NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1671, 11 February 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The railway returns for tho, four weeks, and the forty weeks, ended January 4 last arc printed in the Gazette of last Thursday, and they contain no evidence that the financial position of tho' railways is any better than it has been for some years past- For the forty weeks under notice, the gross revenue from all lines has increased from £2,734,167 to £2,955,901 (an increase of £221,744), but the gross expenditure during tho same period has increased from £1,801,727 to £2,026,131 (an increase of £224,404). The net rovenue is therefore actually less by between two and three thousand pounds. In the past tho. unsoundness of the railway, finances was due to inefficient management, but the responsibility became a Ministerial one when the old, Government steadfastly refused to take any steps towards setting the matter right. If, on his taking over the Ministerial control of w system so badly mismanaged. that its restoration to soundness will take a considerable time even with the best attention, Mr. Herries had decided that tho whole thing must be allowed to keep on drifting, ho would have been as deserving of blame as his predecessors. ' •'Fortunately •■; arrangements' have been put in train for tho oveihauling ,of;.the';syptem, and "it 4s quite plain that the sooner it begins tho'; better. Had tho new.. Govern-: .nWnt riot oome into office,, wo should liaye-had a continuance.-, of the-old, 'wasteful-and inefficient methods, and we do not like to think of . what tho state of the railway finances would have been after three more years of mismanagement. In- the meantime, some of those critics who were so angry with us in the past for suggesting that- the should be made to pay their way aro simulating . indignation ■ because Mr. Herries has not, in a few 'weeks/ raadp them,pay 'enormously. '

Tho announcement of the retirement of the Rev. W. Gittos from the more active and responsible work iof the ministry will bo received with deep regret by the whole Methodist, Church of New Zealand, and also by a great many othora who have had an opportunity of appreciating the splendid work he' has done for. the religious, and social will-being of tho Maori raoo. During his long career ho has eeon many ups and downs in Maori mission work, and if at times ho has had saddening experiences,. he has also :had many causes for hope and encouragement. The splendid results of the first preaching of the Gospel among the Maoris wero in a large measure counteracted by the effects of the wars and other,evil influences; but in spito of all ,dis--1 oauragemonts, tho missionaries, among whom Mil. Gittos holds a highly-honoured place, continued their, good w ; ork, and that work, though "its results may not. have equalled the great expectations of those who started it, has certainly not been in vain. The high tributes paid at the Methodist, Conference yesterday to tho great influence'which Mr. Gittos has exercised as Superintendent of the Methodist Maori Mission wero thoroughly well de-, served, and all will join in the hope that Mr. Gittos will find time to place on record 11 sketch of his long and varied fexperienoes as a missionary to, the Maoris.

In somo observations yesterday upon the controversy over the case or the Southland Icssee-in-per-pctuity, whose affairs have been a good deal discusscd, we made some reference to the Evening Post's assaults upon the Prime Minister Wo rioted the very obvious fact that the anti-Reform newspapers were concorned only to attack the Government, and would be bitterly chagrined to find that the public interest has been conserved under tho Act. Wc expressly referred to tho Post as not being one of tho virulent antiReform nowspapers, and paid.it the compliment of saying that we candidly wished to know what it desired Mb. Massey to do. To have asked that of tho anti-Reform organs would have been to waste words. Our contemporary answers us by saying that what it wants Mr. Massey to do is to publish in full detail tho legal opinions upon which tho Government relies, and upon which it will have to rely when, aa is threatened, the .lesseo brings a suit. That is all the Post asks. Wc are bound to say that if that is all that it desires, it is noisy out of measure, and that, in additioh, it is a request which, upon reflection, it will s«i cannot bo granted without placing tho State at a disadvantage. Who ever heard that a party to a pending action should present his full case to tho opponent in posse? We may add that wo are not surprised that our contemporary finds even the temporary company of the Spoils party's apologists distasteful ennußb tv disturb its equanimity, Perhaps, too, we Bhould not

bo surprised that tho Post's manners are also temporarily corrupted. It says, for instance, by way, apparently, of an argument, that wo are capable only of "witless ridicule." Well, Mr. Semple and bis friends and the anti-Reform press have already said that The Dominion is corrupt, illiterate, coarso, and all that. Our oply retort to our contemporary's resort to the foolish abuse in which these people are expert is that it ought to pause before its mere rudeness develops into something worse. '

Last week wo had some, reference to the "new style" in anti-lleforra journalism, as illustrated by a gross assault upon the Hon. F. M. B, Fisher, part of which consisted ot a vindictive reflection upon the late Mr. George Fisher. Concluding our reference to' the matter, we expressed BomQ curiosity, to know what some of tho less irrational • newspapers on- the Opposition side thought of tho "now style." The Christchureh organ of the Opposition unwisely permitted its detestation of the Reform Ministry to lead it into a delighted eulogy of. tho very article which went so far beyond the bounds, not of good taste merely, but of sanity ana decency. We are glad to see, however, that on second thoughts the Ohristchul'ch paper shuddered a little at its blunder. On Friday it had something like' 4 an apology in its editorial columns, and although the apology is not a very gracious one,, and is marred by a very lame excuse, which is * anything but frank (there/ is a prctenco that it thought tno late. Mr. GeoKqe Fisher was not referred to in tho_offending passage of the original article), still it is something to be glad of that there are still in Bome anti-Reform quarters pome lingering traces ,of a capacity to feel ashamed.