PRESS OPINIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 100, 21 January 1908, Page 11

PRESS OPINIONS.

—— —r"♦— ——' ... ij : ' • RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. J > Owned .-a*' they 'are by the .State and thus freed as they are from the immediato.financial, diffioulticsof private railway enterprises, tiio New Zealand railways'ought to bo among tho best equipped and most progressively conducted systems in the world. Wo might fairly ■ oipect that the : railway authorities would. Have' approaching requirements con•oYantly in mind and would tako both prido and pleasuro in koeping well abreast of tho expansion in business that arose from'the . settlement of tho country, and from tho l steadily -increasing attractions of: our great 1 holiday ,-resbrts. As things are,..however, set"t element 4s hampered, development chocked, 5 and; travel made unpopular by tho unbusinesslike refusal'of the Uovorhment to'provide the railways .with, adequate plant, 'even after they have spent largo.'sums.lii laying down lines. Tho ltotorua lino) for example, is not earning what it ;might easily, be made *o earn for indifference to ■ the comfort of the travelling public invariably reacts upon, a route; and the saraeVmay be said of. most other lines throughout..tno Dominion, for during the summer, months'it is tho .rule rather than ■ the owption; for "railway accommodation to . be .nsuliicient. What would bo said if the I were- in private' hands, and if the 1 ' public wore thus treated ?; At once we should haVo a great public agitationtho Premier would proclaim that Parliament would have to interfere;. on every hand it : would-, bo tho text'of socialistic addresses and bo quoted as ,of|ihe superiority of State • ownership Wind;;, control. And wo havo State ownership ? Ind control 1 The public is nominally master -™of this .'/ mismanaged . Railway Department, f which; has .so long'. been? notoriously s under'equipped aiid under-staffed; the.. Premier coil Id interfere effectively without being re- ] volutionary ; Parliament can. do as it pleases, aiid,i,p|eases.',t6 ■do'.-.practicallynothing;. And wo ha.ve';tlie.;cheerlcss outlook/that, instead- of anyimprovement . being probable, tho ;posi-. J 'tibirmusfc ; b'ecqn(e^steadily-worse as long!as the expansion of "the country.'proceeds at a greater | rate than the present provision for expansion made'.byl the .Department.—"N.Z. Herald.'.' . 1 . ' ; . PACIFIC MAILS. t In collection with'this local question of -a ' Pacific mail' in its varied phases of mail, carrying, trade and , travel . route and national maritime development, it is instructive toread'how-a far-sighted statesman like Mr Itqosevelt views a similar problem from th-.v American standpoint. In his latest Presidential- Message to Congress he'called" "special'.attention to . the unsatisfactory condi- ' tio'n of; our foreign mail service," and stated that > ' r th'e ttiiio has coitie, in my judgment,'to'• set to work to mako our. ocean-;mail 'service correspond.more closely with our recent commercial .arid,political development." 1 Ho lays it.down ! as ? iiiasims: "That it'is the dntv ot a first-lass Power, so far as practicable, to carry its-own;ocean mails under.its own flat;; that. ocean mail , ships' and ; , their, crews,''required 'for such, mail service, are valuablo auxiliaries to tho, sea power .of a nation:^ ! ,-\Aftor''going oil to show that the United States can well afford to improve -her oeeaiv,mail service,, ho points out that'the,, failure' of Congress to approve tho increase of ' 6ubsidy to:mail liners resulted in tlio loss of their .only-line to Australasia. Tho American Government now subsidises 20-knot mail, liners, "built according to naval plans, available "as cruisers, and manned 1 by AVnericans," at. the. rate,of 4dol. a .-statute mile outward;16 knots or over aro paid 2dol. per mile. Mr. Ito'osev.cit says, that 16-knot steamers aro needed io.meet the requirements of the Australasian and .other trades, and asks Congress to authorise'tho Postmaster-General"t6 tloti-. Mn' the subsidy payable to them, making it fief, sl-atni o mile.... We -may. hope • that the* -'Washington,. r Congress'.-.will take such' stf.ps. qs may rostoro the 'Frisco connection, long so valuablo to New Zealand; for we eamiot';have fori many, good : roads, either on hind or- % 9ir..st'B. .But; the time is apparently rr-rj po*,f6r,iiH-tj' take steps which' will seeure'us i J'ftci.fic mail independently, of the, spasmodic dotorminatioris of the American Coiig'ress;.' arid one'.which' will merge Instantly 'into' tho forest Imperial route-considered possible by tiufi'leadhlf;;.-Ecitish. statesme!j.-; u j'\Vo.J!ep_eat i Irati Sir - Joseph Ward. may:-' bo" able | > ii-rangij'terms.with the Union.Steam.Ship.., CoiSpahy, for so diverting tlio-yaiicouver ser-: vice, .that . NowZealahd. will be''.o'tf its main, route,; and; wo do not doubt' that, if 'siich. air arrangement can be arrived at.it will'bo cordially .siipported ,by the.people.ahd Parliament of the' Dominion.—!/N.Z.,' Herald." ' MR. KEIR lIARDIE. We' think ; it 1 ivas John . Bright.- who,; on oner;, occasion', 1 ;' was : interrupted during a speech.he-was making in the' House of Commons -'by s th'o 'exclamation from one. of -his opponent's, '. "That's a lie ! 1 ?' ' John-Bright' piuscd-for ;.a moment, and, then in'thrilling, penetratingvtones, : . demanded— <'Who. is it dares^to'.;say. that?" ; • There was another pause l ,■ ■-during' which" the House" held its breath',, and presently the Keir 'Hardio of that "day replied, with a mixture of shame and.brazenness in his voicoVl didl'VOhl" rejoined. John: Bright,, with a withering inflection,-'.' Then it's of no consequence,", and he calmly 'went on with his . speech.-'' That is our answer to tho present Mr. Keir 'Hardie when .he says tHat tne New Zealand 'editors who.,ventured to comment on. his "blazing indiscretions','-:in India are "cads," and thattho, correspondents who reported his utterances .in.,.that country are liars. As it is Mr. Keir Hardie who' says this, it is of 110 conseqtfence.

