NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 151, 20 March 1924, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

However greatly the Empire Exhibition management may have failed in advertising the exhibition in foreign countries there certainly has been no lack of publicity for it throughout the Empire. Here in New Zealand especially it has been kept constantly under notice of the public. So much so that the passenger bookings from this Dominion for London during the current year should establish a record. It would be very interesting to know exactly what this exodus is going to mean to New Zealand in hard cash. Several thousand New Zealanders are certain to journey to England, and averaging their expenditure at tho moderate figure of £5OO per head the total should run into millions- No doubt we shall be recouped for most of this by the educational benefits of the exhibition, and also through tho advantages which come from travel and tho interchange of ideas.

It may be hoped that the motion of which the Mayor, Mr. R. A. Wright, has given notice, deciding to call for applications overseas for the position of city engineer will be carried by the City Council. This matter is one of the greatest importance to the future administration and development of the city. The very best man available should be secured, and in this respect it is questionable whether the salary proposed to be paid is adequate. It might be preferable to leave the question of salary open for the time being, applicants for the position being invited to state the amount they would, bo prepared to accept. Tho Committee of Investigation which lias been inquiring into matters connected with the administration of the various municipal departments is understood to have prepared a number of recommendations relating to tho duties of the city engineer, and these, if approved by the council, should come in useful in preparing a specification of what will be expected from applicants. There is no doubt that there is room for improvement in tho redistribution of authority in connection with departmental control, and the latest report of the Committee of Investigation will be awaited with a good deal of interest.

Those who follow international sporting events, and moie especially lawn tennis enthusiasts, will be interested to note the position drawn by New Zealand in the Davis Cup contest for 1924. This is the first occasion on which New Zealand has participated in this worldfamous contest as an independent nation. A New Zealander, the late Mr. A. Wilding, with Mr. N. E. Brookes, of Australia, was responsible for the Cup first coming into the Pacific. Tn those days, and for many years following, Australia and New Zealand were grouped for the. purposes of Davis Cup contests, as one nation. No athletic contest can compare with this lawn tennis fixture in the wide range of international interest/it excites. The New Zealand team, for instance, in its first venture, has been drawn to play against the representatives of Czecho-Slovakia. Other entrants include Rumania, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, India, Argentina, Italy, South Africa, Japan, China, Cuba, Mexico, Franco, Belgium, Canada, Australia, and, of course, Britain and the present holder of the Davis Cup, America. It is a tribute to the world-wide popularity of the game that lawn tennis can draw together a field of contestants from so many different nationalities, each eager to meet and prove their supremacy with racket and ball.

In spite of the fact that the Australian miners lost hfigo sums in unearned wages' on account of strikes last year, they vieie able to contribute £7644 os. lOd. of the total sum of £8991 19s. lOd. forwarded through the New Zealand Miners’ Federation for tho relief of strikers’ dependants during the recent four months’ tie-up on the West Coast. Of the balance, the New Zealand Alliance of Labour raised £1255 Ils., members of various unions raised £67 7s. 4d., while individual subscribers sent forward £l4. These figures are taken from a balancesheet prepared for the Miners’ Federation. They tell a story. It jg common knowledge, based on information from official sources, that as a result of heavy coal importations prior to and during the trouble on the West Coast, the general industrial activity of the Dominion was practically unaffected by the strike. All the trade unions except the miners and one or two side-line activities directly connected with coal production and transhipment were able to carry on at full pressure. No wages were lost. Here, then, was a situation highly favourable to ample financial support by other trade, unions of a strike which, according to the arguments of tho miners’ loaders, was being fought to a finish in a just cause. Yet tho New Zealand response represented only one-seventh of tho total. Either these other trade unions were unconvinced of the merits of the strike or they were callously indifferent to the fate of their fellow-workers. Past experience has shown that the New Zealand worker is generously-minded when a good case has been made out for a share of his philanthropy. The moral of the Wanee-shoet is obvious.