NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 247, 13 July 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

Wanganui to-day will enjoy the distinction of being the first community in New Zealand to see the famous South African “Springboks’’ in action. It is unfortunate that the visitors could not have had a day or two in which to get over their travelling before playing their first match, but in spite of tho handicap under which they will enter on their initial venture on Dominion soil they should have no great difficulty in accounting for tho local team. While tho Springboks succeeded in winning all five of their matches in Australia they have not yet demonstrated that they are quite the formidable combination foreshadowed by advance reports. That they are a powerful team is beyond! question, and no doubt as their four progresses they will improve in their combination and team work, nnd give our own “All Blacks'' a great battle for supremacy in the Rugby game. In the past New Zealand has more than held its own in this branch of athletic sport, but picked South African teams in recent years have shown, that they are very little inferior to our own best. It may be hoped that the visitors will strike their best form and show us .something of the great football they are said to ba capable of. They can rest assured that both on nnd off tho field during their tour of the Dominion they will find themselves heartily welcome amongst us.

It will be recognised that the ActingMinister of Finance has gone to some pains to make it clear that even with a surplus of .£6,000,000 nt March 31 last financing those days is a difficult matter for the Government as well as for tho business man and the private citizen. The point, however, which is of moat concern at the moment, and which is well stressed by Sir Francis Bell, is that the chief difficulty now being experienced is to provide the money for capital expenditure. . Ways and means nre available for carrying on the ordinary services of the country and for meeting its commitments and engagements. A good part of the surplus of last year has already gone in this direction, and still more will be required to supplement a revenue which for some time seems likely to fall short of a heavily increased departmental, pensions, and interest charge expenditure. It is plain enough that though the country will be able to meet all its engagements during the current year, without serious difficulty, its finances will require very careful handling if trouble is to be avoided next year. It would be unsafe to-day to lock up revenue in capital expenditure even if the money were available. The plain fact is that the Government, like most other people, has got to economise, and in cur opinion, instead of being blamed for the mild display of caution it is showing, it should be blained for rot proceeding more vigorously with its efforts to curtail ’ all but the most essential expenditure.

Court-martial procedure has been under review in America and Australia stnee the war, and the report of the Royal Commissioner in the ThompsonHotop case raises doubt whether our own system is as efficient as it should be. Jn tho military forces we have a medical system, a dental system, and a veterinary system in each of which professional men are employed at the special work lor which they have been frainetl'. In. the judicial system it is otherwise. Justice in our Expeditionary Force was administered in the main by amateurs. A board set up by the United States Government to review ihe eourf.-mart.ial proceedings in the American Army during Hie war said in its report:— The present system of military Justice lias practised injustice in over 90 per cent, of the eases submitted to the board, and the sentences imposed are over 400 per eent. higher than they should have been. It is not suggested that an independent inquiry would reach the same conclusion on an investigation of the New Zealand court-martial records. It is. suggested, however, that casea of injustice, such as is now found to have occurred in the case of Private H. ll.’ Thompson, would be much less likely to happen if expert qualifications were raquired of members of courts-martial as is insisted on in the case, for instance, of members of medical boards. Tf is to be remembered that this miscarriage of justice occurred not in a. rough-and-rendy proceeding on active service in the face of the enemy, but after a hearing conducted at leisure in New Zealand. That is to Bay, the present system is found by the Royal Commissioner to hare resulted in injustice when working under the most favourable conditions. Its failure moreover was on one of the elementary principles of British justice —that the prosecution shall prove the accused person guilty. The Thompson court-martial called upon the accused man to prove himself innocent. The Commission finds that he did so prove his Innocence, but notwithstanding had to servo a sentence of detenfion.

Mr. M'Ewan has had n long term of office os Mayor of Petone, and may be expected to know more than most people about borough council procedure. At the same time it is extremely difficult to understand his ruling at Monday’s meeting of the Petone Council. The minutes of the hist meeting have been read, and on the motion to confirm them a councillor states that reference to a point of order raised has been omitted. Tho Mayor replies I hot the clerk has no record in his notes of such n point of order, and (lint, there was no reference in the newspaper reports. He therefore refuses to consider amendment of the minutes, puts the motion for their confirmation, and tho council refuses to pass it. Under these circumstances it is hard to see what is the object in presenting the minutes of the previous meeting for confirmation. Ac-

cording to Mr. M'Ewan, Hie memory of a majority of the councillors as to what transpired is no evidence at all. The correctness or otherwise of the minutes is to lie tested only by—(l) Their agreement with the clerk’s rough notes, and (2) what appeared in the newspaper reports. This tribute to the accuracy of tho Press reports is flattering, but unfortunately the newspapers do not report tho proceedings of the Petone Borough Council in extenso. It is not unnatural that Councillor Bedingfield should desire a legal opinion on tho Mayor's ruling. It is fortunate that such deadlocks between Mayor and council as are occurring at Petone have been rare in New Zealand municipal politics, for there seem io be no means by which they can bo readily ended.

Facts and figures are frequently adduced to show that an American workman does more work in a day than a Britisher or an Australian—or, bo it added, a New Zealander. Tie hews more coal, he handles ship cargoes more rapidly, ho builds houses quicker, his factory output is greater. Ifo is keen for more wages, but. somehow ho does not regard less work as an even more important item in his programme. What is the cause of this difference? An observant Englishman, Mr. St. John Ervinc, says the same difference is noticeable in tho employers and managers as in the men. Tho American business man likes pleasure, but he is not obsessed by golf. He is not everlastingly wondering how he can contrive to spend his week-ends so that they last from Friday till Tuesday instead of Saturday to Monday, like too many of his English compeers. Mr. Ervino thinks tho difference is because America is still to a very large extent an unexploited country. A skilled workman cannot only count on getting constant employment at a high wage, but he may reasonably estimate that he may climb to tho control of the business. Many of the presidents of the colossal American hotels began as bell boys or in some such menial duty. Every bell toy knows ho has a similar chance. Tho marshal's baton is really in the soldier’s knapsack. In England such chances become rarer and rarer. New Zealand is a comparatively unexploited country. It docs not offer the immense possibilities of America, but it offers many possibilities. Yet somehow the spirit of our industry too often lacks the enterprise that sustains America’s. The cause needs probing for.