NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 630, 6 October 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

.... .." ——♦——;/ ■. - No one can.disagree with the general' principle laid down by Sir Joseph Waiid in'his speech before the New Zealand, Club yesterday oh the subject of misrepresenting trie affairs of the Dominion locally, or abroad. Whether such misrepresentations.aroi circulated for pcr» sonat or political reasons; the • offence is ono_ which calls for the strongest condemnation. Shi Joseph Ward in his remarks referred only to' misrepresentations,likely to damage the ' financial credit of the country arid, wo fear that,ho took" the | somewhat narrow view that this damage is occasioned only by overstating such weaknesses as may exist. In.the long 'run it does the:country:equal harm to overstate our,natural advantages.: An illustration of this has been the discontent occasioned amongst many.of the immigrants who. have come to the dominion; m recent times lured,by the extravagant' over-statement of the'advantages awaiting them on arrival. Had our professions'been more modcratd wo ■ should probably have: been .quite as successful in inducing settlors to come here and they, would not have folt on arrival that they 'had been deceived. Their letters Home must, in many cases,.have robbed the country ,of desirable settlors who had cast their eyes in"' this direction. As amatter of ;fact much;more injury may bo dono in this way, amongst this class of, the outsido public than: can.be- done by misrepresentation in matters concerning investors. The investor as a rule iB in a. position to make himself acquainted with the actual facts. In the current issue of the Pastoraluts' Review this, aspect of'' the position is dealt,'with in a manner that should appeal forcibly to the'thinking section of,, the public. -The Eevieto says:> ; •'..',

.Tho Sydney Daily Telegraph," on the 31st of last month, mainly attributed '-the reason why, British capital "goc9'>'to? other co'u'ntries, and not to Australia, to tho fact that oun.resourcos • are not sufficiently advertised... During Inte years no country in the world has been-better advertised "than Australia. : What with our experimental legislation," Federation, 1 the Royal Visit, tho South African war, Australian' politicians in London, and even our footballers •. and , cricketers, tho - country ■ has : been kept prominently in the eyes of tho world. But still British capital goes elsewhere. As a matter of fact, capital only goes where, investments' look' safe, arid all tho combined forces of advertising would not at,tract capital to whore legislation is directly opposed to, it. , The .world is. full of investors, and British capital, linds its way into places hardly known. It.is.going to: parts of Africa, South America, and various' islands which have not had a fraction of the advertisement Australia has ■ hnd.i Tho resources of'this country are. undoubtedly great. : The surfaco has Imroly been scratched, enormous pastoral, ;agricultural," and mineral ' wealth awaits.the magic touch of'capital,'but it does not como. -Sicialistio laws most effectively scare it away., If wo placarded the wprld with Australia s great; possibilities, investors would fight shy of the country as long as Socialistic laws oxistcd. British capitalists ■ are better, informed of Australia's... resources than most people think, and "no doubt they could givo the "Sydney Daily Telegraph" sound reasons why " advertisement" is a fiitilo suggestion for remedying Australia's great want. There is much sound truth in this statement of the position as ; it relates, to, Australia and; it would be foolish to ignoro its application to this country. Bin. Joseph Ward is quite right in protesting apainst the country being misrepresented, but ho must hot confuse unpleasant' truths with misrepresentation. • .'.'.'■"

The very disquieting 'news'- that tho trawler. Duco has not reached her destination .at the Chatham, Islands a month after she was due there from Wellington has naturally caused great, uneasiness in local shipping circles. Tho trip usually occupies only/two days, and the' nonarrival of the Duco can, we fear, .only be attributed to a mishap,of somo kind. If, as is. hoped, there has been merely a breakdown of the machinery, the tug is a' stoutly-built boatj and, well handled, could bo expected to come safely through any ordinary weather conditions. The prompt action takon by the Ferry •Company, which owns the vessol, and ako by the Minister for Marine,■.■the Hon. J. A. Millar, in dispatching steamers to search in the direction in which tho Duco would be likely to 1 drift,'assuming that- her, machinery has broken down, is very commendable. .Trading vessels arc few and far between in tho .waters around the Chathams, and a disabled steamer might drift there for a long time without sighting a passing vessol. Tho : . return, of the search steamers will ho awaited with anxiety in Wellington, where tho: majority of the relatives and friends of those on board tho Duco reside.

Amid all the bustle of his visit- to /Britain, Sir Jospn'Ward appears not to hive forgotten that sine- the fire, at Parliament Buildings New Zealand has .been endeavouring to got along.with a wooden mace. ■' We find in the London Timet the interesting announcement that the Government has ordered, evidently through .Sir Joseph, a silver replica of the weapon used in the k House of Commons. What the toy .'will cost wo cannot venture to guess, but it may be taken for granted that Sin Joseph has ordered something "in''keeping with the dignity of the Dominion.".,The-country can doubtless afford tho mere cost.of a'mace. But what it cannot afford is the system of which the mace, isth? symbol—namely, the antiquated machinery of tho Legislature. No doubt a good many of our advanced Radical, friends—certainly all the' Socialists—will protest against this needless expenditure on .a . toy that- docs! nothing "but Wear out .the- Scrgeant-at- 1 Arms; and for once we can find ourselves 1 on their side. If wo must have a mace,: a wooden ono is quite good 'enough; gold and .silver can wait, until tho countryhas earned;the glittering' dignity by a. serious attention.to its greatest, national duties; Tn nriyovent, the now mace might' wl have been postponed for the day

upon which it could bo honestly said that our Parliament was an assembly-rich in dignity and character. It certainly has been conspicuously wanting in both for a good many years, and this although there have been on both sides ihon wlw would do honour to themselves oven in the House of Commons. ■ There are many niombcrs. in Parliament oven now—and it is a Parliament much,better than the one which emerged from the' election of 1905 whom ono cannot think of along with even a wooden . mace .without feeling tho incongruity, of the association, tint our main objection to the new mace is, not that it is now, or of silver, but that it i a| a mace at all. What Parliament requires moro than an obsolete weapon that is of no use to anybody is a revision of the obsolete and cumbersome ruks that govern the debates.