NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 56, 30 November 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Evidence of the activity of the Prices Investigation Tribunals was provided by yesterday's Magisterial decision in the clothing trade cases. Mr. C. Jf. Luke has also explained at some length what the Wellington tribunal has been doing of late. Mr. Luke's summary of the work put through covers a wide range, but the public is still without that specific, practical information, as to prices that would be helpful to it in its daily purchasing. We have repeatedly urged in the past that tho tribunals should issuo forthwith tiieir decisions on prices. All that. i 6 wanted is the trade description of the article, tho price demanded for it, and the finding of tho tribunal as to its reasonableness or otherwise. There is no need, for the name of either the complainant or the defendant trader to appear. The prompt publication of these details would bo helpful to all concerned. Purchasers would know whether the rates asked for the same articles by the business houses they deal with, were reasonable, and shopkeepers and merchants generally would be kept more closely informed of what the tribunals regard as a fair margin of profit. The point is one that we have ,gono over so often that we will not labour it again. Despite it? reiteration no satisfactory reason lias been put forward for the absence of this valuable eduoative publicity. There may bo good reasons for it. It would at least be interesting to learn what they are. •

* » ♦ * The Battle of Jutland still continues to be threshed out in the British Press. With Lord Jellicoe in our mid6t a special interest attaches to these discussions. • In a message yesterday Admiral Sir Percy Scott was reported a? stating that the absence of the Harwich force from the battle was "a terrible crime." The Harwich Force, under Rear-Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt (then Commodore Tyrwhitt) comprised about half a dozen light cruisers and between thirty and forty destroyers and flotilla leaders. Its duties were to carry out sweeps and patrols from Zeebrugge northwards to the Dogger Bank and into the Gorman Bight. It also convoyed the weekly merchant traffic across tho North Sea to, Holland. The force was nominally a detached portion of tho Grand Fleet, and provision was made in battle orders for its disposition in a fleet engagement. Lord Jelliooe in his book, however, omits the Harwich destroyers from the total of 80 possessed by the Grand Fleat (as against tlie German 88), and states that he never expected that the detached Harwich Force would have been able ib effect a junction in time to be of use. The Harwich vessels, it is stated in "The Grand 1 Fleet," had been kept in port by Admiralty orders on May 31, and were dispatched to sea on the morning of June 1. "They would have been of great use at daylight on Juno 1 had they been on the scene at that time," wrote Lord Jellicoe. Harwich is 300 sea miles from Horn Eeef. Had the force left port instantly on the first contact of' the Grand Fleet with enemy heavy ships at 3.30 p.m. on May 31 it might have- just abouil been on the spot at 2.47 a.m. on June 1, when day was breaking and our destroyers still harrying some enemy ships. Had it been sent to sea on May 30, at the same time as the Grand Fleet, the British superiority in destroyers for ilhe night action on May 31 would have been nearly 50 per cent. Among tho numerous mysteries of the war the exact why and wherefore of the Admiralty , orders that resulted in the absence of the Harwich Foroe from Jutland remains to be nnravellod.

Although the war is gradually slipping into tho past, and the back has been broken of the task of re-settling the soldiers in civil life, the Returned Soldiers' Association still shows a healthy vitality, and promises to fulfil a useful function in the community for years to come. At the meeting of the Dominion -executive of the association a variety of business has been put through, ■and besides matters affecting soldiers' interests a number of public questions were discussed from tho point of view of the younger generation. A new idea, for instance, is the proposal of the general' secretary of the association that the ratio of Asiatics to tho total population should be restricted to a fixed proportion, and admissions for permanent residence not allowed iii excess of it. The new land bureau scheme. adopted should be of use in bringing the right sort of man and ithe right sort of land together, and if experienced district advisers- are secured they should be able to save inexperienced men from embarking on ventures with small prospects of success. The protest against a restoration of civil rights to military defaulters is timely. Political rights carry their obligations, and if a man wishes to help to shape the policy of his country it is no more than reasonable that' he shall be willing to defend it.