TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 77, 30 March 1912, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

♦ On© of the messages published to-day gives a pasis for a hope The Coal that Britain's desperate Crisis. ooaL ca&e is taking a turn for the better. "The Miners' leaders," it is, reported, "have returned to the colliery districts, where thoy are describing the Bill as a victory for the men." In a sense it is a victory, thoughthe Government resolutely set itself against framing an iron law of minimum wage, regardless of the conditions of work and living among the miners of various districts. Tho general principle of a minimum wage was affirmed, and each case will be determined on its merits by a joint district board on which the workers will be represented. The Bill gives the strikers ample scope to "save face," and tho cabled newe of this morning indicates that thousands are not wasting the chance. Large numbers of men are returning to work in various parts of England and Wales, and the signs point to a break-up of the strike in the near future. Certain impetuous spokesmen have talked of getting out the transport workers, but there appears to b© no possibility of such a development. Thousands of families at© hungry enough without a- transport stn :© to further reduco the supply of food', and this fact must be glaringly obvious to the vast majority of the men s leaders. The strikers, with funds almost exhausted, are not now in a position to wm out in a campaign of starvation. Employers and workers have now to sadly' count the enormous 1 cost of the struggle, which has severely injured British, trad* in the markets o* thei world. When tim« discloses the full price of the vast industrial upheaval, the amount of damage, of which workers, owing to the set-back received by trade and industry will necessarily have to pay their share, should destroy the prestige of syndicalist agitators. Some critics are using the axe, some the r, „ . c^ 3>3 > Borne tfl( * rapier, some Political the blunderbuss, some the Energy scourge, 6ome poison. The Mackenzie Ministry ie indeed being carved up, without an anaesthetic, in the operating theatre of the Opposition. It is being condemned, hanged, drawn and quartered, and it will be tried presently for tho offence of daring to exist for a single day. Perhaps no Ministry was ever in 'more Bad and sorry plight, for it is not safe from a stabbing even in the house of its friends. Personal selfishness is represented to some extent in the new Cabinet. It is alleged to be plain enough that two or three members were able to use a power of pistol over the party ac a whole. Certainly the party has not settled down to loyal acceptance of the new dispensation of portfolios. To-day Mr. T. K. Sidey, a Dunedin member, is frankly voicing a grievance, and tome of his colleagues may read something sinister between the lines of the telegram from the south. Otago is sorely disappointed at being overlooked by the Cabinet-makers, and Otago manifestly intends to be a region with a grievance. Our anticipation that the Canterbury quota of four would bring trouble to the party is being quickly verified. Time was when Canterbury complained that it was the milch cow for all New Zealand^ but with four members in the Ministry the tune should bo changed. Mr. Mackenzie and his advisers have been at pains to do some careful balancing of leasehold against freehold, nolicense againet liquor, fieetrade against protection, town againet country, but in making these adjustmente they paid scant attention to the geographical factor, of which some hostile critics are now making much. If Mr. Mackenzie had specialised in geography and given less attention to other elements, he would not have found peace. He was booked for rough treatment whatover he did, and he is getting it. Wellington will soon have an opportunity to make memorThe Call able anewer to those of Art. Southern critics who have virtually contended that the Capital City has no soul above trade. It has been.' alleged that the Capital City ia too much engrossed in the interest of money to spare any intorest for Art. It is true that Wellington lags behind tho sister cities in this respect, but it has to be rememberud that Wellington has been severely handicapped. The other cities have a relatively large proportion of descendants of early' settlers, and these families have a pride of placo, n keenness for a city beautiful. Also, the loaders of Wellington citizenship had to give much energy to winning land from the sea and knocking and cutting the hills into shape for a large population. Peoplo here have also been eager to have a clean and comfortable city, and Wellington now has the reputation of being the clcan«st oily in Australasia. If cleanliness is next to godliness, and if Art is divine, as its high priests claiili, then Wellington must soon have a fervour for Art. Wellington ha« been preeminent in the care of things helpful to health and prosperity, and leading citizens should now have some tinift and energy to spare for a top-dre^ing of Art on tho 'solid ground of nif.terial achievement. Presently the way will b6 mado easy lov a £oodi beginning' Elitliu*iast« aro working manfully to con*

vinco the public of the city and province, as well ac Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Nel&on, and Mnrlborough, that ab Jeact £6000 Worth of the* British masterpieces which Mr. Baillie is to show should be captured for the proposed _ National Gallery. Even as a material investment tho proposal should appeal to th© citizens, for a well-fur-liisned gallery will add to tho city's importance. All eyes are now on Wellington, and some cynical .observers are murmuring that the Capital will not answer the expectations of the New Zealand Academy and its friends. Wo are hopeful that Wellington's response will remarkably falsify all cuch estimates of the city's attitude. Liberals and Unionists were remarkably divided in tho voting on Tho tho Women Suffrage Suffragettes' Conciliation Bill, which Set-back. was lost yesterday by a small majority. Tho Irish Nationalists held the balance of power, and they set their strength against the Bill. \The voting was not on party lines. Messrs. Aequith, Harcourt, Churchill, and M.'Kenna went into the " No " lobby with Messrs. F. E. Smith (once quoted as a possible successor to Mr. Balfour) and Austen Chamberlain. Among the " Ayes " Messrs. Bnlfour and Boiiar Law ranged themselves with Sir Edward Grey, Messrs. Lloyd George, Birreli, John Burns, and Runcimart. The Bill was only a palliative at best, a concession to the militant Suffragettes, rather than a boon to the nation's women. Its ecop© was to affect only a million women householders, for the Suffragettes' shrill battlecry "Votes for Women" actually means "votes for some women." The Suffragettes' campaign is rather on the narrow gauge of class than on broad linea of democratic movement. The voting ehowe the Premier as an advocate of "conservatism" in the electoral sphere, and the Leader of the Opposition and the ex-Leader voting for change, in favour of a million women. Tho cauee of women, as championed by the " claw-hammer sisterhood " has been set back for a time, but is not lost. If the Suffragettes are "a* much concerned at heart for women's rights as they profess to be, they can now divert some of their window-smashing and facescratching energy to sane activity on behalf of the adult franchise, regardless of sex. The Government has promised the House of Commons an opportunity to vote this year on that broad question