The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER, 18, 1911.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 51

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER, 18, 1911.) THE WEEK.

" Nunqnam alio* natnra, oliud sapientia dixit."— JU VESTAL. " Good nature and good sense must ever jom."POPS. The political game/ as played in New . Zealand —and elsewhere —is* full of fictions/of which one of . the "most transparent is * the fable of the PubEo - : Works Statement. Oh-js-terton says somewhere that the world is full of unfulfilled ideals, of uncompleted temples. And he .supplements.this saying with the further i"emark:—"History does not consist of completed and crumbling ruins; rather it consists of half-built villas abandoned by a bankrupt builder. This 1 world is more like ah unfinished suburb than a deserted cemetery." 'And the Public Works Statements issued by the Ward Ministry may fitly be compared to a series,of unfinished -«uiburbs, since in every case the' programme so ostentatiously'and elaborately outlined has not in one'single instance been performed m anything like its entirety. This consideration takes .away greatly from the im* pressiori sought to be conveyed to the country on the eve of a general election by the Minister of Public Works, Ma?' M'Kenzie, assuming for the nonce the character role of Bombastes, tells a flattering tale of the hopes that will be realised, if only the Ward Ministry comes back to.; power again. As a result of a doubla; process of borrowing and ■ Mr M'Kenzie is able to armournce:-aif j amount of nearly four millions sterling ! available for public works, out of which he proposes an expenditure of something', like three millions. Lest the electora : hiiight be deluded by Mr M'Kenzie's.' pleasing way of putting things, it is .as well to remind them that twelve months ago the Minister . boasted of ways and' means nearly as large in amount, or. to. be exact, £3,812,366 against £3,921,695. L.ast year the proposed expenditure waa£2.855,000, a sum subsequently increased ,' by (Supplementary votes to within a few hundreds of £3,000,000; yet. the actual expenditure fell short of the proposals' bv niore than a million pounds. It is fail? to, assume,, therefore, that the proposed'ex- " , penditivre of thrree millions will twelve mouths hence be found to have dwindled to little more than half that amount, ' pecinllv i&mce a comparative table showing the difference between the appropriations, .and expenditure \f or -the entire period oi. Sir Joseph Ward's Ministry confirms that conclusion: -*►

The Public Works Statement.

From an Otago point of view the PublicWorks Statement, is a distinctly disappointing document ; ■ far " while Mr.' .'•..•- M 'Kenzie has apparently awakened to the need of a number of new railways in the north,- the south is once more shamefully neglected. The propriation for the Catlins-Waimahaka railway is £BO,OOO, the same as last year'" when, however, only £56,592 of the amount was actually spent,, The

How Otapro is Treated.

Lawrence-Roxburgh line, for which £15,000 was voted last year, is to receive the extra. consideration this year of a £20,-000 vote; but exactly what this means may be gathered from' the fact that of last year s vote onlv £3894 has ben expended. And as a last straw the Otago Central railway is positively ignored—indeed, there mi<*ht not be such a railway in existence for° all that the Public Works Statement says on the subject. Although Mr M'Kenzie has thus deliberately flouted the unfortunate Otago Central settlers, he has discovered at least ten new railway projects in the. North Island deserving of consideration. It'is well for the thoughtful elector to ponder the different treatment meted out to the railways in the north, i The --North: Auckland I'line comes iflif or ah.appropriation of '£loojDOQf/ 'faith a similar ' amount for "the Sii'atford'-Maih Trunk-line.; while the East Coast Main; Trunk line.'"gets £75,000, and the South Island. Slain Trunk line £55,000. That white' : .elephaiit; :.the Midland-'railway, ?on which enormous sums have already been expended,, receives an appropriation of £195,000. The ..comment may fairly .be made that all the, argument; n&ad against .tlje resumption of work on the Otago Centraj line applies with equal force to the ISpr.th Auckland way, whilst on the South' Island- Main Trunk, in striking con-trast-to the treatm-eiiti 1 given to tbe'/Law-rehce-Roxbnfgh,*the last year's appropriation was actually overspent: Indeed, the only aleam of relief in the entire.. Statement is that portion which is devoted to ,i|ie. Government's intentions regarding *j*e,,- utilisation .of .water' power .for the

generation of electrical. energy, and the irrigation of Central Otago. Both schemes as yet are largely in the clouds ; but it is interesting to be informed that something systematic is at last within the bounds of probablity in the near future. These schemes, however, could as effectively be carried out under a Reform Government; while a change in Administration would at least do something to minimise the present injustice from ;• which" Otago at present suffers irt the" matter of rail-

' way appropriations," as 'well as their enibsequent «xpeiiiitnre". Viewed a!s an elec- _ tioneering'-aocument/from a strictly Ota,g;o point bf view, the Government certainly nSs riot improved its prospects ,by the Public WorSs Statement.

