NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1977, 6 February 1914, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The excellent advice tendered by Sir John Findlay to his late leud.?r does not appear to have borne fruit so far as the recent Cwtfe re ft ec of Opposition members is coneerncd. "It seems to me,''' wrote Sir John Fikduy, "that Liberalism is this year to be given its last ehance. l'o secure that chance the leader must; be prepared 'to courageously risk' his own political existence." it may be tliat. the suggestion here put forward was a little unfortunately worded- Neither an individual nor a party quite likes to be told that lie or it has sunk sf) low as to. have reached the "last chane®" stage of existence. Moreover, to suggest that the loader of the party in-, prder to secure this last.chance jnUsfc be prepared to "courageously risk his own political oxistenoa'.' liftighb be construed to raise, a doubt as to the leader in question rising to the occasion if he should thereby endanger his own political prospects. But although these slight lapses, in the manner of stating 'the position might- not prove over-palatable to- the leader of the Opposition, the advice tendered was no v doubt '.well meant., The Conference of " the leading lights of the party has, however, ended without any but a formal announcement fro« Sir Joseph Wahd regarding tlt-o high spirits of his followers and an indication that they had prepared certain undisclosed plans for the elections.. Coming on top of his To Arolia. speech, in which he so carefully refrained from breaking new ground, this barren announcement would almost seem to indicate tint, the "baffling question'' of producing a' policy to meet the needs of the unfortunate situation in which tho Opposition finds itself still baffles the trader of the party, This 'we. fear will prove a disappointment to the member for Hutt as welt as to Sir Johk , Eixduy. Mr. Wiu'oriD not only advised something of a startling nature, but practically promised it-. Unless he is more careful the member for Hutt will find himself in danger of becojiiing regarded in political circles as a chronic false alarm.

Divorce has become so prevalent throughout the United States that it, threatens . seriously to affect family life, It is now accepted as a grave reflection upon morals throughout the American Republic, and according to a cablegram published this morning a Louisiana Senator has to the Senate that divorce be prohibited altogether by an amendment to the Federal Constitution, 1 Such an alteration of the Federal laff would govern the whole United States territory, so that if this Senator's proposed prohibition is accepted divorce will tie made impossible whore hitherto il. has boon comparatively easy, Sgxator liAsaiiEiL, _ who puts forward this proposition, has fortified himself with statistics. He goes hack to ISO 7, when there wove 9000 dh ■orecs granted, or 27 per 100.000 nf the population, and he shows thatin forty years divovce has increased., after allowing for the. increased population, by no Icsb than 319 per

ccnt This is aria in]}* a startling revelation. And it is true. Divorces increased froin 9000 in 1867 to '23,535 in 1880; in 189G they had fisun iii number to 42,037, unci in .1900 72,082 marriages were broken up hy the sanction of the law in ike United States. All States do not exhibit the same intensity of domes* tic infelicity. For instance, in Now York and Pennsylvania the average number of divorces annually was 2-9 from IS9O to 1900, while in Kansas and Maims the annual average 1 for that period was 59 per 10(3,000 of the population. In New Zealand there, were in 189-1 only 18 divorces altogether, or about t! per 100,000 of the people. Since 1893, when the law was altered, divorces have, increased from 31 in that year to 82*2 in 1912. Yet notwithstanding this iucreii.se New Zealand appears to enjoy'far morn domestic happiness than those States in America that exhibit the lowest divorce rate.

One of the principal items in the Opposition's campaign of misrepresentation is the assertion that the Government has no sympathy with Labour, and has dpne nothing to improve the position and opportunities of the working classes, Of course evetyom who keeps in touch with New Zealand politics knows that, such an assertion is utterly contrary to fact, but tlic Anti-Reform-ers Bcein to think that if they i"c- ; peat the fabrication often enough someone hero and there may in the. course of tjms come"to believe it. Take the case of the legislation' passed last session in regard to workers' homes. This does not figure in the speeches of those Opposition politicians who aro vainly endeavouring to create a wave of reaction in the -country, but it is a piece of practical humanitarian reform. that the working population of New Zealand will be able to appreciate at its true value. This amendment of the law was referred to at th.c meeting of the Auckland City Council on Wednesday evening, when the' Mayor pointed out thai the new Act gave power to the Council to assist workers by advancing money to enable thefn to acquire sites for homes or to erect dwellings; also to jjcase land or sell dwellings to them 011 easy terms of repayment. Tim liberality o-f the provisions of the Act seem&d to come as a surprise to Mr. Ham, SxekoSj, one of the Labour representatives" on the Council, and after perusing it he exclaimed, "This is the finest piece of legislation for the worker fiver brought down." Sueh direct and unqualified approval coming from the man who contested the Auckland Mayoralty as the nominee of Labour, and who now represents organised Labour on the City Council, is a most effective answer to the efforts of to depict the Government as the enemy of the working* man, !>• makes the Opposition campaigners look .extremely foolish. They are loudly declaring that Mb, Massev has done nothing for Labour, and here we have a man who can speak with authorityfrom the Labour paint of view referring to one of Mn- Massey'smeasures as "the finest piece of legislation lor the worker '.ever brought down." It is to be hoped that the band of Oppositionists-who are "going forth to tell the truth about lteform" will tcy to be as candid .as 5Jn. Skeltos. .