NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 144, 14 March 1931, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Wellington has been assured often enough by those who ought to know that the city has acquired something good in the equestrian statue by Mr. Richard O. Grose which surmounts the war memorial. The latest laudatory notice, published yesterday, appeared in the French art journal, La Revue Moderne. These overseas critics, however, have an advantage over us in that they have been able to appraise the sculptor’s work at close quarters. Few Wellingtonians, on the other hand, saw the statue before it was hoisted up on to its present eminence. As it stands on its tall column, it can be seen to advantage from only one or two angles and even then at a distance. It would have been better if the statue had been placed on a pedestal not more thap, say, 15ft. high, with the column as a background if it were retained as part of the memorial. As it is the statue. has. been, like many pictures used to be, hung too high. * * * *

Literary merry-makers and cartoonists have not infrequently used the “J.P.” as the butt of their witticisms. If it is any solace to the members of the Commission of the Peace, they may reflect that most of our national institutions have been trifled with in the same harmless fashion. Quietly and unostentatiously the justice of the peace renders very good service to the .community. His position in the community, as the Mayor remarked at the annual dinner of the Honorary Justices’ Association on Wednesday evening, “is both of an honorary and an honourable nature. You cannot demand respect, but you can command it by the manner in which you hold the office.” It is altogether to the good conduct of their office, therefore, that they should, as in New Zealand, forgather at regular intervals for discussion of their work and the improvement of their status. Where individual weaknesses occur, the blame is rather upon the political authority responsible for their appointment. * * * *

Commander Kenworthy -showed that he was abreast of the latest discoveries when he informed the House of Commons that there were no scientific difficulties to prevent obtaining all the oil fuel needed for the Royal Navy from coal. His motion expressing the desirability, for strategic and economic reasons, of making the Navy independent of a fuel having to be drawn largely from foreign and distant sources needed no arguing and was promptly accepted by the British Government. A new process called hydrogenation makes the adoption of his suggestion quite practicable as is plain from the statement of no'less an authority than Mr. W. C. Teagle, president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, who says: “Through hydrogenation it now is shown to be practicable to convert coal into liquid hydro-carbons at a cost which, although above prevailing oil prices, is not prohibitive. Thus the coal reserves of. the world become supplemental to the crude oil reserves.” The process is of immense interest to the British Empire which is not well endowed with oil fields but rich in coal deposits.

Since the Prime Minister’s announcement of the proposed salary reductions in the Public Service, a good deal of discussion has arisen as to whether the cut could not be graduated. Mr. Ransom s statement on the subject, as published yesterday, is therefore instructive because it shows that graduation on the basis he uses would not give the saving required. In fact such a scheme would fal short of the saving from a universal 10-per cent, cut by £652,000. Those who advocate graduation should state how they propose to make good so large a sum. Some will argue that at any rate salaries of £2OO and under should not be reduced but, apart from providing otherwise for £140,000, would it not be better to discover first who are included in this grade? It may comprise chiefly girls and youths who have only themselves to provide for, and parents and homes behind them, while many in the class £2Ol to £350 may have family responsibilities. These and other considerations show how hard it will be to reconcile individual cases once the principle is abandoned of making the cut universal. The thing to do should be to try to reduce the cost of living by at least an equivalent amount, so that real wages, as distinguished from money wages, will not suffer diminution..