PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9116, 23 December 1907, Page 1

PUBLIC OPINION.

>. » - I FROM SATURDAY'S NEWSPAPERS.---(By Telegraph.) • ' J THE COALMINING TROUBLE. j .We are loth to believe that the miners will stubbornly refuse to submit to a decision of the 'Court which, whati ever views maybe entertained respecting the sufficiency of the provision for overtime that has been made, although > that, as we have pointed out, was a matter of agreement between the comI pany and the union, must commend L itself to intelligent persons as unquestionably sound. It is a satisfactory L circumstance that the officials of the Labour Department are exerting them- ' selves to prevent the occurrence of such a crisis as would be precipitated if the miners and their union should prove to be unamenable to reason, and we hope that the efforts of the Minister and his staff may be productive of j such a result as will vindicate the authority of the Court. — " Otago Daily Times." JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. The powers considered that they^ had a, case of jewels, the glittering initials J.P. to bestow upon individuals of the right colour, ana the people's rightswere sacrificed to the joss of political expediency. At least one member of the Legislative Council, the Hon J. E. Jenkineon, strove manfully to have the anomaly abolished, but he was in advance of his contemporaries. It is surprising that the people who are the suf--1 ferers by the appointment of men whose knowledge of faw is about as extensive as their acquaintance with the man in the moon, do not demand peremptorily that the benches of the halls of justioe 6hould no longer be converted into vaudeville stages. — " Evening jPost." I THE COAL MINERS' TROUBLE. As the award has only a month or, two to run it is not likely that, any serious trouble will occur. In th^> circumstances, the owners might easily have conceded the point, even if 'he terms of the amending Act had been less .clear than tney are.' The miners "are in the right, however, and' it IS fine sheerest nonsense to argue, as some of the- authorities are arguing, that any concession would mean a breakdown in the arbitration machinery. — " New land Times;" . "v- ■■ '}■ THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA. Weeks and months roll by, but Russia seems to make little progress either n the direction of unity or of politicalfreedom. We • get but occasional glimpses of what is going on. They are, all lurid ones. It must be remembered that, so strict is the Press censorship, that only such news as the authorities deem it convenient to circulate finds it way into print, and it is all more or less coloured to suit the exigencies of the moment, political financial or other. : The story we piece together, the scrappy intelligence of the telegrams, is one of incessant plots and counter-plots, of popular risings suppressed with savage vengeance, of coldblooded murders and official massacres —"New Zealand Herald." THE PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS. Sir Joseph Ward proposes that the cost of rebuilding Parliament House should be borne by the people, and that the money should be collected by public subscription. Assuming that everybody in the country would be prepared to contribute towards such an object in proportion to his means, this strikes us as a remarkably good idea, but previous experience of public subscriptions for national memorials and similar purposes does not encourage the belief that the pecuniary burden would be fairly distributed. Possibly a thousand or more subscribers might supply all the money required, but their generosity would do nothing to quicken the sense of patriotism or public spirit in the hearts ?f their less enlightened fellow-citizens. \lt is possible that a compulsory levy in the form of a direct tax, fixed at a shilling minimum, might Jiave the desired \ effect, and this is at least worthy of consideration.— " Auckland Star."