NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 9631, 16 June 1892, Page 2

NOTES.

A no-cmfidence motion seem« to be the very thing fora Government like the South Australian which has undertaken to subsidise the wine industry. It is an industry , well established in (he c uritry, ami one whose product is as firmly established in the markets of the world, with a hold which duly grows stronger, Why anyone should think it necessary to grant bonuses or subsidies to the vitrncrons of South Australia it is difficult to understand. These things are for young industries struggling into life against disadvantageous circumstances.

The South Australian Government deserves better in another direction ; it has extended the eight hours system on the railways to all employes whose work is practically continuous. That eight hours is quite enough under such circumstances admits of no doubt we think. Those who object to drawing any line in these matters should get and read the evidence given before • the Parliamentary Committee which investigated the grievances of the railway men the other day in London. It was established by that evidence that on the Midland line eighteen hours was quite a common day of continuous employment, and that at times men had to remain on duty over 23 hours of the 21, A dramatic horror was added to the melancholy fact soon after it was established by the painful death on the Midland line of a guard, who at the time of the accident which ended his life had been 2S£ hours continuously on duty.

When men who give evidence to a properlyconstituted authority about these .shocking malpractices are dismissed by their employers, who are not at once punished for feloniously insulting the Queen’s authority, it is perfectly clear that from the mass of the employers nothing is to be expected but the continuance of a system which is only saved from a tremendous average of .accidents by the fact that men of British race are the most enduring on the face of 'the* earth. If physical exhaustion led to the;destruction occasionally of a Prime Minister, or a Prince of the Blood Royal, or an ecclesiastical dignatory, or a popular professor, or a professional Beauty —with picture in all the Pictorials of professional beauty out of reach of help among the debris r of a Pullman car telescoped by a bullock waggon—something might be done by directors out of sheer terror of lynch law, for the exercise of which the telegraph poles along the railway lines afford remarkable facilities. But no one doubts that the better way would be by State interference, the . Public Service showing the example on which to ground legislation. That is what Adelaide has done. A fine service to humanity it is.

From that point on the toad of humanitarian improvement, the public service of Great Britain is far removed as yet. We have only to take the case of the postmen, who work from twelve to fourteen hours a day for a pittance able to do little more than support life. The Postal Department which, knowing the facts, refuses to allow any remedy which will abate injustice at the expense of its enormous surplus of three millions—forgetting that the State has no right to make’A profit larger than will cover friction, that being the main argument for the undertaking of public services by the State—such a Department is even worse than the worst of the railway directors, One of these wrote lately, in reply to some strictures of Mr Labouchere, that the dividends must be considered, and Mr Laboucbere very properly replied that when things come to that very pass the State must interfere. But they are unhappily at that pass in the State’s most successful Department of the Post Office.

There is, we notice, grumbling here at the Saturday half-holiday established for the postmen. We should be very sorry to see that privilege abolished. The grumbling of one or two people who might step down to the Post Office on any Saturday afternoon they may be expecting important communications, ought not to be permitted to start us on the road leading us nearer to the practice of St Martin’s le Grand.

We deplore the retirement from the Upper House of Mr Randall Johnson as much as anybody can. A useful member he was, shrewd, practical, honourable. Bat we cannot help asking where is this tide of retirements to atop. membership of the Council has been sadly diminished by death of late, andV®tthe sufviyora resign. If the resignation process goes on,' the. time cannot be far off when the Council will settle the question of * Council or no Council* without any trouble to the outside world. History will compose the epitaph of that Honourable House by writing on its wall the legend * Harikari,* which being translated will convey the Idea that the C mncil committed suicide to save itself from slaughter.’ Like certain Japanese noblemen of old, it is in danger of achieving the ‘Happy Despatch.* Does any one in the Colony wish to wait for this consummation? If so tho objection to now appointments must of course be universal. But if the general deure is that the Council ought to flourish, the only way to meat that desire is to pub new blood into the fast depleting veins of that body. f