Each- day sees some new candidate for Parliamentary honours ing the hustings, and haranguing ; the electors' from ?.- ; - - - his particular platform. The majority.of the Ministerial''.'candidates are adding, very little indeed .to the, undeaBtand'ing of the political, situation, and it is-weary wca-k wading through the mass of platitudes with which their speeches are studded. Nor-cau.-the Labour party

t ..■-... ' : Election Frjspeets;

be complimented- upon the average quality of -its oratory; the "Labour candidate is sincere and earnest enough, and knows exactly what he -wants, "viz.—a large slice of the loaf-—but when it comes to practical and practicable!-proposals, sis i<S how that

, is to he secured, he is hopelessly at sea. Certainly there are rumours of-,-the advo- - racy of an , era of 'Syndicalism, or the sholition of the existing, social order by means ot the general etrike, but it is to believe that the majority of the workers would' lend themselves -to; any luch extreme and suicidal .measures'.-Since, however, the Arbitration Court as : at present constituted has come under the oandemnatiosn of, the Minister of Labour, there may be more., in the rumour than at present appears on the surface. Happily however,, the Ministry has one member Who is fertile in ideas and flowery in their expression, and who, having apparently deserted Wellington, is giving himself over to the newly-found* joys of electioneering. We refer to Sir John Findlay. The Attorney-general evidently intends that his campaign shall be an object-les-jtaii to all Government! candidates ; and he is giving all and .sundry hints as to. how a : seat may be wem, Parnell -having become for the time Sir John Findlay's objective; and, incidentally, his prospective place of residence has blotted out every place-on- the map. And "since those fortunes of Parnell are bound up with those of" Auckland,- that city, too is included in the chorus of approval. All- that the Auckianders have managed to say about themselves in the past—and the' citizens of the northern city are not exactly wanting in ..self-esteem—-pales before the laudation which pours, continually from Sir John Findlay's lips. Among other things, "the largest and -wealthiest city in the Dominion," is to have "the greatest railway station in the Dominion.'' Dunedin's costly and ambitious structure will henceforth take second place. It naturally follows that Parnell will, in due time—aided greatly thereto by the return of Sir John Findlay—become "the greatest industrial suburb in the Dominion." In short, there is nothing that Auckland ... may. ..'nc-t ; ask ; and . have if only Sir John Findlay's return- be secured,. The concession ■in railway fares made to the inmates of the Auckland Institute for the Blind is only the dew on the fleece; for with the Attorney-general as one of the representatives of the northern city, Auckland is led to expect a liberal policy in. the way of railway and other appropriations that shall speedily obliterate all the alleged "injustices", of the past. .All. this would be amusing if from a public paint of view it were not so.serious. Andi.it certainly (suggests eomethinig wrong with an Administration a leading member of which will so far attempt to. prostitute a constituency .in order to secure his return to Parliament.' .

To the already, disturbed state of the world', as evidenced in the Turco-Italian wait, and the insurrection in Portugal, has been added the rebellion in China, aimed at the overthrow ef the Maochu dynasty and the setting *t|> of a Cfhiaeae Republic, with the ulti-

Hie Chinese Rebellion.

mate of China for the Chinese. How far an evidently sporadic rebellion is able to make the faintest impression upon the densely-massed millions of China it is difficult to. conclude, frpm the necessarily fragmentary nature of the cablegrams. The most important factor in thevsituation would seem to be the partial mutiny of the army, and the siding of the soldiers with the mutineers. The rebels suffer "from the fact that their leader, Sun Yet Sen, is in New York engaged in raising money and shipping arms and ammunition, and the Government's position has been immensely strengthened by the re-appoint-ment to the command of the army of Yuan Shih Ivai, renowned as the strong man oi China, and who has faith in the loyalty of the northern army, which is his own creation. - The outstanding : mark of/the ■ revolution so far* has been the respect paid to the lives and property of foreigners; which rriay ba taken as sigh that" the "'revolutionaries" desire to secure the-;.non-intervention'''"'of the Powers, "in order . that they nifty;'" uhihterfered -with, be' allowed' to settle" the situation: This shows' that the present rebellion differs from almost all the risings which have preceded it, in that mi-like the' White Lily Revolt, and subsequent and similar Boxer disturbances, it has no root in religious differences. E. H. Parker, in his work on China, points out that "though the term 'Boxer' is used by General. Nayeneh'eng in connection with that rising; its lineal descent from the White Lily sect is amply attested by him, though its official name at the time was T'ien-li, or 'Heavenly Order ' faith. .Its direct connection wth Christianity, or at lea«t with Christian ideas, is evident from the fact that the term 'White Ocean Faithis also va'guely used by some of the conspirators. At last, in 1850> the direct connection of Christianity with rebellion was made perfectly clear when the standard . was raised. .in Kwang Si,'.by a student of the Christian doctrine named Hung-Siu-ts'uan; he styled his sect the 'Chang-ti-Dwei', or 'Society of God,' and reigned for ten years as 'King of Heaven' at Nanking, claiming blood relationship with Jesus Christ." There is no such suggestion in connection with the present rebellion, which is aimed directly at the Manchu dynasty, and is purely political, both in aim and origin..

Appropriated. Expended 1906-7 ... ... £2.352.789 £2.040.165 1907-8 .. . ... 2.201.210 1.966.462 1908-9 .„ , ... 2,597.506 2.168.768 1909-10 ... . ... 2.336.735 1.993,171 1910-11 .. . ... 2,996,775 1,892,851