NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 597, 27 August 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Tfiß long-suffering residents of. Wadestown seem likely to get their tramway at iast. : After months, \aild months of wrangling' and disputation;,' concerning the relative merits of the .variouß routes suggested, and after carrying a poll authorising an ; expenditure of £40,000 on tramways, it t now appears possible that they will get their' tramway at a very much lower cost, and by what should prove a more profitable route than the one last decided on. The OitV Council last evening came to what it fa to be hoped was a. final decision on the subject, and the "0" route, is _to, be adopted. This route, while not /without its drawbacks, shdiild provo a more profitable one< thftfl the'Saiihders Lano proposal, and the importance of thiß aspect of the matter .to the ratepayers, who have to make up the loss cih working, iS very considerable; ' Particulars of the "C rduto are given in our news columns, and need not bo repeated here. The main point is that this route taps residential property, whereas the route previously favoured runs for a Considerable distance alongside city reserves, which could never lie expected to swell the tramway revenue. There, is only one thing remaining to be done, and that is that the) mattdr should now do iluslicd oil with the utmost speed. There have been so many dolays from pno . cause and another that no effort should nOw be spared to complete the work in the speediest manner possible,

t Tub long-suffering residents of. Wados- ' town seem likely to get their tramway at . last.: After months : arid months of 3 < wrangling' and disputation,' concerning m the relative merits of the .variouß routes suuaested. and after carr.vintr a poll

Tufi Government has apparently docided not to t select ah oftci&l candidate for the Rangitikdi sfi&t. This! is. father h. pity, since "tho great, Liboral party" muy Butter the pain, of, witnotaiug .Borne tucu

bickering as to who is the real Simon Pure as took place between Messrs. M'Lean and Winder in .this city at the last goneral election. At the same time the Government is rather to bo complimented on its astuteness in safeguarding itsolf against the ignominy ' of picking the wrong man. At the Tuapeka byelection, Mn. Horn was selected as the Government nominee, and tho electorate enthusiastically rejected him, choosing instead another Government supporter who at anyrato had tho merit of lacking tho official imprimatur. At the general election, too, the Government was vory unfortunate. Tho wrangle between the two Government supporters who contested the Wellington North seat became so serious that Sin Joseph Ward felt it necessary to intervene, and he' personally affixed his label to one of them at a public meeting. The electorate rejected them both, but it was careful to place tho official candidate at'the bottom of the poll. In Auckland East, Avon, and Chalmers the : official nominees of the Government wore defeated by unblessed Ministerialists.: It was a notable feature of the elections in this' island that wherever Sir Joseph Ward personally intervened in the contest the Govreceived a sharp retyuff. /Mr." Carroll, is wise in making no choice of an official candidate. He hopes, of Course, to be able to say, after the election, that the victor was his man all along. As a.matter of fact, however, the Government does.not seem at all likely to retain the seat. But Mr. Carroll will at least have the satisfaction of knowing thht nobody will be able to say that the Ministerialist who polls the smallest number of votes was the Government nominee.

Our modern Radicals talk so much about principles that -they. must not grow angry when they aro ~ asked to explain why : their principles: are so intermittent and discontinuous. The.: Minister: for Labour has just: made a'statement upon the Government's policy as to workers' homes which illustrates again the readi- , ness of the Radical to abandon his prin-J ciplcs whenever it appears convenient to do' so. He intends,, so he says, to bring down a Bill to' make it easier for the tenants of theso homes to. become, their own landlords; Ho wishes to "make tho purchasing' clause a reality," and it' is proposed to expend tie proceeds from sales in the provision of further cottages. The scheme, he. contends, ,is a good one, and "the only direction in which it can: be .improved is in regard to the purchasing power." _ That is precisely the improvement which we have been suggesting as necessary in tho Governments' land policy. So :far'as- policy is concerned, there is no difference between State tenantship of a house and land and State tenantship of a block of land.' If-' it is good that in the one case tho State should allow its tenant to become his own landlord, it cannot but be good in : the other. Any principle that can be invoked to defend the leasehold policy in respect of 1 the State's land dpplies equally to the Stated house property'j and' vice \versa< It can no longer be contended that the Government, in adopting the leasehold policy where its lands are concerned; is acting according to any principle.; Of course, it is just what one would expect from' Ministers. They would give the option 'of-the freehold to the city : worker and .deny it to that blight upon: the ...'•'community,, - that undesirable| but necoskry, evil,/the 'man who grows the wheat for the city 1 Worker's bread. : , v .