NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1684, 26 February 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Most people will be rather puzzled to understand. Mr. Hogg's strange outburst, at yesterday's mooting of the Education Board, ] against our defence system.,' The Education Do-' p'artment has decided'that the conduct of a scholar holding a "free' place" shall'not be treated .as satisfactory unless that scholar, observes the .requirements -,of the Defence regiilitions. ■ ' But for Mr. Hogg's speech, vm should not have believed that any . sane being could quarrel with the idea that a scholar enjoying tho State's bounty- should not bo permitted' to disobey the law of the land without- forfeiting his special privileges. / Mit.'. Hogg quarrels' viplently with the idea, however. Perhaps tliis good-natured, but obviously not very profound;, Radical' had no deeper purpose than to fire off a. mass'of figures at the Defence Act.< His figures arc. too numerous to look spontaneous. What.he asked the Board to do was to insist that the State must subsidise those scholars who may defy the State's laws.He might as reasonably demand that the members'.of the Anti-Mili-tarist Congress (or whatever it is) should bo paid by the State as if,' they were colonels.-.

On January , 12 last a cable, message was received to ( the effect that the Manchester Guardian had stated that Mr. Massey. had "communicated to Mr. Harcourt and to the Admiralty details of an'.important change in the' Dominion's , naval policy, which will shortly be. announced, enabling a scheme of cooperative'defence in the Pacific to be brought into 'operation sooner than - was expeefcea." Wc were pretty suro that this message was incorrect,, and we now find that it was. In the Guardian of January 11 there is printed. a note- from its London correspondent, dealing-with Canadian naval policy. This note concludes as follows; "I am told that the Premier of New Zealand is now in communication with the Colonial Offioe and tho Admiralty on the question of the Navy, and that an important change in the -policy of the Dominion will shortly be announced. This will enable tho scheme for the co-operative defence of; the' Pacific to be brought' into force sooner than was anticipated." This, it will bo seen, puts a-very different interpretation on the matter. We all knew, o£ course, that the Prime Ministers of all the Dominions are never out of touch with the Home That an important change in New Zealand's policy is contemplated, and is necessary, is also a well-known fact. Mr. Massey was blamed fit tho time, on the strength of' the erroneous cable, for secrotiy "communicating details of a policy" to the_ British Jauthorities. ■ Those anti-Reform newspapers _ which are finding relief for their feelings just now in'wild attacks on the Govern'ment, based on their own garbled and distorted versions of current happenings, arc hardly worth notice. But on defence matters one could almost wish that they would see the wisdom now and then of making criticism wait on fact.-

It is not surprising that the action of the leaders of the so-called United Labour Party in throwing in their lot with tho Federation of Labour extremists should meet with the strong disapproval of many of the rank and file of Labour. The average trade unionist is as loyal and patriotic a citizen as anyone else, and extravagances and disloyal utterances of some of tho leaders of the Federation of Labour must have been wholly abhorrent to a large section of unionists. • Moreover, it is impossible to believe that any body of level-lie,ided men -would, trust their affairs to the,control and guidance of those who bundled so disastrously in connection with the Waihi striko, of those who aro so pnruat„cntb prejudicing the cause of Lab-

our by their wild and intemperate language. We am told to-day that in Auckland already there is n,n organised movement amongst Labour bodies to strengthen the New Zealand Labour Party, an- organisation which stands for Labour ideals, as distinct from the extravagant Syndicalist an Socialist' ambitions of the reccntly-formcd combination. The Auckland movement will probably form a welcome rallying-point for those Labour moderates who object to being dragged at the heels of the shallow' but noisy fellows' who are for ever waving the lied Flap and bringing the name of Labour into ridicule and opprobrium.