DAILY NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7807, 11 September 1903, Page 2

DAILY NOTES.

Although there is no reaSCARLATINA. son for >pamc at the ditaeaisions reached by the outbreak of scarlatina in Ohrisftchurch, it aippsars to us' to tteimatrdi tho very serious attention of the authorities. The disease is not widespread enough to be dignified 'by the name of am epidemic ; indeed, it is hardly more prevalent ab the present time than it has been at almost any other period during the past two years. But the position is, nevertheless, serious enough to be unjileasant. During the jlasb ten days, nearly forty cases have been announced, and a* the jramlberreporWdi .pr-obaibly represents only a-poition of the cases actually discovered, it is clear that the latter musVbe very large. Undoubtedly there is need for activity on the part of the health authorities.

The Barton Government in extremis, appears to be floundering deeper and' deeper in the mire. On Tuesday ifc was defeated in both House and Senate, and its leader t&ok time to consider his position. Ultimately he decided to abandon the Arbitration Bill, the measure on which he had been defeated: in the Lower House. From- motives of policy Sir Edmund Barton may possibly claim that he t'o-ok the wisest course. The Federal elections are close at 'hand 1 , and this being the case- the temptation to " hang on " to office a^fc all costs was probably oveppowermg. But his rejection of the Arbitration. Bill is- likely to lose him more support than it will gain him at the polls. Ifc is certain to* aliorate the labour 'party's last rag of sympathy, and it will probably arouse tho : opposition of nearly everybody who dislikes trimming 1 in a.ny shape or form.

No doubfc the Opposition A leader, feels oiiighty pr.oud of itself. After goinf leaderless for ona whole Parliament an A half a session 7 of another, it has at. length found a chief in the ' person of Mr Massey. It could hardly have madia a better selection fx'om the material available. Mr Massey has some pretensions to being a etrong man, a quality rare in th-o ranks of the Conservatives, and apparently he possesses the confidence of his party. The Litter might have laid itself op-pji. to « charge of ingratitude in .■noteleUins Sir William Russell, if Sir William liimi s- If ]:,i(i not cleared the way by proposing

Two intoreslihg annonncprnAT, meuts rcgnrdiiig lihe cnal inPBmu.icjis. flustry were made yest-cr-Ony. Oae -was that owing to tfio Rlacknoss of trade large numbers of men '. vor*>. b'eing 1 dischairged from tie West-port Compimy's mines ; the other t'hafc the IVnesulo Ciillicry Com'puny had sold its pro- . ]io.rty cuiil plant, "on n unsh basis equal to [ a pro-tit- of wot .50 |h.t cent on the capital • iavested a jeaa' ago."' The two amioiuice-

ments «re calculated to make some men ponder. Either the Tyneside Cnmipany must hnve been wond'rously undercapitalised or the present purohaser is paying a graafc de/ii too much for (ho property. If neither is the case, the only alternative conclusion is t^ a * *' ie coa^ intlusl-ry ilias improved t<oi the extent of 50 per cent during the last twelve months. But. if the expansion has been bo great, how is it that the Westport Company is (pedmcing tlia niuwber of its hands? Tibe proiblem is a little complicaited, espeoiolly nu the cost of coal to the consumer is outrageously high. We fully sjmjxitdijse witth local needs, the correspondent of a contemporary who asks, "Is ib not a piece of injustice that we 'have not a public market in Christ-church?" We will not go so fnr as to assert that a positive injustice arises out of the absence of a market, but we gladly .admit that the city ought to possess a market. It oug.ht certainly to have a central buildirag of some kind for tfee sale of fish and fruit. Until some such building is available, Cfarirtt&imrh, will remain one of the worst-served: cities in €he colony with regard to these two commodities.