The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, March 2, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1014, 2 March 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, March 2, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Next mouth, ratepayers and householders will be called upou to elect a mayor to preside over our municipal affairs. Mr G. H. Stiles has occupied the position during the past three years with dignity becoming the position, and his record is one that reflects credit upon himself and . the gentlemen who constitute the Council. For many many years Foxton set its face against a forward policy, and was content to mark time, but during recent years the Council decided to come into line with other progressive boroughs and there has been a shaking up of the dry bones. Mr Stiles can look back during the time he has filled the civic chair to a period of municipal progress. ihe gas works—which should never have passed into private hands —has been municipalised, and in the near future will become a paying proposition ; a much-needed and well-appointed town hall has been erected wherein municipalised picture entertainments have been and are a source of pleasure to the public and profit to the Council ; the thoroughfares have not been neglected although there is much yet to do in this connection ; the much needed water and drainage scheme was submitted to the ratepayers, but owing to divided opinion as to whether the source of the supply should be from the Shannon hills or artesian bores (the latter was submitted), the ratepayers rejected the proposal; the borough has been re-valued, and owing to the rales being struck for the year on the old valuation and collected on the new, the increase for the current year is about as heavy as the town can stagger under. This, however, will be rectified next year, and although there will not be any relief so far as the gas works loan rate is concerned, until the works are self-supporting, the surplus revenue from the municipal pictures should result in a further reduction of the rates. By the above it will be seen that the Mayor and his Council have had their hands full. Perfect harmony exists between the Mayor and Councillors, each of whom has a knowledge of the affairs ot the borough, and is possessed of sufficient initiative to ensure capable administration. Focal Borough Council meetings are not cut and dried affairs, where all the business and resolutions are manufactured in the Town Clerk’s office, and the gathering at , the horse-shoe table a mere matter of form. The reports of the meetings disclose that matters affecting the welfare of the borough, are thoroughly discussed and settled on their merits, Taking all things into consideration, we should like to see the Mayor continue iu office for another term, and iu this connection we feel sure that we but echo the sentiments of onr fellow townspeople. We can assure him that he retains the confidence not onb' of his colleagues but of the ratepayers, who are deeply sensible ot the good work he and his Council has accomplished.

Commenting upon the defeat of the no-confidence motion, the Evening Post says ; “That rr two men had not voted otherwise than they had led those who returned them to expect, there would have been a majority of four in favour of the motion. The Ward Government remains iu office not because the electors so decided at the polls in December, but because some ol their representatives failed to record the voles that they were commissioned to record. That both these defaulters represent the power of Labour —a power which claims to have a more clearly defined moral basis than either of the main political parties—is a matter for very deep regret and of very evil omen. The reason given by Mr Robertson lor breaking his pledge—or, as be prefers to put it, ‘the letter 01 his pledge’—to B vole against the Ward Government is

that the Government would go out of office whichever way he voted. He referred, of course, to Sir Joseph Ward’s undertaking to resign if the Goverment won the division, Mr Robertson’s argument was that, as the resignation of the Watd Government was thus secured in any event, he was entitled to vote in the way that would not put Mr Massey into power —a result to which it is not suggested that Mr Robertson was directly pledged. We do not mention this point in order to congratulate Mr Robertson upon its subtlety or to demonstrate that it is really too subtle to be sound. The importance ot the point is that it had a serious bearing on the question of leadership, which is now the embarrassing problem confronting the Liberal Party.” The Post goes on to say that the Liberal Party can no more refuse to accept the sacrifice Sir Joseph Ward has said he will make, any more than a portion of Mr Robertson’s constituents could release him from a pledge which was given to them all, and on the faith uf which votes were given. But lor Mr Robertson’s vote, though nominally for the Ward Government, was really for a reconstructed Government; and we cannot suppose that the Premier will by auy Robertsonian subtlety refuse to houour the pledge that saved his Government from deteat. If it were a mere personal matter between Sir Joseph Ward and the member for Olaki. the latter would be well served by being “hoist with hi* own petard.” But, regarding the matter as he must from the standpoint of public honour, Sir Joseph Ward will surely resist the great pressure that will be brought to bear upon him by his party. He will stand by the promise that he has given, though it be to his own hurt. It will be not as the leader but as a follower of a reconstructed Government that he must meet the House.”

In view of the present industrial unrest iu this Dominion the Act embodied iu the Canadian Statute in respect to strikes, is worthy of notice, It is based on the underlying principle that public opinion should be the final arbiter iu the settlement of disputes. In Canada no strike or lock-out is permitted until the matter iu dispute has been submitted to two arbiters (one appointed on each side) and a president appointed by such nominees, or, if they fail to agree, by the Governor of the province. After taking evidence on both sides this Court endeavours to reconcile the conflicting interests of the two parties. If the Court fails in this object then the evidence and the Court’s comments thereon are published, aud this course permits the creation of a sound public opinion based upou the true facts of the case. If, alter the expiration of a limited period following the publication of the evidence, a settlement is not arrived at, then either side is at liberty to strike or lock-out, as the case may be. It is felt in Canada that neither side can succeed if its action is opposed to a well-based public opinion. No legislative enactment will work out entirely satisfactory to everybody, but au endeavour will assuredly have to be made to find a solution to this great problem that will best suit the existing circumstances and conditions of the Dominion.