NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 48, 20 November 1920, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

It fa good news to learn that the shipping companies and tho waterside workers in their recent secret conference discussed tho question of rendering a more oHioient service to tho community. If they wish to. earn thfe gratitude, of the public, they will do well to remember that hftor all tho port of-Wellington was not brought into boing with the sole end and object of providing a lucrative field for shipowners and waterside workers, but as a oonvonionce for tho people of New Zealand. The strong public resentment that has been aroused by recent high-handed proceedings on tlio waterfront is doubt, less making its impression. It seems sfrangely unnecessary, nevertheless, that I lie desire to promoto eilicicTscy sliouM have to be surrounded with so much 6ecrocy. For some inscrutable reason shipowners and wa;eosidere will cling to the idea, that the public must be allowed to know nothing about their activities on its behalf. If they would take those whom they .profess to wish to serve into their confidence they would strengthen their position and assist to remove much of (he prevailing distrust which is the' natural outcome of tboir secret ijegotiatioue.

The New South Wales Budget, which i was presented (last week, disclosed n somewhat depressing state of aflairs. An outstanding feature was a deficit for tho year of i 1,559,000, and an accumulated deficit of £i,£04,000. Although ho is inposing now taxation estimated to produce .£2,324,000 per annum, and anticipates a total revenue increase for-tho year 1920-21 of .£5,261,000, the State Treasurer Lang) assumes that only .£29,000 wi'li he available at the end of. the year towards tho reduction of tho accumulated deiicit. Ho attributed the big balance on the wrong Bide in last year's accounts to the failure of his \ predecessor ill oilice to' provide beforehand for the- increase in the basic wage in which Government eim ployces participated. About two-thirds of the New South Wales State revenue is dorived from business undertakings, and expenditure is in a similar ratio; Last year's total revenue and expenditure, with '.lie corresponding estimates for the current year, are ns follow: — Actual. Estimate. ' 3919-20. 1920-21. Increase. Total rovenue ... 28,750.000 34.011,000 5,261,000 Total expenditure 30,309,000 33,982,000 3,673,000 The sources of additional taxation to 'uo tapped are: • £ Racecourse admission tax 240.000 StamD duticß .. 300,000 Jncome tax . 1,651,000 Totalisator tax 40.000 Harbour mid tonnage rates ... 93,000 Total additional taxation ... £2i324,000 Jlr. Lang did not give details of tho manner In which the new-taxation is to bo imposed, but in the case of ineomo tax the estimated additional return amounts to about two-thirds of the income tax of last year.

The sailing of the .American team of tennis players, the challengers for tlie Davis Cup, from Vancouver, should serve to.romind those who have not yet booked their seats for the big event at Auckland that the dote of the'eontest is drawing near. There have been some great struggles in Australia and elsewhere for this covotcd tennis honour, and onco before Now Zealand was the deciding ground. It is doubtful, however, if on any previous ocoasion, at any rate in recent times, interest in the event was so widespread or such uncertainty existed ns to the outcome. The America team—Tilden, Johnston, Washburn, and HnrdyHs made up of the pick of the men—with ono exception—who swept all before t.hem in the men's- events at the English championship meeting a few months ago, and later on performed a similar feat, at the American championship - gathering. The exception is Williams, who, thd,ugh selected, was. unable to make the trip, and has been replaced bv Washburn. It is a most formidable team, and the best of Australasia will have to be at the top of their torm if they .« r o to retain possession of the cup. Patterson, Brookes, Wood, ami Hawkes—tho lost-named a young Melbourne player who has recently shown quite excellent form—are considered to lie tho probable team to oppose tho Americans. Both Brookes and Patterson were beaten by Tilden on tho last occasions on ■which they mot, and Brookes lias since gone off in his singles play. Still, it is by no means a forlorn hope, and those who journey to Auckland for the contests are see the finest teams the world can produce to-day. •.* » » Americans who concern themselves with the Irish question could probably do much more useful work' for their country and civilisation generally if they tackled the negro problem in" the United States. British equanimity fortunately is seldom disturbod by the efforts of those who would have- the Irish question fettled from Washington. As a. nation we are not addicted to gratuitous meddling in the internal affairs of our neighbours, so there is no evidence 'whether Americans would as composedly hccopt advice and remonstrance from London on- their treatment of their blaok brothers. From what wo know of 1 the American temperament wo doubt it. ' At the same time there is evidence enough to show that the 13 millions of negroes in tho United States constitute a bigger problem thnt tho four million Irish in Ireland. Under tho American Declarar Hon of Independence, of.course, all men ! are free and equal. The "Christian Scicnco Monitor," an influential and fair-minded newspaper, descrilxs tho degree of freedom possessed by tho American negro in the following torms:—"ll is a familiar fact, evon in the North, tliat the Southern negro has no vote. His economic position is little better than a slave, and tho illiterate negro-is cheatod right and left. ' When tho negroes Imml togother to try to get justice by tho law, as tlicv did recently, their lawyer is exiled from the town, the nogroca are gooled, and the newspapers carry false headlines about negro war on tlie whites." For every 7i dollars spent on educating the whito child half a dollar is spent on the black oh'ild. Tho American Committee of One Hundred which is about' (o investigate Ireland's troubles might have ifouwl a biggor field for its reformingonorgy without going to the expense of , pressing the Atlontic.

That strikes are an expensivo and ineffective method of Bottlins labour disputes is amply demonstrated by tho grim record compiled by tho Australian statistical olTico for 1919. Tho year wa.l more disturbed industrially throughout tho Commonwealth than uny since 1912. There wero IGO .disputes, in which 100,300 employees wero involved, nnd 57,291 more wero affected by tho resulting dislocation of industry. Altogether 5,052,726 working days wero lost, and .£3,492,936 in wages sacrificed. Of tlio 400 disputes only 157 resulted in gains\to the workers, and of these 72 had relation to wages. In 157 cases tho struggle closed in. favour, of tho employers. Of the remainder 139 were endod by.-compromise, whilo 10 finished indefinitely.. Tho striko was not in-, vented yesterday as a means of dealing with disputes, and; it is welj. known, that in almost all industries tho advice of the older) men is nearly always to exhaust every resourco of negotiation liefore going out. They have been, through tho mill often enough and-know what it means. The older men fire generally in a minority, their protests, are disregarded as the timorousnees of age, and tho lossou has to bo learned over again by tho new generation, Few young people-aro content to buy their cxperi-. once at socond-hand, but .these statistics pro food for thought for those advocates of "direct action," who would glorify that disastrous failure, the strike into n universal means of settling all our national affairs.