NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 7, 4 October 1920, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

The dispute at tho Pukemiro mine, though it turns really upon a reasonabla demand by the owners that provision should lw.wode for pumping out ■the mine when work generally is stopped, has been complicated by tlio introduction of questions concerning union membership. A plain road to a, settlement is opened, however, by a proposal which ill'. W. Pryor, on behalf of the Aline Owners' Association, has submitted to the Miners' Federation. Tho proposal 1 is that the federation and the local union 6hould undertake that in the event of ar.y dispute ov stoppage of work at Pukemiro, "the engine-drivers will not on any pretext whatever refuse to perform any duties necessary in connection with pumping operations or the ventilation of tho mines." This mokes it clear that tho whole question raised is whether the Minors' Federation and the local union are prepared to cooperate in establishing suoh conditions as will prevent the Pukemiro mine being flooded and made unsafe or unworkable on any ocea/sion when the miners cease work. Since the Hooding of tho mine would occasion serious losj and inconvonience not only to the own era but to the publio asd to the men employed, the repiesentatives of tho miners could not reject the proposal now submitted by the owners without putting . themselves hopelossly in the wrong. / 1 The possibility of an increase in the Bauk rato, which has been unchanged at 6even per oent. since April last, is again mentioned in a London cablegram to-day, although the possibility on the whole is minimised. The present situation owes much of its. uncertainty to the existence of tho enormous floating debt 'of well over a thousand millions sterling which the United Kingdom carries as one of tho after-effects of the war.' The cablegram mentions that Treasury bills to the amount of 4&8 millions fall duo this month and that sales have been recently on a small scale. When Treasury bills in excess of tho amounts coincidently sold aw allowed to mature, the Government has to meet them by obtaining Ways and Means' advances from the Bank of England—that mto «ay, tha holders of maturing bil'la enforce a further expansion of credit and this, of necessity, interferes with the control normally exercised by the Bank of England as a regulator of tho money market. An undue expansion of credit, making as it does for inflation and high prices, is obviously undesirable. An increase in tho Bank rato is one of tho remedial measures which has been, proposed, but the real remedy, no doubt, is to reduce the floating debt. The "Economist," in dismissing thie subject recently, observed that it waa doubtful whether an increase in tho Bauk rate would induce holders of Treasury bills to renew them, 'and that it would prefer to see the root of the evil attacked by a reduction of outstanding Treasury bills. ' "With revenue exceeding expendituie," it added, "and the Treasury bill menace removed or relieved, the necessqry chtck to expansion (of credit) must follo\V if the banks maintain a due proportion between cosh and liabilities, without any necessity for a further riso in Bank rate, unless and until commercial demands on tho Bank of England cause one." * » # »

A New Zealander who has won distinction as one of tho .most accurately informed authorities on Russian affairs, Dr. Harold .Williams, warns England that a world-revolution is an essentia] item to Lenin's programme. In o. lengthy article, to which the London "Times" Save prominence, Dr. Williams eays tlmt Tao Bolshevists aro perfectly serious in their purpose, arid their ambition is to effect it by the disruption of the British ■Empire. It is idle, he declares, to believe that Russia under Lenin and Trotsky want® peace. Nothing of the sort. World revolution is the essence of the movement. Their programme may be regarded as absurd and fantastic; Three years ago it would have been thought equally absurd and fantastic to prophesy that Lenin, an obscure exile, would attain his present position. Tho Bolshevist method abroad is to exploit generous humanitarian sentiment and fan it to white heat on behalf of remote causes of which very few know the rights and wrongs, j Efforts are made everywhere to put the Government openly in the wrong; to make it appear ridiculous or treacherous. It is persistently represented as a Capitalistic Government, oven though it be the product of universal suffrage, as in .New Zeakuid. Dr. Williams says definitely that tho Bolshevists are fomenting rebellion in Ireland, India, and Egypt, and are doing their best to undermine British institutions elsewhere. He does not believe a Bolshevist revolution in England would succeed if it cam© to an open fight, but he believes the attempt is imminent. The Bolshevists' only hope of euooees is to play on British whim, prejudioe, and party and party feeling, bo m to creato a hopeless con. fusion as to the real nature of their aims. A slippery policy of compromise is useless with Bolshevism and its disciples- » # »

America is not .elated at the result of its 1920 census. Judging by Saturday's cable message, the compilation of tho figures is not yet complete, but has gone far enough bp reveal ft marked slackening in the rate of increase from 1910-20, as compared with tho period 1900-10. Karlier in the' year the city figures wore made available and showed in most case's w.tisfying increases. Gradually, however, came the realisation that in view of tho war-timo stoppage of immigration and the absence of marked upward movement in the rate of natural increase, large city growth meant only one thing, and that was tho transfer of population from country to town. This is ft phenomenon not confined to fchs United States. In New Zealand in 189G, for instance, 55 per cent, of tho peoplo wore country dwellers, but it 1910 tho proportion in country districts was only 4a per cent. At. the 1910 census in Amen- | ca the rural population was 49 millions 'and tho urban 42 millions, a lead of seven millions for the country folk. It is I worth noting that tie urban population increased by 12 millions between tho 1900 ond 1910 censuses, and the rural by only four millions. As tho position in 1910-20 period is less satisfactory, it will pioliably. mean that tho town-dwcllors aro definitely ahead in numbers. Flattering as this growth may bo to American townsmen, it can hardly bo described as to tho good of their country.