NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1028, 18 January 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Most people, we fancy, will be.a ggod deal bewildered by the stater ment of. tho Minister for Public Works as to the Government's attitude towards the Blenheim-Waipara railway. In one breath Mr. M'Kenzie gave very strong reasons why tho lino should not be proceeded with, and in the next he was emphatic upon the Government's eagerness to push on with thfc work as soon .as possible. On-the credit side of'the claim of Canterbury for the early completion of the line he placed the Government's "recognition" that it was an important trunk line, and while it is possible to admit some little weight in this view of the matter, the items on the.debit side,aro heavy and substantial? on Mn. M'Kbnzie's own showing. V'He had failed," ho said, "to find these large and extensive areas of ' land suitable for settlement" of which he had been told so much. North of Kaikoiira, he said, there was "nothing at all." In effect, Mr. M'Kenzie's information, if correct, destroys those arguments for tho line which are based upon development arid' closer settlement. Tho 'line, ho said, "would be useful for passenger purposes, but certainly not for carrying goods. The local traffic would also be very light." So far as Ivaikoura is concerncd, he added, the whole business is of little importance. Now, we do not know whether Mn. M'lvenzie has a sure grin of the facts; but he must take up" tho position that his information.is correct. That being tho case, what possible excuEe can ho offer for his

favourable promise to the advocates of tho line ! He says—for this is what his statement amounts to—that tho lino is a hopeless wild-cat schcmc; ho adds that he favours it, and will push it forward as soon as possible. Seldom have we had a more bald and obvious illustration of the Government's willingness to waste public money in order to buy votes and support.

It will bs interesting to hear what tho Minister for Railways has to say about the curious resolution carricd by the Masterton branch of the Amalgamated Socicty of Railway Servants, as reported in our issue of yesterday. This branch has decidcd to move, at the forthcoming conference of the Society, for tho balloting of members on the question of affiliation with the Trades and Labour Councils or the Federation of Labour. The resolution is said to bo due to tho fact that tho Department some years ago gave a, promise that, if the Society would refrain from affiliating with any outside! body, the Government would not recognise any other body of railway, servants. It would be. very satisfactory if the Minister could assure the. public that the Department never .made such an extraordinary bargain with its employees, but unfortunately it is just the sort of bargain that the party in power woukl be likely to make. Few people .will fail to see the vices, of such an arrangement. In the first place, if the Government desired that the railway servants should not ally themselves with any Labour organisation, tho right course would ha,vc been a definite and unqualified provision, by means of a statute, that such -an alliance could not be permitted. In the second place,,it is manifestly wrong for the Government-, for any purpose whatever, to grant a special power to any organisation of its employees.' The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants possesses, strictly 'speaking, no status that is not also possessed by any dissident Society or Union, so far as relations with the Ministry arc eoncerncd. We shall be very pleased if Mn. MiiXAn can say that the Department, which means the Government, has never taken such a stranjroly wrong view, not only of its duties, but of its power, as is now alleged,

The hope expressed by the French Foreign Minister, as reported in one of to-day's .cablegrams, that,the con : ditions of war would, bo made more humane and just, probably has reference to the interesting initiative lately taken by the United States. M. Pichon based his hope on communications he had had with the representatives of different Powers, and it seems probable that the original impulse behind those communications dates back to an action of the American Congress. It was during tho closing days of last session that Congress passed a remarkable resolution authorising tho President to appoint -a Commission' of five members to consider "tho expediency of utilising the existing international agencies .for the purpose of limiting armaments by' an international agreement, and constituting the combined navies of the world an international force for the preservation'of universal peace." President Taft subsequently began negotiations with the Great Powers to ascertain whether they would be willing to 'enter into a conference to promote the spirit of the resolution. Amor-! ica is notoriously prone to . sentiment and rhetorical. Utopianism, and as she is comparatively free from the international complications of the Old World, she can talk, and oven think, of universal peace, more hopefully than they. The. Powers, of course, are riot going' to hand over their., navies to , any ..inter-, national court, and the cabled ' announcement of a. few days ago .that "the American Government, is sanguine of the eventual establishment of a court possessing a more effective machinery than -that -of Tho Hague Tribunal" does not, perhaps, mean very much. Nevertheless, the President's proposal to renew the endeavour to arrange an-arbitration treaty ■with Britain, as well as the prospect of some further agreement among the Powers to lessen the sufferings caused bv war, may lead to results which can be welcomed by matter-of-fact people as sincerely as by the ; most enthusiastic idealists.