Turning to the main question at issuo, it really does not very much'matter what .wore the precise words used by : ..this very ill-bred' and wholly unpatriotic person in India. ,;Ho himself seems to retain only'a very hazy recollection of what ho said, .ahd .it evidently annoj3 him v to- be asked for the authentic Version. Taking his own cabled correction to the 'fDaily Mail,"-however, it is clear thathe spoke, without any spnse of responsibility, such as is to be reasonably expected from a man. in his position, that lie did some mischief in the country by f his ignorant interference in its affairs at a very critical time, and that it Was not his "fault' that lie did not do more. His action/was . that of a man v;ho goes 'into a powder magazine and begins throwing matches about. Even - the most' Radical; papers Homo hastened to disavow any sympathy 'with his conduct:''" In New Zealand .lie- may,-say alid/clp',.whatever he likes, and, as in the casfe of: .the Jackdaw of Rheims and the curse/' nobocly will be a penny the worse. ■ He - may:' wave his red flag and scatter hisVmatches (tipped with sulphur), but we shalj ,only laugh at him. Tho jioor' benighted Hindus took him for a vw.v important person/ Wo know him for what he is.—Christchurch "Press."

Even' if: Mr'/ : Hardie, jh member of the Imperial Parliament.,to whom a certain measure of clings, .'had been content to associate himself with tho anti-British agitators,, under whose auspices his tour was conducted, tho effect would, wo can well behove, have been to entourage the disloyalists in Eastern' Bengal .in tho task tlioy had set themselves of stirring up a ferment among the population. But when, so far from, maintaining a'passivo attitndo in his visit, to Bengal, he permitted himself to participate so actively in the discussion of the suptposed wrongs of the people ns evon his admissions show lie did, then it i 3 apparent that ho miscalculated' the capacity of the native press for exaggerating and making the. most of uttcrance3 which arc regarded as favourable to its cause. Mr. Hardie appealed, when in Wellington, to the "Tribune" as one of tho Liberal newspapers in the United Kingdom which would show that ho was not chargeable in India with the excesses of. speech that have been imputed to him. What, however, has .the' "Tribune" had to say on the subject? With the interview accorded by Mr. Hardie to its Calcutta correspondent before it, it. expressed tho belief that his tour was a very mischievous one, and, referring to the.illustrations which, as lie acknowledged, ho made, it said that "if ho had had more than a few days' experience of Bengal before he made those unfortunate comparisons lie might liavo anticipated the use that would be made of them and anticipated their dangerous character in the circumstances." Thu conclusion arrived at by the "Tribune" was that "tho great fault to be laid to Mr. Keir Hardio's account is tho overweening confidencc that cncouragcd him to talk at largo after so small an acquaintance with the country, of which lie knew"as little as the natives knew of him." —"Otago Daily Times."