NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 948, 15 October 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The interview which wo publish this, morning - with ..a; resident of £-he Cook Islands now on a visit to Wellington discloses a;'most. - unsatisfactory.state, of' things, at; the Islands.It; .was. generally recognised. • that when ■ the . Government appointed. Mb. . J. E. : ■ Smith, an officer, of. the Old ,Age Ponsions Department, to the position' of .Resident: ".Commissioner at the Islands it was making a - -very risky, experiment. AVhatever Me.' Smith's; ... as-f anv officer/of, the Civil Service have; been they afforded no guarantee •of his fitness for the po3t of Resident Commissioner, i - Mii. Smith had no knowledge ■ of native affairs, and no legal experience, and seeing that the, duties'':a,ttoiclied/ to- ; ::tli^:"'pbsifcibii'-" which ..he-was';: appoihte'd-'are confined mainly, to. dealing •; with, : iuatters affecting' tthe':- ; nativjes : • andnative interests, including the legal responsibilities of Magistrate- or ' -Judge,' -it is. not'at all .surprising that the fears, expressed concerning the -• appointment appear to have been m part, at least, realised. According to tho :■ statements ;ihado • by. • -Mb. - Hosking a very .serious state ofi discontent v a'nd unrost; prevails -at. the growing., up . amongst tlie nativesowing to 'the: weakness' .of ■ the Commissioner due probably to his lack of knowledge: ways and native ideas. - Equally serious are thedis'closures.as to the: state of health of the'native population and the attitude of the. natives towards/the medical;officer appointed; by the,-Govt ernment: The position calls for the immediate attention of Parliament and we trust that members will interest'themselves in-it a:nd -insist'on thefullest : inquiry■ We':'shall -fake' care to see .that the■''subject is; not lost sight 6f. . -

. "While the exigencies, of space compel'us to hold-over.,our examination of-.the' Water • Power Works Bill, which the Prime Min-' ister" wanted to pass through' all stages; before he sailed; for, the South on Thursday, there !ai'o,_tw6 points which we -must : emphasise : to-day. The first :.point is ,the unspeakable_ folly, of giving \ the ' Government' statutory power: to borrow a ! huge sum of. money (£2,000,000 in all) for' the prosecution; of a scheme which is. not yet wanted, and! concerning which tho ..Government and .the House khciwmotliing.:, Several ■ members' who seem to realise this were unwilling, during Thursday's.debate,_ to say anything that could be twisted into a denunciation of the' Utility,. of harnessing; the : s water ..power "running to. waste.?' They.need not have, been so timid,; for, -. although / the, public .. is rather, apt to be misled by the grandiose rubbish :of members who know as little- df the .subject as they seem to know of the. difference 'between America and New: •Zealand, ■ we , are convinced ;that- the community ia not so. bereft, of its senses, as to. think it a grand thing to give Sir J. G. Ward authority to spend £500,000 a year in playing with,some sort", of 'a; ; river-hkrnessing project;' Careful inquiry. and re-, liable estimates-should be regarded as. the essential precedent to::- any Bill, and even then specific appro-: priation should come Rafter a general measure: fixingi the ! line of .policy. ' The-public, will think a great deal more of the , views:, of' such all export as Mn. Black, which are ; set out with quite refreshing force and, vivacity in an interview, iti"another:, column;' than •of all the:, : nonsense talked in the House by the men who do not realise that tho project of the Government is almost on a par with the idea that tho Christchurch-Lyt-telton ferry boats should be superLusitanias. The ■ only .other - point we can note just now has reference to the fact that one: of the results of the Bill will be the annual loss of a huge sum in_ tie total destruction of the, existing electric-light-ing businesses. Is the city of Wellington, for .example, to have its lighting business ruined' by a wildcat scheme, that' will have to .be maintained out of taxes? It is practically certain that the appropriation asked for., by the Government will at the least be greatly reduced, but Parliament will, be making . a great mistako if it fails to realise that the public,; however Vpling it. might be to see. a reasonable experiment tried, is not prepared to. wit-, ness a huge sum, such as proposed, voted in the off-hand fashion sought by the Ware Administration.,. V

, The public. will. be interested to learn that a pleasant little excursion for certain members of the Government and membors of Parliament has been under discussion for sovcrar days past. The idea, which Seems to havo_ emanated from someone in authority, appears to bo that

Sik Joseph Wakd should be accom-1 panied to London next year by at least one of his colleagues, by the] Leader of the Opposition, and by six or eight members chosen from both Houses of the Legislature. The project is designed with the. object of securing adequate representation for New Zealand at the Coronation of his Majesty King Gf.orok. As a natural corollary to this charming idea there is a proposition that Parliament should not meet until late in the year—-August we believe has been mentioned as a suitable date— and as a late session would make it embarrassing -to hold the general elections at the usual date it is not surprising to. learn that the further suggestion of a .postponement of. the elections until early .in 1912 is mooted. It is; perhaps, superfluous to,' add that. it. ; appears to De taken' for granted that, should the suggestion materialise, the.:taxpayers -of the -Dominion will be granted the privilege of disbursing , the-'..funds necessary to meet : the cost of ",the excursion. •' We venture to predict an untimely end for this pleasant little' programme.; , v •"