NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 3, 29 September 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

J The. extent to which" increased wages and working costs are forcing up prices is instructively exemplified in the latest' roturn of city tramway finance. It is | now quite clear that at present tho tramways are king ran" at a loss, and this in spite of the fact that the basic charge (tho cash fare for a single sectioii ride) lias been increased by 100 per cent, as oompared with the corresponding pre-war charge, and that all fares have been heavily increased. Tho record for twenty, four weeks to September 15 shows, as compared with last year, an increase of ■£40,216 in working expenses and ,£23>18 in capital charges, against an increase in revenue of only ,828,612. There is a debit balance for the first 24 weeks of this year of nearly .£IO,OOO, against a credit balance for the corresponding period last year of nearly ,£3OOO. It somewhat modifies the significance of these figures that the latest increase in fares was not imposed until a, month or two of the current financial year 'had elapsed. Looking at the latest four-weekly return, however, there is little prospect of improvement. For this period, as compared with the Bame period last year, working expenses and capital charges in tho aggregate Increased moro than five times as much as revenue, and there is a debit balance for the four weeks of ,63343 as compared with a credit balance of .£2115 in tho corresponding period last year. If this condition of things continues the City Council must again .increase fares at an early date or preparo to record a substantial debit balance for the whole financial year.

A memlwr of the Otago branch of the R.S.A. commented at a recent meeting Upon the reported decision of th.o Government to encourage the building of houses by returned soldiers in prefer, ence to granting loans for the purchase of houses already built, and added that under this policy it would be necessary to increase the maximum amount at present granted for the erection of n dwelling. Such an increase, in point of fact, is recommended by the Government housing superintendent in his latest report. At the same timo returned soldiers, like other people, are interested, in securing houses as cheaply as possible, and it would pay them as an organisation to advocate tho production of "factorycut" houses on the lines .adopted by tho Railways Department. If standard parts wcro provided, returned soldiers in most towns and cities could easily form working parties to provide for the rapid erection of dwellings. Co-operating on these lines, tho rotumed men would secure ;good houses at prices distinctly lower than those now ruling, and at the same time would give a useful lead towards the solution of the housing problem as it affects the community at large,

Cargo pillaging is a particularly mean forn) of sneak thieving because its effects in raising tho prico of goods and tho cost of living arc felt by all and most eevorely by the poorest memborn of tho community. This being so, publio opinion no doubt will applaud tho announcement by Mr. P. K. Hunt, S.M., that honceforth he will imposo no moro fines on those convicted of this olfonce, but will invariably sentence them to a term of imprisonment. It is to bo hoped that Magistrates in other ports throughout the Tominion wll follow suit. Experience has shown that fines are an inoffcctive deterrent where o.inpo pillaging .is conwrztftd, to* men ooarktaj

are very highly paid unskilled labourers, who took to pillaging with au eyo to profit. Such men 110 doubt aro often prepared to risk a fine, and their coldblooded 'attempt to prey on the rest of the community certainly warrants the severer punishment which may be oxpectcd to aot as an effectual deterrent. * * * *

That nearly 49000 should be subscribed' in tho Dominion in aid of tho Broken Hill strikers indicates that a good many Now Zealanders havo more money than sense. It is seventeen months since tho Broken Hill strike began. Tho demands made by tho men are for a minimum of .£1 per ejiift for every class of labour, both men and boys, and for a week of iivo days of sijc hours each. Tho companies offered to continue the existing aivard, subject to revision in accordanco with the index figures relating to the cost of living, and to givo annually 12 days' holiday on full pay to all workmen. They also offered to go. tt> tho Arbitration Court. Tho irreconcilables have rejected every proposal. They consist chietty of tho underground workers, and they have denounced and intimidated other sections of workers at Broken Hill who havo sought the redress of grievances by constitutional methods. At tho beginning of the present month, Mr. Justice Edmunds completed his investigation of the diepnto, and reported that tho men had failed to substantiate their claims. The report recommended that the hours below ground be H hours por week, and 18 per weok above ground. It also recommended tho continuance of the contract system and the night-shift. The principal objection of the men seems' to bo to work. They do not intend to do more than six hours n. day if they

can help it. They have improved oil this, and have done no hours a day for seventeen months by sponging oa the earnings of other people. If the workel's elsewhere are fools enough to furnish the wherewithal, the Broken Hill irreconcilables will no doubt ho prepared to continue the strike for' seventeen years. It would, be interesting to know exactly bfrw many men are cutting the JE9OOO up among them. Most of the strikers of any grit must long ago have sought elsewhere the work that is freely enough obtainable in Australia. * * * it

