NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 275, 14 August 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Figures cabled yesterday indicato tho rapid strides Great Britain is making in hade recovery. The'essential fact brought,.out is that the first six months of this year show a trado balance to the good of 70 millions sterling, and itis estimated that for the full yenr this will be increased to ISO millions. This balance, of coiirse, takes account of shipping earnings and other invisible exports which amounted to 310 millions for the half year, and are expected to total (100 millions or more for the whole year. For tho calendar yoar 1919 Britain had au adverso trade balance of 149 millions, so that an immense improvement is registered in tho figures for the last half-year. Tho expectation of a favourable trade balance of 180 millions this year mny bo more than realised, for British exports are expanding rapidly— tho oabled figures for July show a further considerable.improvement—and soma estimates place the total of invisible exports for the twelve months at 6io in--1 stead of GOO millions. The rapid progress of the British trade recovery is all the more gratifying sine© American exports —as a result of high exchange and other factors—havo shown of late a considerable decline.

It ia high time that Wellington City and the Wairarapa made a demonstration in force for the deviation of tho Rimntakn railway. Ever since this engineering feat, was inflicted on the district in 1878 tho public have not ceased to suffer for it. Three separate lots of locomotives and stalls are. required to work the lino—one on this side of the mountain, a eocond on the mountain, and a third on the Wairarapa side. This means perpetual daily delay and expense. It was conclusively domonstrated in prewar days that the savings to bo effected in the handling of traffic would' more than provide interest and sinking fund on tho cost of deviating the line. The actual pre-war figures are out of date, but the same, or possibly a greater, saving is- likely to bo shown under present day conditions. In addition, it is necessary to remember that the deviation will mean a substantial saving in travelling time to passengers.'. Otaki is 47 miles from Wellington and Feathcrston 45, but Otaki.-can be reached by train in forty minutes less time than Featherston. This daily waste of time 'By travellers is due entirely to the incline, and means a definite loss to the country. The work has cried for attention for twenty years of more, but it will not receive it until it is niado plain to tho Government that the people in the city and the Wairarapa are determined not to be put off with excuses. i' ' * -> * *

The Mayor, cannot be congratulated ou his exposition of the city loan proposals on Thursday evening. As the matter stands the public is.being asked to buy a pig in a poke. Some of the items in the schedule aro undoubtedly very urgent, others less so, and of some both wisdom nnd urgency are in doubt. The total 6iim involved is far larger than has over before been borrowed by a local body in New Zealand at one time. Ttntepnyers in many cases will desire to voto for the urgcnFan'd obviously necessary works and against those which they may be inclined to regard as luxuries. At the City Council meeting Inst week, Mr. Luke resisted a proposal that the items should lie grouped in order olf their urgency. »x----claiming that the council "would not get anywhere" by dividing them on such lines. At present the object seems to be to carry a number of non-essential works by lumping them in with urgent ones. If the ratepayers prove to be in a more cautious mood than is anticipated by the council the proposals in their present form may get a bad reception on poTiing day. The grouping of items may easily lead to an erratic arid ill-balanced choice. Why, for instance, if w» want street improvements in the, centre of tiic city must we be tied also to more or le<s fancy schemes in (lie suburbs? Are nil the grouped tramway items interdependon t? Miich more effective explanation, than has been forthcoming is needed to resolve public doubts on these points. ' ► » «

Tramway rides below cost price to workers ii6Ljg the cars before 7,30 a.m. cannot

be justified if the deficit has to be made up b,y the rest.of the workers. The difference in charges to those who begin work at 8 o'clock and those who et.irt at 8.30 or 9 o'clock lias neither jusiieo nor expediency to recommend it. As the resiilt of the movements in prices and wages the latter classes of workers are both relatively and actually worso off than the- groups for whom the foment of workers' tramway concession tickets is exclusively reserved. The request yesterday to the Minister of Public Works for the rescinding of tho Order-in-Coun-cil necessary for the removal of this injustice admits of little argument, and should be granted without unnecessary delay. » * » »

The public will be glad to have Mr. Massey's assurance, in Parliament yesterday that the increased Post and Telegraph and liailway Department charges are intended lo provide only' for the increased, working costs of theso Departments, following on the higher rates of pay recently granted. From an earlier statement by the Prime Minister it appeared that users .of the railway and postal services were going to be called upon to provide not only 'for increased pay in those Departments, 'but throughout the Public Service. We questioned the expediency of such a step, and are glad to.find that it is not intended. With Mr. Holland's contention that the railways and the Post Office should not be self-supporting l>ut 6poon-fed by direct taxation we have no sympathy, Theso Departments must be run as business undertakings, and not as charitable aid. In the eyes of Mr. Holland, charitable aid may be degrading when the other man offers it willingly, but apparently it is not so when you put your hand in his pocket and take it yourself.

With Ulster, or at least a section of it, offering to accept Dominion Home Rule and the rest of Ireland scorning it, wo have travelled a long way from the Irish situation of I'JH. This latest development in the North, however, is far from warranting this statement of the London "Evening News" that "for the first time in history Irishmen are agreed regarding the form of Government desired." Sinn Fein's demand is for a'republic, and Dominion Home Kule is certainlv not that. The cable message this morning is the most encouraging piece of news that has come from Ireland for a long time. It is not possible in the absence of details to know whether the new attitude of Ulster is really as representative as the London "Evening News"; correspondent affirms. Sinn Fein is not gaining much from its campaign of violence. Johh Bull stolidly refuses to be intimidated,'and abroad Do Valcra's canvass of the American party conventions has produced only a mild* non-committal plank in the Democratic platform, and nothing at all in the Ttepublicnn one. The slow progress of I the Home Rulo Bill in tho House of Commons probably means that the Government has not much faith in it. If Ulster really is prepared to mako the great sacrifice reported—andasinglo Parliament means a very real concession for the Ulstermen—perhaps then tho turning point in Ireland may have been reached. But optimism in Irish affairs is seldom 'justified.