NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 54, 27 November 1929, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

“More favourable conditions for good general rain was the welcome prediction of the Dominion Meteorologist yesterday. Wellington was able to rejoice in the correctness of the forecast, the warm, steady rain bringing benefits to both rural pastures and urban gardens. In the country especially the fall will do an immense amount of good. The spring has been cold and the rainfall not up to the average. On most farms the pastures, which usually are approaching the flush in late November, are backward. \esterdays fall, especially if it is continued, should greatly assist the farmer.

Those workers who imagine that a Labour Government would ensure work for all and security in employment should note what has happened in Australia. In Sydney a number of Postal officers, some with 20 years’ service, have received notice. It just goes to show that Labour, no more than any other political party, possesses any horn of plenty. The necessities of finance press just as hardly on the Socialist as the Conservative. Both have to pay their bills if they are to maintain their credit. In New Zealand, ■. financial stringency has not yet forced us to reduce the Public Service establishment, and it is most earnestly hoped that no such necessity will arise. But if it did, a Labour Government could not avoid the issue any more than any other Administration. That is proved by the dismissals from the Commonwealth Public Service under Mr. Scullins Ministry.

According to a message from Auckland, the Parliamentary Committee appointed to hear evidence and report upon the reform of the present education system is to conduct its proceedings in camera. This is altogether wrong. The public, no less than the various educational bodies, has a right, undisputed for years, to express its opinion on education and other matters. In an inquirj’ of this kind, it will demand information, and can hardly be denied. Furthermore, the various educational bodies are entitled to know the nature of the evidence each is submitting, in order that opinions may be sifted and the truth finally, emerge. ; Education is essentially a social service, which touches the life of communities at every point. From that point of view co-operation between the laity and the professional teacher is eminently desirable. In any case, so far as educational reform is concerned, it must always be a question of “Light, more Light.” * ♦ * *

Since by common consent the pen is mightier than the sword, it is but the natural sequence of events that there should be a Press Conference at Geneva, where the laying aside of the sword has resulted in an intellectual appeal to the nations. One of the resolutions of the 1927 Press Congress was that “international understanding* and promotion of peace can best be encouraged by the widest possible dissemination of views. What one would really have preferred would have been a resolution quite frankly demanding that the truth should be the future objective of international intercourse. The most sacred thing in the world of thought, speech, and action to-day is the “fact.” Unless we know the facts of a case we cannot safely pronounce judgment upon it. Hence the desirableness of finding a vantage point from which each particular set of circumstances surrounding an important element in the affairs of a nation can be ascertained and evaluated. Only thus will it be possible for the citizens of the various countries to think clearly.

Weight is given the movement for the encouragement and development of trade within the Empire by a declaration in its favour by Mr. Stanley Baldwin. The Conservative Party leader does not go as far as Lord Beaverbrook, who has been free-lancing in favour of Empire free trade. The latter is more an ideal than a practical political possibility. ‘ As the Observer explains, Mr. Baldwin pledges his party to work for freer trade. There can be rio doubt that the Empire has much to gain by a progressive lowering of the tariff barriers its units have raised against each other. The recent growth of business between Canada and Australia and Canada and New Zealand is one illustration of what can be effected by a reasonable trade bargain. It is regrettable that Australia and New Zealand cannot get on a better business footing with each other. But there is hope in the adoption of the cause by the Conservative Party that inter-imperial trade will receive a real impetus. The investigation of the possibilities is to be “thorough and systematic - ’ and will “take full account of modern conditions.’’ With such powerful backing a practical policy should not be long in shaping.