NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1637, 2 January 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

A remarkable judgment recently delivered by the House of Lorch (the judicial Lords) royeals an extraordinary condition in British tradeunion law. A certain firm of printers, Vacher and Sons, was placed on the "black list" by tho London Society of Compositors, which in furthering its antagonism to tho firm made'.'.' libellous accusations against it regarding its treatment of employees. The firm brought a libel action 'against the union, and after proceeding through all the Courts, the case came beforo tho •Houso of Lords. It is well known that under the Trade Disputes Act the common-sense and ordinary justice of' tho Taff Vale decision was set asido, trade unions being granted'immunity from damtige in respect of any tortious act committed in furtherance of a trade dispute. But it had not been suspected that trade Unions were by that statute empowered ; to commit tortious acts at; any time.; In this- particular case the damaging librf on Vaoher and Sons was not in furtherance 6f any trade dispute at all. Tho Houso bfLords was unanimous ih deciding that the union was immune from prosecution, Lord Atkinson observ-' ing that the Bench was not concerned with the question whether the Act was wise, just and beneficial, or the reverse. . Perhaps the Legislature did not intend that trade unions should be empowered to com r mit tortious acts of any'kind— ranging from plain damage to property' to libel and conspiracy—but that is what tho Legislature has effected. And' no'doubt any ; attempt to regu-' late this monstrous privilege will be'assailed as ah'attack upon the workingman; r . ,

The drowning fatalities on the Sumner beach on Saturday last appear to_ have stirred public feeling in Christchurch into energetic expression. Since it may now be assumed that our summer will bo a fine one, and that-sea-bathing will be more popular on our local beaches than it ever was before, we should extract whatever moral wo can from tho unhappy fatalities that have bo moved our Southern friends. Already in Ohristchurch a vigorous ■ movemont is afoot—under the charge of .various prominent , citizens—to mako tho Sumner beach safer by narking the danger-spots; equipping 'sheds 'for thO housing, of life-saving gear, and arranging for patrols., At Lyall Bay some el,these things 'have bcon\dono; That drowning accidents can bo entirely prevented is, however,.very doubtful. ; The Christchurch papers are full of hints and suggestions by all kinds of privato experts, and they are very unhelpful. One—"any experienced surfbather"—says, 'fox example: "The first rulo ; or th.j surf-bather should be to make suro of his ground. Once in the water he should find ouOhowthoiJurrent is running." Then follow directions about cutting^diagon-, ally across tho Currents. The cub-; todian of the municipal baths told a' reporter that as eyery outward curf rOnt implies one inward^, "the proper thing to do is to keep still, take a.deop breath, and float till the,current slackens or the porson in danger is brought in again; or; else swim across to the incoming current, and utilise it to get:ashore by." No doubt; but the person who could! think of all that when drowning is ; perfectly certain,: neverto be at all near drowning. The only practical teaching of tho Sumner fatalities is, after all, the wisdom of encouraging bathers to Wp. within a limited area and of keeping the lifesaving gear very ready for use.

Habituated..as most of us now are, to |the campaign of slander against our defence system,; it is annoying to find, every time an English mail arrives, that two or three British Kadical newspapers aro encouraging: the most preposterous stories about "conscription" in; New: Zealand, A typical letter in one of the latest numbers. of the Manchester Guardian is written by a Mr. Herbert Cokdek, who adds to hia signature, as if it were a title, "a member of the Society of Friends.;'' It is difficult'to behove that tho local mombcrs of tho Society—which is understood to stand for_ candour, at least, will bo' at all obliged to Mb. Corder when they read his most uncandid observations. Eo Bays, for example, _ that the Defence Act was now "initiated by tho popular wish," and as ho lived in New Zealand (according to his own account) until a year ago he knows .tha r t ■ if k over an Act had tho nation behind it it was this one. It was,, indeed, forced on the Ward Government by tho prossure of public opinion. Then we are told that the Act "was passed into law by the late Ward Ministry bofore the people had been consulted, and it is a significant fact," ho adds, "that at the first election after it had boon passed into law: the Government which passed it was overthrown," The Manchester Guardian's public was_ not told that' it is at least ns significant a fact that the present Government : is , even more faithfully attached to_ the principle of the Act than was its predecessors. , Any English reader unacquainted with the facts would infer from the sentence wo have quoted that Mr. James Allen, say, stood for election as an enemy of national training. Tho Society of Friends can surely not approve of ite name beipg quoted as a referonco by tho disingenuous enemies of our defonoo system.