THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1901.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 123, 14 March 1901, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1901.

Various Royal. (lommis^olnr- uw roaming through the country just now, whose labours are likely to be of more or less value to the State The Federation Commission, so far, can hardly be said to have done anything very particular beyond listening to a Lumber of persons giving their opinions, generally after very cursory, reflection, as to whether Federation would benefit or injure the respective businesses or occupations of these same persons It needed no Commission to do that, or to get such statements of opinion as the commission has so far received. As pointed out previously in these columns,' tradespeople manufacturers and the like are sure

to be against Federation, whereas , the agcicuituralistsmay be'espeote \ in view of possible extension ol markets for their’ produce, to have soiiie leaning, at all events, towards Federation, and that is all the Commission has so far discovered. It is, to a considerable extentj a waste of time and money for Colonel

Pitt and his confreres to perambulate New Zealand , to find out wbai any intelligent’ person could have told them months ago. The real value of this 1 Commission will—or ought to be—their report pa the capabilities . and -possibilities of Australia as a producing and manufacturing country as compared with New Zealand. »We know our own powers andmapabilities. We know Tt'hat we ourselves can produce and manufacture, and at what cost. We know our labour conditions and the cost of our-materials and out natural : What we do not know

is the condition of Australia in respect to all these matters. Suppose we fede/ated and secured freetrade Detween Australia and us, could We command the Australian, market for produce- and maun-' factures? And that is what we want the Com missioned \teU us ; uni t.* give u$ facta and figures in support of their conclusion*. The information ■pehessary**t|t^eeide-r'the gpestpm', -mUstM obtained' from q|ds£

the other side. So far, certainly, public opinion seems to be overwhelmingly : against Federation. We may remark, en passant, that we are glad to see that the Government do nipt propose to carry- ont the absurd suggestion that a vote • on the question of Federation shoui d be taken along with the' census; That would be altogether prematura. Another Commission how at work is that set up to deal with the olaim 3 of the Midland Railway Company’s debenture holders. It will be remembered that the Midland Railway Company built the Midland Railway in Canterbury to a certain extent. Then it collapsed, and could not carry on any further; Before it came to grief it had borrowed money and given debentures therefor. The debenture understood thaPtbeir money was secured by a mortgage over the assets of the company, including the line constructed. But the Govern--' ment claimed that on the nonfulfillment of the contract it was entitled to seize the whole of the line, and that the debenture holders had no claim as against the State. The question was submitted to the Courts, • and finally the Privy Council decided that the Government was right and that the debenture holders had no claim, unfortunate people lac.fi year petitioned Parliament to pay them something, as the line was practically constructed with their money, Jtx d was now the property of the Government. The Commission was appointed to go into the whole question and to recommend whab (if any) sum the Colony ought, as a matter of equity or generosity, to give to those debenture holders. Whatever these people get, if they get anything, will-be found money to them. Another Commission now “at large ” is the Goal Commission. This is a ■ distinctly important body, and possibly farreaching results may follow their investigations. Their business is to enquire into the “ working, control and management ” of ail coal mines or measures thioughout the colony; There is an extraordinary discrepancy between the price of coal at the pit’s mouth and the price of coal to the retail consumer, * Tt is the business 'df~‘the Commission to find out how this is. Moreover, in some mines, it is said, very shady things are done. It is said the provisions of the Mining Acts are -mit —nliaoryed. and even , that the awards of the A rDuration Court are ” evaded. Alt this will be enquired into. Again, there are many who advocate that the mines should be nationalised, or at any rate that tne 6tace should have some mines of its own. That, too, may be a question on which the Commission may have something important to say. While on tbs subject of ( ommissions, we may notice that it is reported that still another Commission is to be set up—a Commission to report on the question of

a colonial scale of salaries -for teachers. If the report be true, it is a most alarming confession of incapacity on the part of Mr

Hoghen, the Inspector-General of Schools. That is most. palpably evident. Mr Hoghen is unable to produce anything like a satisfactory colonial scale. That must be so, because, ‘if he is, why the Commission ? We may say at once that in our opinion the appointment of such a Commission would be ihe weakest thing ever dono by the. Government. It is not. necessary. The proper course is to have a conference of representatives- Of the ;various Hoards and the InspectorGenoLa 1 and the Minister of Kducation. Such a conference would

assuredly produce a acaie that Would bu ■ tolerably . practical. We confess that, having observed with some earo too career so far ot the present Inspector-CenGral, we are forced-to the conclusion that he ha:; been a failure, and that the sooner be has the grace to resign thebetter for himself and for the country.