NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 269, 7 August 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

It is worth noting that the "Maoriland Worker" of August i still bears on its ..title page the words "Official Organ of the United Federation of Labour and N.Z. Labour Party." As wo havo not heard that the editor has been dismissed or tho issue recalled, tlieso organisations therefore identify themselves with the views put forward in the leading article and the editorial "Words, in Season" on page 2. A correspondent in a letter elsewhere directs attention to the concluding sentences of a paragraph in the latter section, which r|n as follow; If Ireland succeeds in achieving her independence it means the breakup of the Empire. That will be a blessing to the world and an inspiration to the cause of Labour. To preservo the British commonwealth of nations fifteen thousand of New Zealand's sons lie dead, and eighty-five thousand, more risked their lives. Now we arc told that the Empire's destruction would bo an inspiration to Official Labour in New Zealand. The Hun war lords themselves could have said no more,. In the same paragraph it is asserted that majority rule by tho ballot box is "rotten. in principle and practice." In the adjoining leading article, in large type, it is stated; In British communities it is idle to hope for a revolution after the Russian method. . . . While, therefore, we favour, revolutionary prinei-" pies, wo recognise that methods in such a country as Maoriland must be a compromise between reformist and revolutionary. . If all this means anything, it means that the organisations named above, which control the "Maoriland- Worker," arc prepared in principle to use methods of terrorism and outrase to impose their will on tho people of New Zealand. At tlio moment they do not think tliey could win by such means, and their use is therefore not immediately expedient. What tho majority of the people of the Dominion desires is a matter of no concern to these gentry. Majority ralo is "rotteu in principle and practice." It is well that the public should be aware that this sort of poisonous stuff is being openly printed and circulated.

■ The annual report of the Municipal Milk Department is a reminder that tho success which lias attended the scheme has been largely due to a vast amount of unpaid voluntary work by the City Council Milk Committee. Of late the bulk of it has fallen on th'e shoulders of the acting-chairman of tho committee, Councillor Bennett. . Tho scheme is not yet through its teething troubles, but it is: providing a pure and clean supply of an essential article of food at a reasonable cost. The work of Councillor Bennett and his colleagues is not of the showy order, and as a rule the only occasions on whiehi it comes into public notice are when somebody wants to grunvble.. Tho . thanks of the community are due to them for the painstaking zeal with which they liavo watched over the welfare of the enterprise.

Witbl favourable weather conditions Australia has .every promise of a bountiful wheat crop. Eleven and a half raillion acres have been sown—an area equal to about half the North Island. The record wheat production was reached in the 1915-1G season, 'when 12J million acres produced 17!) million bushels. This has since fallen materially, but unless the season is unfavourable the coming harvest may bo expected to yield about 150 million bushels. Tlie Commonwealth Government and the States have guaranteed tho farmers a certain price, and on them will fall the task of providing shipping for the surplus for export. The shipping difficulty may bo acute this season on account of the strained relations between th'n Commonwealth Government and the shipping companies.' Tho com. panies resent tho intrusion of tho Government into the shipping business and are doing their best to make the Stateowned steamers unprofitable. In conse.quenco of tho companies' pressure on shippers in Britain two State steamers left London recently with only a dozen tons of cargo between them. Now it is threatened that the companies will refuse to carry tho wheat, which will be far in excess of the State fleet's capacity. Sucha step, however, if seriously contemplated, will deprive the people of Britain of food, and it has to bo demonstrated that even the shipping. combine is powerful enough to fight <both tho people of Australia and Britain combined.

• John Bull to-day is not of the opinion of tho old lady who told her pastor that 6he "found great support in that comfortable word 'Mesopotamia'." Whiat the British public is finding is that tho Mesopotamian mandate, with the Persian expenditure added, is likely to run into about je50,000,000 annually—or rather more than the entire Navy cost per annum in pre-war days. Tho population of Mesopotamia does not exceed 2J millions, but it is a turbulent little handful, as tho cable news indicates. "Tho Times" has complained that the Government has taken over tho mandate without consulting Parliament, and one of our lato Govomors, Lord Islington, has been asking pointed questions as to whether the country can afford to take up this burden. General Gough, in making his protest, points out that the 'Empire, with its obligations in Palestine and Mesopotamia, now . has a land frontier stretching from Singapore to Cairo, a distance of 4000 miles. All other nations are to havo equal claims on the Mesopotamian oil-fields, but tho British Government is to keep order and foot tho bill. It is argued, and with some show of reason, that all real British interests can bo effectually protected by asserting our naval supremacy in tho Persian Gulf and occupying only the Euphrates delta.

A sum of J25273 has been spent by tho Australian Government in attempting to control tho laws of the Universe—or, in other words, to induce rain to fall by artificial means. Tho Melbourne "Age" contends lhat tho money might havo been devoted with equal profit to experiments for making the sun to shine by night. Rain-making magic is etill profitable to Indian magicians. In other countries it was onco believed that a sure way to niako rain fall was to bombard tho heavens with cannon. Tho Transvaal Legislature, in* tho days of "Ooni Paul," forbade an experiment of this kind on the ground that tho gunfiring would anuoy the Doily. Mr. Balsillie, the Commonwealth experimenter, lias linked his magic op with the wonders of wireless. Ho claims that he has "stimulated" rainfall. It is unkindly declared, however, that if tho records are examined, it. will bo found that whenever Mr. HuMllio has claimed to have increased tho luinfull lliero luus Ix'en a similar increase in other districts where no wireless rain-making plant was working. 'J'he job is possibly a little too big for a five-thousand-pound vote.