NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1657, 25 January 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

An attempt was made at yesterday's meeting of the University Senate to lower the standard of the matriculation examination by extending the vicious "compensatory" juggling with candidates' marks. Dr. Fitohett, who moved in the matter, appears to'have been inspired by an anxiety to remove tho impression—a false impression, as he admitted—that _ the University was a class institution. Mr. von Haast very properly asked what "class" had to do with examinations, and Sir Robert Stout, ' who is as democratic as anybody, declared bluntly that no secondary scholar should bo allowed to pass into the University until he is ready to proceed with higher education. The people who want the matriculation" standard lowered in tho name of domocracy are very _ confused thinkers. If they are thinking of poor scholars, they should ask, not for an open'door for the stupid, but an open door for the poor. And if they are not thinking of poor scholars, of whom are they thinking? The letter from Mr. W. J. Napier to the Senate is a very singular production. It is really an insult to democracy to suggest that it requires the half-educa-tion of everybody. . Mr. Napier complains that tho raising of the matriculation standard has "shut out" some thousands of people from tho benefits of a University education, and he makes an unwarranted chargo against . tie examiners. Surely ono can be a democrat and yet insist that the benefits of a university education should not be wasted; and wasted theso benefits will certainly be unless they are confined to those who can convert the in to good uses.. Every ; penny of public money spent on the education of duffers, in secondary schools or at university colleges, is a penny stolen from tho fund available for the education of those young peoplo w]ib can bo made valuable by a good education. _ The suggestion that tho matriculation standard should be madoso low that, any duffer may pass it is not "democratic" at all: it is wasteful, and unjust to those young people who have moro brains than means. The ideal towards which tho Senate should 'direct its efforts is a University in which the standards are high and severe, the teaching frco of charge, and tho scholarships generous; so that its doors shall be closed against nobody, rich or poor, saving only thoso, rich or poor, on whom ,a, University training would .be wasted.

Althouqh some of the Opposition newspapers have been ' extremely busy finding fault with the Government—and incidentally committing themselves to some foolish statements which later on they will wish they had not made—they have not succeeded in saying anything calling for a' reply. The Prime Minister has accordingly been quite unburdened by tho Careß of controversy, but we are not sorry that he took the opportunity afforded him by the annual dinner of the Rotorua Chamber _of Commerce to remind the public of tho financial mess which the old Government passed on to tho present Ministry. The public's memory is not so short that tho lato Government's legacy of heavy commitments without the funds to meet them is yet forgotten, but Mr. Massey 'is quite right to emphasise the praotical effect ( of the injurious carelessness of/ his The "enormous commitments" of the provious Administration must bo mot, and the Government will meet them; but beforo thoy can bo met, tho ways and means must be found. The local bodies which were misled by the Ward Government into supposing that millions could rain down from the skiea will have realised by now that thdy wire misled. and any indignation they may feel they_ will reserve -for the party which misled them. It is satisfactory to know that the Government is overtaking tho liabilities which were, in some cases, apparently incurred not without the hopo that the Reform Party would have to shouldor them. The statement of finances for tho Deqembor quarter, as set out in last night's Gazette, aro enooiiraging at least. The gross revenue and expenditure for tho last quarter of 1911 and of 1912 aro as follow: —

1011. 1912. Incr'se.

b2 iC Revonne ..i... 3,024,074 3,179,660 155,592 Expenditure ... 2,930,340 2,950,359 20,019 There have beon larger increases in revenue, but the increase in tho expenditure is handsomely small—in the two preceding years tho increases for the quartor were £198,131 and £205,831 respectively. The country is prosperous, and a spell of honest government will ' do wonders in purging away the, ill offqets of tho imprudence and opportunism of tho past.

By a majority of 157 votes, Mr. Beeby has escaped defeat in the Blayney by-election, and tho oxMinister, who defeated the Labour candidate at the first ballot by his professions of political independence, and recanted in the interval between the first and sccond ballots, now returns to the New South Wales Assembly as a supporter of the Government which ho previously defied. Although_ the result postpones the conversion of tho Governmont's majority into a minority, yoti having regard to the growing

reaction of publio feeling against the autocracy of tho caucus machine, tho Government's removal from tho Treasury benches is merely postponed for the timo boing. It will be interesting to follow Me. Beeby's progress in the Stato Assembly when ho takes his seat bohind Mr. M'Gowen. His volte-face when confronted with tho possibility of defeat at the second ballot is curiously reminisoent of the somersault which was performed by a local candidate, happily with less success, during tho last general election in New Zealand. This gentleman, before the first ballot, excelled every other candidate in tho fiold, even

tho most vigorous of the Reform candidates, in denouncing, and quite justly denouncing, the then Ministry, but in tho critical interval before the second ballot, he appealed to the "Liberals" to aid him in beating "Mabseyism." Mr. Beeby has succeeded, but his Bucoesa will in the long run have to bo paid for. Tho narrowness of his majority marks the turn of tho tide in publio opinion in Now South Wales.

On Saturday last we had some references to tho slaughtermen's demands, and we took occasion to deal with that feature of the Btriko which makes it unliko most of tho strikes that have flourished undor the Arbitration Act. This feature was, as we pointed out, the legality of the mens action, which in its turn left tho disputo as a dispute in which tho country's main interest was speotatorial. We insisted,-how-ever, that as the demands 01 the men amounted to a demand that tho business of slaughtering should be made a close corporation, tho public had a special interest in tho matter whicn it would not havo were not tho trade unions in possession of statutory privileges enjoyed by no other section of the nation.

If (we said) this were a free country, in which trades unions wore not in possession of powers and privileges which no political party would dare to oonfer on any other section of tho community, no, vital public interest would bo involved in any dispute as to wages and conditions of work.

In its context that : is a porfectly clear statement of our contention that if the unions. had- not secured exceptional class privileges tho oountry could not with justice coniplain of tho strike, The ' Ohrjstchur'ch organ of the anti-Reformers, after taking nearly a week to think it over, hit upon the expedient of quotirig the above passage without its context; and it actually proceeded to persuade its readers, almost in eo many words, that The Dominion had declared that "Capital" should, be empowered, by amending legislation, to crush the workers. The misrepresentation of our views, of course,,was deliberate, and we refer to it only in order that tho public may know the straits to which _ the reactionaries who want '.'Spoils" politics back again aro now reduced.