The Press Friday, July 25, 1919.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16584, 25 July 1919, Page 6

The Press Friday, July 25, 1919.

The state as Business Competitor A circular issued by the local Coal Merchants and Dealers' Association refers to the formation of a body in Wellington with tho object of making the public acquainted with the unfair competition of State and municipal trading with private enterprise in tho same lines of business. One of our contemporaries has chosen to believe that what is in contemplation is an attack upon every form of business or industrial activity has been undertaken by the State or by municipalities. On tho basis of this assumption it heaps, ridicule on tho movement, and gives such an account of tho working of publio ownership in tills country as appears to suggest that it considers public ownership a desirable thing in itsolf. If public ownership is such a desirablo thing, there is no excuse for those who, although greatly liking it, nevertheless fail to advocate the nationalisation of industries of every kind. Now, we are not willing to admit that public ownership, so far as it has gone in this country, has been a great success. . If the State gets hold of a good kind of business, such as private enterprise can work at a fair profit without levying an unfair tolj upon tho community, it does not bring to tho management of it tho efficiency that is necessary in the case of a private firm which wishes to keep alive. And, in the long run, efficiency —in labour, ideas, and tho use of capital—is more beneficial to the community than inefficiency, whatever the outward appearance of things may bo. When its less efficient management results in actual loss the State is not required to increase its direct charges to its customers; it may, and generally does, go on running at a loss, filling the deficit through other and indirect levies—a practice which has the consequence that its customers either pay the full price in tho end for what they think they are getting cheap, or else sccuro goods or services at the exponso of other people. Lacking the strongest incentives to efficiency, the State in business must necessarily tend to inefficiency. It is on this ground, and not out of any desire to protect private interests against anything but plain injustice, that we at any rate dislike public ownership in principle, and accept it in practice in some cases only on grounds of expediency.

But the circular to which we have referred did not declare hostility to pablic ownership as such, but only to publio ownership based on unfair competition. "Wo havo never been able to understand why ai)y supporter of State enterprise (excepting those who desire to seo private ownership and private property abolished, carrying with them into ruin private rights) should be unwilling to demand a high business standard from State-owned concerns. A private firm, where thoro is free and activo competition, aims at providing goods or services at tho cheapest rato J compatible with fair profits, and it has to work under certain conditions regarding payments to the Stato and to local bodies. Its charges, in these■ circumstances, aro tho natural and proper charges in that lino of business, j If tho State comes along as a competitor, and undersells at a loss (which tho general taxpayer must make good) or sells on even torms through its exemption from the taxation and rates payable by tho private trader, the private trader has a right to complain that tho community of which, he is a member is, through its directors, oppressing and-injuring him very unjustly. Apart from the injustice thus

inflicted upon private persons, the nation must loso through gettin E its business less well done than it could ba done. Voting Systems. In a lonjr letter lo tho Wellington Post," Mr George Hogben discusses the proposal of Mr H. von Haast, which was recently noticed in "The Press," that before the general election Parliament should pass an Act introducing tho method of tho "alternative vote." We may romind our readers that this method is applied to single-seat electorates. Tho voter marks the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., opposite the names of tho candidates in the order of his preference for them. If no candidate's first preference votes are an absolute majority of the votes cast, the candidate with the fewest first preference votes is struck out after the first count, and tho second preferences allotted. This t procedure is followed until some one candidate has received an absolute majority. 3\lr Hogben says that a defect of this system is that while it secures tho defeat of tho weakest candidate, it does not secure the success of the best one. By tho "best" candidate he appears to mean the candidate most generally desired. To prove this he assumes a case in | which there are three candidates A, B, and C, and 400 electors, and in which tho voting papers are as follows : — In the order of A, B. C. (that is, A first, B second, and C third) 20 votes. In the order of A, C, B, 120 votes. In the order of B, A, C, 40 votes. In tho order of B, C, A, 110 votes. In the order of C, B, A, 40 votes. In the order of C, A, B, 70 votes. By the "first past the post" method B would bo elected, although an examination of the second preferences shows that a majority of the electors prefer either CorAto B. By the "alternative vote" system C would be struck out, and the transference of second preferences would elect A. Yet, in this case the sum. of C's first and second preferences exceeds the sum of A's, and also tho sum of B's. In fact, says Mr Hogben, the summarily rejected C is really "the true choice of " the electors." In such a case as this the alternative vote appears to work badly, but it is claiming too much to say that the candidate most truly desired by tho voters has been rejected, or that the result is the ono which causes the maximuTi of dissatisfaction. The troublo with all these systems of more or less scientific voting is that they assume that the individual elector and electors in tho mass keep their political preferences ranged neatly in order. As a matter of fact, tho average elector classifies candidates and parties according to a very simple formula, "My own and tho others." In Mr Hogben's supposititious case the election of A or B would probably create less dissatisfaction than tho election of Cif the method -were so modified (and Mr Hogben says it can be so modified) as to secare tho election of C. As to tho actual position that will exist when the general election takes place, nothing can bo regarded as certain until after the return of Mr •Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, but at present it appears to be highly possible, if the three parties—Reform, Liberal, and Labour—go to the country in opposition to each other, that no party will have a stable majority of its own. If the conditions as election time approaches remain such that this still appears very possible, it will bo the business of those electors —and they are a majority—wbo do not wish to see tho Labour group holding the balance to avoid any ris'c of voting for a man or a party willing to make terms with the extremists.

