NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2435, 14 April 1915, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

This morning the remainder of the original Samoan Expeditionary Force will return to the city. The appeal made by the Patriotic Society for a warm welcome home to the men deserves a sympathetic response. It is true that the taking of Samoa was a bloodless victory, but the City should not allow itself to forget the ready and willing spirit with which the members of the Force volunteered for servicc nine months ago. The call was made in the first shock of the war, and though many guesses were hazarded, no one knew for acertainty whither the Forcc was •bound. The men took their leap-in the dark, and thi disappointment of most of them was. keen at finding themselves indefinitely on garrison duty in a remote and tranquil island with no chance of seeing anything in the way of actual warfare. The work they have done has nevertheless been very necessary, and has secured the British occupation of one of the most important strategical points in the Pacific.

A suggestion was made in The Dominion on Saturday that New Zealand might possibly be able to do something towards relieving the labour shortage now hampering the supply of British munitions of war. Our'comment , has brought to hand a letter from a resident of Lyttelton who is keenly desirous of doing his share in this work. Before coming to New Zealand our correspondent states that ho was for eight years on and oft working as a turner, fitter, and examiner at the Coventry Ordnance Works. He adds:

I think that I really ought to be .Home, but a man cannot pay a passage Homo any day. There may be other men in Now Zealand who, like myself, think they arc on the wrong sido of tho world. I have ■ references in my possession from the management of itne Coventry Ordnance Works. Well, Ido hope that the Hon. J. Allen will send eomo men Home, as I, for one, would be only too pleased to go at tho first chance. . . . But I do hope that there will be plenty of volunteers if it is decided ito send men, as I know for a fact that the Coventry 'Works n month or two back were 500 men short. Old pals of mine who joined the Army •have been brought back to work after doing weeks of training.

This letter shows that there must be numbers of trained and efficient workers in this country whose services should be decidedly useful in Britain at the present moment, andwell worth the cost of transportation.

The caucus system threatens to become a millstone round the neck of the Australian Labour Governments. Devised in the days -when Labour's highest aim was to hold the balance of. power between the Liberal and Conservative parties, the caucus method enabled the Labour members to present a solid front in Parliament, and exercise a power out of all proportion to their numbers. Circumstances have changed greatly since those days, but the caucus still maintains its iron grip. In New South Wales the Flolman Government has been brought sharply to book by the malcontents in the party, and at the annual conference of the Political Labour League has had to fight a shoal of censure resolutions, To all outward nppearanco the fortunes of the party have never flowed more In three years the Boi.man Ministry has spent £24,000,000 of borrowed capital on public works, most of it goine in wages to faithful unionists. There remains in (lie- tot o an unexpended balance ni J-7.D0n,0.,0 aud a linn ol

money-lenders and private contractors is to finance and build various works at a cost to the State of £10,000,000. The complaint against the Government is that it has done next to nothing in advancing Labour's more revolutionary propaganda—ideas evidently found by the Ministers easier to advocato than to realise. The caucus has now put its foot down, and Mr. Holman now appears to have before him the alternative of an abject servitude to the machine or political extinction.

The allegations that the price of food has been artificially raised should be thoroughly threshed out at the session of the l'ood Commission convened by Mit. Massey. It is to be hoped that the hearings will be public so that the fullest light may be thrown upon the whole business. Most of the charges put forward have been in very general terms, and little specific evidence of exploitation has so far been forthcoming. If it can be shown that any persons or firms have taken advantage of tho war to make extortionate charges for necessary commodities they should most certainly be dealt with. Tho Commission would do well-to investigate the reasons adduccd for the increases made in the various foodstuffs, and so clear lip the position generally, so fai as is humanly possible.

The Women Teachers' Association', anxious to be registered, has formally applied to ths Department for registration, but despite several reminders has received no reply. Wo begin to feel- some anxiety for the Department. "Hell hath no fury like a woman eco'ied."