The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, February 3RD, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1203, 3 February 1914, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, February 3RD, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

It was a wise move on the part of the Borough Council to urge upon the Harbour Board, with the concurrence of the Chairman, the necessity for inviting the Minister for Marine to make a personal inspection of the local port, and observe the disabilities which handicap the Board in its operations to keep the port open. The Council’s action at first sight may have appeared an interference in matters outside its jurisdiction, but it must be remembered that between the port and the borough there is a common interest. This is recognised between the Mayor and Chairman. The hampering of shipping is detrimental in many ways to the commercial welfare of the town. It is therefore the duty of the Council to assist the Board in bringing under the notice of the Government, in conjunction with the Board, the obstacles which stand in the way of keeping the port open. The Miuister’s visit, we have every reason to believe, will go a long way towards influencing Cabinet in coming to a light decision in regard to the future of the port. Departmental reports from officials are helpful and necessary, but a personal inspection by the Ministerial head is worth a ream of writing. Very little escaped the notice of the Minister during his recent visit, either at the wharf or along the water way. His observations were supplemented by the Chairman’s information concerning the history of the port since the original Board forfeited the right to control. For be it remembered that while we bemoan the fact that the Railway Department has usurped, in large measure, the rights and privileges of the Board as now constituted, this is entirely due to lack of foresight and indifference on the part of our early local administrators, All these points were clearly grasped by the Hon. Mr Fisher, and judging from his remarks last night, his sympathies are clearly with the Board in their efforts to take over the absolute control of the port. The Marine Department has done all in its power to assist the Board in the past, and it only now remains for the Minister to use his influence with his colleagues to effect a fair and equitable settlement, In the opinion of Chairman Hennessy the Board’s prospects of a settlement are brighter as a result of the Minister’s visit. Mr Holland, one of the leading lights of the Social Democratic Party —the political side of the Red Fed. organisation —speaking on Sunday night said that if they got the power of Government into their hands they could “ make the laws in the interests of the workers, and, what is more, administer them as they thought they should be administered.” They could put the bludgeon into the hands of the striker as against the special constable, and they could turn the keys of the gaol and let out their imprisoned comrades, If any were in prison. They could ransack the Ministerial pigeon-holes and find how much money had been illegally spent on the recent strike. —The Hollands, Robertsons, Paynes, and other professional demagogues of the Red Fed. ilk will receive a fitting answer to their desires at the end of the coming year.