NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 653, 2 November 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Very few people will take seriously Mr; Stead's communication with Mb. . Gladstone respecting.; tho.;. British Budget. Tho only surprising ' thing ab.out tho lengthy message firom Spirit-land' is the fact that tho Daily Chronicle asked for it. There arc a .great many people, however,' who beliovo that Mn. Gladstone,, if he livodto-day, would bo found cheering the 1 policy . of State -Socialism. In his

ber if ho were alive, but, centenarian"'as he would be, I venture-to say 'that ho- '■ would make very short wbrk.of the deputation of the Cabinet .which might .wait on -hira with this measure, and that they :would eoon find themselves on the-stairs, ■if : n6t- ii>' the streot.: In his eyes, and-my eye' 3. too,' as:.-his humble disciple, Liberal-} " ism nud liberty , were , cognate terms—they wore -twin,sisters."., ..Tho Radicals were . unable' to reply to this appeal to tho great old man: There arc on record, how'-" c\er, ; ,some .very 1 clear Statements .by Hit.. Gr r\DSTONE. which bear upon the . point. They are recorded by 'Mr.' G. Wi, E., Russell,; a staunch friend ,of the.' pre-' sent . Government,^' and aD opponent of Lord in his book Oollecljons and .Recollection?:; Me. Rdssell writes:. ' lu'lßßs Mr. Gladstone'(who had just been staying with.Mr...Goschc'n) asked tho,present .writer if •it were true that Socialistic notions •were spreading among' the' younger • Liberals/' { answprod' by asking another question: 'Do you mean qy Socialism tho State doing for the what lift' ought to' do "for himself r" '.Or]do you mean the' State taking'private, pro-, .forwmbl.ic uses?' Mr. Gladstone replied, .with indeScribablo .emphasis:, ' I mean both! '•rV? » "refsorvo •my worst Billingsgato for tho latter. ■. V " In 1897,. Mr. Gladstone wrote to Mr. ■Russell: ,r The busjness of the . last half century has been ill..the main a process of setting-free the : individual man that ho may work out his vo- : cation, without ...wanton' hindrance; ns his Maker ••will(have.him do.. If. instead' of: this, Gov.ernmont js to work oiit his vocation for ,him, I, for one,, am. not . sanguine as to the result." In 1894, when loaving public life for ever, he wrote: . .. . ■ ~ "I am.thankful to have had a part in the ; emancipating labours of the last GO years; but ■ entirely' uncertain ( ho-,v,, had I now. to begin my life, I could face (ho. 'very different prob- ■ loms of 'tha 'ueit CO .years/ Of. oiio Hiing I ■ always ha'vo been, convinced—it is • ..not by tho Stnto' that man can bo regenerated and. the_ terrible, wops of , this darkened world effectually, .with.". We commend these powerful opinions to' , thoso hopeful people who behove that the State; has only to wave-its wand in order to. bring about the mijlcnnium.

From; Auckland we learii to-day that the President of the Chamber of Commerce in that city is firmly convinced that' the., seat of Government should, bo .removed ■ from Wellington. It would be most unbecoming if the President enter'■tamed the .smallest .doubt, as to the. superiority of Auckland to any of the other cities; in any ■ particular whatever. - 1 : Yet • the reasons;'whicK he gives in support of the suggestion—which we must say, how? over, reluctantly,'can never lje translated to any higher .dignity—that thd seat" of Goverhniept should belpcate4 in Auck-. land are not very convincing. Auckland, no doubt, has ample- room for Government buildings, but wo somehow feel'that, Wellington will always have! a corner in which can be tuclced away anything that the: State will require in IhQ way. of offices. That, Auckland ; is. the fir&t port of call from tho north is very true, but to anybody south of Auclcland tho central situation of Wellington will appear to outweigh'the very/shadowy advantages of. a day's approximation to tno Equator.' It is unnecessary,'howevei>,to:discuss all the. arguments of Mb. Kent,- for there'is nothing.. so unlikely 'as - that the stj;ardently desired bythe good.-people of Auckland will evor be made .- We can. see^.some' advantages in the location of tho. capital in the north, but we can see also - the disadvantages; If tho scat of Government, is ever to be'removed, it 'is not' likely to] be removed to any other place than Picton, which will grow into n. large town when tiie' South Island -Main Trunk Railway is completed,- Auckland; therefore,should realise that it-is really out of the question. It will flourish very, well,' wo have no doubt, even without such a'change. :■• ' ••••• . ■ •

. i"IjlBBRAllSil" in *Now-'. Zealand is,, wo all know, very, contemptuous of the teachings of experience. If it were nob indifferent to history, it would bp,' cQjitemptu? ons of _it too. But therb may be'some profit in ■ calling attention tp the-', alarm that is being yfolt, even'in' Liberal< quarters, at the. growth of bureaucracy tain. Mr. Miu..\n has ..'Said that 130,000 persons are directly dependent upon the State in; New,Zealp,n{l.'This represents, an astounding proportion of the population i in Britain the proportion, of coursed is pot only less, but incomparably less, Tat such a good Liberal newspaper as the V?tfy yhronicle showing uneasiness,. It points out that recent legislation involves an increased official staff thus:—"Census of Production (Board of Ti-ado staff increased); Small. Holdings Act (new inspectors) ; Labour Exchanges Bill -(supcrintendents and clorka); Financo Bill (surveyors and valuers); .Housing Bill (new inspectors);.factory inspection (large increase in staff). .This tcnde'ncy v to 'multiplication of officials is Unfortunate, but apparently it is an inevitable accompaniment of all progress in, the region of/social reform, Not a voidc'is raised in pro; test or inquiry. The old. zeal'for economy is dead." .France is, next, to New. Zealand, perhaps the worst example ofthe national cost of bureaucracy. "It is a known fact (wrote the Paris correspondent of the Gtasyow Herald oh September 12 last) that large sums of money aro annually squandered in maintenance of salaried _ State servants • .at posts which might without inconvoniencc be in many cases suppressed. There aro a host of functionaries in Franco who have little or nothing to do, and subordinates to help them to do it into tho bargain." France, of course, is not a young and lusty country in the full tide _of youth,' liko ' Now Zealand, but oven in New Zealand, as the retrenchment,' scheme : indicated, bureaucracy is beginning to have uncomfortable results.. As everyone knows, France has long'been the "horrible example" for the rest of the world in the matter of'tho cost of "State servicc.'" In America, ( the cost' of State service is 4s. 2d. per head: in Britain, Bs. 4cL; in Germany, 12s. 6d.; in. Franco, £l os. JOd. In New Zealand, 'which ( somehow appears to /hold, so many of .'theso unenviable records,; it was over £5 10s. per head ip the year 1908-9, or an increase of 10s.—more than the (oto/ cost, in tho ease of Britain—on the figures for 1907-8. Excluding the cost of the Railways Department—which of course should rightly not be excluded— the cost was 53 10s., or nearly nine times as much per head as tho cost that is alarming some of . the British Liberals. •