NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1492, 15 July 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

•, The Prime Minister's oft-repeat-ed declaration that this country needs "settlement and more settlement" above most things is evidently going to be given a practical applicatiou without much delay. Nobody, excepting perhaps those of his critics who by constantly shouting out, that Mn. .Massey is on the side of the large land-owners have persuaded themselves that he really is, will be much surprised to learn that the new Government has already given orders for tho inspection of several large estates with a view to purchase for closer settlement. Already they have decided to acquirj one suitable estate of 8000 apres. Although the great bulk of the public know that the Eeform Government has no intention of carrying out.anything but a sound progressive policy, there is doubtless a small 'section who have believed that Mr. Massey and his colleagues would re-, peal every progressive measure. These people will soon realise how absurdly they have been misled by the party now.; in" Opposition, and the awakening will bo good for' them. The large land-owners havo been constantly represented as desirous of blocking settlement and further increasing their holdings where possible. In point of fact there are many holders of large areas who would be very glad to sell the whole or the greater part of their estates. Tho attacks made upon them as a class were inspired by the Ward Government's growing inability—so badly had it muddled the financing of the country—to push on with the policy of land settlement. Mb. Massey has mad,e a good beginning, and it is safe to predict that his Government will do far more to promote settlement than was ever attempted by the Ward and Mackenzie Administrations.

We are afraid that lon'g habitation to the dominance of political "bosses" has led l a good many Civil Servants to take a wrong conception of their relation to Ministers and ex-Ministers. Not otherwise can we account for tho strange little incident arranged by somebody in'the Internal Affairs Department. A majority of the officers of ; the Department who responded to tho invitation (or command) to attend and make a demonstration in honour of the member lor Avon (who happened to be tho Minister for a few weeks) did not realise that they were doing a very questionable thing. It could hardly have been wof-se if they had substituted for their function a demonstration of welcome to the Hon. H. D. Bell. This is, of course, not the first occasion since February last upon which' Departmental officials have been guilty of such a lapse. The chief officials know, or ought to know, that they should make no contact with a Minister save in an official way; but the others' . perhaps erred in ignorance of the impropriety of treating a Minister as a qnasiemploycr. When a Departmental head retires,' it is fitting and in every way proper that those under his charge should be permitted togive him a good send-off; but a Minister, if he is faithful to his ofuce, will never permit himself to appear as the employer or guide of the officials in'his Department. Similarly no official, if he is faithful to his duty, will ever allow himself to become, or ever consider himself a beneficiary of tho politician to whom the Departmental head is responsible. In the case of the member for Avon, tho demonstration was absurd and unwarranted from any point of view: we cannot even allow that sympathy with him in his enforced retirement is a valid excuse. A cable message told us the other day that thousands of public servants in the United States were begging Mr.. Taft to avoid a Republican split, fa order that they might not find themselves replaced by Democratic bil-let-hunters. This deplorable spirit has to some extent invaded the Civil Service of this country. In the awakened condition of public opinion, Civil Servants will see, we hope, that they must keep clear of politics and partisanship, or even the appearance of it, in any shape or form.

In the course of an interview in Christchiirch Mn. H. G. Eμ,, M.T., made Borne hostile references to the announcement - that, the Government willnot undertake tariff revision this session. This was- unwise of Mn Ell. In the first place nobody in UJfew, Zsajajid wi:..exHfict£d..tha'fc in

a short session the new Government, or even the old Government could ?ive us impromptu tariff revision n any case, to whom is'it dun that the tariff requires revision ? Why, to the party with which Mn. Ell has been associated—the party that luis constantly claimed that it had provided a quite unburdensome tariff. Let. Mn. Ell wait and sec. Unfortunately for himself he did not wait, but went on to say that "it has always been the policy of the Conservatives to maintain a strong Customs revenue." In referring to the Reform party_ as "Conservatives," Mr.. Ell is making a very foolish mistake. But it is ludicrous to suggest that a high tariff is essentially a piece of Conservative policy. The countries with the highest tariffs ' enjoy—or endure—those tariffs as the product of Radical and so-called Liberal Governments. The strongest Free-trade organ in England—perhaps the most able Freetrado organ in the whole world—is a journal which Mil. Eli, would consider a hopelessly "Tory" publication. We refer to the London Spectator. Mif. Ell had much better have kept to the theory of slottelephones and posted fish.