Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 6th, 1920. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 March 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 6th, 1920. THE WEEK.

Mil Massey having got his Cabinet leformed it is to be expected now that tiie Ministry will get down to business and commence to fulfil those gilded promises which which the country was deluged at the time of the general election. In the announcement of the personnel of tfie Cabinet, the Premier indicates all too plainly that the willing horses are all too much overburden, ed. Pie is in charge of seven departments, as is also Sir W. Herries and Sir P. Bell, both of whom only remain in office by request. The generil administration is now split up very much creating far too many separate departments. The result is that in departmental control there is far too ! much overlapping and this emphasisled again in the Ministerial ranks. The Minister of Lands might well control all departments relating to land, yet there is a separate Minister tor Agriculture (who has also Industries and Commerce in his care). There n a. separate Minister for Valuations and so on. The splitting up of generic departments must add enormously to the administrative expense, and the overlapping which results is not conducive to efficiency. It is rather remarkable that Mr Parr should be -he only city member in the Cabinet, but as it is the country that requires development more than the towns, the matter is not of any great consequence, unless it is to be inferred that there is a lack of talented Government supporters to be found in places where the people do most congregate.

Tjie Reform policy enunciated in pv. election times was quite radical when viewed in the light of the old Conservative days. Some of the thunder was borrowed from the policies of l iberal and Labor and those identical planks will be added to the political structure for a certainty if the master architect will permit the builders to get to work on them next session. The Reform party in any event has its greatest opportunity during the present term of office. The sweeping majority it has secured gives it an 'd. vantage which will enable it to pit as inuch legislation as it wishes on j the statute book. Mr Massey will bo ! under very close observation this ses-

sion to see that the promises made were not empty platitudes uttered to servo a timely purpose and then to lie put away till next general election. In ore respect time is making tho path of fcho Government smoother and that is : n respect to the attitude of labor. A more sane and less revolutionary meth-

od of procedure regarding disputes is coming about. Direct action .as been tried and found wanting, and reason is to take its place. This w : !l be good for the country and the Government should seize the opportunity to court the good graces of labor, and endeavour to create a tribunal capable of dealing with industrial disputes as much respected and revered as the ordinary judiciary. Anything tending to Industrial tranquility and steady application to production, will be for the great advancement of New Zealand in this time of stress and trial.

The local bodies lost no time in seek— j ing to enlist the good offices of Hon. , J. G. Coates, the newly appointed Min- | ister of Public Works in regard to Die future of the Midland Railway. Mi O. G. Sullivan, M.P. [of. Christchurch, acting for the Canterbury Members of Parliament, also joined in very on. , portunely in the request to the new Minister to interest himself personally in the great work going forward mowly at Otira. The protracted delay over this work is hard to understand—see- : ing what the country has at stake. ! Not only is there a waste in unneresI sary interest payments" by the hslav ■ over the completion, but an economic j waste is going on all round, because the commodities which tlie East Coast | needs so badly cannot be transported •by sea in sufficient volume to meet the demand across the ranges. If Mr Coates would make a name for himself, he could do so by associating himself, very intimately with tlie great work ' going forward at Arthur’s Pass. To do | this he requires to make a personal j visit and a close inspection and glean first hand what has been done and what is still to be done. If he takes this step and he is the practical man he is credited with being, there should be no doubt about the speedy com Action of the work being forced. No man with a clear, unprejudiced vision could visit the works at present, without coming to the conclusion thio the situation calls for their earliest completion bo that the country can g- 1 the benefit of the great expenditure it has incurred in the work.

