NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2200, 13 July 1914, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

0 It is becoming painfully apparent that, while'the Government, the Gity Council;; and,, the. v other,, loca.l, bodies concerned' are dispute ness it, is to mairitaih the'. Huitißdad: 'the, -roadway; itself is; rapidly falling :into a state, of serious flisiepaijJ'vTHe : th'o. bulkstorcshas ; already.' reduced the ''first £ew;huhdrcd :, yar,df, of jt.to a bog in wot weather, and t. . vario.us' stretches, whifch get little s">, in;the winter time have bccomc .much, ploughed• tip .during, the' 'past.month ■or' two. The sixty-feet of'roadway '■will;, undoubtedly; bo costly. ;to '-.main-, tain, but 'for this the various local bodies have only -themselves thank, for their demands elevev years.'ago'Vcre ,for; a».palatial, high-': ■way,;' d hundred feet wide;, 'with a cycle-track, footpaths, and heavy traffic track,; besides/; road Way, ; proper. The Government engineers' moderate, estimates ;of the cost of tho road 'arid-.railway.' improvement work' moderate, as they, afterWards proved—no -doubt, encouraged 'the local: bodies; in their /dream;of a; modern Appian 'Way. The State has- to beaj.- the blame for the excessive: original cost ,of the work; biit 'the local; bodies cannot,, legiti-mately-complain if they find the den. of maintaining even this modified Hutt;Road- unduly heayy. 'The .longer the road is-. neglected "and'-left a ho-man's land, Jtlie ■ greater --will the' maintenance T _c6st be. It'is. to' bo hoped,' the: question ,of. : control, will be settled ' once''and for all without delay.. ■ .'. . •' i." .

■Despite, the great - success .which has'followed, on the introduction of the league' game in New . South Wales, the Rugby codc_ still seems able to attract. the public there'when .there'is ! a. prospect' of high-class, play. ,Fifteen-,:„thousand are stated "tb : have the; game on Saturday .between the. New Zealand representatives;a-nd .the pick'of New, South Wales, and . while-' this is considerably' below. the attendances at 'the big- representative;. matches/be-: tween , League teams,'it is'nevertheless a large muster. The touring team of' New : Zealaiiders 'now in Australia was 'expected to show ; good form, and judging it on its first appearance it'shonld uphold the great reputation won -for'-the Dominion by previous Rugby teams froni -l.thcse,- shores. Wellington people 'on' Saturday had ■an'opportunity of:witnessing.a firstjrate exposition of, -the .Lctfgne' game. The-team which the Englishmen put in the field against the Ideal representatives was by -no 7 .;- means their strongest -combination,. and. .probably they had "no desire, to sciore a runaway -victory.',. But .despite the rain and the bad state' of the ground they gave a demonstration of-some of' the finer points of their particular game which was well worth- witnessing.: That tho Leaguer.game is-an attractive orio'- goes without saying. It has been slow in catching on in NeW Zealand for several reasons. There' is, for; on 6 thing,' the sentimental regard for Rugby: which has been developed by the past brilliant achievements, of . New; Zealand teams against the world's best 1 players. This' is not an easy thing -to ■ ove'jcome. ; Th6ii there is the difficulty of securing grounds. -, The Rugby game does not'hold the commanding position it once enjoyed. Hockey, arid the Association game, as well as the' rivalry of the, League code, have all detracted somewhat from the support previously given it; .bvit it is-still our greatest winter sports game.

! iT/ctdes not appear that the piir<chase ola steam trawler ;by the City Council .would be'.-the simple' solution of the lisli question its advocates imagine.' A local fish merchant-, in a. statement on the position in nn■other column, says that one Hawke's Bay ••'trawler, the Countess, costs over £7000 a ' j;car in working expenses maintenance charges,'. This, oxjoeudifcuro is not a matter of moment

if. the trawler is paying-her way, but it is obvious that the .purchase of a trawler to work unsuitable-ground, might easily' mean a, heavy annual loss. Oook Strait has been tested as a trawling ground from time to time by various private concerns in the industry, and they appear to have, found '■' decidedly more profitable fields than those that can be worked from Wellington. Big 'hauls, our infprmant ijtates, can ! be ,made by .trawlers in Blind Bay, but the fish' consist mainly of an. unattractive, variety of sclinappei'. A;more effective step towards providing a cheap and plentiful supply of fish, through the country appcars'to. lie in improving the railage facilities. As a- correspondent points out, it certaiply does seem unreasonable that the Rail, way Department should charge two shillings' for, the carriage of an, eighteen-pound parcel of , fish from Feildirig to Hunterville, a distance oi■..thirty-three miles. Such a rate is' markedly disproportionate ' to. that on fruit,' and fish -is surely as neccssary an -article''.'of diet'.

;•'•. It-is not surprising to,find'Mexican politicians denouncing 'President Wilson's policy of intervention, as aSirime. The programme to which the President has committed himself is one that;, must be'.in, the .last degree unpalatable to those who in the, past, have- swayed the tangled des--tinies of .thati Republic.,'. At first the. Mexicans feared .that the ■ United States' and their :.werp>';'greatly relieved as., evidence'';-f accumulated' showing that the restpratiSnvof order was the only, .object,- Everybody -wanted order. ;-But 'the',hidalgos,,theiaristbcrats, arid the .vested interests "discovered .with aijshcick' in' May.! that President Wilson's ideal of, order was very different'from theirs. They wanted the old order; The President is bent on building up a new order .out of the chaos: .',' My .p'assioni'.'v.he declared, . '.'is!;for. .the sub-' merged eighty-five per ;cent. of that Republic, . whoy-are, now struggling, toward liberty."■■.•■■.No solution of the >Mexican..problem,- '.Mr.; .Wilson . is rejoorted ;to have , stated, ' will' ,-,be satisfactory unless it includes a rcor-. ganisation of'the.'present.semi-feu'dal system of land-ownership.. Tho public has heard of many-revolutions in .Mexico', but all, these: Ave are told aro but. phases of one revolution, and that is at bottom simply a fight : •for land: > In-.the later Diaz days the; big: landowners enclosed, all the com-' riiunal;; : lands, iand ;:4heh • Banded together ' ( in 1896 " to' secure:. the land law of-that year. This remarkable measure permitted the denuii-. relation of all lands not held by legal title,r:an'd;yast;itracts''of..;fertile .cotintry held; : in small areas, in many cases foi; ■ generations,, by ignorant •peons,' who,,; knew:-no passed, into the hands of the big lan'dowri'ers.,-.': ; : ) 6f' tho. people.; whicljv 'Mr. ; Wilson ■'insists shall. bo_ restored,'. . Ho has justice' 'on • his 'side, but though, he' proposes no annoxatioij{ it is obvious that not much - of.Mcxico?s :■ sovereign * irights. '■'.cari : exist: ;wlien ; jiis's laricl" laws'; are. ..made in, Washington: • ;•