UNDERCURKENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18283, 21 March 1931, Page 6

UNDERCURKENTS.

HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE. (By "Gleaner.”)’ FISHY. "A correspondent writes that th» chairman of the County Council who recently expressed the opinion_ that town-planning is not worth of ilsh must have a tinned soul. Community Planning. Official organ of the Town Planning Institute of New Zealand. OUR ARMY SALUTES.

"Gleaner” was very amused by tho variety of military “salutes” in a photograph of Lord Bledisloe taking ihe salute on the steps of Parliament House at the opening of the special session. , , His Excellency’s salute is irreproachable, but the others! What wouldnt an Imperial regular army sergeantmajor do to them if he had them at an officers’ drill parade! One, evidently an Air Force officer, the photo's rather indistinct, apparently made a valiant attempt to imitate a British guardsman’s salute, hut his wrist defaulting and bending makes it look as if he were in the act of tickling his ear. So strenuous was the attempt though, that it pulled his tunio all out of shape. Beside him is somebody that’s very tired, for he had to bend his weary head to .meet a languid hand, while his elbow drops sorrowfully towards terra flrma. Further away stands a military officer behind a naval one. Overawed, perhaps, the presence of the Senior Service, his salute is half way between a naval one and a London taxi-driver accepting a medium sized tip. The less said about General Young’s flourish the better. SAILOR PLUTOCRATS. Twenty-one Union Steamship Company vessels are lying idle and it is estimated that the monthly loss to the crews which would he manning them were they running, is £20,000. It seems to "Gleaner” part of the fault is a sort of a “dog in the manger” act on Hie part of unionist seamen. Sailors’ wages on this coast are about tho highest in the world, and their living conditions about the best. It is safe to say that their wages are much more than they are worth and could be cut about 25 per cent, without infringing upon the slogan that "the labourer is worthy of his hire. If the wages were brought down to a sensible rate, more ships would be employed and therefore more seamen would he employed. Rut no, the sailors in berths, “egged pn” by their union, adopt the good old attitude, of "to the devil with you Jack, I’m all right.” So, those out of work help swell the ranks of the unemployed, and therefore add to the taxpayers’ burden. There are many good sailors on me beach now, non-unionists and uniooIsts, who would willingly go to sea at a good living wage, but are prevented from doing so by the plutocrats of the mercantile marine. "Gleaner” remembers the time able-* bodied seamen in United States vessels were getting around 100 dollars per month, with others in like proportion. Listening to the stump orators of their unions they struck for higher wages. The Government stepped in, and the duped 'seamen remanned their ships at a wage reduced by nearly a half. • * * * FIELD OFFICERS AND SAMOA.

The appointment of another exmilitary officer to be Administrator of Samoa seems to “Gleaner” to be an act of bad judgment and tactlessness on the part of the New Zealand Government. Added to that the gentleman selected is a lawyer In active practice, a fact which only adds insult to injury. Brigadier General Hart mav be a most estimable gentleman as far as his own home town and New Zealand are concerned, but In Samoa It may be a completely different matter. Here he is known; In the ‘'Unfortunate Isles" he Is not. The mere fact that he has got a military handle to his name will not engender confidence in the Samoans that New Zealand means well by them. However fine and capable a man he be the matter is bound to bo misunderstood. To “Gleaner" it seems a great mistake and a great pity. The Dominion is naturally lacking of anyone fully qualified by actual experience and training to accept such a responsibility as tho country’s representative to a people who are tantamount to an independent unconquered nation, but surely an equally good choice coultf ha%e been made from the puiel/ civilian population. . Better by far would be to appoint a Samoan to the position. Samoa belongs to the Samoans not to New Zealand. New Zealand only has the prerogative of guardianship which she seems unable and Incapable of excercislng or carrying out in a proper manner. The British example In the unfederated Malay States, non-British Indian States, Nepal and Bhutan, Oman, Tonga, and many other places would probably be the best, the natives ruling themselves, aided by British, or in Samoa’s case, New Zealand advisers — if such be available —after our record “Gleaner” doubts it. Let it be said that all the foregoing is “Gleaner's" opinion. NEWS AND TIIE CHURCH. The Archbishop of York complains that “ you never see headlines splashed across the newspaper ‘ ‘ Unity of. the Clergy ” but as soon as there is a difference among them there is a • Crisis in the Church.’ " The criticism is founded upon a misconception of the function of newspapers, which is to chronicle “ news ” —that is, things that happen. Their concern is with ihc dynamic, not the static. If there is unity among tho clergy, nothing happens, and nothing lias to he recorded. A " crisis,” on tiie other hand, even if it does not come to interdict or blows, lias dramatic significance, just as a dialogue lias more human interest than a soliloquy. A newspaper must not lie expected to record the things that don't happen as well as the things that do. ANDORRA. Andorra is Hie sole surviving specimen of tlio independence possessed in medieval limes by the warlike inhabitants of many Pyrenean valleys, lls privileges have remained intact, because, the suzerainty of the district became equally ami indivisihly shared in 1278 between the bishops of Urge I and the counis of Foix. the divided suzerainty being now inherited by the French crown and the present bishop of Urgel: and the two powers as well as the State’s inhabilants. have mutually checked innovations, while the insignificant territory has not been worth a dispute.