FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 84, 9 April 1938, Page 17

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FROM THE "POST"

"The result of the attempt to obtain the services of a real railway expert as Chief Commissioner of the proposed new board will probably surprise a good many people," remarks "The Post" of this date fifty years ago. "When the question of fixing, the salary was before Parliament, the Government originally put the amount down as £1500, and there were not wanting many persons who contended that such a salary was ample, and that there were plenty of first-class and competent men who would jump at the billet. . These frugal people will be much astonished, no doubt, to find that the offer of even £2500 a year has not led to the application of a single really first-class man. The fact is that thorough experts in the art of railway management can always command a considerably higher salary at Home. There is nothing in £2500 a year to induce them to emigrate. . Hence the applications for our Chief Commissionership, although fairly numerous, are from the subordinate class of railway officials, or officers of whosQ competency their former experience affords no guarantee. That the offer has not been jumped at by the proper sort of people—that in fact it has failed to eliict any response whatever from that class, there not being a single first-class or .even second-class railway expert amongst the applicants —will probably have a good effect on those politicians who are always advocating the cutting down of salaries. Marked ability in any direction commands a certain market value in the world, and this colony must be prepared to pay the: price if it wants the article. The lesson is a good one, and the moral will probably be enforced if the Royal Assent is given to the Bill reducing the Governor's salary. We will find that in this, as in other cases, only inferior men will be obtainable ' for an inferior salary. As a rule the salaries of judicial and other high officers in this colony are far below those which are paid to holders of corresponding offices elsewhere. There will, as vacancies occur, be more and more difficulty in filling them up by competent men. This colony will certainly lose if it pursues a 'cheap and nasty' policy, under the impression that it is practising economy." THE BASIN RESERVE. "Having regard to the supremacy which Wellington enjoys in regard to football in the colony, very great public interest naturally attaches to the approaching trials of skill with the representative English team. If the best Wellington players can be got together they will, it is generally believed, be able to render a very good account of themselves. The City Council is to be asked to permit the matches to be played on the Basin Reserve, and we hope that the request will be readily granted. The ground is not likely to suffer in the least by being used for these two matches at this season of the year, and the best authorities on cricket concur in this opinion. It would cause much public inconvenience to have the matches; played on the Newtown Park Reserve, and it would not be a fair reward for the enterprise shown, by Mr. Lillywhite-.in bringing out the team, as no'charge for admission can be enforced at the Park. The City Council will be acting undoubtedly in accord with public opinion by granting the request,of the footballers," • COAL HARBOUR BOARDS "To beard .#ie lion in his den Is usually regarded, as an act of somewhat reckless daring. Vet the Government have just performed it, and not content,with so treating the Buller lion, have behaved in like manner to the Kumara tiger. Since the days when a certain Superintendent was removed from his office, there has been no such sensational removal as the wholesale removal of the two entire Harbour Boards which took place last week. The daring of the deed can be estimated from the fact that the two boards summarily removed from office, and bundled out, nolens volens, included four members of Parliament. There will no doubt be a great deal said on the subject when Parliament meets, and we shall not be surprised if Ministers find considerable difficulty in justifying their remarkably prompt and decisive action. On the merits, we approve of the Government having direct and full control of the coal harbours, and be believe that the expenditure on them may be made most reproductive; but, as we have previously pointed out, we fear that an ingenious attempt will be made to use the case of these harbours as a precedent to justify the taking over of the liabilities of other harbours/including New Plymouth. Of course, there is no real parallel between the cases or the merits. They are not on all fours, but V it will be argued that a harbour is a harbour, and that if one harbour is provided for at the colonial expense, each and every harbour should be treated in the same way. The argument is, of course, a ridiculously bad one but it is wonderful what bad arguments are often seriously advanced and accepted by those who are interested in a particular course being adopted." PASTEUR'S RABBIT REMEDY. "Whatever value there may be in M. Pasteur's rabbit remedy, will now, it seems, be speedily determined. The great scientist's nephew, with two expert assistants, has arrived in Australia with a supply of microbes, and will be prepared in a very short time to experiment on any scale required. Whether the Australian Governments will grant facilities for such experiments remains to be seen, but in view of the satisfactory opinions expressed about the proposed remedy it is probable that they will welcome the opportunity. M. Pasteur will be the greatest benefactor this colony has ever known if he shows us how the rabbits can be effectually and cheaply got rid of." TE ROOM'S FOLLOWERS. "Te Kooti's adherents arrived at Te Oreore pah yesterday, telegraphs our Masterton correspondent. They appear anxious to spread their own religion, which appears akin to Mormonism, among the Natives in the Wairarapa. They are also anxious to impress them with the fact that the Government did a great wrong to them by depriving them of their land. The local Maoris want to know why they came, as no invitation had been extended to them. They think that their object is to unite the race for a move against the Europeans, and that Te Kooti means to come to town at an early date. Their reception oh the whole was very cool." DISCOVERY OF COAL. "A valuable discovery of c/oal is reported in the Gorge on the Waiohine River, and samples are being sent here. The find is on Crown land about 15 miles up the Tauherenikau Gorge, and the outcrop, which is only about 10 feet above the water level, is in the side of a high bank. It has been exposed by a landslip some time within the last few months. The seam is about eight inches thick and is embedded in three feet of conglomerate. The coal is claimed to be of very high quality."