The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JULY. 26, 1890. MARITIME COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2077, 26 July 1890, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JULY. 26, 1890. MARITIME COUNCIL.

The Maritime Council has scored another magnificent success. It has settled the dispute between the officers arid shipowners. Who can Bay now that a social revolution has not set in when Jack Tar of the forecastle is called in to adjudicate in the disputes between the proud pompous shipowner and his high-toned officers in the saloon. This is certainly a reyolution which no one would have believed possible a few years ago; such an idea would have been ridiculed, yet there the fact remains. And what is more, Jack's judgment has been so fair, so honest, and so just that both plaintiff and defendant have left the court smiling, with all soreness healed up and everything settled amicably. This is really marvellous, and shows plainly the tendency of the age. Whoever Mr Millar and the executive of the Sailors Union are they deserve the thanks and the good-will of the whole colony. They have settled many disputes in a most amicable manner, and have thus rendered great services to the people in preventing strikes and their concomitant evils. Their success is extraordinary, and the secret of it must lie in the fact that they are honest, earnest men, who have no thought; no ambition, no desire, m selfish end in view except the good of their fellow men. Oh! Would that our Parliament was composed of such men, what a different country this would be. And yet who are they? We have not the slightest personal knowledge of them, but we presume they are not men who have a large stake in the country. The popular idea is that one of the necessary qualifications for a member of Parliament is to have a large stake iu the country—that is, a large estate —for nothing else is recognised. Brains, sagacity, prudence, and a capacity for understanding the fitness of things are very poor qualifications compared with broad acres. Man's intellectual capabilities are more frequently measured by the breadth of his acres than by the breadth of his brow, but Mr "Millar and his friends have proved all wisdom is not confined to territorial posshssions and a bank credit balance. They have proved that poor men can govern with an ability that puts our political axegrinders to the blush, and are possessed of common sense and business capacity when called upon to exercise them. We congratulate the Maritime Council on its successes, and wish it a prosperous and useful career.