NOTES OF THE BAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2157, 25 May 1914, Page 4

NOTES OF THE BAY.

It is impossible not to feel a little sympathy for those who ate so industriously striving to covar lf p tine past failures of Sir Joseph Waeb. Their zeal k so tremendous'and their efforts so ill-directed. Certainly it does seem .difficult for tliom to discover subjects which can bo touched on wife safety, but one would think •that bitter experience Wonld have taught them the utiftisdora of venturing _ to write or talk about Bib Joseph's performances 4s a Land Reformer. A few days ago. in reply to the generalities of the Leader "of the- Opposition concerning his desiro ip promote closer tre directed attention to the lack that between the time that he became Premier and that at which he left office the proportion of adult landholders to population in New Zealand decreased, while the big estates increased in numbers. Hofc being able to dispute these unfortunate facts, taken from the Wajßd Government's pwii records, the apologists for Sir Joseph Watid now sect to explain that "for four or five years before, he left office, Sin Joseph repeated-! Iy referred to the fact that the Act was failing in its original purpose; . , , and iivged that some other means of promoting closer settlement would have to Ik' adopted." Quite so. We I have no recollection of these- "re- ! pcated" assertions on the part of StE J Josisra Wabd, but it would bo very I like him to have made them. . lit I fact, had lie not been deprived of J office he probably would lie still making them. Whnfc his apologists j strangely enough cannot see, is "that i the very excuses which they pufforj ward on, his behalf lend .support to i tho criticism directed against him. For four, or five years prior to i leaving office, they tell us,' he. knew 1 of the failure of tho Land for Settlements Act, as a means of breaking up big estates, and what did he do to | remedy it i Nothing. It is very I foolish of his friends to have asain j directed attention to his failure." He ! was then, as now, full of professions ■ of good intentions. Then as now he ' had no definite, policy. It 'would bo unfair, perhaps, to blame him for his lack of definite and practical ideas, but it is still more unfair to, ask the 1 people of Now Zealand, who have once proved his incapacity as a β-oli-tical leader and administrator, to ignore his past failures and reelect him to office on no more substantial ground than t further batch of v.tgufi professions of good in- • tentions. j A point of considerable importance ' was raised by "the Hon. J. Dutuie in the correspondence on five; insurance rislcs which we published in last Fri-, day's issue. Discussing the rule 01 j premium charged which (he Under-1 writers'. Association had submitted: as being necessary owing to the high ! average of fires and consequent heavy , losses'"in'N'?\v Zealand—Mr.. PrruiE suggested Hie possibility that then , was ,1 laxity in the examination of new risks, nnd a lack of supervision of those existing. This, coupltd with : an almost entire omission to have ,

proper investigation made , into eir-tuiuHi-anciis connected with fires, he argued, might be regarded as encouraging enrclcssiiess on the part of J Well-insured or ovar-insured policyholders, and in wises would perhaps iwfc as an incentive to incendiarism. We arc not in a position to express I an opinion us to the amount of care 'exercised by insurance companies 'hero in taking up fire risks, but there is not the least doubt that there is <i very general laxity in the matter or investigating the circumstances connected with fires. It is the rarest thing possible nowadays to heav of an investigation of this kind, and yet there must be many cases of a doubtful nature that should lie inquired into as a natter of public policy. No doubt it ss a disagreeable thing -to individual insurance companies to have, to ask far such inquiries to be held, A company which doss its duty in this direction is liable to jret a bad nanus with insurers, and suffer loss of business in 'consequence. But this does Dot apply to the Fire Underwriters' Association, which could act without any risk of the kind. The heavy percentage of fires in New Zealand seems to he a recognised fact in the fire insurance world, and apart, from the moral aspect, of the thing, involves an economic question well worth looking into.

The review of tho Senior Cadets which took place in Ncwtown Park on Saturday afternoon was a most inspiring sight.' We- hear a great deal nowadays about physical degeneracy, but it was a thoroughly whole-some-looking, alert, and well-set-up baud of lads who paraded for in--I spection by Sib lan Hauiltox, and o very one was favourably impressed with the smart and intelligent manner in which they played their part, 'ihey were keenly interested in their work and evidently took a pride in what they were doing. Quite apart from the military aspect of the gathering, no open-minded onlooker could help feeling that the physical training which the lads o£ Sew' Zealand Me receiving muter th« defence, scheme must have an excellent effect on the future, of the country, and itis not surprising that General Hamilton was very favourably impressed. The manly, .militaryVaring and physical fitness of the young soldiers, delighted the spectators, and it is quite certain that, such displays as that witnessed at Ncwtown Park on Saturday will do more to break clown the prejudices of those opposed to our defence scheme than anything in tho way of argument can hope to accomplish. Both in Australia and New scalane! General Hamilton has ken highly pleased with the Cadet parades Iws has attended, and the excellence of tho,-physical drill has received as much praise from him as tho proficiency shown in the military exercises. When he returns to England lie will be in a position to ■ refute tJie misrepresentations of ig- : norant critics by Riving publicity to, actual facts and personal observa- j tions, -

The Dean of Sfc. Paul's (Dn. Inge) has been t givi»g another "shock" to the religious world. This time the sensation takes the form of a tiH against the vise of "crude symbols" to express spiritual ideas, The brief , summary of. his quarks published in our cable columns can, of course, only givo a few of the bolder strokes of his address, and probably the context wontel fend to ftodify the effect. The cablegrams which from time to time record Dit. Inge's "extraordinary" remarks arc apt to givo the impression that ho is much more of a .■KiiEationalist than is really the ease, for ho is one of the JMs,t brilliant of the intellectual leaders of the Anglican Church at tho fsfoscnt time, 'fie is. an able constructive, thinker as well as a merciless critic of shams and shibboleths. Hα seems to bo determifted to got at realities if ho can, and has a way of uttering unpleasant truths which, is often'very disconcerting to the class'of mind that js v content to run along pencefuJiy. in the old grooves. Koit vety long ago he raised a storm by scute tinsparing criticism of certain phases of modern demoevsey, asd by point- ■■ ing out somo. of 'tho dangers ahead i ho brought dews upon Himself the anger 'ot those shallow optimists who '. i like to cover up tho tki'ker side of i things. He has been called tho ] Datn"; but such cpifetsi haw not sttcccedcid in prevoating him i from, saying what he thinks, for, to. use his own words, he objects "to i float ,with ■ the stream like a dead dog." jDu. In rap is notj howcvei , ., always "shocking" . things. His published works show that h.el.s a : teacher of broad afid vicwa and keen spiritual insijirt, His ] lectures on "MystieisW arc a standard authority on the subject, aiKi he has devoted a good deal of nttention to somo of the philosophical aspects of fcjodorn wiiigiouß thought.. Ho is a fearless critic and a stimulating thinker, and whether one agrees with him or not, ho always arrests attention by tho thought-p'rovoking character of his utterances.