NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 205, 25 May 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

Demands for in creased pay by the framwnymen are now being considered by the City Council. A bad habit Las grown up of carrying on these negotiation’ in private, and merely announcing to the public tho terms agreed upop. Tn the present, instance we understand the linen’s demands, if granted as they stand, [would involve an increase of anything I from £15,000 to £20,000 a year in tramway working costs. At the end of the financial year, on Marfh 31, Hie Tramways Account showed a credit balance of £3231. The state of the tramways finances is a matter .of direct, public concern. Nearly everybody uses tho ears, and if working costs continue Io pile up, a still further increase in fares or a deficit will have to be faced. Nobody wishes Io deal hardly by the tramwaymen, but wo fail Io see why those demands as formulated should nof lie submitted to public scrutiny. U is the public, and not th® City Councillors,

who have to foot the bill, and as owners of the tramway Bystem, they have a right to know what their employees are asking for in the way of increased pay, and on precisely what grounds the claims are based. An unnecessary privacy tends nowadays io surround far too many of these negotiations that lead almost invariably to the placing of further burdens on the public’s buck. The transaction of public business behind closed doors is not a. thing to be encouraged. All that the people ask is a square deal, but without publicity they cannot know whether they are getting it or not.

Sydney has been discovering that in Mr. W. H. Lambert it possesses an extraordinary Lord Mayor. Mr. Lambert is president of the Australian Labour Party, end the Labour Aidermen on the City Council elected him Lord Mayor, in accordance with orders from the partyexecutive. Among Si is idiosyncrasies, Mr. Lambert seems to have a peculiar dislike for the exhibition of the Union Jack. There was comment at its absence from the Town Hall flagstaff on Anzac Day, and the Millions Club was refused permission to have it hoisted on the occasion of a recent Town Hall luncheon, at which the Governor-General was present. The demonstrations following the burning of a Union Jack in the Domain also brought the Lord Mayor’s altitude prominently before the l public. To tho criticism he received, Mr. Lambert has replied in a series of remarkable statements. Some are contained in official letters .which he caused to be sent out over the signature of the Town Clerk, and those are about as undignified epistles as have ever been dispatched by the head of any city in the Empire. The recent loyalty demonstration in tho Sydney Town Hall and Domain Mr. Lambert described as the work of "certain bounders and boodlers, and sycophants and hirelings of capitalism.” The Millions Club were “tijipot nonentities,” and the flag "could not be honoured by being hoisted over such a turnout.” Furthermore, Mr. Lambert was of opinion that the tactics at the loyalty demonstration "bordered very close on the lines of sedb tion,” as people who stirred up strife and created factions among His Majesty’s subjects should not be tolerated in tho community. It is to torrents of such abuse as this that Mr. Lambert’demands the Sydney newspaper editors shall giro publicity in their entirely, or, in default, be refused any news whatever from Town Hall sources. Labour’s reputation will soon be well in the mud in Sydney at this pace.

Among the post-war revelations few equal in interest those made by Mr. Lansing, Secretary of State in President Wilson's Cabinet. Mr. Wilson, in a curt Note to Mr. Lansing in February of last year, commented on his Secretary’s increasing reluctance to accept his “guidance and direction,” and called for his resignation. Mr. Lansing, in forwarding it, replied that he had observed the President's indisposition to welcome his advice. From Mr. Lansing's account it appears that he strongly advised Mr. Wilson as head of the State not to go to Paris himself and negotiate as a delegate. Mr. Wilson made no comment whatever on his remarks, andmerely turned the conversation to other topics. Mr. Lansing says he does not know how far tho 'spectacular effect of the President crossing fhe ocean to control in person the making of peace influenced Mr. Wilson. It may have been the deciding factor; or it may not have counted at all. It appears that the Secretary advised Mr. Wilson against committing himself to exactly those parts of the Treaty which led to its subsequent rejection by the United States Senate. These objections Mr. Wilson uniformly wet-blanketed, and most of the advice he ignored without even an appearance of momentary consideration. In short, the duty of his Ministers in his eyes was not to -advise, but to accept "guidance and direction” from him. A point on which Mr. Lansing was especially insistent was that the phrase "self-determination,” so much insisted on by the President, was loaded with dynamite. It could not be harmonised with Zionism, to which Mr. Wilson was committed; it would breed discontent, disorder, and rebellion throughout the world, and, ha feared, cost thousands of lives. It would raise hopes impossible of I‘ealisation. and lu the end it would be discredited as the mere phrase of an idealist. But to these and all other warnings the President y?as deaf, and steered straight to his doom.

It is a pity that the exhibition given by the School Cadets in the Town Hall last evening could not be seen by every parent in the Dominion. It afforded tho very best evidence possible of the value from the physical side of the system of Cndet training which is being carried on under the Defence scheme, and it also well illustrated the benefits derived by the boys from the team work and discipline associated with the (raining. The instructors and the lads themselves are,i to be congratulated on the very fine exhibition given. The degree of efficiency reached in the short time the boys have been at Trantham speaks well for the interest and enthusiasm which the met hods practised arouse in the boys, and augurs well for the physical fitness of tlw rising generation.