NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1799, 11 July 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Home Rule Bill is once more before the House of Lords, by whom i.t Was rejected last year by 326 votes to 69. On the present occasion the Marquis of Lansdowne will move, when' the Bill comes up for its second reading, that the House declines to consider it until ' it has been submitted to the judgment of the country. A cablegram which we publish in another column states that the motion is interpreted in some quarters as an attempt to circumvent the Parliament Act, and create an immediate deadlock. It is not, however, clear how it can have this effect. According to the provisions of the/ Parliament Act, if tho Bill is passed by the House of Commons in three successive sessions (whether of the same Parliament or not), and is rejected by the House of Lords in each of those sessions, it shall, unless the House of Commons direct to the contrary, be presented to. his Majesty, and become law on the Royal Assent being given. The refusal of the House of Lords to'consider the Bill would be equivalent to its rejection, for it is provided that a measure shall be deemed to be rejected if it is not passed either without amendment, or with such amendments only as may be agreed to by both Houses. Tho Bill has been passed twice by the House of Commons, and it has now gone a second time to the House of Lords. Tho question is whether circumstances will compel the Government to submit it to the judgment of the people before it goes through its final stages. In view of the recent by-elections, tho Spectator aays it is unthinkable that the Government should refuse a general election before the third time of asking. "Even to oblige 1 kind Mr. Redmonp, they will not stain their hands with the bk>od of the Ulstermcn, when a dissolution will certainly relieve them of the necessity."

No doubt the Opposition were caught at a disadvantage by, the Minister for Marine yesterday when he brought forward his motion to set up a committee of inquiry into allegations made regarding certain appointments to the Wcstport Harbour Board. Having made the charge that one of the appointees was unfitted for the office, and having attempted to convey the impression that the Minister had knowingly appointed a person whose past character did not warrant his selection for the office, they would have been very glad to have let the, matter rest there. : When, however, Mr. Fisher showed his determination to have it probed to the bottom, and when they saw that their mean insinuation was 'likely .to be exposed, they found themselves considerably embarrassed. They wanted anything in the world but a committee of investigation, which might incidentally rake up unpleasant facts regarding the methods pursued by previous Governments, in the matter of nominations to Harbour Boards. So they backed and filled. One minute they repudiated any idea of suggesting that the Minister had knowingly; made the appointment of an unsuitable person and they denied that he was on his trial; the next they were complaining that he should not sit on tho committee of inquiry because he was on his trial. They got no very much mixed up in their arguments that they did not stop even to consider how greatly they were condemning the past practices of tho gentleman they hope to persuade to Become their leader, to wit, Sin Joseph Ward. It has been the practice for years past in cases where the actions of a Minister are subjected to criticism and a committee of inquiry is set up, to place the Minister on the committee. For ourselves we can see little to commend the practice, while there are distinct objections to it; but the present Opposition are the last people in the world qualified to raise such objections. However, the main concern of the public—if they are concerned at all over this trivial affair—is the facts. So far as we know no proposal was brought forward to hold till' inquiry ill public with the press present. Perhaps the committee will take such steps as may be necessary to permit this to be done, so that the public may be fully informed of what transpires.

Mr. Craigie, who represents Timaru in the House of Representatives, blundered rather badly yesterday afternoon in seeking to gain a little prominence. He moved an amendment to the Address-in-Rejab which

expressed the view that it was necessary that the laws relating to the aggregation of land should be made more effective; "and the most effective way to accomplish this end," the amendment concluded, "is by means of a graduated and over-increasing land tax." Mr. C'raioie's friends on the Opposition benches were horrified at this proposal to go on piling up taxation on the ordinary farmer as well'as on the big landholder, and in the interval between the afternoon and evening sittings the member for Timaru apparently bad the heinousness of his offence pointed out-t-o him, and, on the■ House resuming at 7.30 p.m. desired to cover up his blunder. This, however, was not permitted, and Mr. Cragie's erstwhile friends on the Opposition benches thereupon proceeded to disown him. In the end the amendment, which the Minister for Finance in the absence of the Prime Minister had treated as a want-of-confidence motion, was rejected on i!? fc «°' ccs - Ik t° be hoped that the Government are not going to follow the practice of Mr. Seddon of treating every motion with which they are in disagreement as a motion of want of confidence. It was a foolish and quite unjustifiable practice, and generally resulted in a needless waste of time.

The officials of the Harbour Board appear to have been over-cautious in the matter of the transhipment of the' Indrabarah's cargo of frozen meat into an occan liner lying alongside the injured vessel at the wharf. The precautions which the shipping company's agents were prepared to take were in themselves quite sufficient to safeguard the Harbour Board against trouble and relieve it of responsibility. The Jervois Quay berth, one would imagine, was sheltered enough for anything of the kind proposed. No doubt the harbourmaster has to exercise care in such matters, but the Board must surely see that if its chief concern is the possibility of the reputation of Wellington's shipping accommodation suffering should an accident result from the berthing of the vessels together, then it is incurring a more assured risk of tho port suffering in prestige through the inability of the Harbour Board to meet the requirements of the present situation. The agents of the vessel, guided by the advice- of their shipping experts apparently, are prepared to take the risk, if any, and relieve the Harbour Board of ail responsibility, "hat more can tho Board desire 1

Unity in the ranks of the LabourSocialists appears to be impossible. The great Congress has ended with the, militants triumphant all along tho line; and before the chorus of congratulation has died away the discordant note of a rival movement creeps in. Tho militants, who_ were the really powerful section of the Labour party at the Unity Congress, have had their own way, but the small band of secessionists have already unfurled a banner under which they hope to group the remnant out-sido the big new organisation. A pretty fight is in prospect, and the opponents of Labour will once more enjoy tho spectacle. l of Labour divided against itself. °