WELLINGTON ECHOES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 224, 4 January 1911, Page 3

WELLINGTON ECHOES

U'i'om Our Own Correspondents.) December ;jl. k ;>„re (,vc>v lis, under us, round ...i,; in I! if noi;v:j:a|);-!s., A 1 inistcrs are e\ei\wheie l)ut in \\ ellington; so ale a gicat many citizens. Tim tradespeople ■lie busy and glad beyond the average, it i," understood . The only growl lias come from boniface, who mourned a whole day because his bar pro/its were' not. How he railed against Parliament with hw "plague of both your houses'' we shall not readily forget— not as readily as he did that if the keeping day for Christmas had not been changed he would still have been able-to dispense refreshments. In the general joy of the festival there was a note of sadness for the unparalleled series of disasters, war or battle sound" was there, certainly, but very many men killed in many places all the same.

Out-topping all the catastrophes was the awful .slaughter of the Pretoria mine. Experts declare that the man who said that the management ought in such a dry mine to have used water, and that it ought to have discarded electric cutters which give out sparks into inflammable dust. One wonders where the inspectors were, and comes to the conclusion that tliev don't know all about mines there in the Northern Judce. .And by 111" lacile process one goes on to wonder how much we know"about it here. Are there dry minesV Are there electric, cutters? And does the inspector take count of the mutual effects of tlieS'. 1 factors ?

A sail echo from Wanganni! It was a sigh J n' Webb not unmixed with admira- ( tion for the nnuly way in which he took his deieat. Fox struck the right note when he_ declared that the next' pleasure to winning was losing. Here is a man who, being beaten, offers no excuses, blames neither boat nor trainer, nor backer nor opponent, but simply says that the better man won, ami tells von whv in a few brief phrases which go to every heart. His detail was most true as well as heroic and vivid; how that leg failed to work when most wanted; how it used to respond in the days when he had liothir l o do but "grit his teeth" and bear o- ,::c pain of the straining. One g?ts a :and peep behind the scenes. I realising for once in a lifetime how hard a thing is an athletic struggle, how truthful is that description of the "painful warrior" who suffers the pain of his tiring muscles, but fights on setting his teeth. another thing, liamei ly, that a man who is on the top knows nothing of his inner powers until he comes to want them at their best on I long stretch, lie can depend on no counsel from trainers and admiring backers who are all deceived as much as he is himself. Collap.-e is his only truthful friend, and he is not friendly enough to Ml you until you are in the front of the crowd and unable to spurt. Such is the oarsman's career—such is life—the lesson of which is that wo cannot always he young, and must therefore give way gracefully when the end of our day comes. Webb is beaten, but his glory is increased by his defeat. We would it had been otherwise with this our friend, but as it was to be so we would not have had his differenl in the supreme hour. If all men ivevs el that stamp and kidney the world of sflrt would be much better. " 'VV'e have had an'eruption of Australians. The Attorney-General of the new Government (Labor), with another, arrived. and went north to the Hot Lakes, and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Wade, whose Government they dispossessed the other day, also arrived and went South to the Cold Lakes, which is perhaps just as it ought to be. Of course, neither talked polities of his own country, and it was pleasant to hear the Government men talk highly of our legislation, and express a desire to learn all about it. It was a delicate compliment. Tliey were duly humble, refraining from criticism, merely seeking information.! "We shall not attempt to criticise our masters" —that was the attitude. Labor, land ami finance had caught their attention and they evidently thought that their side of the world had something to learn from us. It was good to hear them declare that they would submit no more to the domination of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, who has forced the policy of concentrating export at Sydney at the cost of a haulage of many hundreds of miles that might have hern saved had the other,harbors been recognised the old days. We realised how the Australian has ■ eont/actcd the habit of ignoring Nature, and it seemed to point to the realisation of the reason why the Government, of the various States of the Commonwealth has been in some respects such a failure. What business has a young country, empty for thousands and thousands of square miles, to have a mass of men chronically afflicted with the disease of unemployment? The only possible answer is "bad government." Hut they can play the game, these Australians.

Sir Joseph opened the purse strings of tlio Dominion at the 'beginning of the week to the extent of £sii9 for the relief of the sufferers in the Pretoria disaster, and we all applauded from one end of the street to the other. Later on the Commonwealth Acting-Premier forwarded a Commonwealth cheque for £2OOO. Of course we have to applaud. But where are we? We can only say, "Pity we didn't let the Commonwealth take the lead." But we cannot say, and no man can, that in that ease Pretoria would have got more than £2500.

We have our revenge, perhaps, in the Vancouver contract. It is still hung up, as Sir Joseph, told an interviewer the other day. I-lung up because Canada likes to have us in it in consequence of the preferential arrangement we have made with them. Australia declines, on account of this very preference, hesitating to do likewise. Canada stands firm for lis. Our olTer of £"20;001) to go into the triple scheme stands, and we have another <)!Ter —amount not stated —to go in with Canada-alone. Should the Commonwealth decline to go in ''re" preference V Well, in that case we should reap the fruits of the Canadian alliance. I We do riot wis!) any evil to the Common- ! wealth, hut we cannot help feeling that I if the Commonwealth stands out it will be to our advantage. We are 011 velvet.

Echoes of the session are with us in practical form. Things as the AttornevOneral said at liotorua in the easy hours of a holiday are getting ready fast for the working of the Crimes Act, which, while we wait, hus already diminished the vol !->K> of crime through fear of the indetj : initiate sentence which deters the crini'inl from crime by appealing to his hatred for reform. Your burglar wants to tvii'v on his profession with all risks; doeii not want reform; Hies from reform tolother States. Long live the reform * l iave inaugurated! It inckl that applications under the dpt r for the financing of settlemeijpe An., mriiig in- That means that tweer afi ling' to have a successful caM Ciovermn!!. What it good thing the #| the denii did when it gave way to W ment of!of "jVIr. Ross for the amendw tion! -L,. clause regarding aggrega- ' I credit; li,s atl any rate give Mr. Ross j but the s-as [branded as a mutineer, the fruitjg he wanted was done an'd J coming.