TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 72, 28 March 1910, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Mystificatiop about the Tax Department complication grows A Puzzled amain. Months have Public. passed, and time has served only to intensify the public curiosity. The Government s latest procedure, the appointment of three departmental officers as a board of enquiry, must seem unintelligible to all who are not familiar with the workings of the mind Ministerial. When certain charges were formulated against the commissioner two judges of the Supreme Court were instructed to make an investigation. The presumption is that they examined the case carefully. Cer1 tainly their report, as condensed for Parliament by the Premier, left an impression that the judges had gone thoroughly into their task. It was understood, however, that the result of the enquiry was not conclusive. Mr. Heyes was in the position of one charged, and there was nothing public against hiia except Sir Joseph Ward's vague presentment of one passage of the j judges' report. They cave praise to Mr. Heyes for his administration of the department, but mentioned that in certain matters he had not exhibited his usual discretion. In the meantime Mr. Heyes was suspended, and eventually came the case against Bowron Bros, at Christchurch. After the Magistrate had heard the oridence his voice was stilled, pending the decision of the Court of Appeal on a point of jurisdiction. While the poopla were wondering what was to happen next, the Government set up a species of private tribunal of departmental officers. Such tactics, which arc not fair to anybody, must have caused much unpleasant surprise. Any further enquiry might well have rested with the judges, independent of the Government of the day. We utterly fail to understand why threo departmental officers should be deemed a more desirable commission of. enquiry than two experienced judges. Will these officers traverse the ground already covered by the judges? It is due to the public that the Premier should give reasons for this peculiar procedure. One day's work at the Libraries' Conference in Dunedin cmiImprovlng- nently repaid the deleour Libraries, gates for assembling tkere from various parts of New Zealand. The opening day saw the formation of a Libraries' Association, which should be able to do very valuable work iv the cities and in the courttry district*. Complaint was made Mat the Government had not been sufficiently sympathetic with the promoters and supporters of libraries in the part, but with a htrong organisation now to plead for tho books the authorities may be more disposed to uKsint the library movement. There was wine excuse in the past for Ministerial apathy, because the people who stood to b« n«n*flted did not make My rem*rk«bl«- stir, Tk« M*, pmocU- j

tion should be able to stimulate public opinion, and increase the appetite for healthy, educating literature. Enthusiastic librarians, among whom Wellington's chief municipal librarian, Mr. H. Baillie, has been conspicuous, have helped much to expand the usefulness of the public institutions. They have been greatly handicapped by lack of funds, public and private, but it seems that better days are to come. If these workers persevere the role of benefactors will assuredly, be supplemented. The library will come more into the public life ; it will pet. closer to the community, an-d will arrest the gaze of those who are able to do something worth remembering. Libraries, from the general public's point of view, have been only minor incidentals in New Zealand, but there are cheering signs that the book fervour, which has done muck for older countries, is developing here. __ Interest in the forthcoming attack on the ice-bound citadel TheSiego of the Southern Pole of the is increasing, and South Pole. may bo expected to become intense as the end of the year approaches, when the Terra Nova is to leave Lyttelton for the Antarctic coast. Captain Scott's preparations are now well advanced, and at present attention is focussed upon them ; but his is the first of three contemplated British* expeditions which are projected between the present date and the end of 1911— all well thought-out and co-ordinated, and all controlled by veteran men of science and explorers. Captain Scott, K.N., who commanded the National Antarctic Expedition in 1900-1904, is to take up the task so nearly completed by Sir E. Shackleton, and, if possible, reach the Pole, which point he expect* to attain about the most favourable period both for travel and scientific observation, 22nd December, or the summer solstice of 1911. The incidental work will be much the same as that of the Shackleton expedition, and there will be a fine band of picked men. The Bruce expedition, organised by the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, which is expected to start later in the year, will specialise in the important branch of oceanographic research, but will not neglect the terrestrial side of the work, as its programme includes a journey across the Antarctic continent and studies of the interior. Lastly, towards the end of 1911 (by which time the optimist explorers expect that the Pole will have been reached) Sir Ernest Shackleton intends resuming the work in which he has already so brilliantly distinguished himself. Should a United States expedition start, the Britons will work in harmony with their kinsmen ; but only two months ago it was reported that the American public were very cold on the «übject^-in fact, were "bored" if any reference was made to polar research. No reason was assigned, but there seems to be a growing feeling that their claim to the discovery of the North Pole still remains, to be proved. Regarding the Scott expedition, it seems to have been planned on the most businesslike lines, and, even in the midst of political distraction, to have- awakened enthusiasm and liberal response. The first public meeting on the subject, last October, at. which Sir E. Speyer opened tho subscription list with £1000, gave the key-note; and the funds are "jn sight" now. Great things are expected from the new motorsledges. Our own land has a direct interest in the venture. Twenty-eight of the crew are to bo recruited here, and our first Rhodes scholar, Mr. James Alan Thomson, who has already a brilliant record, is, we learn, to accompany the expedition as geologist.