Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1907. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 2035, 24 December 1907, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1907. EDITORIAL NOTES.

ONCE more the Christmas season has arrived. To children looking forward to the holidays and festivities appropriate to this time of year the days which separated them from Christmas have seemed drawn out beyond their usual length, while to those who have seen many Christmases each recurring anniversary appears to follow the last with ever increasing speed. For nearly two thousand years the birth of the Founder of Christianity lias been celebrated, and had Christianity no other claims to our regard the fact that it has set aside one day when goodwill and charity to all are inculcated would make it a memorable development in the history of the world. To-morrow many families separated for the greater part of the year will meet, and in the old home revive old memories and renew the bonds of family affection. In not a few homes thoughts will go back to the old country which has been left behind, and recollections will arise of old fashioned Christmases when snow lay on the ground, and the outlines of the leafless trees wexe traced in silvery frost. At such times it was pleasant to draw round the glowing fire and spend the long evening in comfort indoors. In this country the idea of a fire at Christmas has few attractions, and Christmas can best be enjoyed in the open air in some shaded spot. Wherever and under whatever conditions Christmas is spent the prevailing feeling is the same, and however great changes the w'orld may see in the future we cannot but believe that Christmas will remain a possession for ever. To our readers we offer our wishes for a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

AN interesting position has arisen with regard to the miners’ award which is in force at Denniston colliery. For some years the award has provided for an eight hours day at the face, that is, for the time that the miner was engaged in actual work. In many cases it takes a considerable time to Walk from the bottom of the shaft to the face, and the miners have tried on several occasions to get the award altered to provide for an eight hours day from bank to bank, that is, to include the period spent in walking to and fro as well as when at work, but the Court has refused to alter the award. Last session, however, a Bill was introduced in the House and passed, pro- . vidiug that the bank to bank clause should be universally enforced. After tire Act came into force the miners again applied to the Court for an amendment of the award, but did not succeed in obtaining the alteration they desired. The men are very dissatisfied with the present state of affairs, and there is some talk of a strike. The position is certainly a curious one. Either the award of the Arbitration Court must be final, or the Court may as well cease to give awards at all if at any moment they may be upset by a catch vote of a body that cannot be considered in any sense an expert tribunal. We offer ho opinion as to the justice or otherwise ot the claim of the men, though as in many cases forty minutes is required to ■walk to and from work underground it is clear that the granting, of the bank to bank clause would very considrably reduce the output.

THE Wellington journals, -with the fear of the Labour Party before their eyes, are extremely careful to say nothing that can be taken as an approval of immigration. They have not the courage to say openly that New Zealand requires no immigrants, but by suggestion they indicate that this is really the opinion they hold. Commenting on a resolution by the Canadian Trades and Labour Council warning Britons not to emigrate to Canada, the Post says that while new countries must have abundant labour, that labour must be cheap, as pioneers cannot afford to pay even moderate wages, for the simple reason that they have trouble in securing their own existence. Either, therefore, says the writer, labour must take its chance of any wages' or none, or the progress of the colony must be retarded for lack of labour. The implication,

of course, is that it is better to hesitate long before introaucing more population. The value of the conclusion is vitiated, however, by the fact that the initial assumption—that wages must be low in new countries—has not any foundation in fact. Everyone knows that wages are highest in the newest countries where labour is in great demand, and not, as would be suggested by the writer in the Post, in the old countries, where industries have long been established. It is hardly necessary to point out that wages in the United States and Canada are far higher than in Europe, and that the enormous flow of immigrants to America has not materially reduced wages there. Unfortunately, facts are of little importance to the class of men who dominate the Labour Party m this country, and certain journals are prepared to swallow all the crude and mistaken theories of Labour agitators.