NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2308, 16 November 1914, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

The announcement that the Government intends to place beyond all doubt the right of public servants to appeal from tho decision of the Public Service Commissioner will meet with the approval both of the Civil Servants and the general public. Both tho Prime Minister and tho Attorney-General stated when tho Public Service Act was before Parliament that a full right of appeal was granted and the Act was framed with that intent. The Commissioners, however, interpreted tho Act in such a way as to limit the right of appeal to some extent, notably by the exclusion of appeals by officers who had unsuccessfully applied for promotion to a vacant position. The matter was to a great extent: sot right by the Public Service Association carrying the question to the Supreme Court, and obtaining a favourable judgment from that tribunal, but it appears that there is still some room for doubt as to the full and unrestricted scope of appeal under the Act. This the Government proposes to remedy next session by amending the Act so that, to quote the statement issued from the Prime Minister's office, "it shall be olear beyond question that every public servant, whether or not he has applied for appointment to a new or a vacant office; and whether or not he . has applied for promotion, shall havo full right of appeal in the case of all appointments to any office in the Service." The deoißion of the Supreme Court established the right of appeal of any officer who nad unsuccessfully applied for promotion to a new or vacant office, but did not extend the same right to officers who had not so applied. The amendment of the law now proposed will mean that any officer v wno considers that his .claims have been unjustly overlooked by ■ the Commissioners will have the right to refer the matter to the Appeal Board. ■

As the election campaign progresses a quite amusing unanimity is becoming noticeable amongst Opposition candidates in .the selection of subjects on which to assail the Government. The Public Trust Of-, fice, the canteen question, the Hunt-1 ly disaster, and State fire insurance are amongst the favourite topics, and the similarity of the denunciations hiurled at Ministers by a candidate in, say, the Auckland district,- to those'which pour forth from his .brother candidate in, say, the province of-. Otago might well startle the uninitiated. The fact is; of course, • that the very earnest gentlemen who. are declaiming against the Government, in this fashion are using machine-made speeches—that is to-say, they do not trouble to think out their speeches for themselves. Some of them plainly do not trouble even to inquire as to the accuracy-' of the facts, but they .simply reel off the assertions obligingly supplied by their party organisation, accepting thpm as gospel truth, and oftentimes making theniselves supremely foolish in the eyes' of those' who know the real facts. The purpose of the party, organisation is plain enough. If it can get fifty or sixty candidates scattered i throughout the Dominion to repeat from the public platform and-oiVculato through the public Press these half-truths, and in many cases deliberate misrepresentations, then a very substantial section of the public, is liable to be deceived therepy, and.led to'believe that there may be some truth behind the allegations mado. .If the .people understood that the information on which the speeches were based all comes from the same biased source, .then they would realise just how little weight to attach to these machinemade speeches. One of the reasons why our Wardist friends have failed so badly in recent year's is that they have relied so largely on this process 1 , of- "stuffing" their candidates with these stereotyped ideas that the individual members of- the party have not been able to_ give .any signs <»f originality or initiative. Tnoy move in a; groove circumscribed by tho very marked limitations of their leaders,- who mould" their minda by shaping their, ; .

A specimen of the. class bf misrepresentation whicli is quite .common, amongst opponents of the Government is to be found in the report on Saturday last "of the speech, of a Dunedin candidate who attacked Ministers on the ground that they had : interfered with, and reduced the business of, the State Fire Insurance Department. This is simply stupid fiction. As a matter of fact, the State Fire Insurance Department has achieved • quite remarkable success finco the Reform Government came, into office. The figures for the two years have been laid before Parliament and published, and no one who knew anything about the matter could fail to recognise that there is every reason for satisfaction with the progress made. The official , returns snow the net amount of premium income of the Department for the past four years to be as follows-.— 1910. 1911. 1912. 1913. ,£10,552 £47,745 £54,380 . £59,418. No doubt tho misleading story set in circulation in Dunedin and elsewhere, with a view to prejudicing tho Government, will continue to go the rounds 'until election day. It is one of the machine-made variety ,'on which the Opposition have built their very slender hopes of success.

In. his apeeoh at Milton on Saturday night the Hon. Jas. Allen dealt with_ the present state' of political I parties in a way that should commend itself to the good senso of the people of the Dominion. Great efforts have been made by the parties to the WardisfcLabour-Socialist alliance to confuse and obscure the issues, but these, in fact, are very simple, and cannot be covercd up.' It ib beyond question that tho alliance owes much of its binding-power to the fact that at the time, of the strike last year the Government honestly and firmly carried out its elementary duty of maintaining lav? and order, and thereby incurred the lasting enmity of tho extreme Socialist group. Animated by a desiro for revengo, these men are now straining every, nerve in the hope of punishing the Government at the ballotbox for what it did at the timo of the strike, and thoy are working hand and glovo with the Opposition | Party. Attempts have, of course, been made to explain away the connection between the Wardists and the Labour-Socialists, but it is a factor not to bo got rid of ;by any : effort of sophistry. . As Mu. Allen out, the people have to choose between a strong and progressive- Government with a, clearly-defined policy and programme and a party which is endeavouring to attain office by the aid of a band of Labour-Socialist extremists. and if it succeeded would necessarily be at their, beck find gall

Ih the Opposition think that they are going to secure a majority at the coming elections by , calling themselves "Literals" or "true Liberals' - ' and the -Reform Party "Conservatives" or "Tories"'they are doomed to' disappointment. The people of New Zealand know well that it iB quite misleading to use labels of this kind for the purpose of distinguishing one party from another in this country. Sensible people do not care much what a political party calls itself. They want to know what it really Btands for, and will judge it not by its words, but.by its works. The Wardists seem to think that they are going to convince the electors that they are the only Liberals by shouting "Tory" ■ at the Reform Party, but the men and women of New Zealand are not going to be misled by this old trick. The Reform Party can point to a> fine record of liberal and progressive measures, and is quite content to allow the country to judge it by, its fruite. The Reform candidate for Grey- Lynn told his audience the other 'night that he was "a Liberal of the true sort—not a jerry one," and he supported the Massey Government because it had proved byits" deeds that it wan in sympathy with the worKer. In proof of this claim he gave a few examples out of a long list of what the present Govhad done. Wages and conditions in the. Government'' Printing Offico and in the railway service had been bettered, he said, and he quoted the Government's amendment to the Compensation Act, showing that an injured lad woull bo paid at journeyman's rates. The. Government had improved the housing of workers, and Mr. McLean contrasted the amounts spent by the respective Governments m this department, to the distinct credit of > the present Ministry. Names may mean much or little, but the Government's 1 actual achievement in the way of legislation and administration' is an example of practical Liberalism of the best kind. What the disgruntled Wardists may choose to call it really, does noii raa-tteic •

v Earl Roberts of Kandahar, PreW/Vigj and Waterford, (created 1901), P. 0., K.P., G. 0.8., G. 0.5.1., G.C.1.E., V.C., K.G., L.C.L., LL.D., Order of Merit. Born at Cawnpore, India, September 30 1832, son of General Sir Abraham Roberts, G. 0.8., married on May 17 ; 1859, Miss Nora Bews (73rd Foot). Lieutenant Roberts (his son) was killed in action in South Africa. There were two daughters of the marriage.