NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1966, 24 January 1914, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Anglican Synod of the DioDoso of has for a second time chosen a Christchurch clergyman for its Bishop. Bishop Aveiull. who , is leaving Waiapu in order to succeed Dii. Ckossley as Bishop of Auckland, was at one time in charge of a Chriatehureh parish, and the Rev. W..W. Sedgwick. who has just been chosen to succeed lsim as Bisiiop of Waiapu, is a Canon of Christchurch Cathedral. In years gone by it was a rather general practice, in the- Anglican Church in New Zealand for the Synods, to send to England for-.their Bishops, but in at least;*.''three '■■■ instances Australian elereymen have been appointed. The tendency now seems to be to give first consideration to the clergy who have already done good work in the Dominion. This is a sound principle, for it . throws open the highest offices in the Church to men who have won .the. respect and confidence of those, among whom (hey have lived • and laboured, and who have shown ■their .fitness for the most responsible which the Church has to .bestow.. If Ctxos Sedgwick accepts the Bishopric of Wsiapu, all the dioccscs or the North island will

have. Bishops: who have been chosen from the.-ranks-of the New Zealand devgy.,,-Of, course, it would be a mistake-?- to make a hard and fast rule in such a matter, but nil other things being equal, it is only fair and, -- reasonable that preference - should-be given to New Zealandm. ; (Jakon. Sedgwick'is a man of wide and varied experience, having worked in England and South Africa before coming to New Zealand, and he may be relied upon to maintain the high standard of duty and efficiency set by his episcopal predecessors in the diocese of Waiapu.

Some'very instructive facts relating to strikes are presented in a cablegram which was published a ■ few days ago." It states that British Board of Trade statistics, supplemented by trade union returns, show that the loss of wages in ten organised industries by stoppages due to trade disputes totalled, in a decade, £17,413,188. The gain in wages resulting from disputes was £2,714,340, leaving a loss of £14,695,848. It thus cost trades unionists in the aggregate more than £8 to "gain" £\ through the agency of strikes, or to put it- in another way, for every £] gained by workers who engaged in successful strikes, .more than £5 was lost by their contemporaries who engaged in unsuccessful strikes. ' On top of this it is shewn that the workers as a whole obtained, in the decade, an increase of £15,000,000 chiefly through the machinery of conciliation and working agreements. It is not a new discovery that -strikes do not pay, and that peaceful methods pay handsomely, but the figures quoted emphasis* these facts "in a, particularly convincing manner. The statistics of the late waterside strike in New Zealand, when they come to be compiled, will be even more instructive than the figures relating to British industries, for in the local case the account will be entirely onesided. So_ far as the strikers are concerned, it will show an enormous loss, and nothing at all in the shape of counterbalancing gain. The waterside workers aftd others who took part added to the original folly of striking, the additional folly of I striking without cause. Similar recklessness has characterised many of the larger strikes which ha-vo .afflicted various countries during the last year or two, and the reason is plain enougk - As knowledge advancer, there is an increasing teiv dency on the part of the more thoughtful section of trades unionists everywhere to relegate the "strike weapon'' to the scrap heap, and tho promotion of strikes is being abandoned more and more to unscrupulous demagogues who exploit the ignorance of tho least-informed section of the workers. The _ action' of the, Sydney Labour Council in issuing a circular to unions condemning the tendency to revert to strikes is -a recciit illustration of the trend of opinamongst the more moderate and reasonable section of trades unionists.

Some of the attacks made upon established institutions nowadays a-ro so extravagant as to suggest- that they arc dictated rathe;' by a desperate desire to attract'attention than by any real wish to attain their avowed object. It is difficult to explain upon any other hypothesis a pronouncement against bathing recently, made by . an American doctor, in a publication; of: which ho the editor. ' Bathing,'' he says, ''is an acquired habit, unnecessary, and even harmful. Cold or hot watev showers or sprays, and aiiy form of immersion, will be injurious in the- end, . . , Man is an air-animal, not a waterbeast ... A bath-tub is an -enemy in the house. _ It is expensive, and adds to the toil of women. Bathing begets false security against disease, weakens and injures the skin, extracts bodily energy and magnetism, entails on society a needless habit." Imagination falters in the attempt' to conjure up the state -of affairs which would be'produced if this anti-bathing crusader had his way, and it is difficult to believe that his views will find toleration even in America, where, almost any kind, of crank can find a niche for himself in popular esteem; If he "wants to secure a really numerous following his_ best course would probably bo to ■ emigrate to some favoured region in Africa where an occasional anointing with palm-oil is considered to meet all necessary demands of cleanliness and comfort.

It is not often that a single byclection destroys a Government's majority, but this happened in Tasmania the other clay, when the Liberal party in that State lost the Denison seat. For years, in- the words of an Australian contemporary, the Tasmanian Government has "pro- . grassed serenely on a majority, of 0110." but under much more idyllic conditions than Mil, Cook has* experienced in the Federal Parliament. In the Federal Parliament Mk. Cook has a majority of 0110 in the Speaker's chair, and a hostile Senate. In Tasmania, the Prime Minister (Mr. Solomon) had a majority of one ia the Assembly and a friendly Legislative Council. With this narrow l margin 111 his favour. Mr. Solomon faced a crisis, appealed to the countrv, and returned with his majority neither increased nor diminished, He, would still bo in the same comfortable position had he not been deprived of a, supporter by tho death of Sir George Ravirs. Tho, Labour party carried the. subsnouent by-elcction, and the position of the Government at ones became untenable. The strength of parties 'is now fifteen a-side, and an early general election is predicted. Even this may not provide. a solution of the difficulty, for with matters as evenly balanced as they are in Tasmania, it is ■ quite conceivable that tho parties may emerge from the election at their present strength. In these circumstances, a queer idea suggested itself to the Prime Minister. He proposed to introduce a Bill to allow Hie uarty which might lose.a member 1 bv death or from any other cause to fill the vacancy by appointment. The schcmo was announced as an item of tho Government's policy, but even Mb. . Solomon's own party was opposed to it, and tho proposal was dropped.