NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1627, 19 December 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

4 WitiTiMii on Tncdthty of Hie railwn.,y ligtii'of) i/i llio utimnik (JazcMe, Uio Olirielcluircili organ of llio anf-i-Itfl/oniiors informed iIH roudcra llnil llio frienilß of Ikforin _ "arc pruscrving n oiiriouti fiiJisnco" in r«Kurd lo tlu! decline in llic i railway rcvcutio. II ia cliarnctcrielic of the nnU-Jtoforniflr limb he should cxpaofc lliu Jl,o.forin newspaper!! to say nolhing now about any faults of ndniiiiißlrntioi], find perhims it is ehariiulfli'istic, too, tfnit ■ the Chriulchiireh _• paper made its Htatuiiient (lcn])ito the fact lliat The tioMiKiON had on the preceding day called attention to tho disagreualile figures referred to. We may be permitted, we think, a modoiit chuckle at iindiiig the Southern journal, which so strongly defended tie railways administration when Sir J. G. Ward v/ua in office, coming out now to complain' that the figures in the last Gazette arc disquieting and unsatisfactory. The change is obviously to be accounted for rather by hostility to ! tho Government than by a genuine anxiety for railway reform, but at the same time even fnetioiiH opposition can be good when it happens to express itself in criticism.whore criticism is needed. Our contemporary does, indeed, admit that Mn. Hurries is not ,responsiblo for the decline; and, of course, everyone knows it is due to the bad system created by years of mismanagement. We, entirely agree that the Minister ought to obtain frpm the Department some explanation of the fact that, despite the vast increase in the capital cost of the system during tho past year, the net revenue is absolutely less than it was last year. Doubtless the Christehurch paper will take an opportunity to confess to.its readers that it had no warrant for its suggestion that the friends of Reform were "preserving a curious silence."

The prospects _of the . Peace Conference, sitting in London, being able to arrive 'at any satisfactory settlement of terms of peace between Turkey and the Balkan Allies do not appear to be very encouraging. It rather seems as though the Allies have blundered in' agreeing to an armistice at all. When the fighting between theißalkan States and Turkey ceased, -the Turks were in a very demoralised state, , - and were greatly embarrassed through lack of food supplies. Each day since the fighting ■ ceased 'their position has improved. Fresh troops have'been.pouring in from Asia; they have replenished their supplies and strengthened their position in a variety of ways.. The fighting spirit of the nation has been thoroughly aroused, . and despite their heavy losses, and serious reverses up to the present 'stage of tho war, there is a widespread clamour against a peace being patched up which will involve any material. loss of territory. If the Peace Conference fails to bring about a settlement, as seems likely,, tho war will be resumed, with Turkey in an infinitely hotter position than she was when the armistice was agreed to. On the other hand, it is doubtful if the Balkan Allies will be quite so eager as they were at the outset of the war. At present it rather looks as though the Balkan Allies were after all not going to reap very much in the way of the fruits of victory.

The English mail just,to . hand shows that Me. Lloyd-George and his friends were not adding to. thoir credit in connection with their secret inquiry into the manners and customs of landholders in Britain. The scheme' (which we explained the other day) has a bad odour- to Englishmen, and the Radicals know it, for thoy had to use all their ingenuity to apply the deodoriser of sonorous periphrasis. They were talking, 'at ■last advices, of the propriety ot investigating "questions which are at the foundation of the welfare of our agricultural population." Aβ one hostile critic pointed out, you have only to add "Sir" to the end of that sentence and you, have Mr. Pecksniff before your eyes. The fact is, as we have often pointed out, that the_ demagogues and Jacobins have discovered how easy it is to gull a section of the people, with empty phrases that sound well but often nave no relation to facts. "Community," "welfare," "ameliorative," and above all "social justice," are some of these. "Social justice" has been made familiar to New Zealanders by all the tribe lying between, say, Mr. Sbmplb and the late Attorney-General, and we need not say who it was that ended nearly every sentence with "the welfare of the people as a.whole." Of these words and their users the Saturday Eeview has some shrewd things to say: ( Tho people who talk about "touohing life," "touching the life of the People, Sir," use them largely. Carlyle might have called them "swindler-words," and perhaps "community" is becoming the worst rogue of all.. It iB pretty well known now that when an orator uses these words and works them into long, windy sentences, either he is not saying what ho thinks—he is thinking or judging underneatTi, he is hypocritical?—or he is not thinking at all.

It behoves other people to be all the more direct and _ plain-spoken. Plain facts and plain statements and exact terms which do mean something always succeed in the long run against the meaningless jargon of demagogues.