TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 74, 27 March 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

At the time of writing no authoritative announcement has Desirable been made regarding a« the new Cabinet, and Defence rumour is (Still busy Minister. with the possibilities. One of the moat interesting its that which we mentioned yesterday, viz., that Mr. H. M'Nab may be given a portfolio and put in charge of the Legislative Council. It seems to us that the idea is an excellent on© from every point of view. There must be one Minister in the Council, and it cannot be said that any of its present members are competent to takejup the running of the late Attorney -General. There is, however, nobody who Ayould venture to deny the competence of Mr. M'Nab, either for a seat in the Minis.try or for the leadership of the Council. The suggestion yesterday was that he should take the Attorney-General-ehip, but it seems to us that there ie a far preferable alternative, ltigntiy ov wrongly, there is a suspicion abroad that the now Minietry may he driven by the exigencies of a most embarrassing position to tamper with what ie by common consent the most notable achievement of the present Government — the system of compulsory military training. To- give Mr. M'Nab the portfolio of Defence would be the beat guarantee both that the bottom' would not be knocked out of the system, ac a few fanatical malcontents are hoping, and that every reasonable concession" would be made to alleviate any harshness in its working. Sir Jowjph Ward has suggested that military detention should be substituted for imprisonment as the punishment for defaulters, who not only break the law but refuse to pay the fines that the breach involves, nor can there be any objection as long ac the detention is effective. Mr. M'Nab, whoso services to .the cause of defence, both in office and out of it, are well known, is neither a flre-eat-er noi* a poltroon. His caution and commonsense could be relied upon to take the middle course, which would conciliate reasonable objectors without sacrifice of efficiency. The worst course ol all is that which hae recently been taken by the Ward Government. To have a law on the Statute Book, and then to counteract its operation' by arbitrary interference* with the sentences passed by the Courts, is an, intolerable outrage in a free and law-abiding country. We entirely concur m the grave alarm expressed at this procedure in the report to be presented to the Citizens' Defence Committee at it« meeting to-morrow. Mr. M'Nab, as Minister of Defence, could be relied upon to avoid this pitfall and all the others that beset the early etagei of ft port and promitiug iCIIJWf,

Though we are not (satisfied with the present State manState or Private agemont of tho Enterprise? working railways nor with the State's methods of construction, we believe as firmly as over in the Slate principle for this important public utility. Therefore, we prefer the views of Mr. Leigh Hunt to those of Mr. H. C. Tewsloy, as put at yesterday's meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Tewsley remarked that "the chamber had occasion Co express the opinjpn that a* a general principle it believed it was a matter of regret that there was not more scope for private enterprise , in the matter of constructing semi-public works of this kind." Mr. Hunt commeaited that "he was inclined to think that the establishment of railways by private companies was fraught with certain dangers, but ho thought it would be a great advantage to the country if county councils, or even municipalities, should be allowed to undertake modest railway enterprises." The principle of Mr. Hunt's plea is already approved by Parliament^ for there is no essential difference in public policy between railways and ordinary tramways. Wellington's tramways are now used for goods as well as passenger traffic. So tar, the Government's policy has not been to encourage local bodies in the railway direction, but to discourage them from owning tramways. Various proposals to facilitate and hasten the construction of railways in good country have been put forward during the past few years, but no vemarkablo change of policy has occurred. The district guarantee system— which is practically the one recommended by Mr. Hunt as an aid to the ordinary national j scheme— has been suggested to the Hon. J. A. Millar, and he hae admitted that it has merits. The grievous trouble at I present is the political element, which •may influence the selection of routes, the methods of construction, and the general management of the railways. The call now should not be for an undesirable mixing of State and private enterprise in railways, but for an elimination of the political element from the State enterprise. France still leads. As Britain is mistress of the seas France is Aerial Navies, niistrees of the air. The national aviation movement mentioned in yesterday's cable news Ls but another instance of the solidarity with which "decadent" France regards the greater issues of national progress. All work together, and the Government with all. The new military programme with its special provision for the fifth branch of the service — the Department of Aviation — may be costly, but tho French people do not grumble. In defence- of their country they have shown already a supreme power of lielfsacrifico. It is admitted that hardly any other nation of the world could have paid off so quickly the crushing war indemnity, Germany imposed on humiliated France vi 1871. The nation stood solid as a nation then, and so it is now in regard to aviation. France is determined to maintain the supremacy she ha» already won in the air through the genius of he* inventors, the skill of her artificers, and the splendid courage of her airmen. Sho will lay down "two keek to one'" in aircraft, and — what is far more important-- man them with qualified, keen, and trusty air pilots. For this she is prepared to spend public money in millions of francs, and the public itself, far from complaming 4 endorses in the most emphatic Way the patriotic policy of the Government by voluntary subscriptions already of over two million francs — £81,000— the cable states. She has held, amid much popular enthusiasm, a series of military aviation trials, which have done more than anything eke in recent years to improve the methods and means of mechanical flight. Are these signs of decadence!? Look rather across the Channel, where there is a War Office cheeseparing on aviation in a few paltry hundreds ot pounds, while France Bpendu hundreds of thousand— -a War Office ridiculed by every competent authority for its blundering in building airships of a pattern already condemned on the Continent. While the War Office does little and does it badly, aviation out&ide it has become a sort of commercial sport of touting schools at showplace aerodromes. A news column in this issue shows that the quest of tho The "capable girl" is pomestic Service still ardent, and still Problem. ye x a tious to tho spirit. Worried wives and mothers in town and country, it is reported, offer good wages and pleasant working conditions, but for one who catches a suitable assistant *four or five do not. There is a shortage of girls for both domestic and industrial work, and those who are in a position to know say that the margin between the demand and the supply will be widened more and more. New Zealand does not appear to produce enough girls to do all the work on offer by the heads of households and factories. For the present the fac- j tories, shops, and offices are luring girls ! from domestic occupations, but managers of factories in the four centres are continually complaining of a shortage. These managers, as well as the heads of households, look for comfort to an improved immigration policy. Scores of girls are arriving by the scheme of assisted immigration, but the number is a negligible quantity compared with the need. Year after year the Government has been urged to give some useful thought to immigration, but the authorities are not displaying any eagerness to Beriously compete with the representatives of sister States which are at pains to capture Britain's best emigrants. It may oe possible to attract good, healthy girls from Continental countries. New Zealand certainly does no.t need the leavings from other countries' selection of gins. Great care would have to be exercised by New Zealand's representatives to shut out degenerate or vicious types. There are sbme sorts of girl* in Britain and Europe who would suit factories well enough, but they would not suit New Zealand. However, it is a far cry to any such scheme. Wo have very little hope that the subject of immigration will get much study ihis year by tho Government or Government* to be formed in the near future.