NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1996, 2 March 1914, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

It is rather % pity that the deputation of old waterside Workers wh;fcli waited oil the Pimjie Minister on Saturday was treated as a private cnutorenee, the Press being excluded. S« rar as we can see there is nothing wlvicb could lots regarded as o? a private' nature that could conic up for : discussion, and there is not- the slightest doubt that the questions raispd arc of puljlie csnEOi'n. Moreover, the abs'Jii'V of the Press gives rise to the possibility of garbled and misleading versions of the interview petting into circulation. Otir eve.nme contemporary, for instance, has been supplied with a report of the proceeding?, which, while in the main accurate enough, has just that touch of colour in it which might be expected if the information bad been obtained from a member of th<; deputation anxious to create the ttfea thfit Mr., Masset had been much .impressed with the justice of the claims put before him. _ Perhaps he was, and possibly lie did give the deputation the "very sympathetic reception" of which the report speaks, Seeing, however, that the chief reqiiest of tho deputation was that the PauiK Minister should upset the pr'efcrenee which is aow given the Arbitratiouist over the ex-stfiker element in tl|e Waterside Workers' Union, it seems hardly likely that Mil. Mas-six would be eft the side of those wbo so waatoftly and unjustifiably attempted to held up the trade of the country and adopted a campaign of lawless terrorism as the speediest means to that end- As a matter of fact, the deputation put three direct questions to the Prims: Minister, and thts answers given., to judge from the official report of the interview which •, we pttUish elsewhere., were a, polite intimation that the _ deputation's- requests would receive proper consideration.

The British Liberals have,lost another scat., the Unionists having caplured Leigh Burghs. The by-election Was rendered necessary by the flj>-: pointraent. of" Sir Munko-Fekgusox : to the position of Governor-General of Australia. This reverse, following so closely oii the defeat of' Jlk. £!.' P. 0. Jlasterjuj? at Bct-httal' Green, and the disastrous series of by elections towards the cud of last year, must still further weaken the position of the Government in deal- j ing with such important- questions as i Home Ihiles the Insurance Act, land j legislation, Welsh Disestablishment, ' and constitutional reform. It is impossible' seriously to contend that the indisputable fact that the Government majority has fallen from . 126, after the ge»efal_ election of 1010 i to 9B at the present time has no bear- J ifte. on the treatment of these: for it clearly indicates that the trend of public, opinion has set in steadily against the Government, and it gives great weight to the contention of the Opposition that < there should_ be an appeal to the whole people in the form of a general; election before such a far-reaching chancre in the ("''institution as that! provided for i'n the Home Rule Bill is brought into operation. jii the i face of the by-elections, one of\ which has resulted in the defeat of J a Minister, if is hard to understand j how Mr. AsQi'ifii can reasonably assett that there is 110 indication that the electorate is adverse. He ftp- 1 ] pears to think that the. Government ■; would be hoistine the white ilag if it toek. any notice of the emphatic expression of opinion which has been given by the electorates; but, however that- may be. it certainly does not seem right that' he -should go straight on with his Home Rule =cheme, which may lead to civil-war

when it is so very doubtful whether he has the country at his back: It is

beeomifig more, and more' evident ■that there should cither lie a feei-tle-•niiHit by eonscnt or a general clectioii: imt tlw re-alis-aiion of the first ..alternative i», not yet. in sight, and the Piriwe Minister will not hear of a dissolution.

Hi;ru is a sample of the inflated nonsense with which the local mouthpiece of Wardism provides entertainmen! for its readers:

There is lmthhig new under the ?«n. oi' course. Therefore, we shnll be told coii-rivativeiv tlint. there is nothiii'r new ill. -tii» s.peeeh deiirefd . liv Sir .Tosen-h Wai'd h-i- lire Ont'-ristiti Ifall nt Biinedi.il. In some res)jfets «e inrree tliiil theie \vV>c no tiling new. 'Sir Joseph bml I'iifhijig Whateyer to reply to from tl>e t'.o.)j.-'ervfl!iv¥ sidn. . The eiieiny, utterly pvush"d by the IjoMilyifd-iiVeni hp Im.d iii. Hided " l i them ftt Win lon tils week mevjoilfi. I'V* sup-iliicd him. with Jit> iiew mniin'in' for nitat-hee esb.ibit'Un of b.i'illfi»»t iivti'krv prneti.in. 'I'lj.-Q jviet t'eefne evidwit during the RimHUi tfleeeh fh n t ji.o Suns li.ii d vjtiprlvsi'Vntod. But thftt is nollii"<i .new "■'Hver. 'i'he 'inW- tMiii' r'-'Sc;ii^ , iii f 7 H H i Tory unis i>f |l>f< IfoiiS'iiiVin ni'fei- tK liut» l.:e»un to pky on the T.ibeni Minks

i- tlie i.'Yli'i'-r- Aliorp ,t»-« "Tonets "f Silence." of wliitii the ivori'd slm-jivs like= to r^iirl,

We bare heard Sin Joseph W-Alin's spccch described as an "avalanche of. woroV nud this por-hajj-ts is uot inappropriate. An avalanche is

liable to have quite unexpected effects, and the wordy avalanche let loose by the Leader of the Opposition, instead of "eriis.hiwg the enemj'," would seem to have been move embarrassing to the author and his friends than anyone else. However, the humorist whs.) can picture the UoveriiiißHit '''utterly crnsM"bY the "bombardnient" oi Words which Si a Joseph VV.um poured forth so prodigally at Winton might easily lie excused for mistaking an 'iivaianelie for "brilliant artillery practice." If Sir Joseph' Warp had spoken a little Icmfter arid a littlemore loudly he might- have induced his faithful journal to proclaim to its readers that- his thunderbolts had swept the Masses' Government off the face of the planet. His way to the Treasury benches would then have been quite clear.