow distrustful of "thojjG .-to- whom 1 they have so blindly submitted 'themselves for guidanfce. 'Che extraordinary part of. the 'business is .that the Federation of Labour should still persist, wheii. there is not _ evpn _a shadow of hope of benefiting their unhappy following, in keeping them out of employment. Not- only are the miners kept from returning to their work and they and., their families thus punished,; but the whole .of the members of the Federation are also needlessly penalised by being called ' on'to contribute.'funds to maintain the strikers. And.for>hat possible reason 1 :.We doubt if there' is . a single- person iii . Now Zealand who knows- anything of.the facts of the position >at'. 'Waihi. who : believes there, is oven a;glimmer,of hope of the strikers gaining anything continuing to-refuse work.. The incapacity of the leaders of the Federation could not be better, exemplified than it is by their' mulish persistence in depleting the funds of thenorganisation and.imposing hardships on their deluded following to maintain a strike which exists in name only." The fact of the matter is that, behind all their bluster, and brave talk is . a deadlyfear: the fear of the consequences when they , have to own to •defeat and. their followers learn the truth as to how they have 'been misled and their interests pre-; iudiced for the aggrandisement Of a little coterie of strife-mongers.'-

The tremendous cost of preserving what is. after' all an' extremely delicate arid'i'pj'ccariqus condition of peace amongst the great naval Pow: era is .demonstrated with grim significance' iii an Admiralty - return, published - recently, showing the naval expenditure of each of the eight principal' naval Powers Great Biitain, • Ki-aneci llussia, Germany, Italy, ''Austria-Hungary, United States,' an d 'Japan. During' the last three years the annual' British naval expenditure has risen from £41,118,668 in 1910-11 to ftn estimated total of £45,616,540, for the current 1012-13 period, ■ and included in this .huge

sum is a vote of £17,271,527 for new construction, including ■ armament. 1 The gross total expenditure of the other seven Great Powers is as follows:— , . „ 1910-11. 1912-13. "" 06 United States 27,818,111 , 26,510,019 Germany 20,845,000 22,609,540 France 15,023,019 18,090,758 Russia 9,723,574.-17,681,207 Italy 8,341,766 . 8,066,505 Jnpin 7,729,968 9,461,817 Austria-Hungary 3,545,727 ' 5,841,968 From the naval point of-view, national security depends, primarily, upon the relative strength and efficiency of the fleet at the moment, but ultimately upon the' financial vitality of the country, and,the public will probably wonder how far the strain of this constantly increasing expenditure will be maintained before the breaking point is reached. It is quite evident tnat in the case of each there can be no turning back, for each is compelled, either from the vital considerations of naval predominance, in the case of Great.Britain, or from lesser obligations in the case of the weaker Powers, to spend at a rate dictated by constantly changing and increasingly imperative circumstances. A cablegram from Berlin on Monday announced that Germany's Navy in 1915 would consist of 39 battleships, 20 armoured cruisers, and 37 protected cruisers, and this naval activity will be correspondingly reflected in the activities of those nations who desire to retain their places amongst, the naval Powers. ■ y