NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1617, 7 December 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Canadian Government has certainly taken up its naval burden with thoroughness and in a fine spirit. Its proposal to provide three Dreadnoughts for use in the Pacific is a magnificent response to the Admiralty's memorandum, but it is less significant ,pcrhaps_ in some respccts than the fact that in future Canada will participate directly with the Mother Country in the Councils of the Empire in the matter of foreign polloy and Imperial defonoa, What actually, me ana is not auifcq.

clear, but tho probability is that in making tho Canadian Minister of Marine a permanent member of the Committee of Imperial Dcfenco, with tho right to act in consultation on all questions of foreign policy, a vital stop has been taken to ovorcomo tho objections of tho powerful section in Canada which has preferred to'maintain an attitude r>f independence in the matter of naval defence. It is a step, too, which must influence the views of all the overseas dominions. Mn. Borden's proposals, it will bo seen, provido for Britain controlling tho Canadian warships, although Canada is to have tho right at some, futuro time to take control of her own vessels. It is not surprising that there should have been tremendous excitement in the Canadian Parliament at the magnitude and scope of tho naval proposals of. the Government, There will probably bo somo opposition from the independent navy party, but tho now importance given to Canada in tho councils of the Empire should enable tho Government to overcome without serious difficulty such objections as may be raised.

In view of their heavy travelling expenses, members of the British Parliament havo been granted by Mn. Lloyd-George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, an abatement of income tax on tneir salaries. A good deal of very natural suspicion has attached itself to this latest piece of Ministerial benevoTencc on the part of tho Chancellor, who has been closely questioned in the House of Commons by members who desire to know the why and wherefore of the grant. Me. Lloyd-George was asked to givo the names of the members who had inspired the gratujtv, or, alternatively, to state to which side of the House they belonged. _ His reply was that to supply this information would be invidious, and in any case the abatement was considered upon the merits of the case, rather than upon the representations of members. The Spectator finds it difficult to understand what the merits of the case are. It'is not alone in its perplexity. But tho principle is clearly bad. "It 1b surely a most unwise precedent to grant to members of Parliament exemptions from taxation which are not allowed to the private citizen," comments The Spectator. The ordinary season ticket holder may not deduct the price of his ticket from his income for .the purpose of income tax assessment,, and that members should be given this privilege is, in Me. Bonak Law's words, at least open to suspicion. The worst , feature of these concessions to members by the Government of the parent country is the example set to the demagogues in the oversea Legislatures, who are only too ready to seize upon any pretext for an enlargement of their personal privileges and' perquisites..

Discussing the financial side of the war in the Balkans, The Economist works out some startling re l suits. The shrinkage in the value of the world's securities, it explains, is due in part to the fact that capital is being destroyed by the, war day after-day on a very large scale. Well over half a million men have been drawn away from reproductive undertakings, chiefly farm work, and if the labour of these able-bodied men is put as low as 10s. a week, there l is r a"ldss ,! 6f'''£2'soiooo''a! ,! week.' Th&se men are being fed and moved about at the public expense. If allowance is made for the food they eat, the ammunition they destroy: arid if, further, provision is made for the 400,000 who were already under arms before the general mobilisation 'took place, a reasonable estimate would place the loss of capital at a million sterling-, per week. To this must be further added the losses which each country must suffer through the deaths from war or disease of ablebodied men, which this cold-blooded calculation puts down at £.260 for every life lost. This latter computation is based on the modest estimate that every conscript could earn £25 a year, and that his life, but for the war, would have been worth ten years' purchase. The actual cost of the war to the countries engaged in it, however, can perhaps be best judged from the following figures, which include the existing public debt of the countries named:

Estimated Monthly Existing Men in cost. debt, fcho field. £ £ Bulgaria ... 300,000 4,500,000 24,407,976 Servia 200,000 8,000,000 26,937,000 Montenegro 40,000 600,000 250,000 Greeoa 60,000 > 900,000 27,343,000 Turkey 500,000 7,500,000 131,173,000 These figures were compiled towards the end of October, and under-state the number of men actually engaged in the war, which, of course, means, that the cost is heavier than stated.

The wool sale held in Wellington yesterday was, in the opinion of both brokers ancl buyers, easily tho best ever held in this city. The catalogue was. a fairly large one, comprising some eleven thousand bales. Tho attendance of buyers, of whom there were between fifty and sixty, representing Home, Continental, American, and Now' Zealand houses, was rather larger than usual, and the bidding throughout was spirited,' the competition at times being extremely keen and exciting. These wool sales invariably attract a food crowd of spectators, and yesteray was no exception to the rule, the gallery of the Concert Chamber being well filled with,both men • and women, who appeared to enjoy hugely tho antics ot the buyers below. The condition of the wool, particularly Romney wool from Wellington, Wairarapa, and Manawatu, was_ bright, but somewhat light in condition, due no doubt to the wet weather experienced. Some of the bales contained log-stained, damp, and seedy woolb. On the whole, howover, the wool was well grown, and the prices realised show an advance of 2d. to 2jd. per lb. on tho parity of the corresponding sales of last year. The advance is shown rather fully in the report of Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., published in our commercial oolumns this morning. The Americans did not operate to the extent expected, probably because of tho likelihood of a lowering of the American WO9I tariff promised by the new President of the Republic. The buyers from the Continent were also modest in their demands, but representatives of Bradford and local buyers were keen competitors. _ The improvement in values seems likely to oe maintained—tho trade of the world is active, and from _ all accounts an industrial boom is otio of the probabilities of the New Year. If so, wool should be in strbng demaud, and tho level of prices ( instead of falling, should go higher. Wool growers must not, however, get a wrong impression of tlic advance, and this feature of the position is emphasised by Dalgety and Co. The wool offored yesterday was light in condition, and the buyers got more wool and less grease for their money than ÜBUftl. Tho condition of tho wool that is to be marketed at sub-

sequent sales may n<ot be bo light. That is to say, it may contain more grcaao, and the buyers will naturally adjust their prices to meat this. Howover, the outstanding fact that we have to record is that wool is higher in price, and that the market shows every sign of remaining buoyant. About a fortnight hence tho vendors of tho wool will bo receiving oheques, which, in the aggregate, will represent about £200,000, a very acceptable Christmas gift for this part of tho country.