In his report on the main road through Wairarapa South county Mr. Laiug ■ Meason stated an examination showed that while the surfaco was bad and full of pot-holes there was still two or three inche6 of the foundation metal solid and .compact. If the road wcro left any longer this would be badly injured or completely destroyed and the cost of reconstruction greatly increased. The roads around the city are in a notoriously bad state. If their total reconstruction is to bo avoided it will only be by taking them in hand without delay. The Wairarapa South' County Council has acted wisely in adopting Mr. Laing Meason's schemo for a permanent road that, although expensive to k.y down, will reduce maintenance to a minimum. The stretch to bo dealt with is 6| miles in length and a roadway eighteen feet in width is to bo constructed of bituminous macadam at an estimated cost of ,£23,WC. On this basis it would cost something under JC1,000,000 to lay down 6 first-class permanent road from Wellington to New Plymouth, and rather less to reconstruct the main road to Napier via the Wairarapa. This means that wo could havo two modern highways through tho southern portion of tho North Island for an annual cost of, say, .£125,000 for interest and sinking fund. Against this'there would bo savings in road maintenance, and, of course, an enormous saving in tho wear and tear of vehicles and tyres, to any nothing of the increased comfort to all road users. The whole work can be easily finnneed by motor taxation. We earnestly hopo the Government' will not permit tho present destruction of what remains of our main roads to proceed unchecked while the Motor Bill and the Arterial Road Board scheme collect dust in tho ofiioial pigeon-holes.

Tho Labour Party are to be congratulated on their sensible course lin not contesting the scats on the City Council vacated by Messrs. M'Kenzio and Sliorland. These two councillors have gone the wrong way about ventilating their grievance, and the ratepayers should not be asked to spend .£SOO in election expenses in order to express an opinion with regard to an alleged overpayment of at the utmost .EoO or so. This unnecessary expenditure will ho avoided if the re-election of the two gentlemen in question is not contested. But our Labour friends are inclined to arrogate too much virtue to themselves for their decision. Tho publio :61 ot at present burdened with) feelings of gratitude for the activities of official Labour, and thero is no reason to expect that another Labour candidature foi' the City Council woul/l have any moro fortunate outcome than that of Mr t Brindle, who was badly beaten only ten days ago by a candidate not nearly so well known to the public as either Mr. M'Kenzie or Mr. Shorlrad. The Labour Party is discreet in avoiding another recording of public disapproval of the path of stagnation and scprcity along which extremism is pushing tho industrial life of the Dominion.

The Moscow wireless message announcing a rising; of Scottish Communists as imminent is probably as accurate as most of the foroign intelligence on which Lenin feeds his supporters. Last month the Bolshevik wireless informed the world that a revolution 'had occurred at Trondhjem, in Norway, and a Socialist republic declared. As a matter of fact, tliero had been a partial railway striku at Trondhjem, and a coast striko in sympathy, ■ but both were called off. The depths of Lenin's ignoianco were revealed in the letter to the workers of Britain which ho gave to the British labour delegation to take back with thom. In tihnt amazmig epistle ho calmly suggested that a revolutionary rising should bo brought about for the purpose of sacking the Foreign Olfioo in London to discover whether there were any secret treaties between tho British Govornmont and the Poles and General Wrangol! He announced that the Russian newspapers had recorded tho arrest in England of Jhiss Sylvia Pankhurst, and proceeded: "Comrade Sylvia Pankluirst is flic representative of ■ tho interests of hundreds of millions of people who are oppressed by British and other capitalists, and it lis on this account that sho becomes nil object of tho white terror and is deprived of freedom/' The report of Miss Panlthursfs arrest was utterly false, and her importance was unknown to anybody inside or outside tho Labour movement fu Britain, In this lettor Lenin showed himsolf a hcmicidal ignoramus so f ar as uft'uirs outsido Kussin ore concerned. Doubtless, however, lie will continue to have eagportcra abroad so long us he tap money to pay them. J