NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 212, 2 June 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

When the Imperial War Cabinet came into existence it eat alternately with the Imperial Conference then being held in London. It was an executive body in which the Dominion Primes Ministers were associated witfli British Ministers in tho direction of the war, and later the negotiations of pence. Mr. Massey declares that in his opinion it was the "most successful organisation ever created.” and he suggests that the Imperial Conference should henceforth bo known es tho "Imperial Cabinet.” A change of name without a change in organisation or functions is not a great matter, but, whether or not Mr. Massey so intends, there can. be no doubt that in Canada, Australia, and South Africa a change of title from "conference” to “cabinet” would be taken as implying a change from consultative to executive functions, and from that point of view come under the strongest suspicion. Public opinion in those Dominions’ appears to be strongly against; any surrender of power to an Imperial Executive. Consultation and co-operation are favoured to the fullest extent, but subject always io ratification of all decisions by the local Parliaments. This is a cumbersome arrangement to which in cases of emergency, such as arose during the war, it is not possible to adhere. Without such an executive body there is no escape from the present position by which vital and emergent decisions affecting the whole Empire have Io be taken by the present British Cabinet without the Dominions having any effective voice in them. The position is full of difficulty, and the discussion that will take place on Mr. Massey’s suggestion will be beneficial if it helps to dear the air.

Before the war New Zealanders drank an average of 9 1-3 gallons of beer per annum; to-day,■ according to the figures of the New Zealand Alliance statistician, they are drinking 121 gallons a year. This is the most significant fact that emerges from the annual drink bill for the Dominion compiled by Mr. F. B. Adams. Australians have always been more thirsty than New Zealanders, but we are nearly up to the Australian beer consumption for 1918 of 12J gallons a head. Whether the national thirst in Australia has since increased jn the same proportion as in New Zealand we cannot say for lack of later figures. Canada., possibly for climatic reasons, has never taken kindly to beer, and used to get through less than 44 gallons per head ; but tho United States, when prohibition came, had to drop from 111 gallons to nothing. Britain before the war used to absorb no less than 26.94 gallons of beer per head of population per annum. Ths 1918 British drink bill, worked out per adult of twenty-one years of age and upwards, gives a consumption of 41 gallons a head. Taking our adult population at 700.000, we get a corresponding figure for New Zealand of 21 gallons a head. The position seems to be tlhat we drink a third more beer than we did before the wa-, but only half as much as the average Englishman does. However. for our intoxicating liquors generally—if Mr. Adams’s figures are anyway near correct —we seem to pay decidedly more highly than the United Kingdom. Despite their great consumption, the expenditure on intoxicants per adult in Britain was only £l3 155., whereas Mr. Adams’s £7,587,000, if divided among our 700.000 adults, gives an expenditure of over £lO per adult. Yet for our .£lO we get only about half the liquor an Englishman obtains for £l3 15s. Something seems wrong somewhere.

It is in keeping with Pope Benedict’s policy that a move should now be made to establish more friendly relations between the Vatican and the Italian Government. The old feud that arose with tho union of Italy amd the loss of the Papal States has cooled down tx> such an extent that only its formal interment is now required.' Nobody nowadays refers to the Pope as “the prisoner of the Vatican,” and last year the olive branch was hold out to Italy by the removal of the papal ban on visits of Roman Catholic sovereigns to the King of Italy. Because of this veto the late Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria was unable to return the visit to Vienna of King Humbert of Italy in 1870. The war, ’ however, has brought down some Roman Catholic, as well as Protestant, crowns, and with the disappearance of others by revolution the veto no longer remains a matter of the same importance as before. Its withdrawal is nevertheless typical of the policy of conciliating all nations which has been successfully pursued of late,, and which has resulted in twenty-one nations accrediting ambassadors or ministers of the Vatican., About, a third of the States giving this diplomatic recognition to the Papacy are predominantly non-Ro-man Catholic, such as Britain, Prussia, and Holland. The appointment of a British. Minister took place during the war and has since been maintained. Ths result of Pope Benedict's policy has been to strengthen and consolidate the influence of the Papacy in international affaire to a remarkable extent.

Before the war copper was selling at £66 a ton. From that point it soared to £125 in 1917, and wages at the Australian copper mines soared up also. Now copper is back at £72, and the Mount Morgan mine in Queensland finds (hat it will either have to give up paying boom wages or close down. The foots have been fully inquired into by a

Queensland Judge appointed by the State Labour Government, and he finds that tho loss on production at present is very heavy. A cable message to-day announces that the company has given its employees a month’s notice, with an offer to re-engage them on the basis of a 20 per cent, reduction in wages. As copper has fallen 42 per cent, in price, a 20 per cent, cut in wages seems reasonable. Tho company states that no profits can be produced for tho shareholders under it, and tho net result of carrying on under the arrangement will

be that the men will have the use of the plant for nothing. There are directly and indirectly about 25,000 people dependent on tho mine, and the attitude of the miners has been that wages must not come down, end.' that tho company must receive a subsidy from the State sufficient to enable it to pay the boom wages. This means that the rest of the people in the State while struggling along with slump conditions and reduced incomes are to bo asked to pay out charitable aid to keep Mount Morgan wages at high-water mark. It does not appear that even the Queensland Labour Government is prepared to concede this request. If it docs not pay to mine copper for what copper will fetch the obvious course seems to be to find something productive to do.