NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1197, 4 August 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

An item in the unauthorised expenditure account laid before Parliament on Tuesday last will probably set tongues wagging in certain circles. It will be recalled that when the Licensing Act of last session was before Parliament the representatives of the Prohibition partj; were very confident of their position. Naturally they did not admit that they had obtained all they wanted—and no doubt they did not secure all they would have liked — but generally speaking they were well satisfied with things. They had not got the bare majority as the deciding factor at the poll, as hoped for, but they obtained tho inclusion of the Dominion Prohibition issue. This of course is old news; it is also | old news that one of the most enthusiastic workers for the New Zealand Alliance, an ex-president of the Alliance we believe, -is' Mr. A. S.' 'Adams. This gentleman was amongst those members of the Alliance who almost lived within the walls of Parliament dining the time that the Licensing Bill was under consideration. All this was very proper and very praiseworthy. What we cannot quite understand, however, is why this very active, and enthusiastic member of tho New Zealand Allia.icc— or at .least his firm of Adams Brothers—was paid the very substantial sum of £369 cut of unauthorised expenditure "for services in drafting the Licensing Bill." The Crown has a very able and experienced law draftsman—tho Crown Law Department is ;;t present a very strong Department numerically, and we should imagine quite able to cope with the work. Why then should an outsider —and one. so intimately associated with the Prohibition party —be called in to assist ? If Mi:. Adams assisted at the drafting of the Bill at the request of the New Zealand Alliance, of which he is a membiu, ,' why did not tho Alliance pay Mr. Adams if he required to be paid for his services to the.cause? Was Mr. Skekrett, who usually represents the brewing interest, called i:i I also to assist in the drafting of the Bill, and, if so, who paid him for his services? But why should the public pay either of these gentlemen asLoeiatcd with the extremists on tho liquor question, when they already pay for tho upkeep of a costly State .Department to do the work ?

As appeal was heard by tho Railway Appeal Board in Duncdin on Tuosday which requires soma attention in Parliament, cince it reveals a highly roprohensibjo policy on the pait ot the ltr.ihv.iy Department. 'JL'he appeal was made by a stationmaster who had been reduced for nut immediately taking steps to ascertain the condition ot a guard reported x<: him as having arrived in a state of intoxication. The appellant's advocate —a brother officer in the service —"had applied to tho Department for a- copy of the evidence at the inquiry from which appeal was mack , , by I lio could only obtain a j.vccis. T!'O chairman, Mr.. \V. B. Kaseldex, S.M., said he did not know why the Departivw.it did not supply the iv\\ evidence "It raises suspicion/' W added. "Thij question crops up every time." Tin Department's representative refused to. hand over tho, full evidence, and said the precis \v,T3 "a very fair statement." Under further pressure from the appellant's advocate, the Board tested the prf.eis by comparing it with the full evidence, and in a few minutes Mil. Haselden exclaimed that the precis was of no use: "It is misleading., Just fancy a barrister called on Lo defend a "prisoner being supplied with evidence and finding that he could not rely upon a single statement being accurate." The Department's representative still declined to allow appellant's advocate, to pee the full evidence, and the chairman, after saying that appeals could not be successfully advocated in such conditions, announced that he would in that case refuse to bold the inquiry. He would not sit ho said; it was contrary to the first principles of justice.' The Department's representative then capitulated. Me. Millar might explain the reason lying behind tho principle that his Department follows in these cases. The public and the railway employees arc growing heartily sick of the Department, and it is really of little use for Me. Millar to attempt to defend his Head Office any longer. |

