NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1889, 18 October 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

A story haa been set in circulation regarding the intentions of the Government respecting Tariff Revision, which is of interest chiefly as indicating tho lines upon which speculation is running on the subject. According to the veracious chronicler who has ventured to prophesy What is to be done, tho browing monopoly is to bo taxed to the extent of another 3d. per gallon on its beer production. Thia would seem to be an excellent idea. The profits on beermaking aro said to run into quite amazing figures, and the tax would hardly be felt by the big monopoly, which has the hotelkeeper as well as the public in its grip. The Government, we should think, would be very thankful for the suggestion thrown out. It might, however, be suggested that this tax on the brewing monopoly would increase the cost of living. That beer would bo raised in price to the retail customer. This, however, would be hardly likely to result. Beor is usually sold By the retailer by tho pint, and as there are oight pints to the gallon, it would bo a little awkward for the brewer to pass on tho threepence to the consumer. But what, it might be asked, about tho hotelkeeper 1 Would not tho brewer pass it on to him 1 He might attempt to do bo, but tho brewing monopoly is beginning to realise that it has squeezed tho hotelkeeper overhard already, and we aro not at all certain that such an attempt woul'd not bo in the nature of the last straw. A commission of inquiry into the manner in which the Brewing industry is carried on would, we have little doubt, produce some enlightening disclosures. And tho lot of the hotelkeeper might be materially improved as the outcome. It is really a pity that the story of the beer tax is pothing more than speculation. The money derived from this sourco could be turned to very usoful purposes, and would enablo the Government to further extend its proposals in the direction of reducing the cost of living, providing for insuranco against sickness, and so on. The official organ of the brewing industry appears to regard tho suggested tax, wliich is estimated, we Believe, to produce £130,000, as a mere trifle, so that it may be assumed that the brewing monopoly would have no objection to its imposition. We would suggest, however, that in tho event of the Government taking up tho idea so kindly placed at its disposal, it should take tho precaution to make it clear that the tax was not to be passed on either to tho hotelkeeper or to the publio.

The people of Nelson, we are sure, would not havo been greatly edified with the speech of their member on the Land Bill in tho House of Representatives last evening. Mr. Atmorb made it quite clear when he first entered Parliament a few monthß ago that he had no unoertain idea aa to tho task which the electors of Nelson had sent him to Wellington to perform, Ho began early as a oensor of morals, and a bitter political ecold with an extensive vocabulary of choice epithets of which he unburdens himself in an unfortunate style whiph can best bo described as snarling. He appears to deem it necessary always to suggest tho worst possible motives for the actions of his opponents, and to give expression to his feelings in the l)itterest possible terms., We have on previous occasions felt called on to direct attention to the lapses of the member for Nelson in tnis respect, and it is regrettable that he should have again offended. It does not matter very much how violently he may indulgo his feelings respecting the Government, although such outbreaks lowor the tone of debate, and may give rise to unpleasantness; but it is another thing to attack a priyata member in the bitter and personal fashion in which he referred laßt evening to the member for Thames. As Mb. Leb had previously stated, it is difficult to believe that there is a single member of the House who does not believe that tho member for Thames is entirely free of any intention to do otherwise than benefit his district by the support he gave to the proposal in the Land Bill for settling the mining reserves in the Coromandel Peninsula. But Mr. Atmore chose to see in his actions only sinister motives, and attacked him in a manner which fortunately is seldom witnessed in the New Zealand Parliament," and which compelled tho intervention of Mr. Speaker, who called tho member for Nelson to order, and sternly informed him that ho must not cast such aspersions on a brother member. Tho member for Nelson should have realised ere this that the best passport to success in politics and to tho respect of his fellow members iB not a bitter and uncharitable tongue.

