NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1544, 13 September 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The more reasonable of the Opposition newspapers seem to have made up their minds that the Reform Government has come_ to stay and tha't factious opposition is a waste of time. There is, of course, plenty of room for criticism, unci for honest hostility on occasion—we shall occupy some of that room ourselves when necessary. But some of our Opposition friends have not become reconciled to the new situation. One of them, the Christchurch organ of the anti-Refonncrs. has not discovered that its arsenal ia empty. Avoiding political criticism as far as it can, its old instinct nevertheless revives . now - and then ( and if is really pathetic to notice the small shot that it has to make do. A. day or two ago it tried to convince itself that it is dreadfully funny that Mb. Herdman, Rafter having twitted Sir Joseph Ward with asking people what they wanted and then giving it to them; should ■welcome any useful suggestions as to the details of his Public Service Bill. The humour is invisible to us. The Ward Government got out of the way of having any principles, and was at all times ready to sail North''or South, or Nprth-by-South as seemed most profitable. The Reform Government has decided on a very definite course, but it is ready to listen to anyone who can say something useful about the details. But of course there is no need to stress a point so clear. What is worth emphasising, however, is the significance of our Christchurch contemporary's descent into such weak and petty criticism. It indicates fairly well the unhappy plight of the Opposition, who find it hard work to discover anything of importance to object to.

The Mayor of Wellington would seem to have hit on a "long felt want" in his proposal to establish a permanent fund for the relief of a certain class of cases of distress in place of the present haphazard method af appealing to the public for assistance , in individual cases. A good many people are deterred from responding to appeals made for assistance for families, who, as the result of accident'or some sudden misfortune, are left.in straitened circumstances, because it very often happens that there is.no authoritativeevidence that the cases are such as warrant a call on the public. Others are chary of giving because there is no guarantee that the money contributed will be used to good, or at any rate to the best, advantage, The Mayor's propfcal is to overcome these objections, and also .to endeavour to establish a fund to meet emergency cases, and to ensure as far as possible a distribution of such money as may be available equitably. It occasionally happens that an appeal is made and pressed vigorously, with ! the result that a substantial Bum is raised for the beneficiary; while in another case, still more urgently requiring help, the response, owing to the less effective manner in which the appeal is presented, is very small. Mr.M'Laren apparently has in view the idea that if a standing committee or a board of trustees were to be appointed, to whom all such cases could be referred, there would be a better chance than exists under present methods of stimulating public generosity and of seeing that the contributions made went into the right channels. No doubt there will always be occasions on which those of the public who respond to calls for assistance in special cases will want their contributions ear-marked in order that the money shall go to a particular individual or family. Moreover, a general appeal for an established fund does not, as, a rule, appeal to the sympathies of the public so readily as an appeal for a family or an individual in. distress. But there is no reason why the two should not be worked together and the general fund supplemented, as suggested by the Mayor, by means of entertainments and public collections. ' It would of course be necessary, should Mr. M'Laeen's idea find favour, to make clear the class of cases that the "fund is designed to assist, and to restrict disbursements from it to those cases.; It is not intended to make the fund one for general charitable purposes, but for the assistance of persons who have met with misfortune under unusual circumstances, and who are urgently in need of help to tido them over their trouble. The Mayor's proposal is one well worth discussing.

The rejection of the Legislature Amendment Bill introduced by the member for Wellington South was obviously due less to tho clauses reciuiring returns of all expenditure in connection with election contests than to the clause requiring editorials to be signed. What astonishes us is that politicians who call themselves Liberals can leave so entirely out of account in this matter the practice in Great Britain. No politician who is not blinded by prejudice will refuse to admit that Britain is a bettor guide-to follow where politics and journalism are concerned, than Australia. In Britain tho leading statesmen and journalists re.cognise that the freedom of unsigned criticism is essential to the virtue of journalism: it is only the other day that Lord Moiilgy let us see his surprise at tho. Australian Act. But Mn. HiNDMAitsH, by a quaint incident, exposed very clearly .the hypocrisy of the argument that no man should bo ashamed to sign his articles. He mentioned that the English Tories had done their best to oppose the abolition of open voting, their argument being much of the same sort as the argument against unsigned editorials. We cannot guess what point he intended to make, because lie was taken aback .by somebody's pertinent interjection that what the Tories opposed was anonvraous voting. Tho. analogy is close upon this point. It is not the nrnst vital point in thn case, but it will help to an understanding of ths fact that those who think with.Mn. Hindmarsh are really in tune with the Tory tyranny lie referred to, and no friends of frun opinion at all.