TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 83, 9 April 1910, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Apathy among tho heads of industiial and commercial firms in Apathetic Wellington threatens to I Wellington, postpone indefinitely the proposed exhibition. The invitations for buch famall guarantees as I £10, £15, and £20, sent out by the Industrial Association on 29th March, have drawn no response wonth mentioning. The guarantors are assured by the secretary (Mr. H. F. Allen) that their risk of incurring any actual loss will be very remote, but ithe words have fallen on heedless ears. Possibly the manufacturers and business people in general may think that a period in June-July will be too wimtry for a fair, but they appeared to approve a May- Juno project, and we cannot see that the unavoidable deferring of the opening for a month in the cooler season can maKe any formidable difference to the venture's prospects of success. Some of the members of the association have gone to some 'trouble to smooth away the difficulties, but their efforts hava not inspired any sympathetic enthusiasm in the community; in fact', the project is faced with ' f death from ijianitjon." Objectors to the exhibition for June-July should come into the open with any opposing argument. It will be a poor inducement to the working friends of local industries to ever come forward again if they are now coldly forsaken by those wnom the failis designed to benefit. One wearies of the moaning and groaning of some- New Zealand manufacturers. They make complaints in plenty, they plead for patronage, they implore protection, but areglug gl shito co-operate and work helpfully together for the good of themselves and their country. A few strong men are sorely needed to make a move for such industries as should be able to flourish well in New Zealand. I Ministers of the Crown, by the grace I .... _ of tho Premier an.l Why Experts the favour of Proviat all? dence, may get exPfrt knowledge appor,ted to them in some way mysterious I and mar\ellous. The Hon. R. M'Kenzie seems to have wisdom wafted tc nim from the clouds. A report in The Post s news columns' to-day — a plain evtract from the cold print of a Government publication — shows that even in such technicalities as ihe comparative merits of air and magnetic brakes for tramways Mr. M'Kenzie can make- a show of dictating to Mr. R. W. Holmes, Engineer-in-Chief to the Public Works Department. Mr. Holmes, who enjoys an excellent well-earned reputation among engineers in and out of the public service, has devoted much lime to studying the theory and practice of tramways. He is very familiar with all the intricacies of tracks and general equipment, and as the result of this experience he desired to express a preference for the magnetic track brake against the air wheel brake for iise on the much-discussed Auckland cars. For reasons unintelligible to the general public, Mr. M'Kenzie seemed eager lo induce Mr. Holmes to say something nice nbont the fair brake, and when the export stood firm by the magnetic brake the Minister tended tc lose his easilylosable patienre, as his questions to Mr. Holmes plainly proved. Ho practically hinted that if Mr. Holmes was loth to recommend the air brake for Auckland the Minister would have power to appoint an outside engineer to do the recommending above the head of Mr. Holme. "Yo'i arc only nominated by the Minister to do what the Minister thinks proper,'' was Motneka's ultimatum to Mr. Holmes. This is the doctrine preaurod by Mr. M'Kenzie in the House of Representatives last session and repeated recently at Auckland in the controversy about the far-nortliein-vnilway 'leviatio.i. If Ministois wtre accredited experts in all matters covered by their portfolios this dictatorial po^er of "nomination" could be deteaiible, but what kina of an ejcjunina-

lion could Mr. M'Kenzie pass in the complicated subject of electric tramways? It is a topsy-turvy system of managing a great business, and leaves the way open to financial loss and danger to the public. Apparently the experl Is to be at the order of a nonexpert even in such a matter as a tramway brake, which concerns the lives and limbs of the public. Mr. M.'Kenzie look up an extraordinary and even an nlarming attitude, which calls urgently for explanation. And why was Mr. ! .M'Kenzie so keen about the uir brakes? A bizarre picture of coal-miners, once sturdy and hardy, but now Grim enfeebled by fretting about Humour, imprisoned comrades, is given by a cable message from Australia to-day. A proposal, formally submitted to one of tho Miners' lodges at Newcastle, sets out that the ex-strikers aro suffering from "severe 'mental strain incurred through the imprisonment of the leaders." The object of the motion is to induce the workers in the pits to go slow and earn merely "fair strike pay." It was anticipated that the friends of Mr. Bowling and his fellow-prisoners would seek an opportunity of revenge, but ouo was not prepared for a "lazy strike," of the comical but embarrassing kind which has been impressively practised in Italy. The Labour parties of Australia, on the eve of more than one important election, are not likely to support that Newcastle proposal, however much they may enjoy its grim humour. Rather, they may be inclined to cry: "An enemy hath done this." If such a slackening was seriously contemplated by the more responsible men among the miners, they would take all manner of pains lo keep their intentions secret, and it is far from probable that any "lazy strike" would be proclaimed with trumpet calls. Even if the miners were secretly determined to shorten the output, they would' — we should think — be too shrewd to plead injury to health by pondering over the punishment of Mr. Bowling and the other leaders. Such a droll argument sets up a worker as a very sensitive plant. The Arbitration Courts' awards would be expected to take account of the weakening effects of Turkish massacres, shipwrecks, train collisions, and other calamities on the tender readers of the repprts, and the court would need to besitting frequently to make its sympathetic readjustments. The slaughtermen might be due to slay a hundred sheep f0p««268 on quiet days, but only ninety sheep or eighty sheep on the day following the report of a, prize-fight, with heart-rending details about the blood-letting and eye-blacking. It would be a striking case of workers' compensation for accidents to other people.