MR- MASSEY'S STATEMENT.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14289, 27 February 1912, Page 6

MR- MASSEY'S STATEMENT.

The statement made in the House last night by the Leader of the Opposition fully merited the eulogy pronounced upon it by Mr A. M. Myers. Mr Ma_sey knew, of course, when he admitted that he had "committed a grave error" in quoting an extract from a letter reflecting on the member for Grey Lynn on Friday night, that his statement would not affect the enquiry by the Committee of Privilege that has been _et up, and he was probably aware that his motives in withdrawing any imputations against certain members that might bo thought to lio in the words he had used, would bo misconstrued in some quarters. But Mr Massey is above all things an honest man and a fair fighter. He believed that ho had done a wrong to some members in recounting what had occurred in his interviews with Mr Pavne. and in tho most manly way ho did what he thought to be his duty and unreservedly withdrew all imputations. It is little wonder that the brief speech was applauded by many members of tho Government Party, though no one who knows Mr Massey will feel in tho least surprised that he should do what ho believed to bo the right thing, no matter what the consequences might be.

Tho Workers Compensation Act Amendment Act comes into operation on Ist March next, and employers are receiving notice from the insurance companies that their liabilities on account of accidents to their workmen will be increased. Th© most important change is that under the new Act when the compensation is payable the employer is liable in addition for a sum equal to the reasonable expenses

incurred in respect of the medical or surgical attendance (including first aid) on the worker in respect of his injury but not exceeding £1 for each case. Other. changes involving increased liability to the employer are tho inclusion of manual workers irrespective of whether their earnings exceed £260 a year or not, and of domestic workers whose employment is for a .period of not less than seven days. The companies are therefore demanding an addition of one-eighth of tho premium which 'the insurers are at present paying-

A correspondent who holds a policy under the existing Act writes complaining bitterly of the manner in which he says tho companies are taking advantago of minor amendments in the Act to " bleed the public and swell their already huge profits." Tho only real additional liability cast upon them ho says is the maximum fee of £1 for payment of tho medical charges. Ho adds:—"Wo now pay 22s per £100, and w*o are coolly asked to pay 24s 9d for £101. It is no matter of surprise that our local insurance companies with a paid-up capital of £575,000 should have nearly a million and a half of reserve funds and pay dividends ranging from 35 per cent downwards." It certainly looks as if the inurance companies do not intend to be 'losers to any sarious extent by tho operation of tho new Act, but we havo yet to hear their side of tho case.

Mr Roosevelt's announcement that he is a candidate for the Presidency at this year's election clears tho political atmosphere in America to a great extent. A clear declaration was rendered necessary by Mr Taft's announcement early' last month, that nothing but death would keen him out of tho fight. Mr Taft was led to use this very emphatic language by a suggestion that he should drop out of the contest in favour of Mr Roosevelt or Senator Beveridge, and by the growth of the campaign in favour of the former. Commenting on this at the timo, a "\ew York paper said that if Mr Roosevelt wanted to enter the contest with any hope of victory, ho must "come out into the open, announce himself as a candidate, and enter all tho Congress-district primaries against the President." This Mr Roosevelt has done, and for the next five or 6ix months he and Mr Taft will be fighting hard to secure a majority at the convention that selects the party candidate. .It is possible, as was the case with Mr Bryan, for an outsider to be selected at a convention, but generally most of the important work connected with the deoision has been done before the convention meets.

It would be very rash to endeavour to predict the choice of tho Republican Convention. Mr Roosevelt is immensely popular, but Mr Taft is a very 6trong candidate, and he has no "third term tradition" operat-ng against him. • Many peoplo feel that to elect Mr Roosevelt for a third term, in the face of custom, would bo to create a dangerous precedent, especially seeing that Mr Roosevelt recognised tho force of this feeling by distinctly stating in 1904 that he would not offer himself for re-elect'on. "If Roosevelt is put in tho Wliite House in 1912," said an alarmed Democrat leader last month, "we will never get him out again except feet first—which may be taken either as a compliment to tho exPresident's popularity, or as a striking confession of the power of the party mach'ne in American politics. And coming from a Democrat it suggests that the party has not yet quit© recovered from the want of confidence that beset it in the days when Mr Bryan was its choice.

While the necessity for bringing the Chatham Islands into communication with the rest of the world by means of wireless telegraphy is being impressed on the minds of all of us, it is interesting to read in an Australian paper that th e wireless operator of the Mawson Antarctic expedition at Macquarie Island, 1800 milea from Sydney, sent a message to his mother tho other night. The message, and another one from the same remote and desolate quarter, came through a Huddart Parker steamer to the Sydney office of th© Australian Wireless Company. The latter station, having thus established communication with the isolated operator in the sub-Antarctic, sent him the news of the world for half an hour, and offered to do so every night. So the temporary inhabitants of Macquarri© Island, a spot hitherto regarded as beyond the pal© so far as daily intercourse was concerned, have been hearing all about th© Brisbane strike and the test matches, and possibly about Mr Payne. They hay© lost the sens© of being upon another planet which still haunts the dwellers in places lying beyond the regular routes of commuication. Life on Macquarie Island must now be much more cheerful than hitherto. Incidentally tho operator there mentioned that it was "frightfully cold," and that to keep himself warm ho "indulged in fishing and chasing seals." Fishing has never appeared to be a very blood-warming occupation, but from all one has heard of the habits of 6ea-lions, it can be' imagined that the man who goes to chase them gets all the exercise h© needs when the animals decide to do th© chasing.