Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1907. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8789, 17 April 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1907. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE Nelson Conciliation Board tho other day after filing recommendations in connection with the demand ,of the Nelson Labourers’ Union ventured to propound a theory of wages as follows:—“It is only natural and right that a man’s labour should be worth, and that his wages should be, as much as will, with economy and prudence, enable him comfortably to maintain himself and family, to provide for the moans of paying medical attendance by subscribing to a benefit society or

otherwise, and to lay by enough for his support when Ids labouring powers have failed. ” Wo should be absolutely at one with the Board provided it had used tho word “desirable” instead of “natural and right.” Wo admit tho desirableness of tho ideal set forth by the Board, but opinions differ widely as to how such a state of affairs can bo attained. Wo have to remember that in the labour market, as in every other market, there is such a thing as supply and demand and that tho more fact thafa man is willing to work does not ensure him employment if the product of his labour is not required. If we take the case of tho Labourers’ Union with which tho Board vw immediately con. ;

cerned it is obvious that au influx of a hundred or so more labourers to the Nelson district would more than supply the existing demand. The Board might point out to employers that it was natural and right that these men should be employed, but we fear that employers would not look at things in the same light. As the result of its opinion as to the standard of wages the Board proceeded to recommend an increase in the prevailing rate" of wages, a course of action which may be justified in the particular case they wore investigating, though certainly not on the grounds put forward by the Board,

AFTER a long period of incubation Mr Haldane’s scheme for the reform of the British army has at last seen the light of day. It is obviously out of the question to give anything like an adequate account of the proposals in the space at our disposal, nor would the details be of interest except to military experts. In the speech in which Mr Haldane unfolded his new scheme he stated that it had been elaborated in the completest agreement between his Army Council and himself, and has received the endorsement of the Imperial Defence Committee. The scheme falls into two distinct parts perhaps it would be really more accurate to speak of two schemes—that dealing with the ;Ficld Force to be organised on the basis of the present regular army, and that dealing with the creation of a new territorial army out of the existing auxiliary forces. As regards the first part, the scheme represents the practical development of the general idea foreshadowed by Mr Haldane in July last. A Field force of some 160,000 men, organised in six large divisions, with four cavalry brigades, is to be made up out of the existing regular army, supplemented on an ingenious plan, by a certain proportion of men trained only for a very short period to perform necessary work in connection with ammunition columns and other noncombatant services for which highly skilled men are not essential.

THE remaining forces of the Crown—Militia, Yeomanry, Volunteers — are to be amalgamated into a single homogeneous territorial army. This army is to be some 300,000 strong, organised in 14 divisions, and is to contain all arms and all services in their due proportion. It is to have a uniform rate of pay and uniform system of training. Soma elasticity is to be allowed as regards the period of training, but all members of the force must do at the least eight days in camp during the year. The men of the territorial force are to enlist between the ages of 18 and 34, on a four years’ agreement, capable of exteuison, and must give three months’ notice and pay a sum of money amounting probably to £o it they wish to withdraw. On. the mobilisation of the First Class Army Reserve the whole Territorial Army is to be embodied and trained continuously for at least sis months. The territorial troops will be obliged to serve anywhere in the United Kingdom, but be allowed to volunteer for foreign service, and Mr Haldane’s hope is that they w ill volunteer, not merely as individuals or by battalions, but even by brigades and divisions. The Whole of the force is o be strictly territorialised, and to be recruited and administered, though not commanded or trained, by county associations comprising local representative elements as well as officers of the Regular and Territorial Force.