NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 112, 5 February 1919, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

It is desirable that tho public should be kept fully informed regarding the coal situation, and wo are glad to note the Acting-Prime Minister's recent announcement indicating the efforts being made by the Government to meet what it must be clear to all is a very difficult situation. To-day we are able to place before our readers some further information on the situation mainly as it affects this district, and I it will be noted that the outlook is not a cheering one. The root of the trouble is to be found on the West Coast. 'The whole country is being penalised by a few hundred men working in the West Coast coal mines. .Output is restricted; \iork is stopped on the slightest pretext.No sooner is trouble smoothed over in one mine than it breaks out in another. The Paparpa mine resumes work after being closed for months through the action of the men, and immediately there is a i prospect of increased supplies comi ing into the market the Blackball j men find a pretext for slowing ! down. .Their ground of action is 'said to N be in defiance of the award they are working under, but that is a small matter. Concession after concession is granted these men I without any beneficial result. The people who are going to suffer during the coming winter through the coal shortage 'include practically the whole of the working class city population. They, with the rest of tjhe community, will know that the hardships imposed on them are in the main the outcome of the policy pursued by the coal miners working in fcbi West Coast mines. « # * *

The utility of organised measures in fighting the influenza epidemic is strikingly exemplified in the contrast, thus far, between the experience of New South Wales and that of \ Victoria. In the former State, the total number of cases is still comparatively small, and only one death has been reported apart

from those which occurred in quarantine. In Victoria thsre are now about 1300 cases, and 61 deaths have been reported. There does not seem to be anything else to account for this marked difference than that much more drastic measures and precautions are being enforced in New South Wales than in Victoria.. One of to-day's messages asserts that the Victorian authorities still refuse to admit that the epidemic is serious, and have not .yet taken the severe precautions enforced in New South' Wales. If i this is true the people of Victoria are buying experience at a heavy price. The ob-ject-lesson afforded in Australia to date obviously emphasises the wisdom of the steps that are being taken in this country against, a possible recurrence of the epidemic, notably in keeping together the Wellington group organisations whose members did yeoman service on the occasion of the late visitation.

The claim made by Me. W. H. Field, M.P., on behalf of residents in the district, for a return to the week-end system of railway fares is ono which should receive the favourable consideration of 'the Minister. 'No doubt there, are other sections which would have {to be placed on a similar, footing, but as a matter of public policy the Government should encourage_the residential movement from the cities to the suburban areas, even at the cost of some loss of railway revenue. It. is doubtful, however, whether in the end there is any actual loss in the granting of these concessions. The Railways Department has the reputation of being over-slow in making up its' mind about matters of this kind, or at anyrate in making its mind known. It is to be hoped that there will be no unnecessary delay in the present instance, and that the answer given will be- a favourable one. * * % * *

Having apparently'reached agreement in regard to the German colonies, the Peace Conference is approaching more seriously debatable questions, including that of freedom of the seas. The views attributed to the American delegates in a message from Paris to-day afford another illustration of the fact that this particular question bristles with difficulties. The alleged determination of the United States to insist upon maintaining a fleet as powerful as that maintained by any other nation is not the most serious aspect of the matter. There is no racial jealousy between Britain and the United States, and noneMs ever likely to arise. It is quite possible that Britain, as another report declares, is prepared to consider the limitation of naval armaments. In regard to restrictions on the use of submarines, or even their total prohibition, agreement also' should be quite possible. But the proposal f.tiai. mnt.rn.Viand shall bn fixnlip.it.lv

defined stands in quite a different category. Britain, dependent as she is for her security on reasonably unimpeded naval action, cannot afford to accept such a rule. If there is to be any real check on tho shipment of contraband its definition must vary from time to time .and with tho circumstances of war. For instance, if. only those commodities had been regarded as contraband in this war which were so regarded when it began Germany have been free to the end to import aJI the cotton she liked, in spite of the fact that cotton is an essential ingredient in practically all explosives. Yielding up her freedom of action, where contraband of war is concerned, Britain would surroiuli\r a weapon with which sho cannot afford to dispense.