TOPICS OF THE DAY,

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 46, 24 February 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY,

The contraction in tho fixed deposits of thb banks during the past Monty six months has impelled these Tight, institutions to take action in order to attract the investor their way. Hence tho decision, arrived ' at on Saturday last, to increase the rate of interest on deposits for, twelve and twenty-foyr months to 3£ and 4 per cent, respectively. This surplus capital of ! lao pcopb is now -being actively competed for" by three great egeiicies — the Government, through U;e medium of the Post Oflice Savings Batik; the five banks ; the various building and cooperative societies. What Paul reaps by a higher return on his savings will havo to como out of Peter's pocket. With harder ratc3 prevailing for accommodation will como a further curtailment; in tho volume of speculation in land. Measured by the Post Office Savings Bank returns people in the Dominion appear to bo able to accumulate money at a satisfactory rate, last year's deposits showing an excess oi' one and a quarter millions over tho withdrawals. Some small proportion of this may, however, represent a diversion fromthe coffers of tho banks— I that is, deposits which upon maturity | liavo nofc been rcnawed, but used to j purchase Government debentures or placed in the Savings Bank instead. Tho banking leturns for last year reveal a decrease of £191,966 under the heading of interest-bearing deposits, as compared with the prtvions year. Ihis would indicate that the competition of the Post Office with tho, banks may not bo Iho formidable thing it is alleged tr> be. The leal cad-o for the tightness of money i 3 not unlikely the growth \i\ v<iluo of imports. These have increased I during the last twelve months by al-. I most two and a quarter millions, and' tha advances, made by the banks in the same period have grown by nearly an equal amount. The- Premier's financial vagaries aro very hard to follow. On t Eotorua Baths, tho larger matters he £30,000. has shown a prudenco and a lirmness which have agreeably surpris?d the prophets ol evil, but by way of compensation he hi dulge& in minor aberrations which, small as they may be ijidividaallj, must represent in tho aggregate a very handsome sum To say nothing of the charging tho cost of the new baths at Kotorua to the Public Works Fund, what possible justification is thero for spending as much' as £30,0C0 on the buildings ? The Premier has ths grace to anticipate that "somo people on sefchijj this amount, at onc6 will come to the conclusion that there has been extravagance," but ho urges, in his speech at the Rotorua Carnival, tint "if Rotorua was to become the Mecca of New Zealand, and if ths Tourist Department was not to mislead visitors, tho expenditure wns necessary." If Rotorua is to become the Mecyi of New Zealand it will be by virtue oi its waters and its other natural wonders, and .we are quitu unable to sea that thuir attractiveness is going to be proportionately increased by tho reckless expenditure which the Picniier has incurred. As to the £6000 received by !ke dupaitmeut la^fc jear for baths &!ont- ( we wioulil like to know the amount tj bo set oft' for cost of management, and the additional amount to bo debited to this score in the future. Next time Sir Joseph Ward faces a deputation Jrom hearfc-brokon backblockers praying for such a bed-rock necessary of existence as a xoad that is not a quicksand, will Ec tell them that he- May let them bive a few shillings next yearif the provision of nsw luxuries at Rotorua does not require another £30,000? A3 the young cock ciows, the old one learns, says the reversed The Colonial proveib. After all these Example. years we have leaned on British legislation, the tir.o has come for British legislators to 'can on us. Mr. Herbert Gladstone, as

