TOPICS OF THE OAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 82, 8 April 1910, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE OAY.

+ Piuliins the Willis-street tram line on to join the JervoisTho Tiiimway quay route by the Problem, General IV-t Oitice is not urgently required, but the extension i« very desirable. The wood-blocking of the tquare has long been needed, and as this operation can be economically done in conjunction with the rail-laying, the Cit> Council's decision to allot £8650 for th<3 combined work can be soundly commended. The linking of the two trunk lines is only ono item of tho tramway programme. The council has admitted' tint somo of the "dead running" on the tortuous journey to Tinakori-road demands cutting out. A loop along Chariot te-streel has been favoured, but various suggestions (including a tunnel from Lambtonquay) made by Karori residents havo complicated the issue. Then the oftdiscussed Corustable-street extension to connect up with the Mount Victoria Tunnel system is again prominently befoie tho corporation. On top oi "these schemes comes the shortage of enrs. The eighty odd cars now on the tracks are bai-ely tufneient for present requirements. They are ample for the traffic at ordinary working hourg, but are scarcely equal to the demand at "rush" times. Cars that need to go into "hospital" at Nowtown fov repairs have to be lurried out again on the roads almost before the refurbishing paint iij dry. It i% therefore not surprising that the Mayor submitted last night that "the council must face the expenditure of getting more cars," and it is understood that a sum. will apnear on tho estimates for this necessity! -The call of funds for legitimate expansion? of the tramway enterprise should put councillors on their guard for the present against agitation* for any further cheapening of the very moderate fares. The profits for last year are feet down at about £6000— roughly the jsame as for the preceding twelve months — but tho assessment, of these profits is still a controversial f-übject. We are absolutely euie that the council has no .margin for any ill-timed unwarrantable philanthropy. In Kipling's realistic forecast of "The Night Mail" borne by The Freedom airships, he drafted of tho Air. somo imaginary regulations for aerial traffic. Among these was a provision setting apart certain limits of altitude to be observed — the heavier traffic on the lower plane, tho ordinary passenger lines above, and express and mail tervices higher Etill. Possibly military airships might occasionally, though at their perN, declino to bo bound by civil restrictions ; 'but it would seem that even now, in the very infancy of the new art, the time has come to place some check on the freedom of experimenters. A cablo msesage from Chalons to-day records a narrow escape from collision. Captain Dickson, aa army officer, carrying a passenger in his aeroplane, was nearly run into by a monoplane, and averted disaster only by a sudden dive, avoiding the threatened collision by something like twelve inches. Surely, one might think, there is room enough and to Gparc in the open heavens for the evolutions of all the airships of every pattern that will be turned out for yearf, to come? But practical experience has shown that already there U a real danger of collision, quite apart from the inherent ri3ks of accident through failure of the mechanism in the apparatus itself. If such is the ctiee now, what may we look for, *ay, in another ten years, when familiarity with the new* method will have tended to bring about a certain relaxation of vigilance? Even the beslilevi.°ed regulation* would be difficult to enforce. Tlio Luge freedom of the air is> in .*i»mo respect a disadvantage. There is. neither boundaiy nor highway, landmaiku an> of little :i\ml, and exen thi> level of fli'iht onnot bo maintained, for clouds art- touml at .ill heights, and the machine must pats above or beneath them, Still, the Chaloiib incident v. ill bv>'& M«vfid a jiwful purpefco if it

emphasises tho fact that "free as the air' is a phrase \\hich. must henceforth have certain qualifications. Mr. Buddo (it seems from a telegram in tho news columns) The Bashful is too modest for some Mr. Buddo. of his well-wishers. He is a quiet Minister trying to do his work far from the madding crowd of deputationists. No | beat of drum, no bugle blasts of any kind, announce his visits to Canterbury. He juf-t books a berth, pays a visit, sees the fields and the crops, and is back in Wellington before the people with requests to proffer have realised that a Minister has been within striking distance of them. They reach out for him, but grab the air; he is gone— and never a sign, never a token of his visit. It is said of him by the disappointed that he is not like "other .Ministers who kindly give telegraphic notice of motion. They give the deputationLts an opportunity to pay court, and they do not disdain the limelight. The Canterbury folk are sorely perplexed by Mr. Buddo's avoidance of the glare and clamour usually inseparable from Ministerial pilgrimages. A Minister of the Ciown — and no noise, no fuss, no aggregation of hopeful "wait-ers-upon," no publicity ! It is not the Seddonian tradition. It is not in accordance with the principle of "government by agitation and deputation" of which New Zealand has teen far too much. Mr. Buddo is setting a new fashion, but is it Ministerially safe for him to ride rough-shod over the conventions? Has he sufficiently heeded the doctrine — "Be not the first By whom the new aro tried"? Mr. Buddo's boldness in this matter is monumental, colossal. If he prefers to devote himself steadily, strongly, quietly to the work that lies to his hand and disdains dalliance with the irrepressible, persistent deputationist, many voices may insidiously murmur against him. And tho end?