NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 992, 6 December 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

We _ cannot congratulate* the-.Press' Association on the manner in which it has handled, the election results in : connection with the general election nojv proceeding in-,Great Britain. Never in recent times has such intense "interest been ..shown in the .fortunes of political parties in the Mother . Country, and; yet to date details of only some'.thirty or forty., out of tho 120' odd contests co'ncludV cd, are .to hand. At. the ■ elections hold'.in details were given of the. polling for every.-'seat;'and:if that was considered desirable then it surely is more ,so on the present occasion. It is impossible,' jh* the absence, of the details of the polling in the electorates so far completed, te attempt to form any opinion as to the relative gains and losses of the contending:parties... We.are sent a great deal of matter that the public here do not care a snap of the ■fingers about, but apparently the Press Association is going to lea_vc us in ignorance ton the' vitally-in-teresting details/of the elections. . It is a shocking blunder on'the'.part of someone. v -.

Examining' last night -the discrepancies and-inconsistencies in the Prime Minister's statements upon the representation of New Zealand at the Ocu-onation and the Imperial Conference, our evening contemporary makes' a very curious and significant 'statement.. Me. Massey, it. will 'be recollected, opposed the proposal to postpone • the re-assembling of 'Parliament until July 31. '; Our' contemporary says that the Opposition was her ( e unreasonable,, "for, with ■ ' the , Premier at ■, the Coronation and a general election pending, it would surely bo unfair to insist that the business, of- the House should proceed as usual." This is really interesting. Nobody would have cared to use such an argument in 1902, when, although, the circumstances were : precisely. the same as they will be in 19li—a Coronation year, an Imperial Conference year, an election : year—Mr. Seddon went Home and the session went, on, as usual. That, however, may pass. It'is the argument as tc fairness that requires attention. Is public life only -a g'amel Must the country's business cease when the PiiiMß Minister cries "Pax , '? ■ If. the question of: fairness is to be raised it is ludicrous to, raise it in the manner of our evening Contemporary. To speak of, unfairness to the Prime Minister is , : as childish as it is impolite to his colleagues. But what about : the" unfairness to the country in the suggestion.that its interests should be subordinated to. the..convergence of a Prime.Minister whom it.suits to choose, feeble' colleagues, and whose political.position is ,so precarious that he cannot trust it not. to be damaged ■if he' leaves the premises'for five minutes?

A vote on the Supplementary Estimates, £150 for Mr. W. ■ M.'. Tyers, Inspector of the Land and Income Tax Department, serves to recall the very- great services this .'gentleman rendered the country in connection j with the exposures which took place | in the Taxing and Land Valuation Department early in the year. Mr. Tyers, , in the face of <. great difficulties, . courageously undertook a painful duty, and as a result exposed a state of things which, led to the resignation of the head of the Department, and another . highlyplaced official. •" Moreover, as the result of'■ Mr. Tyers's efforts the charges against Messrs. Bowron Bitos., of presenting false income tax returns, were sheeted home and many thousand pounds added to the revenue of the country. We are pleased to see 'that the Government has recognised the splendid service rendered by Mr. Tyers, although we cannot say that that recognition strikes us. as being at all adequate. Apart from the worry, and anxiety thrust upon him the. strain of the work done by Mr. Tyers must have been enormous. Apparently Mr. Tyers is not prepared to accept the cash payment proposed by Ministers and approved- by. Parliament on the ground that he does not- regard the principle of such payments as a wise one.to introduce. There is a good deal to be said for this view. At the same time we feel certain that the public would be very glad-to see Mr. Tyers's services adequately recognised; and we would suggest that this could be done by affording him an opportunity, should he desire it, of visiting the Mother Country at the Dominion's expense for the Coronation next year. We have not the slightest idea of whether or not this would meet with favour from Mr. Tyers, but seeing that ho has declined a cash payment and in view of the enormous burden of work and worry which, lias fallen on his shoulders during the investigation of tho Bowron Bros, affair and tho other matters referred to, the trip should provide a welcome rest and change of scene. Possibly the Government will see its way to do something of this kind.

Although we arc given details respecting only !)5 seats, over 120 or nearly, one-fifth of the 670 contests in the British general election havo been decided. The Unionists have a Ivaro majority over the Liberal-La-bour-Nationalist coalition, and would therefore appear to have made

an even better beginning than. in January. The figures, however, are not decisive enough for ■ confident speculation upon the .final issue, although' it certainly seems inevitable that the Government cannot, escape from what, the . Keuc Frcie. I'resse calls "the Irish embrace." Mli. Balfour's dramatic declaration that the Unionist party is prepared to submit Tariff Reform to a referendum must be having some influence upon the election—the Liberal papers say an influence adverse to the Unionist cause, but that remains to be seen. We explained in a recent article how the Spectator has for nearly two years been fighting for the referendum as a solution of the larger j difficulties, of the situation that began to develop in 1906. The. mail last night brought the Spectator of October 22, in.which there is finally set forth the culminating appeal to the Tariff Reformers to adopt the position which their leader has now definitely take up. The definite undertaking that the Unionist party, when it returns to power, will.not pass a Tariff Bill, without-first consulting the people is a great triumph for the Spectator. In the article to which we have referred, it-pointed out that the Tariff Reformers should' be willing to agree that Free-trade votes cast against the Government should not be used to'obtain Tariff Reform, and that in any case they should be willing to prove the sincerity of their belief in-their'princi-ples apd in the public approbation of "the Si. Moreover, if a tariff had to come, only a strong Government could draw up a just -.and sound schedule. The Spectator noted the objection that the Unionist Freetraders might dislike the notion of putting in power a strong. Tariff 1 Reform Government, on the ground that to do so might be to commit the country in some measure to a tariff. We have lately seen, however, that such stalwart Free-traders as Lord Cromer, ' and Mr. Harold Cox have agreed that , this is a riskthat should be taken by all.friends of sound government. >. ■ ■':■'■ ' .