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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 18, 21 June 1913, Page 4

A man shiiulil be as particular, in tin: choice uf a whisky as lie is in the choice of a bride. In either case, lie is almost certain to suitor afterwards if he chooses the \vron<r one. The man who drinks ■•I'IOKnaTIDV is like the fortunate husband who has chosen a fjood partner in life- alwavs contented, happy and brijrht. If you're liviti;:' in the country. If you're liciie.' in the (own. Ill' if you've ji'ot just, eighteen pence. Or even half a crown: r<:-r if yon have, and winter's chill Al lark you I ill you're very ill, Thai little "stocking" will procure A l.MitUe of Woods' Oca I I'eppenniuf Cure.

THE MARCOXI REPORT. The Marconi hubbub, which has occupied a prominent place in the cables of late, was practically brought to a conclusion in the House of Covinous on Thursday by a somewhat dramatic acknowledgment by the two principally affectedMr. Lloyd George and Sir Rufus Isaacs—of the error of judgment they had committed in connection with the purchase of shares. The main facts of the case are as follows. Sir Rufus Isaacs bought a considerable number of shares in the American Marconi Company from his brother, a stock broker, who was seeking to unload 500,000 shares in Marconi dotation. Sir Rufus at lirst decided against buying, and then, unfortunately, yielded to his brother's pressure. He sold some of the shares at a profit, and induced Mr. Lloyd George and the Master of Elibank to take over others. But j before taking over the shares "Sir Kufus satisfied himself, so he claims, that the American and English Marconi companies were separate, and, therefore, the American company had no prospect of benefiting by the exclusively Imperial service covered by an agreement entered into by the British Government with the British Marconi Company. But the shares in the two companies moved sympathetically, it being subsequently discovered that the English company held a controlling interest in the American enterprise, and furnished it with three directors. When a question was subsequently asked in Parliament, the Ministers stated that they were not interested in the English Marconi Company. This, of course, was true, but the Ministers did not say that they had been speculating in the American Marconi shares. Had they made a frank statement then of their position in regard to the shares, their action would not have been open to the same objection as it was when the true facts were dragged out of them before a Special Committee set up by Parliament to enquire into the whole matter. The Ministers, in Thursday's debate, explained that they had intended to make a full statement of their transactions before the Committee, and for that reason considered it inadvisable to tell the House the facts in October. The whole transaction was a serious mistake, and this is now realised by the Ministers, whose statements in the House could not have been more candid or humble. There certainly was nothing corrupt in their behaviour. All things, said a great authority, are lawful; all things, however, are not expedient. The dabbling of the Ministers in these shares, at a time when a sister Marconi company was about to be given Government contracts, was lawful; but it was not expedient. A Minister of the Crown has to undergo more than one self-denying ordinance. And the greatest \a that, he must not use information coming, to him in his public capacity to advance his private interests, or invest' in companies whose profits or dividends depend upon Government contracts. When his private and public duties conflict, he must either sink his private interests or quit office. That.is the unwritten law, and it is well that it should obtain and be observed. Of course, Sir Rufus Isaacs says that he was positively assured bv his brother, before he bought the ilwres, that the financial fortunes of the one company were not bound up with tlie other, and that he acted quite innocently in the matter, but he now sees that his action was indiscreet. Similarly at fault was the judgment of Mr. Lloyd George and the Master of Elibank, in allowing themselves to be persuaded into buying the shares. As one writer has put it, '•lndiscretion, thoughtlessness, a deflection of judgment, are in one category; meanness and a corrupt will in quite another." The enquiry has achieved a lot of good. It has cleaved the air of charges and insinuations against the personal character of the Ministers concerned, and thereby of Parliament itself; served as a life-long lesson to the erring Ministers; and vindicated a principle which applies to the political life of the colonies with as much force as it does to that of the Motherland.