PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9252, 3 June 1908, Page 1

PUBLIC OPINION.

FROM YESTERDAY'S NEWSPAPERS. ' (By Telegraph.) THE HON J. A. MILLAR. The Minister of Labour displayed good mettlesome quality at the Garrison Hall last niglit. The recent crossI lire of criticism lias not induced a de- ! pressed or apologetic mood, and though tho speech was quite free from a provocative element it was marked by an unmistakably resolute and confident note. Mr Millar managed to put some matters regarding the late dispute in a new light, and lie convinced his j hearers, if indeed they required to be convinced, that he had been actuated by an anxious desire to maintain the cause of impartial justice. No doubt there will b<_ some difference of opinion as to the validity of one or two of his contentions. We may say at once that he was altogether successful in defending the Government . from the cnarge of nervous dilatoriness in their dealing with the Blackball strikers. Tho measure of approval bestowed on Mr Millar's defence of his Department's administration of the law will depend a good deal on the point of view, but perhaps all parties would do well to ; let - bygones be bygones, and try to work together in a spirit of candid conciliation in order to effect the amendments of which tho law admittedly stands in need. — Dunedin "Star." THE MINISTER OF LABOUR. . Mr Millar carried the bulk of the meeting with him in his defence of his administration of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. It is unjust to charge Mr ; Millar and the Government, as in effect they are charged, with persecuting the miners in instituting proceedings to ensure that the decision of the Arbitration Court in inhicting a penalty for the breach of the award shall be respected. It is the duty of the Government to administer the law as it finds it,, and, as he himself asserts, Mr Millar would be unfit to hold the honourable position lie occupies if whatever his sympathies may be, lie were to allow the Act to j become the dead letter it would asj suredly be if he allowed any body of men to snap their fingers at a judgment of tlie Court. — " Otago Daily Times." THE CASE OF MR DI_XON. As matters stand he is a living testimony to tne condition of things that has' been created by the Government's truei-ling to Labour. While we may smile, therefore, at the enthusiasm of his friends we cannot escape the significance of the incident hs a remarkable puolic protest against the administration that has turned New Zealand into the land in which men find it pays them to defy the law by going on strike. The public realises that Mr [ Dixon was abandoned by the GovernI mont to the sharp edge of a law that I it intends to repeal and that it last year proposed to repeal, while the people who aided, and abetted the Blackball strike have been permitted to escape the' operation pf an enactment | that the Government declares will be strengthened and made more effective. -" The Dominion." AN AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM. The establishment of an agricultural museum, which the Government has already well in hand, will be another feather in the cap of the Minister of Lands. The splendid collection which the country owes to the indefatigable zeal of Mr T. W. Kirk, tlie Government biologist, and his staff, has spent a large part of its existence in packing; cases or inaccessible attics, but it will become an educational institution of the utmost value as soon as it is ( properly housed and* displayed. — " Eveninor Post." AERIAL NAVIGATION. By slow but perceptible degrees the navigation of the air is' working its way into practice. Tbe art is still in the experimental stage, but the large number of balloons started in tlie Hurlingham race and the large sums reported to have been offered for places in the cars, indicate that ballooning is already one of the pastimes of tho wealthy, and when once the aeroplane is constructed which will travel fifty miles in one flight, that machine will come into general use, apart from its application to the science of war. This has been the invariable course of all modern improvements in this class of mechanism. The bicycle was the possession of the privileged few until prices cheapened, and it became the property of the many. The motor-car Was indulged in as a luxury by those to whom money was not considered before its more economical production enabled it to be applied for mere commerpial uses. The same may be said of the motor-boat, and we shall see tho same sequence with the flying machine. — " New Zealand Herald." ARBITRATION ACT. Mr Millar dealt in his Dunedin speech at some length with the proposal to establish industrial Cbuncfs instead of Conciliation Boards, and certainly the amount of success that has been secured by tribunals of this character in England and America and on the Continent, encourages the hope , that they will remedy some of the more obvious defects in our system here. The suggestion that when workers have been fined by the Arbitration Court thoir employer should retain some part of their wages till the fines are paid, roused a heated controversy when it was brought up last year, and we do not expect that Mr Millar will easily induce the workers to accept it, but some modification of the law is certainly necessary to obviate the intermin- i able difficulties that arise over the en- . forcement of the Court awards by i special penalties. — Auckland " Star." 1