CURRENT TOPICS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8329, 15 January 1913, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS

LABOUR’S FRANKENSTEIN. It was scarcely fair of Mr Semple, in his address to the workers of Christchurch, to denounce the Hon. W. F. Massey as a Tyrant. This is too extreme. Mr Massey is not necessarily a tyrant. He is a very estimable and well-meaning gentleman of persistent political ambition, who, with the enormous assistance of the squatters, managed to become Prime Minister and is now in power to protect the interests of the aforesaid squatters. This is a matter of history now. But there is another matter <5 history,that has evidently escaped the attention of Mr Semple. Without the assistance of the extreme section of Labour that Mr Semple commands, Mr Massey had practically no hope of attaining his ambition of the Premiership. But Mr Massey was astute. Ho persuaded tho extreme section of Labour that Mr Semple commands that it was not obtaining a fair deal from Sir Joseph Ward. He promised it a fair deal. And if Mr Massey has been giving Labour a square deal with a police bludgeon since then, as Mr Semple asserts, most people will say: “ Serve Labour right.” It struggled to get Mr Massey into power. It vociferously cheered the downfall of Sir Joseph Ward and tho Liboral-and-Labour Government. Let us hope that tho Massey police bludgeon will knock these hard facts into its head. NAPIER AND ITS TRAMS. It is only a community like Napier, which has obtained ridiculous notoriety by commencing costly public works one day and proposing to abandon them the next, that would have listened to a suggestion that the work on the local tramway construction should be stopped twelve months after tho tenders had been let, when the greater part of the material was on tho ground, and when the powerhouse had been built and other work actually done, If the citizens had confirmed this proposal, which fortunately they did not, the contractor would have required nearly the whole of his tender price for compensation, and tho borough would have had a certain amount of second-class material on its hands as tho only tangible asset for its expenditure of £50,000 or so. Whether the tramways pay or not, bettor to have them rather than throw tho money away altogether. Napier, by the way, is remarkable for this sort of thing. Take, for example, its harbour scheme. After borrowing and spending nearly half a million on its breakwater scheme; and notwithstanding the fact that the results achieved were admirable and effective even from a structure only two-thirds completed, it put in power a party pledged to abandon the breakwater construction. Now, intent upon the will-o’-the-wisp proposals of some amateur harbour engineors, it proposes to spend something ke a million sterling on a scheme to convert what is known as the Iron Pot into an inner harbour. When the Napier people get sufficient sense, and are tired of paying heavy lighterage on their goods, they will probably decide to complete one harbour before they start another. A BID FOB TOADYISM. It was the Civil Service more than any other section of tho community that clamoured for a change from Liberal to Tory administration. Therefore, if the fabled story of King Frog and King Stork repeats itself, and the Civil Service finds its last state to be worse than its first, there is only itself to blame. We are not surprised that, concurrently with the inauguration of the new system of control, the issue of a circular calling for a confidential report from the heads of departments on each subordinate has aroused feelings of uneasiness, misgiving, and resentment amongst the rank-and-file of tho service. Those officials who are fortunate enough to be regarded as “ whitehaired boys” in the eyes of their superiors will probably benefit materially by tho new system. They will unquestionably bo accorded most favourable reports. But how about the independent and self-respecting officer who scorns to curry favour by truckling to his superior? Will he get fair consideration? We certainly hope so, but with a full consciousness of the susceptibility of human nature—even in high official places—to the influences of a flattering tongue and a subservient demeanour, we are inclined to doubt it. Tho new system is certainly calculated to impress the subordinates of the Civil Service with the desirableness of cultivating a servile and obsequious manner towards their superiors who, by a written word, can make or mar them in a confidential report of which they are in

ignorance, and to which they have no right of reply. The hour of the toady in the Civil Service has come. And this is the first fruits of the change to Tory rule.

THE HOSPITAL DISTRICT. Residents of the northern portion of Horowhenua county are still moving in the matter of altering their hospital district. They are not without argument to support their claims. the county is a long narrow stretch of territory Iviug .between Wellington and Palmerston North. The people residing in that part nearest tho latter town, which has a well-equipped hospital, naturally feel it rather absurd that they should be attached to the AVellington hospital district, and fhat in tho event of sickness or accident patients have to undergo a train journey of some eighty miles instead of entering the institution at_ their doors. The popular idea is to divide the district, attaching the northern and southern parts to the hospital dist rict more convenient. From tho point of 'view of efficiently treating the sick, the change that is proposed appears to be more than reasonable. Legislation would probably be needed to give effect to the scheme, but that presents no apparent difficulties. . Chir telegraphed news this morning indicates that the matter is well in hand.