NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 95, 16 January 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

If Ministers and members arc to visit all districts desiring to impress them with their requirements they will be busy people this recess. First of all wc have the projected Pacific Islands tour, and in Poverty Bay plans arc being laid to finance a .Parliamentary East Coast tour, which tour, it is significantly emphasised, must not be too late in the season o'r the Parliamentary party will be bogged in the roads. Vv'ostport. afc a large public meeting this week also decided to ask Mil Massey to visit the town and see what steps can he taken to increase the output of coal. In the lengthy reports of this meeting in the local Press we cannot find that any of the speakers explained how the coal question is to be solved. Mr. Si.ef.. chairman, of .the Harbour T-oarrl however, gave some striking figures of the extent to which tbr> Wcstport output has fallen. In 10M it' amounted to 7.19.000 tons, in to 723,000 tons, in 1916-to 711,000 lons, in IS 17 to 653,000 tons, in iniß to 552,000 tons, and in 1919 to 404.00(1 tons. That. 275,000 tons of conl the Dominion did not get from Westport, last, year was just ebout ns much as is required to run the whole of the railways for a twelvemonth.

The decision of the New York State Legislature not to permit five duly-elected Socialist members to take their scats is so extraordinary as to be almost incredible. This stand, according to the message in to-day's news, has been taken on the ground that these new members belong to a party which opposed the war. It is pleasant to find such enthusiasm for the Allied cause in an American legislative body, but rather a pity that it should be necessary in this belated fervour to knock the bottom out of representative government. If the five Socialists were legally qualified to stand for the State Legislature and on standing were duly chosen by the electors, a. ludicrous position arises if they arc only to be allowed to sit at the caprice'of the other members. Such methods of disposing of an unpopular opposition party belong more to the politics of South than North America.

This New York demonstration will have one good effect if it assists in opening the eyes of the Germans to the extreme unpopularity of themselves and their friends abroad. Such evidence is not lacking in these days. In Australia the ratification of peace has been signalised by a proclamation prohibiting all trade with Germany. In New Zealand instances are daily reported of the vigorously emphatic refusals given by business houses to requests by Gorman concerns to resume norma! trade relations. At some distant date in the future no doubt these normal commercial relations will bo resumed. In the meantime the contents of the'mail-bags goinginto the, Fatherland from abroad will probably do as much as anything they learned on the battlefield to,convince the German people that a vaulting ambition to run the earth is a most unprofitable encumbrance

Now that the local bodies concerned have arrived at a satisfactory allocation of the cost of repairing the Rimutakn, Road this longdeferred work should be taken in hand without delay. A sum of £7000 is to be expended on the road itself, and £2000 in renewing the bridges. Of this amount the Government is providing half, the Fcatherston County Council a quarter, and the balance is distributed among the ten local' bodies covering the area between Ekctahuna and the llimutaka. The contributing botfics arc to be congratulated on the good sense shown in the acceptance of this liability, and the Fcathcrston County Council, in whose territory the work'is situated, on its withdrawal of a demand for an annual subsidy from the outside bodies for the upkeep of the road. At the same time wc echo the pious'hope of some of tho dclogates that tho whole question of maintenance of arterial I'oads will really be dealt with before long.

It is good news that an English corporation with a capital of six millions sterling has _ been formed for the mass production of lowpriced motor-cars. This enterprise, which includes some of the leading British engineering concerns, aims at a centralisation of policy, but a decentralisation of factories. It has a programme of 100,000 cars' per annum, half of which will be small cars, one-quarter medium dars, and one-quarter commercial vehicles. Two years are expected to elapse before the ideal magnitude of production can be achieved, as it will first be necessary to control every species of supply. A significant feature of the new enterprise is the allocation of half a million fully-paid ordinary shares to be held in trust for the employees, the income from which will be distributed.by a committee elected by the workpeople. An all-British motor-car for the million is most decidedly a thing long overdue. ,

' Those of our readers within reach of the city can give needed support to a good cause by attending tomorrow's amateur athletic championship meeting at the -Basin Heserve They are promised interesting contests, and their admission money will help towards the proper representation of New Zealand at the Australasian championships. During the war these meetings had perforce to lapse, and a good "gate" to-morrow is a financial necessity to the association if the sport is to bo restored to its pre-war standard. Mi:. Marhyatt, who has devoted years of enthusiastic labour to the encouragement of amateur athletics in the Dominion, is making a special appeal for a bumper attendance. Wellington has always come well up to the mark in this respect in past years, and wcjoin with the president of the association in hoping that all lovers of clean sport will make a point of being present to-morrow, even if it be at some little inconvenience to themselves.