In the days beforo the establishment of British rule in India, the failure of the cropß in any district was generally followed by famine in the full senso of the word, but now the Government has vory v effective means of dealing with occurrences of this sort. A cablegram which we published this week stated that the harvest has partially failed in certain provinces, and that the Government has advanced £300,000 for tho relief of sufferers. Food will be sent from other parts of India without delay to save the people from starvation. The seasonal rains nover fail over the whole country at ono time, and there is alwayß enough food for the population; but in the old days great famines occurred because of the difficulty, of carrying supplies over long distances. The conßequenco was that enormous loss of life' took place. Famine in this terrible form does not now exist, and the word is generally used to denote scarcity and clearness of food caused by a drought. This improved state of affairs is ono of the triumphs of British administration. The construction •of railways and canals has made tho] difference. The canals enablo millions of acres to be irrigated, and thus saved from the ravages of drouglit, while the railways keep tho various parts of the country in constant communication, and enable supplies to be brought into' famine-stricken zones before a state of starvation is reached. The best methods of famine relief bave been carefully studied, and, to use the words of a high authority on Indian affairs this work "is now as much a part of tho ordinary business of the State us poor-law relief in England," and "a sinking fund, called the famine insurance grant, sufficient to meet the probable expenditure over a Borics of years is provided in tlw Buniuvl Estimates."

A parade of some 19,000 cadets which he saw in Melbourne appears to have made a deep impression on Mr. Amery, M.P., a recognised authority on defence questions, who is at present on a visit to Wellington. In an interview published in another column, he expresses the belief that if the whole of tho British Houso of Commons could-»have witnessed tho sight, it would not bo very long before Britain had its own citizen army. There is no doubt that the success of tho compulsory training scheme in Australia and New Zealand must give additional power to the movement in England in favour of a similar ' Bystem which is being so ably led by Loud Roberts. Tho simple truth will ultimately overcome the campaign of misrepresentation for which a certain section of the British press is responsible regarding tho defence schemes of New Zealand and tho Oommon T wealth; and when tho people of the United Kingdom are convinced that compulsory training has the enthusiastic aujpport of all but an insignificant, if somewhat noisy, minority of the population of these two countriea, ttiev will probably insist upon tho British _ Government giving the system a trial. In view of what is happening in other countries, the defenco 01 the Empire can never be regarded as .oomplefca until every part of it possesses a well-trained and thoroughly-equipped citizen army. This fact iB becoming more and more widely recognised, and the dissatisfaction with the present state of things is growing in intensity in England. As Lord Roberts points <Sut, the people are beginning to realise that the paying of another man to do soldier a work does not constitute the whole duty of the average citizen, and he expresses. tho conviction that the evidence in favour of compulsory military training is so obvious and so overwhelming that it must carry the day.

A qood point was well made by the member for Kaipara last evening. Several members of the Opposition, and amongst them the member for Lyttelton, Mr. Laurenson, had been professing to bo much scandalised at the action of the member for Thames, Mr. Rhodes, in supporting the granting of the right to the freehold to the holders of sections of Crown land in the Coromandel Peninsula. The excuse for the attacks was that Mb. Rhodes held a lease which ho could, if the Bill passed, convert into a freehold. Apparently tho fact that there had been agitation for years past from the electorate which Mr. Rhodes represents for a better form of tenure for these particular lands, and the further facts that the welfare of hundreds of settlers and the interests of the whole district are involved were to count for nothing. Mr. Rhodes was to_ sacrifice the interests of his constituents and his district simply beoauso ho happened to be the holder of one of the leases. Mr. Ooates, as already mentioned ( showed the argument of tho Opposition members to do the shallow thing it really is, by means of an apt illustration. Had not Mr. Laurenson—who had just been declaiming against Mr. Rhodes for voting on a matter in which he was interested —waited upon the Prime Minister, with other members some timo ago, and asked that a pension should be granted to members of Parliament after a oertain term of years ? And had not that same highly virtuous member supported a proposal that the honorariums of members of Parliament should be increased f And now he and other members were venting their spleen on Mr. Rhodes _ who had been vindictively and unjustly attaoked on the ground that he had voted on a matter in which he was interested. It -was a very_ neat score for the member for Kaipara, whose vigorous handling of the situation silenoed the detractors of tho member for Thames for the time boing at least.