NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 777, 29 March 1910, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Prime Minister, who has issued a fresh statement upon the case of Mr. Peter Heyes, would really' have acted much more wisely if he had made frankness His policy to begin with. In some' matters, no doubt, he is correct in thinking that the best policy, from his point of view, is the policy of reticence and deviousness, but the" present case is not one of these. His behaviour, as we pointed out yesterday, is not only unfair to the persons involved, but is very bad tactics so far as the Government is concerned. He now tells us that Mr. J. H. Richardson has all this time been inquiring into the complaints made against Mr. Heyes, and has only recently furnished his report. The evidence collected by Mr.> Richardson has not been taken on oath, the Prime Minister explains, nor has the statement in which Mr. Heyes has traversed the charges been made on oath. There is therefore to be the third inquiry upon which we commented yesterday. The public may well ask itself where the ■' thing < is going to end, and how much longer the Government will trifle with the important issues involved 'in this affair: The general conclusion will be that the commissioning of the two judges "to hold an inquiry last session was never intended for ' any other _ purpose than the burking o'f criticism in Parliament, and the holding up of the case until the session was -over. • Whether, that* conclusion will be correct or incorrect we do not • undertake to say. Wo merely state the fact ..when we say that the public has been-made very uneasy and very suspicious of the genuineness of'the Government's desire to have the' matter properly settled. The Prime Minister has really got his Government into this unfortunate position,, that whatever it may. do ultimately, its decision will not command the. public's confidence unless.it is accompanied by a statement and explanation of unexampled candour and conclusiveness. How much candour is to be expected may, bo • judged from the fact that even .now the. Prime ■Minister, •will not.say a word as to the mere.nature of. the charges that 'all kinds of people are investigating, or are to investigate, without the public being.one whit the wiser for it,' or one- whit easier in- its mind.

As we have occasionally noted of late, the problem of wastefulness in btate expenditure is receiving: as much attention from, all parties .in the United States as it receives from the friends of good, government-in this ; country. Our cable messages ■ day contained a reference to Senator Aldrich's-proposal to set up a 'Business' Methods Commission , to savo the Federation soma'of the millions now annually wasted on administration'.•' The' American newspapers to hand by the mail contain a good deal of interesting comment on the Senator's proposal.. The San Francisco WecMij Chronicle of February 9 has some observations that may, be read -with profit in this country. .-,.-.-

.The extravagance which characterises the expenditure of our National Government (says the- "Chronicle") grows out of unbusinesslike methods which would not be tolerated: by any. private corporation. Outsiders cari look on and recognise, the waste, but:they cannot put their fingers on the details of bad organisation or looseness in: authorising 'or auditing which;cause the waste. Neither, for thai nutter, can Congressional committees. . It is a work'.which requires the services of mop trained in the details of large affairs and familiar with the methods for securing economy whioh the managers of the great corporations have ' worked i. out. There are. always such men in Congress, but they count only as individuals, and havo neither time nor opportunity to get to the bottom of things. The Senate General Committee on Expenditures, of which Senator■ .Aid-rich is chairman; has pvidently found itself unable to deal adequately with the situation, and hence this report, unanimously agreed to by the committee, for creating a permanent body with the necessary time and the necessary authority.

Equally interesting, are the, direct references of the New York .Post, in its • issue of February' 1, to civil service reform.

There has never . been a time (the .Post" remarks) when.it conld.be said that, civil-service reform had at'last carried the country, or had come anywhere near carrying the country. It' began as an agitation carried.on by a, little group of earnest men, 'and advocated by a very few superior journals; and from that day to this it has never counted 1 among its genuine adherents more than- a' small minority of. the members of Congress. But at an early stage it got ; itself embodied in an Act of Congress, at a time, .when the public conscience, was peculiarly stirred; and in the face' of the aversion and hostility of the great majority.'of Congressmen, it has grown stronger and stronger ever since. At -the' prefent time its principles govern appointments and promotions in about 200,000 ; Federal offices; every President, every high executive officer, has for years ljeen emphatically its friend; and there is hardly a respectable newspaper in the country that is not its hearty supporter.

What can happen in America when honesty moves against misgovern-, ment can happen in New' Zealand. The friends of administrative reform in this.country need have no doubt that persistence will in the end bring them success. 7

Most New Zealanders will be surprised and amused at the storm which Mr. Foster Eraser has brought about his ears by expressing the opinion that the Australian young man is "flaccid." , Mr. Eraser's observations ' upon New Zealand were in the main astonishingly accurate and penetrating, and it is reasonable to assume that he did not carry away a wrong impression of our young Australian friends. But even if he is wrong, even if tho young Australian male is the very reverse of flaccid, it is surely not quite necessary, in tho interests of Australia, that Mr. Coqhlan should solemnly rise up and point to the achievements of Trumper and Peter Jackson and the Cavims—and also, wo do not doubt, of Carbine—as so many proofs of Mr. Fraser's ignorNor does it seem to bo imperative that tho Premier of Victoria, who cannot know anything of the subject, should retort upon the traveller with a disparagement of the British workman. The Rev. E. H. Scgden, too, has hastened into print to trample upon this "peripatetic journalist," and to denounce his "superficiality." One may respect tho patriotic zeal of these gentlemen, but one must deplore their lack of all sense of hu-

mour. The outside world does not care whether the young Australian is flaccid or not; his flaccidity cannot possibly matter to anybody but the Australian public. The outcries of\the patriots are of no interest excepting for the curious light which they throw upon the self-conscious-ness of tho Australasian and his restlessness under: even mild criticism. These are really signs of nothing worse than youth, and youth is a_ disease that time may with confidence be, left to cure, in a nation as in an individual. It would be foolish to feel pessimistic of Australasia's future simply because her most talkative citizens believe that patriotism'. consists in refusing to admit that the .Southern' Cross shines upon anything that is not entirely perfect.- .