The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, not Men." SATURDAY, 3rd AUGUST, 1912 DEPARTMENTAL REFORM.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 5966, 3 August 1912, Page 2

The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, not Men." SATURDAY, 3rd AUGUST, 1912 DEPARTMENTAL REFORM.

The present Alinialry Kan nh«wn a good and much needed example by slaying nt'ASelliiiglon and minding the Departments. Especially is praise duu to iku flon. A Ailun, our ruepautsd and popular ineuifecr who has gtack so closely lo his work that leas has been heard oi him iii tho newspapers than of almost any other memlwr. V\ ii know, UowuVer, that Mr Allan haa lnwn making Ida ißUUeuco felt in som» purpose in the important dopaitinmt.s «t which ho hus the management, ttfd tape has hews uawound, grievances havo been redressed, and injustices been remedied with a •promptness aad celerity t'» lyhich the country luts been long a stranger. H Uic present Cabinet 4<j nothing but rii-orgauiso tlw Departments, undjot rid of cumbersome anal ciroumlo*utory niethuds «f administration it will have deserved well of the country. And wo believe khal thu Minis,t«r of lunnnce, BtfeiMU!, a td IMuualion is determined to distinguish hiniKuli in thic respect. Mr Aalca wan neve* a great man for tho limelight and slue;'; posturiiig. ■ Bo ig ono of tyro steady, prudent, thinkjsig : order of statesman, just th» man the country wants at the present jurcture. His •rganUiug genius will be specially taxed in tho Education and Defence Departnierjts, which have betm tietnuing their inefficiency of late by making tremendous demands on thu nation's slock of paper in tho way of issuing circulars, more or less UKpractical and superfluous, though, 0 f course, aifording nnployment to the denizens of over-stocked bureaus. We hope that the present Ministry will stand long enough to got tho Departments into good working order. It has made a good start with if i»,, claimed policy of economy and ellicicncy. We mußt admit, howevw, that the previous Ministry did not get a fair chance to re-ovganiso the. Bcpartments. On account oi the persistent misropresentatiorj of tho greater part o! the daily Press, its members perforce had to Iwe' their prop«r work to gad about Ae !)••

minion enlightening tho democracy in regard to their intentions, so much so that they »cvov had time to carry out their intentions. The same Press has appointed itself to he euide. philosopher, and friend to Mr Massey's. Cabinet. We trust Mr Mass.-v and Mr Allen are too shrewd to !>• led away too far from their proper work hv journalistic incitements to reactionary legislation or administration. We anticipate thai " Steadyon " will bo their motto.

AVAtiNT ! WAR SCARES. ' The sigus of the times point to ano- ' ther outl»r«ak of Tcutonophobia or German war-scare. It is three years ' since the last when Sir Joseph Ward presented his famous Dreadnought. This audacious feat of our late Premier did not raise him to the gallery occupied by such savi»urs of the Empire as Nelson, Wellington, Rhod»s. and Chamberlain. It should have done so if the scare had Iwan g> nuine instead of being merely a periodical parsdy of the cry oi lisop's shepherd-boy, Wolf ! Wolf ! raised Jotparty, Press, promoting pad purveying purposes. A war-scare always comes in handy for the manufacturers and sellers of machinery designed for th e production of corpses, it also shakes up dry lwnes in the stock exchange*, it increases the Bale of the daily papers, and it diverts public attention, frr-m Radicalism, Socialism, sad consideration of the social arrangements by means of which fche few get or keep riches while the manv remain popr. It seems clear that th« people ef the British Empire can always be depended upon to respond to a patriotic cal to arms whether the call is justifiable or not. Nevertheless thoy invariably visit their displeasure od the heads of those enterprising statesmen, who, assuming that prevention is better than cure, strive to arouse them from their apathy by inturring extraordinary expenditure. Such ww the fate of Sir Joseph Ward. He stiove t 0 augment his popularity by manifestatioHs of a bold and brilliant patriotism, which [or a day or two turned the eyes of the whole world on New Zealand, lie presented to the Empire a battleship costing nior e pounds thaa there are people in cur little Dominion, and he devised a scheme oi universal military training which many sincere patriots wi«b th» Motherland to copy. These achievemeots were received with universal acclaim) and will *crve as landmarks for the future historian of our islands. Rut did they p'acc Sir Joseph Ward or a safe and permanent pinnacle of earthlv fame '.' Not at all. And that is what constitutes the paradox of New Zealand's patriotism. Though Sir Joseph's Imperial is£ie policy was so soul-stirring ami popular, a? soon as he api>e»led to tho country fo» approval of his stewardship he received notice of his dismissal. Therefore we conclude that it is very herd to measure, in a British community, the amount? of genuine ps,tr|ytic feeling which is behind a statesman who strikes out on a now' path to the coal of a United Umpire. And the permanence of patriotic fame is a v «ry doubtful quantity mdeed. Why, just the other day the Auckland Stock Exchange's committee told the Wellington Stock Exchange that it had no intention of contributing to the fund for providing a birthday present to the Right Horn. Joseph Chamberlain, part promoter »f tho great Boer War, a wl the greatest (.♦lomal Secretary on record. Such is toe Bltimato destinv of politici-ass who get mind np with war* andiwarscares Th«nr reputafljon goes up like a rocket and comes down like the stick. And it is rißht that it should w». Those who kindle the antisocial and atavistic passions of inanta»d hav» bq title to permanent fame

;is benefactors o! Hieir s>p»ci>-s. It is to be hoped that at the pivsentcrisis oi foreign affairs at Home no statesman will bo so far misled by jingoistic journals as- tr. sacrifice domestic reforms to what is euphemistically called' a spirited foreign policy. Undoubtedly there exists tendensics to a rccrudesaence of belligerent Chauvinism in both England and .Germany. Knglish complacency and respectability have bom cruellv disturbed by strikes, tieriaany's Parliament? lias been packed with pernicious Socialists. The upper and middle classes of bath nations are half-inclined to welcome national war as a kind oi distraction fronn industrial war. But the organised working-classes of iioth countries are opposed to a national war and tend to fraternise for mutual aid against the common enemy, international capital. We are told that not lou:; ago soiii-« German workers sdbscribed £IOOO in aid of th e London strikers. 'When labour becomes international as well as capital war will be impossible, for the workers of the belligerent countries will down tf-ols as soon as a warlike expedition is planrrd. The national strike will kill militarism. Syndicalism is the antithesis to Chauvinism. Atd quiet people abhor both " isous." Let us hoipe that <quiet people -will eventually corns into their own by the mutual destruction of the disruptive forces of society.