NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1837, 25 August 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

It is not the custom of the House of Representatives to take tho member for Napier very seriously, and possibly that is why he on occasion resorts to exaggeration in an attempt to win attention. During the Financial Debate, for instance, he entertained members with a taste of his wit by narrating a story "joy ride" which had something to do with a funeral, and finding the House unre-

sponsive, turned his attention to tho longoio Estate and blackberries:

This [estate! lie said, is ono of the mislakes, I suppose,. of the Ward Government. Now, I happen to know something about this estate. • There aro two or three sections there that have a few blackberries on them. But these people H'o cultivating the blackberries. Tlioy ;et members of the Government to go ij) there, and, they say, "Look at the ilackbojrries; wo cannot afford to pay so uueh rent." . . . They cherisli the

blackberries liko you would a baby. I'hey Peed them, mantifo them, and water them, and get them ready for the members of the Government to sec. If you could Ret your rent reduced a year wouldn't you grow blackberries? I would not trust you. This is what is being done.

Mp.. Brown said a good deal more in the same strain. His statement it will be seen is in effect thAt on the Tongoio Estate there were only two or three sections carrying blackberries, and that on theso sections thero were only a few blackberries. What are the actual facts, according to an official report quoted in Parliament by the Prime Minister? There are a dozen settlers on the estate, and they had asked for a remission of rent because of the blackberry curse. The Minister sent an officer up to report, and the result was a statement that the areas under blackberry, on the various sections were as under: —105 acres, 240 acres, 120 acres, 42 acres, 50 acres, 11 acres, 21 acres, 15 acres, 68 acres, 160 acres, 18 acres and 300 acres. It will be seen from these figures that instead of there being two or three sections with a few blackberries on them the whole of the twelve sections, according to the official report, are suffering from the pest; in one case no fewer than 300 acres being covered with blackberries. These are tho sections on which Mr. Vigor Brown says the settlers "cherish the blackberries like you would a baby," and feed, manure, and water them. The member for Napier may find some enjoyment in cracking lokes at the misfortunes of others—for we suppose his reference to the estate was meant to be considered funny—but it is a sort of humour moro suited to tho circus ring than to the Parliament of the country.

Pensions for politicians would seem to bo a possibility within the near future. There is something to be said in favour of the question, which is now being discussed in the lobbies of Parliament It does not take many years of Parliamentary life to unfit some men to follow the ordinary everyday means of earning a living. But is it a good thing to do anything to encourage men to make politics their business in life t Certainly it would be a good .thing to induce men of capacity and judgment to make a study of political questions of a social and economic nature with a view to them assisting in the government of their country] but the average elector is not inclined, to bo influenced in his choice of a candidate merely by the ability of the individual to render public service. A man might make a lifetime study of subjects calculated to qualify him for a plaoe in the counsels of the. nation, and never get a'chance to put his knowledge to use in Parliament. To ensure that' a man, after a certain length of service in the Parliament of the country, would in his old ago receivo a pension might induce some to give more study to political subjects, but wo .doubt its beneficent effects. On the other hand, it would be likely to. tempt more, and not always those best qualified, to oome forward and offer their services; and it would offer to those who had served in Parliament a greater incentive to try and stay there by every possible means as long as was necessary to earn the pension. It would be ungrateful to speak or write slightingly of those who have given many years of public Eerviee to their country, and who, in the end, find themselves displaced and unable in the later years of their life to turn to, new ways of earning a living 1 . But the great majority of such are the professional politicians —the men who live by politics as distinct from those who make politics a means of serving their country. There are cases, we know, where it would have been a graceful and a just thing to .have granted pensions' to ex-members' of tho Legislature, but any proposal to provide for a universal pension contingent only on a given length of service in Parliament requires to be very carefully, considered in all its bearings. We do not profess to know the details of the proposals now under private discussion by members of the House of and therefore cannot offer any opinion concerning ■them, beyond expressing the view that the subject is one calling for very cautious treatment.

The sentence imposed by His Honour Mr. -Justice Denniston at Christchurch on the asylum warder Chapman will meet with the approval of all who have given any attention to the circumstances brought to light during the trial. Chapman was proved' guilty of a savage assault on a patient under his charge at the Sunnyside Mental Hospital.- The patient died, but it was not shown that the assault by Chapman had been responsible for his death, and so 1 Chapman escaped the more serious charge. In sentencing him to two years' imprisonment—the full penalty possible—on the charge of assault, His Honour gave expression to what is unquestionably the clear public sentiment in such cases. The unfortunate patients in our mental hospitals must not be allowed to run any risk of ill-treatment from a brutal or callous attendant which can be minimised by the warning afforded by a stern enforcement of the law in such cases as may come before the public courts. The very helplessness of tho mentally defective should be their chief protection, and no doubt is with the great majority of those employed in the mental hospitals of the Dominion. It is satisfactory to know that such cases as that at Christ-church are very few and far between.