Ihe greatest urgency at tlie presen time is in the matter of internal :w) ministration, and the need to kee down expenditure, Mr Massey w! soon be without the immediate advic of Sir James Allen, his Minister ■ Finance. Administrative charges hm been mounting up of late years in i;i ther a remarkable way, and unless th expenditure can he kept within the r< venue, drastic retrenchment will h,,v to be enforced rather sooner the. later. The permanent charges in ib way of enhanced salaries and bonusr (which are now an annual charge) per sions and interest payments are mounl ing up tremendously. The country ha had a heavy war expenditure (inelud ing the maintenance of Samoa) o which under the Peace Treaty it wo hoped to have a substantial repayment This is not immediately likely, whic means that the country will requir to go on paying interest on the extr debt involved. A year ago in far later, there was a considerable stria genc.v in the public account., and th financial situation will necessarily giv tlie Government grave concern. Wit! (Sir Joseph Ward out of Parliatnen and Sir Ja.mes (Alien also retiring, there remains only Hon. Arthur Myer with a close personal knowledge of ’hi inside workings of finance. Some hin has been given that Mr Myers, ni avowed Liberal, might he induced ti join the Ministry from patriotic mo tires, to enable the financial tangle thi better to he unravelled. It will b< interesting to watch developments nnc see on whom Mr Massey’s choice fails when he, soon, must needs call a finnncial mind to his aid in Cabinet.

Giieat Bhitain with all her prestige as a military nation hashed the way in abandoning conscription. In that ad she gives not only an outward and visable demonstration of her bonafides under the League of Nations covenant, but also by the act, suggests to the other nations the course open to them if the Great War just passed was in jeality a war to end war. Prior to the exigencies of the late great war, Britain maintained only a voluntary army, and excellent quality it was making up by its very character, for the quantity it lacked. But facing belligerents which possessed armies of conscripts, Britain was forced to drop into line, and create . a vast army on similar lines. How that was done with wonderful swiftness and success, is now history. The present occasion for a copscript army lias passed, and Britain trap to her policy and tenets, and in conformity with the spirit of the League of Nations principle has dropped her powers to conscript forces. This is good for the country economically, and no doubt on this account alone, the conditions weighed with the authorities in hastening their decision. No other country has shown any parti- 1 -‘iliar desire to act similarly, and the I credit to '.Britain is all the more notable j )n that account. The action at the same time fulfills one of the principal dedges Mr Lloyd George made at the ast pre-election campaign. The counry should be the more contented—for ho time being at least—and it will bo ' ill the better off for freeing itself from | lie enormous expense and waste in main aining a great army without anything o do. J

But the world is far from being at repose, and it may seem premature to dis. band the groat military force the country utilised so successfully. Britain’s insular position places her in a different position to countries with border nations which might he potential enemies. At the same time, the army is not Britain’s most effective arm at the outbreak of war. She has relieved always on her Navy, that sure shield, which Britain has developed into a wonderful arm for the offensive as well as the defensive. Her land forces too, while decreased in numerical strength, have been add ed to greatly in mechanical strength, per medium of the Tank Corps. So it s that in matters of defence, Britain vhile nominally decreasing her forces, is ulding to them by co-ordination and tho implication of lessons drawn from the var. This is manifested in naval maters, where the lesson learned was tho onviction that speed and gun-power are lie essential architects—not in the pro. luction of freak ships, but in tho evoluion of a new ship which will combine

the factors of a submersible with the speed and armour of a battle cruiser. If the League of Nations does not arrest development along these lines by prohibiting their construction, naval warfare has a new and; undreamt of future before it ,eclipsing even the imagery of a Jules Verne or a H. G. Wells.

The final of the licensing poll is now an- I nouneed, and the result emphasises how j close it was to carrying national prohi- I bition. The total votes polled were over half a million, 543,662 all. To secure a bare majority of this total required a poll of 271,832 votes for any particular issue. Prohibition obtained 270,250 votes, or only 1,582 votes short of the number required to enforce national prohibition. It only required 791 votes out -of half a millon votes polled, to have operated against continuance or State purchase, and New Zealand to-day would have been considering the prospects of going dry on July Ist next. Tlie closeness of the issue will make all parties think. One of the surprises of tlie voting was the small vote given for State control, or the nationalisation of the liquor trade. Evidently there is no hope of that issue coming to pass. Between now and the next poll, three years’ hence, the forces will organise a big test. But there will be outside influences at work meantime. The experiences of America as a bone-dry country are sure to operate on tlie public mind, and the effect of prohibition in that great country will require to be watched closely. Attempts at prohibition are to bo made in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe. There there are signs of active resistance already. If New Zealand is to escape, its resistance will require to be more pronounced and sustained than has been tlie case hitherto, for propaganda work should be begun now and not left to the eve of an election to seek to sway public opinion.