The Australian Navy has lately "been reinforced by tho six submarines presented by the Imperial authorities, and their "mother ship," the Platypus. Five of the submarines came out under their own powerj the journey, of closo npon 14,000 miles, being the longest that has ever been accomplished by any submarines under similar conditions. The sixth broke down at Colombo, and was towod tho rest of the way to Australia by the Brisbane. All six boats have seen war service, being based on a port on the north-east coast of England, and employed in watching the channels which tho Germans used north of Heligoland. Tho idea apparently was that if the German fleet did come out these submarines were to get in behind it and do what damage wns possible as tho enemy retired.

Commander Boyle, V.C., who came out in command of the submarines, and has been lent to the Australian Nary by tho Admiralty, as the instructor in submarine work, probably knows as much ' about that department of the Navy as any man in the scrvice. He was for two years in command of one of tho vessels he has just brought out, and he also had some thrilling experiences among the Turkish minefields in the Dardanelles and tho Sea of Marmora. To get through the Straits he had to dive under three separate mindfields, coming up at intervals to get his bearings, and then diving again. The worst trouble came at Nagara, where the submarine had to break through a net, "3}in wire and chain and iron bolts, and all sorts of things! The great thing," tho Commander told a Sydney interviewer, "was to take this net exactly at right angles; if you took it on the slant, you would bo apt to swing round against it, and get your propellers fouled. This net was bellied out by the tide. You had to hit it, and carry it up until it got taut —and then break through. "When it broke it made a terrific noise; you felt like the middle lump in a bag of coal going down a shoot!"

The submarine in which Commander Boylo performed this feat was none other than tho famous El 4, which has several pages to itself in Kipling's "Sea "Warfare." Three times the vessel traversed tho perilous passage of tho Straits, 8 hours up and 5J hours down, in danger, on tho surface, of being smashed by Turkish batteries, and, when under water, of colliding with | some stray mine- Once "inside," —in

the Sea of Marmora—El4 made herself extremely obnoxious to the Turks. Mr Kipling, commenting on the reports of submarine work in that says that they ''read like the diary of energetic weasels in an overcrowded chicken-run. Commander Boyle was "inside '• for some sevontv days, and in that time he sank altogether about 70 vessels, mostly sailing dhows, filled with grain. "The bijigest thing wo got was a transport with 6000 troops on board, but we got four other transports and a gunboat, and lots of supply ships.'' It was one of Commander Bnyle's reports., by the way, that contained the passago, also quoted by Aipling, in which lie described how on a certain occasion he had to dive "as tho men in a small steamboat were leaning over trying to catch hftld of the top of my periscope."

The most characteristic feature of a modern military parade, such as thator last Saturday, is its drab dullness. Tho sombre uniformity of khaki is'no dou ->t most desirable for active service, but it does not contribute to the picturesqv.eness of a dress parade, as did the old volunteer uniforms. There is some curiositv at Home as to the after-v« ar uniform, which a special committee set up by the War Office has now under consideration. One London paper in discussing the question declared that many of tho men now serving "would ■welcome the return of the old red coat. Acoording to a veteran sergeant-major, "A man was glad enough to wear khaki in the mud of France and Flanders because it was 'invisible' to a considerable degree, but now that it s all over, wo want tho red coat back again."

Apparently, however, the non-com-missioned officer is not ft reliable guide as to what the rank and file of the Aimy wants. The paper thereupon sent out its representative again, and he returned with the following expressions of opinion from the ranks: A large number of soldiers prefer khaki as a colour. _ They are unanimously in favour of the abolition of the brass polished buttn. Smoother serges or drill cloth would be popular. Buttons should be of bone or composition —univ'rsa' pattern or rrgimentally monogrammed. Trousers should be improved upon m shape, with a view to greater neatness. Baggv trousers are abhorred "by the smartly inclined "Tcmmy." _ i Vivid regimental colouring bedecking uniforms is not viewed with favour. The French army pattern is much admired. Soldier-correpondents commented derisively on the sergeant-major's views. "He says he likes a dash cf colour," remarked one writer. "That is only natural. All sergeant-majors do. Even their language is lurid." "A uniform like that of the Australian troops, wh'ch is both picturesque and comfortable, would be preferred," said another. Tho colonial troops were generally admired, and the one really popular uniform in the British Army is said to have been that of th© Royal Air Force, a circumstance which suggests that the Army is not quite so indifferent to its appearance as some of the opinions quoted might lead one to suppose. ♦ A new star was seen to have arisen in the lawn tennis firmament early in the present month, when Lieutenant Gerald Patterson, of Melbourne, beat his great fellow-Australian, Major Norman E. Brookes, in tho challenge round of tho | All-England Championship at Wimbledon. It was another case of "Youth must be served,'' for Patterson is in his early twenties, while Brookes is 42 and considerably out of practice. Patterson won the All-Schools Championship of Victoria, and was still at school when chosen to represent Victoria against New South Wales in 1911. In 1914, with A. Campbell, he won the New South Wales and Australian "Doubles Championships, and then went Home to join the British Army, as he was too young to get a commission in Australia. He went through the Wimbledon tournament, in which the competitors included the leading players of Britain, France, America, South Africa, and Australia, with the loss of only one set. He is an extremely strong player, and "The Times," referring to his success, declared that the severity of his average stroke exceeded any thing before seen. His game somewhat resembles that of Maurice O'Loughlin, whose defeat by Brookes in the Davis Cup match at Lancaster Park will be remembered by all who witnessed it. '