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Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14308, 20 March 1912, Page 8

The success of tho excursion to Timaru on Monday raises the question whether it would not bo possible to give the public of New Zealand increased opportunities of this kind for taking pleasant holiday trips to places which they may not otherwise be called upon to visit. Somo years ago, excursion trains were frequently run, and were understood to pay very well, but latterly little has been dono in this way, except on tho occasion of race meetings and other public gatherings. Of course, excursions, to bo successful, require to bo organised with judgment, and well advertised. In England, this has developed into quit© an extensivo business. Independent of tho special trains run by the railway companies, there are tourist agents and others who devote themselves to organising cheap excursions to different parts of England, and not only bring in a great deal of additional revenue to the railway companies, but make a very good living out of it themselves. A specially popular feature of railway travelling in England consists in the cheap week-end tickets which aro available from Friday to Tuesday. Of course, the limited population in New Zealand prevents this being undertaken on tho same scale here, but wo havo little doubt that a number of excursions like that to Timaru could bo organised with advantage, not only to tho Railway Department, but to tho public of New Zealand.

Yesterday wo dwelt on tho duty of tho citizens of Christchurch to take an active interest in municipal affairs, and urged that every effort should bo mado to increase tho membership of tho Citizens' Association. The good government of tho city affects the women electors quite as much as the men, and it is oqually essential that the women of Christchurch should give their attention to this important matter. If tho streets aro badly kept, if little attention is paid to the sanitation, or if no regard is paid to tho amenities of the place, women, as the moro sensitive sex, suffer even moro than the men. On the other hand, if there is municipal extravagance, and rates are increased to an oppressive extent, tho pressure, in a large number of households, results in increased difficulty to mako both ends meet, and the burden of this falls very largely on tho careful housewife.

Holding these views, we aro pleased to see that tho Canterbury Women's Social and Political League does not intend to confine its attention to general politics, hut in view of tho approaching municipal elections, proposes to interest itself in tho question of municipal government. With this object in view, it has convened a public meeting of women, to be held in tho Chamber of Commerce to-morrow afternoon at three o'clock, when addresses will bo delivered by his Worship the Mayor, Mr J. D. Hall, and Dr. Thacker. The meeting is not confined to members of tho League, and we hop© there will bo a very large attendance , It is tho business of an exiled king to keep ur> tho spirits of his supporters, bo when tho ex-King of Portugal says that beforo long his exiled subjects will return "to their own country he may be going beyond his own convictions. But judging by impartial accounts from Portugal, thor© must be many people there who would bo glad to see tho Royal Family return to power. Tho treatment of political prisoners by the Republic formed in the name of liberty, seems to bo simply revolting. A committee of British residents recently formed to investigate tho condition of thousands of these prisonors awaiting trial, discovered a deplorable condition of affairs in two of tho Lisbon gaols. Political prisoners are horded with criminals, and confined in damp, dark and filthy dungeons under tho ground. The sanitary arrangements and medical attendance aro inadequate, the infirmary being so badly equipped that the same dressings are sometimes used on moro than one pationt. Tho air is infected, tho water supply often polluted, and the food poor in quality and abominably cooked. The prisoners also have to submit to gross insults, particularly with regard to their religious convictions. And, be it noted, they havo not been proved guilty, but are simply persons who have been arrested on suspicion and are awaiting trial. Tho offences of which they aro accused are not, we aro told, bomb-throwing or rebellion, but being suspected of monarchist leanings, and associating with men of "reactionary" views. Ono prisoner was actually held up to execration by a Republican paper for telling his beads and reading a "Life" of Christ in gaol.

"0 Liberty, what crimes aro committed in thy name," said a Frenchwoman as she was being driven to tho guillotine. One of theso untried wretches in tho damp, darkness and filth of a Lisbon gaol might echo the saying. All this is done in the name of liberty. " In tho terribly damp cells of this fort," says tho paper referred to above, "the prisoners will be forced to reflect that it is not with impunity that tho will of tho people is set at defiance." A correspondent of the " Morning Post" draws an interesting parallel between these horrors and those in Naples in the 'fifties, which so aroused Gladstone's indignation that he publicly denounced tho Neapolitan Government and thereby did a great service to the cause of Italian unity. But these things were done by " tho most degraded monarchy in Europe at the instance of a sovereign who made no pretence of sympathy with democratic views," while the Lisbon abuses of to-day are the work of a Republic professing to bo founded on the liberty of the people. The report of tho committoo was actually sent to London via Tangier, because it was felt that it would not be safe if entrusted to the Portu-

guese post office. The Federal Government, which was elected by men who arc continually demanding higher wages, shows a singular unwillingness to pay adequate salaries in certain cases. The other day there was the case of Professor Gilruth, who refused to accept the position of Administrator of the Northern Territory on tho Government's niggardly terms, and eventually secured much better conditions. A few weeks later the Government fixed £6 a week as the salary of the journalist who was offered the new post of publicity officer

at tho High Commissioner's office in London. The joke of this lies in tho fact that under the existing agreement between tho newspaper proprietors in Australia and the Australian Journalists' Association, the minimum salaries for senior reporters on the metropolitan morning papers aro. £7 and £S, according to grade, while* men holding moro responsible positions get considerably more. The work of "booming" Australia adequately in London surely demands at least tho ability of a senior reporter. Thus tho Federal Government, the elect of unionism, offers less than union rates. Thero is no word of the journalist to whom tho position was offered having accepted it, and wo shall be surprised if ho does so on the terms stated.