NOTES OP THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 35, 5 November 1920, Page 6

NOTES OP THE DAY

When Mr. Maesey expressed the hope yesterday that by March next- the cost of living would have dropped sufficiently to make it unnecessary to continue the special bonus to incapacitated 6oldiers he surely must have forgotten the Act passed by the National Government in 1918. How can tho cost, of living drop to any material extent, unless thero is a disastrous slump, when it is being regularly forced up under tho mandate issued to the Arbitration Court? Eacli riso in the cost of living is accentuated by the provision in the Act in question which compels the Court to award a special bonus every six months in proportion to the estimated increase in the cost of living. Each six-nionthly addition to the wages bill of the country is reflected in the cost of goods aiid services to the community for the succeeding six months, with the inevitable result of a further bonus addition at the end of tho period and a. further thrust upward in tho cost of living index figures. So tho farce goes on. The Employers' Federation to-day state that the bonus allocations under this vicious system for tho current year mean an annual charge of at least J!l,000,000 to .£5,000,000. No discretion is left to tho Arbitration Court, in the matter, and unless the law is amended to permit tho Court to weigh all tho circurfstanccs of the case and decide accordingly, the final outcome will be a heavy smash with the probability of a severe setliack for all classes. At present ft privileged few secure the advantages while tho great, bulk of the community, who have not access to the Arbitration Court, pay the piper.

» * # * As a protest against the Turkish peace Iprms the Indian extremists invited their countrymen to join in a "non-co-opera-tion" movement—in other words, a boycott of the Government.. As the police and military were also invited to join, "non-co-operation" in their cafc would be a euphemism for mutiny. The idea was that of Mr. Gandhi, the extremist leader, but tho response dc«s not soem to have been what he anticipated. Enough has been done to create a situation cf sowa tension, and the elections for the new provincial councils' under the reform scheme may be held under disturbed circumstances. The new reforms give a tremendous liberalising of Government in India, and their chief feature is the creation of provincial legislative councils on a wide franchise, and with full control over certain specified subjects by natives, other "reserved" subjects being in the hands of the Governor and the European administrators. The idea is that tho list of "reserved" subjects shall be gradually raduced as tlv> Indians gain experience in self-government until full control i 6 handed to them. Tho scheme hcis Hjjeu under fire both from conservative British and extremist., Indian opinion. It is the boldest step' over taken in the government of an Asiatic raca, but what it will amount to in practice in the welter of creeds, castes, and races in India time alone will tell. • * # • Daylight diplomacy is now being inaugurated by the League of Nations. Under Article Eighteen of the Covenant . it is providedthat theiU shall be no more secret treaties by members of the League. No treaty entered into by a nation whiich is in tfyj League shall be regarded as binding until registered with it, and all registered treaties shall be published as soon as possible after registration. The first hatch of published treaties semns harmless enough as announced in this morning's message, and will prc/bably bo found to reveal little of the inwardness of diplomacy or put tho public in possession of information that they would not otherwiss bs given. If two nations wish to make a secret bargain between themselves, or arrive at a 6e.cret understanding as to a course of policy, Article Eighteen of the Covenant is scarcely likely to he an insurmountable obstacle to their desires. Reform will only come, alas, when politicians lose the passion for intrigue,, and until that happy day dawns it is but,a slender reliance a longsuffering public can place on the registrations under the Covenant as disclosing all the bargains that have been struck and tliie plots hatched in th>j chancelleries of Europe, to say nothing of America and Asia. 1

Tho Inxily of many local bodies in enforcing, whatever by-laws they may 'havo for tho lighting of vehicles, makes some uf our ruads veritable death-traps after dark. What vigilance there is is usually exhausted in bringing niotorints to book, and small attention is paid to the condition of. the lights carried by horse-drawn vehicles. Theoretically, cart and carriage lamps are supposed to show a red light to the rear. In practice, this rear-light is usually a minus quantity. It is a feeble enough light tit the best of times, and if not obscured by candlo grease or smoko will probably bo found to be hidden by some projection 011 the vehicle:' or its load. Tlib taxicar owners' confcronec is urging that all vehicles, including bicycles, should be compelled to carry separate rear lights. The request is an entirely reasonable ono. Lack of such precaution has resulted in many accidents and some loss of life, With the rapid increase in motor traffic, rear lights, especially on slow-moving vehicles, are an imperative necessity. At present wo have the paradoxical position that the fast-moving motor traffic which ov*rtakes i§ compelled to tarry rear lights, while tho traffio tliat is overtaken is permitted to wander about tho roads in the blackest obscurity as viowed from the rear. To continue thie is to ask for accidents.

Mr. Ngata is one of the most vigilant guardians of the interests of his raco of his day and generation, and his tribute to the work of Sir William Herrioi as Minister of Nativo Affairs is no empty compliment. He tells us that, whon the Minister first took ofiico in 1912 he thought it would bo his policy coldly to divest the Maoris of their remaining lands in the interests of Europeans. His experience, however, has been that Sir William Herries is both just and merciful, and 110 one would regret more if he gavo up the portfolio of Native Affairs. Mr. Ngnta, in addition to being a. Maori, and an ex-Nalive Minister, is in the opposite political camp from Sir' William Herries, and this fact lends 'an addod weight to the warmth and sincerity of his words. Tho Native land question is 110 longer the tangle of bygone days, and the, present position is concisely set out in. the report presented to Parliament this year. Since 1911 some 2,350,000 acres of Maori lands have been acquired, one million acres by ,the Crown and tho balance by private purchase through the Maori Land Boards. Tho area owned by the Natives is 43 million acres. Of this, about threo million acres are ■ in tfte occupation of Europeans. The Maoris are estimated to bo in profitable occupation of under lialf a million acres, and li million acres ore unoccupied. When pumice lands, mountain tops, etc., are deducted from this latter area, there is revealed only about half a million acres of empty Mjiori land left that is suitable for settlement. It does not seem unreasonable, as advocated in the Department's report, that this, with tlio other half million acres they occupy, should be preserved to tho Maoris as a permanent heritage.

It is not surprising that the issue of Mrs. Asquith's reminiscences in. book form should create a sensation. Nobody, we suspect, would be more disconcerted than the authoress herself if it did not. Apparently accuracy in details is not Mrs. Asquith's strong point, but there is something unusually touching in the spectacle of Mr. Winston Churchill in a lengthy review rebuking her on this score. Mr. Churchill, in addition to being Secretary of State for War, is a rival purveyor of sensational literature lo the Sunday newspapers, and has more than once been rapped over the knuckles by hi& colleagues for his indiscretions as a Sunday shocker. Only a few weelo ago Mr. Churchill, in one of his journalistic efforts, laid down the law about Poland in a style quite equal lo Mr. Horatio Bottomley in his moro florid moments. Questions were naturally asked in Parliament as to whether the statement by the Secretary for War was the considered policy of tho Government. Mr. Lloyd George was obliged to confess that tho Winstonian effusion was "not so much a policy as a hankering," and ho added, "I really cannot control my colleague's desires." To find .Mr, Churchill now installed as a censor of other people's indiscretions bears more than a passing resemblance to Satan rebuking sin.