TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 12, 15 January 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The signing by Mr. Elihu Root, the United States SecreA Triumph in tary of State, and Peaceful Mr. James Bryce, the Diplomacy. British Ambassador at Washington, of the treaty recently ratified by the Senate represents another triumph in the peaceful diplomacy which has accomplished so much for the world in recent years. In Europe Britain is privileged to be the only great State that has no lain 1 frontier, but by way of sefc-off she has in North America a frontier of more than three thousand miles to look 'after. Canada has frequently complained — and sometimes with justice — that the British Government has been very iax in its discharge of this duty, but in the present case it is certain that the Government of the Dominion has been consulted at every &tcp of the proceedings, and is as well pleased with the result as the Home authorities. The special subject of the treaty i& the waterways question. There has been no more fruitful source of disputes between neighbours, whether States, tribes, or individuals, than questions of this kind — a fact to which the word "rival" bears testimony on its face. And the problem has never presented itself on a larger scale than to the two countries, whose frontier runs for hundreds of miles through the great lakes and the Niagara River. The astonishing developments in the use of electricity which have made the power furnished by the Niagara Falls one of the most valuable natural assets on the American continent, have greatly increased and complicated the difficulties of the problem in recent years. There were as great capacities in Niagara for international friction as for industrial enterprise, had not the utmost goodwill and tact characterised those responsible for the negotiations on both sides. The treaty has put an end to this danger by the definition of the respective rights of "the parties with regard both to this and to other rivers common to Canada and the Unite-J States, and it also provides for the delimitation of all the water bovmdarieo. But the most hopeful feature of the treaty, because of its potentialities in other directions, is>. that it includes a provision for the appointment ot a Per^ tnanent Commission of Arbitration, to which all "water" questions will be referred. The hope is ascribed to the negotiators on both sides, though it has not been officially expjessed, that if this commission works well it may ultimately develop into a permanent AngloAmerican Arbitration Tribunal. It is appropriate' that King Edward's advisers have been able to conclude a treaty so full of promise for the welfare of tieth races and the peace of the world while President Roosevelt, his only serious rival as a peace-maker, is still at the White House. Down at Timaru the Railway Department, no doubt in acEailway Men cordance with a policy and the of necessary economy, Political Pull, gave notice of dismissal to a number of carpenters and labourers, whose services were no longer required. But by "political pull" they are trying to get themselves retained in the public service. Mr. J. Craigie, the new member f o • the district, was promptly approached by a deputation, reports the Christchurch Press, and, of course, he at once telegraphed to the new Minister, the Hen. J. A. Millar. The men concerned assert that they have a grievance in tho fact that railway work in South CanterDury was_ found for a contingent from Christchurch, but this is a £.ide-issue ; it may be part of another "pull." The incident is only one of many that may be readily cited. For every ono that gets into print, how many remain close-ly-guarded secrets between the man, the member, and the department? The member is the buffer between the railway servant and the Government. One legislator is so weary of it that he is urging that railway servants should be either disfranchised or have special representatives, all to themselves, in Parliament. This tugging at political strings, with the inevitable suggestion of "jobbery" at tho public expense, must continue under the regime of. political management, no matter what New Year resolutions a new Minister may make. "It is a threc-per-cent. policy," says the Prime Minister, defending the mismanaged railways. "It is ninetythree per cent, politics," retorts the critic who takes note of the Timaru incident and many others. It is another argument fm' the errrineipation of the railways from "right-colour" rule and the allocation of the control to commissioners, with nothing to gain or lose by the whims of electors. The lender of Messrs. House nnd Hurrell, oi' Wellington, lias buen aci-epteU for the building ol' three ambulance waggons (£39 11s Gd each) for the Railways Department, and for the Defence Department tlirc-; general service waggons (£35 6s 8d each), four small-arms ammunition carts (£2l 5s each), and ' four water carts (£l7 12s 6d each)..