THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9071, 23 April 1908, Page 6

THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

(By Frank Morton.)

WELLINGTON, April 21. We are thinking a little about the new Parliament House project. Some of us would have legislators deliberating in a palace; and some of us, apparently, are for a galvanised iron shed. Most of us would keep about half-way between those extremes. Parliament should be decently and commodiously housed; but any extravagance of ornament and furnishing must, in the circumstances, be absurd. Parliament is judged, not by its paint and golf-leaf, but by the behaviour and work of its members. The new Parliament House will, of course, be built with borrowed money; and one thing to be borne in mind is that New Zealand owes already as much as it can honestly afford to owe. There is no justification for the forging of heavier and heavier fetters for the feet of posterity. This building of Parliament House is to be virtually a work of renewal; and there is sound repute in the future of any Minister or member who shall propose that it be built out of revenue. That is, if , you please, a preposterous suggestion. And yet—l don't know. There are plenty of things to borrow money for, so long as we continue in the mood of borrowing. There must be new Government Buildings pretty soon. The hug 9 wooden pile that now houses-the departments is exceedingly dangerous, so far as fire risks go. If they wore destroyed, it would be a much more serious matter than the mere destruction of the Houses of Parliament. In any case, there is a somewhat general feeling that the duty of the Government just now is to build a reasonable legislative chamber, and not to attempt any national monument or wonder of the world. Some people even go so far as to suggest that there should be no Bellamy's. With that suggestion I do not pretend to be .in argeement. There is no virtue in discomfort, even if the country had any right to make its legislators uncomfortable. When men work during such long 1 hours, on tasks of such moment, there must be reasonable provision for their comfort and refreshment. All this, however, is rather by the way, and savours somewhat of an Easter sermon.

THE YOUNG MEN. New Zealand is not the country of young men to the same extent that Australia is; but it Is at least intereating to note that even in Britain there is a sort of return to the popularity of youth. Mr Asquithte' Government ia (as ages go in English politics) largely a government of young men. Mr Winston Churchill is 33. Mr A eland is 34. Lord Lucas is 32. Mr Lloyd-George and Mr McKenna were born in 1863, Mr Hobhouse in 1862, Lord Crewe in 1858, Mr Runciman in 1870. Others are older; but you would scarcely call Viscount Morley an old man at 69, and Viscount Fowler (who must be prepared to admit a certain maturity at 78) seems to be about the only old man in the Ministry. As showing how capricious thing public opinion is, and how trivial a thing public censure, take the case of Mr Lloyd-George. Certainly one of the ablest, he is emphatically one of the most highly respected of these Ministers; and ydt, a few years ago he was howled down all over England as what they used to call a proBoer. The moral, of course, is that you don't need to worry very much because a crowd yells at you. TELEGRAPHISTS IN REVOLT.

I'm waiting with a certain confidence for the appearance of the good people who will presently talk about . England's cruel treatment of the poor telegraphists in ilidia. Up till now, operators have been allowed to sleep three hours in the middle of the night watch. But India borrowed an expert, Mr Newlands, from the Home Government; and kr Newlands necessarily and reasonably reportsd that the habit of tying up the telegraphic system ot a country for three hours nightly, while the men on duty had a sleep, was a bad habit, and should be stopped. Wherefore, the Indian Government sensibly giving effect to Mr Newland's recommendation, the operators will now have to work their whole eight hours, whether on night 01 day shift. On that they strike, or threaten to strike, demanding an increase of 25 per cent, in salary. I had a considerable and bitter experience of Indian telegraphists, especially in the Mofussil; and all my sympathies are with Mr Newlands and the Government. In my time, the newspaper correspondent, constantly at the mercy of Babu operators, had a heartbreaking time. He would work

himself half to death right through the torrid* day, in order to get well ' ahead with his stuff, and then have to cool his heels with such resignation as he could muster while some impudent or merely stupid Babu wasted time. I have a theory, which is worth just as much or as little as you may choose to decide, that the public services should be always at the disposal of the public. Here in Wellington, at the Chief Post Office, you cannot buy a stamp after five o'clock; and a post office that abruptly puts up the shutters in the busy part of the afternoon does not impress by its modernity. Even in sleepy Hobart, where nothing happens all the time and nobody worries about it, the post office is open till midnight. After all, it's only a matter for arrangement, and there seems to be no very valid reason why the post and telegraph services should not be constant and uninterrupted, as the telephone service is. There is, however, one excellent thing in the post office. I notice it with gratitude every day here, as I noticed it in Dunedin. In the post office you get courtesy. On the railways—no. In the trams —no. In the average Government office—don't you dare expect it. 1 was talking to Mr Teece, the General Manager of the A.M.P. Society, a few months ago, and he said that the lack of courtesy in the public services of the dominion struck him as most extraordinary and deplorable; and Mr Teece is a very moderate and tolerant man, and a very keen observer. Happily, his criticism doss not apply to the Post Office. And that, at, any rate, is something to be thankful for.