Home Secretary, has introduced to tho House of Commons a Sweated Industries Bill based on the, industrial methods of the State of Victoria, which are not esBentinlly dissimilar from out own. The object of the measure is to improve the condition of underpaid' workers, but the Government \vill_aot commit itself to the principle of a- compulsory minimum ■wage. It cannot indeed, unless gradually ; the field is too vast. All very well in a small and piosperoiuj country, with a limited supply of labour, to fix' a minimum. Even there it has disadvantages ; for the least •skilful lose employment because- they cannot earn tho minimum, and the most skilful lose payment because the' wagerate is fixed at the average earning. So we find even trades unions beginning to consider the principle of grading and classifying workers; and it is possible presently that we shall bo d«aling with minimum wages, in the plural. Kevertheless, the settlement of an arbitrary industrial levql is enforced upon any community with claims to .civilisation*; and we are glad to see Britain beginning tho good work. Her difficulties are tremendous. If the present rate for making a pair of trousers is sd, and the minimum is fixed at 7d, for example, the first result will be that possibiy 100,000 women in London will gut neither the 7d nor the sd. The. pinch will be severe. And tho second result will be that a horde of workers -will bo attracted from other trades and other count: ies to the trade and the country where wages are raised YSe succeed with tho minimum principle because labour demand keeps ahead of J supply. In Britain supply is in excess of demand; and our industrial devices will not operate without a involution in the mdustrialsystem. The argument returns to the eld conclusion: that Britain cannot be cured by palliatives. The idle land must be tilled ; the surplus wealth must be taxed ; and the indigent foreigner must be excluded. n The flattering reception which the American Governirient has Of Happy given to the invitation of Augury, tho Commonwealth 13 of > happy augury to the representatives of the Anglo-Saxon stock pn both sides of ths Pacific, and on both sides of the Atlantic also. Whether or not Admiral Evans's fleet will be able to visit Australia must depend on other considerations than the goodwill prevailing , botwesri the two countries. But it is already clear that Washington is at one with Melbourne as to the excellence of the present relations, and in the desire to make them closer and better. The immediate occasion of Admiral Evans's voyage, which is, of course, the, friction between his country and Japan, would make its extension to Australasia peculiarly appropriate and auspicious. Japan is Britain's ally, but America's possible antagonist, and both the senti- > nient and ths interests! of theso colonies run far more to antagonism than to alliance. Tho colonies would be thankful to see the United States take Japan's place as the ally of tha British Empire, and their iraternisation with tho American fleet would administer a wholesome tonic to thi British statesmanship which ,is so dazed by the glories of the Rising Sun that it can hardly see ths colonies. In Wellington or Melbourne Admiral Evans would therefore be as welcome .a guest as Lord Roberts himself just now. British Columbia has not the iree hand of the United States : s-he Still the is tethered by the British Japanese, treaty with Japan. So she ' is likely to remain, not British, but .Asiatic Columbia, as some of her own distrusted politicians call her. It is a pity, for she is peihaps the province of all Canada that is richest' in natural resources ;' and we their profit to the yellow man. What is in Sir Wilfrid .Laurier's mind wo" cannot say. AH along he has been the obstacle to Columbian legislation against aliens : that is to say that all along, in our opinion, he has been the cueiny of his country. Act after Act the Columbian legislature has passed to prevent 'the influx of Asiatics, and Act after Act has been disallowed. The last is a copy of the Natal Act— embodying the language test applied in the > Commonwealth and in a limited way in Now Zealand The Canadian Supreme Court has been invoked, and is expected to declare the Columbian copy unconstitutional : if otherwise, then according .to our cables the GovernorGeneral will be asked to advise disallowance of the Act as conflicting with the Japanese treaty. Columbia ftiay bo supposed to find the price of empire too heavy; aud indeed there is no reason why such a price should be paid. A British alliance with Japan is quite compatible with the exclusion of Japanese labour-era from British communities, and \re hope Columbia will keep on protesting until Japan decides tlir.t it will' be politic to withdraw from the occupation of Canada as — since the American fleet Etnrted for the Pacific — she has been withdrawing from the United States. Tha harsh and unfair treatment accorded to Mr. Keir Hardio A Denial of in his South African Fair Play. tour will suvprisa, where • it dees not astound, lovers of fair play throughout the Dominion. It serves, however, to ' throw into sharp relief the clouds, menacing and formidable, of South Africa's col-our-problem. The English-Dutch have yet to become a homogeneous federation united by the bond of a common policy and a common ideal. The difference between the reception accorded the Labour leader in New Zealand and South Africa no doubt marks the greater progress made by the former country in tho field of political liberty. When Mr. KeirHardie came here he was not received with open arms, but every opportunity was given him to state his case. Pie was granted a sane and a fair hearing, ono in keeping with our concept of liberty To us it ia quite inconceivable that a man of Keir Hardies sterling worth ancl personality would be maltreated in this country as he has been in South Africa. Tha barbarous methods of tho hustings which have been used to deny him a hearing cannot be too strongly 'denounced, and are certain to arouse tho warm and just resentment of the English Labour party. At Durban, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, the cables have invariably transmitted word of fair play being denied to the English Labour leader, whose determined and sustained efforts ior the last thirty years to help improve the position of his fellows appear to be held as of no account by South African audiences.