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Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 35, 18 March 1914, Page 6

The Minister of Justice has fulfilled the promise made in the House and elsewhere that, when it could be done, the Police Force would receive recognition in the matter of improved salaries and conditions. The principle of "good pay for good service" is in every way a commendable one, and the dissatis-

faction that has been evinced at times by certain sections of the Force should be allayed by the notification of the new rates of pay. This consideration ■for a body of Government servants whose responsibilities and functions are unusually exacting is overdue. The salary attaching to the position of an ordinary constable was such that it is no wonder the Minister had cause to deplore the difficulty of obtaining the services of a sufficient number of really first-class men. The Force is no place for shirkers or for faint-hearted individuals. There is plenty of hard work —work which at times reaches the low level of drudgery —and it is to the credit of these preservers of the law that , they haye, as an industrial entity, carried out their duties with so much success. The policeman 's life is made up very much of plain routine duties. The. remuneration, even of the detectives and senior-ser-geants, was much less than an ordinary robust man could earn with but little overtime on the wharf. In short, the service was generally overworked and underpaid, but the increases granted ' will tend to make brighter the lot of the man in blue. Under the revised regulations a man's promotion depends absolutely on his own efforts. As the Minister has said, every office in the department is open to the man who joins the service jj»s a constable.. It is essential for the well-being of the Force that the ladder should be available to all. The country has been well served by these Government and public servants in the past, and the latest concessions should ensure a continuation of this good service in the future. It is a proper recognition of a deserving body of men. The new scale will come into operation .on the first day of April.-

A curious situation has arisen in connection with the work of putting down the Australian transcontinental railway track, which will link up West Australia with the Eastern seaboard. The contract system, which, according to advices received, was introduced over portions of the work by the Commonwealth Government, despite active opposition by Labour organisations and by the Opposition party in the Federal House, has resulted in a strike —because" the contractors are now paying higher wages than the Government, and the' Government men have struck. This, latest development will serve to draw attention to the difficulties that confront the Commonwealth in the prosecution of this expensive, enterprise. ,Mr Andrew Fisher's opponents" and enemies declare that the, line was built for political purposes—as. a, sop. to an importunate Labour. section in the Western State, and .as a means of buttressing the s.omewhat ill-fated Fisher Government. The evidence of experts is in the direction of showing that this Westralian ,track is likely to prove a white elephant. Investigators who have discussed.the transcontinental proposal from ~outride , the arena of politics, are shaking their heads over this great railway line. Many have advocated the connection across Australia with Port Darwin, where there is some hope of such a line being of a strategic value. But State jealousies, have damned this route. The best result that can be looked for from the railroad to Kalgoorlie is that it will mean a speeding up, of the. mails from Home. Much .0f... the country through 'which the line will pass is hopelessly barren, and Premier Cook states that the West Australian portion of the track will involve an expenditure of £2,000,000. It look's a small' return for a mint of money. The Government had hardly settled the sleeper contract trouble before arrived, and over all the Administrative heads is the Senate's sword of Mr Joseph Cook's position demands sympathy.