Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1895. IN THE IMPERATIVE MOOD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4917, 4 January 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1895. IN THE IMPERATIVE MOOD.

I The Government is stilted to have given a twelve months notice of its intention to purchase the Manawatu Railway, and the N.Z. Times says that this action is imperative. All that the Government does, including ' Mr Ward's trip (o England, is' doubtless imperative and wo are quite accustomed to this mood. Last ' session ill the mutter of borrowing the Government drew the sword, now it is throwing away the scab- , bard. Wo are to have a merry time ■ with big loans next session, and we may assume that a million or thereabouts is to bo earmarked for Hie Manawatu Railway. Such transactions are quite legitimate, for there is an Enabling Act which emi powers district railways to be purchased at a valuation and are there not previous transactions oil record where district railways wore purchased ostensibly in tlio interests of the Colony, but really tooblige some Colonial " Benson " who had friends at head-quarters. There are fat pickings over transactions of this character and it has been demonstrated that, even the wearer of" tlio white flower of a blameless lifo" could get a good commission out of a former Government without compromising himself as alegislatorand patriot. If the Government arc going in for big loans, a million moro or less for the purchase of the Manawatu Railway is not very material, but looking at the fact that six months hence a hard winter stares us in the face and the problem of the unemployed threatens to be more difficult than ever, we would sooner have seen the million expended on the construction of now works of a reproductive character. Such an expenditure would find pretty constant employment for ten thousand men, whereas the same sum spent on the Manawatu line ; would only find work for about ten ■ —a big thing for a handful of valuators, arbitrators, and wire j pullers, but nothing for the working . man, The Government would not • dare to borrow a million for the i Manawatu line; oven in its most im- i perative mood, unless it were also 1 borrowing another million for the j working-man. There is every prospect, we fear, of big borrowing in ( the session of 1895, if only to enable s the Government to retain the s votes which it is said to be losing, t Tho Government cannot buy the 1 Manawatu line without a Voto from » the House; and we very much fear 0 that it will have to pay dearly for J this vote. The thing is imperative ' if Mr Seddon has willed it, and the J N. Z. Times has said it, but prudeijt j people will begin to regret'that in B the matter of borrowing, tlio Liberal jv

We are somewlmt surprised to learn that the admirable now law of the Government "The Shop and Shop Assistants Act" is not being duly observed in certain quarters where one might have expected it to bo most zealously enforced. Wo notice several tilings in connection with the alleged non-compliance with a most exemplary law. First wo observe that untie!' the Act a building used for any commercial purpose is an oliice. Secondly, we notice that the closing hour of all oilices shall ho live o'clock in the afternoon, Thirdly, wo see that 11 penalty not exceeding the sum of live pounds is to be inflicted for keeping an employe half an hour after the prescribed time of closing. Now we would point out that the Masterton Post Office is clearly an office within the meaning of the Act, and it is within our knowledge that employes in the establishment liavo already been detained at work considerably over the prescribed time. Here the Act is only three days old, in the first bloom of youth, and yet Government officials ruthlessly and remorselessly violate its excellent provisions. Wc have every respect for the local postmaster, our old friend Mr J. Bagge, but if lie permits his stall to work in the oliice night after night in open defiance of the new law, it will be clearly a public duty to lay an information against him. We don't wish to take him by surprise, but as far as we can see, he is bound by the Act, and if he goes on breaking it night after night, lie must expect at the end of the mouth (o have twenty-eight informations sworn against him, and to pay summarily live pounds for each offence.