NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1681, 22 February 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

. The troublewhich arose at the meeting of the City Council on Thursday evening Over a ruling by the Mayor would make it appear tliiit. there is .something remiss with the. Standing-Orders' of the CounApparently, according to the attitude, taken up by Mr. M'Laken, the Mayor can rule as he pleases on any question of procedure, 'and the Council, has no power to challenge his ruling'however: unjust or. unreasonable at, rna,y TVe do not say that Me. -M'Laken was in error in his interpretation of the Standing Orders. : Possibly he was technically correct in rejecting the proposal to amend the clause in the. Reserves Committee's report. But ho appears to have given rise to .misunderstanding by his conduct in assisting in the framing of the resolution which he afterwards so peremptorily ruled out of order, and it cannot be said that ho handled the situation with tact or judgment. Tho Mayor, of course, is tlie head of_the.Council; but he must be careful if he wishes to maintain the dignity of the office, and carry the respect of Councillors, to avoid any. room for the suggestion that he is attempting- to arrogate 'to him-self-powers which .he dcc 3 not possess, arid .more .espeeially tho power ,to\over-ride or ihwart the wishes of a majority : of the: Council.-: Mr. M'Laken has his good points no doubt, but it cannot be said of him that he has added lustre to' the office of Chief Citizen.

Thb plan which we publish this morning of the proposed alterations in. the Basin Reserve and the deviation of the tramway line to a less costly working route will enable citi-zens-and sports bodies interested to forhi some-idea of the effect of the suggested changes. ' So far as we, can judge the idea appears to bo an excellent, one, advantageous alike to the city and to the sporjs bodies. Wo must,accept tho expert opinion of the City Engineer as to the saving in cost in the working, of the tramway which will result from the deviation; and seeing that Mr. Morton has no ; doubts on this point, it is safe to set aside that aspect of the matter as beyond question. The only remaining issues, therefore, aro the effects of the proposed alterations in the ground from the point of view of its use by cricketers and athletic sports bodies, and the cost of the work necessary to carry out the changes/ As to the cost, that will ■ require investigation, and the capital outlay will have to be balanced against the saving in the cost of running of the tramways and any other benefits which may result. So far as the sports bodies are concerned it would seem on the whole that they will really be better off in thb 6nd if the scheme is carried out. The actual playing area of the ground will be slightly less than at present; but this will be compensated ioi; by the prospect of Securing bettor wickets-in the case of'the cricketers and better accommodation for the public all round. Moreover, the menace of losing the Reservo altogether, which has huilg over' their heads for so long, will be removed. The change once made there is little likelihood of _ the agitation in favour of running the trams straight through the ground being revived, particularly in'view of the fact that a.special playing area is to be provided for children in that section severed by the tramway route on the eastern side of the Reserve. At the present time parts of the (tround are" very unsightly and portions of it are really going to waste. The whole area will be better utilised under Mr. Morton's plan, and tho appearance of tho Reserve certainly riiuch improved.

The Minister for Native Affairs talked plain common-sense to the tVanganui Natives at Jerusalem oh Thursday evening, and incidentally made it very _ clear, that the Ik form Government is tackling the Native land question in real earnest. The outstanding obligation resting on the Ministry in this connection is to devise means which will enable the large areas of Native lands which at the present time are lying idloj or are not turned to profitable account, to bo brought into cultivation as speedily as possible, while at the same time preserving the rights of the Native owners. The Natives themselves, in most cases; are quite rts anxious as anyone else to see their lands brought into profitable occupation, but they have grown bo accustomed to. tile cumbersome methods and tedious delays inseparable from tlic' Native lahd laws of the past that they probably find it difficult to conceive _ any more speedy means of attaining the ends they desire. Moreovel - , they have contracted the litigation habit— they appeal to the Law Court® on tho slightest pretext, and prolong

the settlement of their disputes by costly law proceedings which deplete their purses and hinder development and progress. Mr. Heu--IUEB vel'y properly pointed out to them the Unwisdom of their behaviour in this respect and no doubt his words will Cal'ry some weight. But the problem involved in the Native land question—the individuallsation of titles—is a difficult one and the process slow. In this direction the Government will require to press forward with all the speed possible, and to do this it must, if necessary, add to .the numerical strength of the investigating tribunals. The policy of gradually wiping away the dividing-lino between Natives •J n( l Europeans "to make one race of New Zcaiandcrs instead o{ two rapes," as Mil. Henries put it, iB a sound one. i'lie practice has been to treat the Natives as children. Incapable of managing their own affairs, and they hiive been encouraged to regard themselves as helpless and dependent instead of being urged to aspire to an equal footing .with their White, fellow-subjects. They have been spoon-fed instead of being encouraged to strive to shift for themselves and win the freedom to manage their own private affairs. The change cannot be unduly hurried and must come, gradually, but it will bci a good thing for the Natives and a good thing foi* the country \vhen the existing hampering restrictions are removed and the Native population secures its full sharo of the privileges, and bears its fair proportion of the responsibilities, of citizenship.