It is' always a source of amusement to the experienced in the ways of the Legislature to note during the final session of Parliament the brave display of free speech on the part of ordinarily obedient and .subservient Government followers. With the approach of the elections they become painfully conscious of various minor shortcomings on the part of their leaders, and at times, in the desire to make their position sound with their constituents, they even outdo the Opposition in their criticism of the Government. As often as not, however, they are much, more ■severe than they mean to be. Yesterday, for instance, those Government members who attacked Ministers for not pressing on the work of land settlement as rapidly as they should were electioneering. They probably wore concerned less with the shortcomings of the Government than with the view their constituents would take of them; and they wished to have it on record to point to should occasion require them to show that they, patriotic souls, had not hesitated to speak plainly to Ministers on the subject. Yet, as Mn. Massey pointed out, they are now only confirming what the Opposition has been saying for a very long time, and what the Government has been strenuously denying. In another way Mr. Witty was even more severe on his leaders—his remarks were the more cutting because it was obvious that he meant what he said, and did not fully realise tho deadly nature of his criticism of his political chiefs. Closing what was for him an unduly long speech, he summed up the position that has developed during the past few years somewhat as follows:—The worker has had a bad time; tho farmer a good time; and the squatter has made a fortune. 'And this is the verdict passed by a Government supporter after 20 years of "Liberal" Government! The squatter has been the principal beneficiary under a Government that has posed for 20 years as "tho friend of the worker."

It was bound to come sooner or later. A Press Association message from Auckland in to-day's issue reads: There is much .concern in sports and athletic circles at the possibility of serious interference with both summer and winter games, by compulsory training, on account of half-dny and whole-day parades beiiit; fixed for. statutory half-holi-days. The cilect will be to debar all young men eligible, for military training from participating in the sport with which they aro identified, nnd to increase tho difficulties of clubs and prove detrimental to all sport especially summer pastimes. This is a piece of news upon which, we arc glad to feel, every patriotic citizen will bo thoroughly competent to make his own comment. Our only comment here shall be this description of the condition of Home about a.d. 380, when the Goths were darkening the frontier of the Empire:

"from morning until night they lounged about the forum and the wine-shops, playing dice, and discussing the latest or the next games in the circus. . . . Rising from almost sleepless l»ds in some upper siory in the Sulnira, they would rush to the circus Jlaxinnis at early dawn, and dfscuss the prospects of the fjreens and tho blues (the great circus factions of the fourth century) with a frenzy that bordered on madness. And when at length tho presiding magistrate, dripped the napkin, and the chariots shot along the course, the 350.0D0 spectators could not have boon distracted from the momentous issuo between tho rival factions, even if the Goths had appeared at tho gate of the circus. . .•'. Thcfo were the men l>efore whom prefects of the city trembled, when the corn-ships from Africa were delayed, or (he wine ran short, or the insolence of pome favourite charioteer or gladiator forced the prefects to arrest him". Theso were the men who could no longer lift a Roman shield, and who mutilated themselves to avoid military service wlipii they were not exempted from it. And the vultures saw,- and gathered thickly on the hills." The ■ public will have read with shocked interest the unpleasant sequel to Me. -_Massey's generous withdrawal of his old criticism of Mr. T. E. Taylor. They will have realised perhaps more acutely . than ever when they read the remarks of Me. Poole the lengths to which a section—a very small one wo aro pleased to think—of tho Government following arc prepared to go in an endeavour to injure a political opponent. Hard blows arc often struck in the heat of debate; injustice is sometimes done under the spur of an angry retort; but when a mem021' has voluntarily made the amende. in a generous and manly way, the incident is allowed to end. Not so with this ungenerous preacher of Christian charity. Mouthing ' fine sentiments, how does ho act? Wo j venture to say there was not a rnemI her on cither side of tho Houso who was not shocked and pained at tho ill-tast-3 ard unchaiitabk-ness of Me. Poole's remarks concerning Mr. J Massey's whole-hearted vindication of the late Mr. Taylor. Schoolboys aro in the happy position of boingable to deal with such behaviour in a manner that gives adequate relief to their feelings. Members of Parliament have not the '.■.arne freedom, but we are pleased to note that they did what they could —they received this cruel and unjust attempt to wound Mr. Massey with that cold silence which amongst ir.cn of feeling cuts even deeper than the fiercest outburst of contempt.