Current Comment.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue VI, 11 August 1900, Page 244

Current Comment.

More About the Governor's Salary.

One of the arguments which Mr. Setldon add need in favour of the proposed increase was that the reduction in the salary had limited the selection of Governors. Certainly this colony has no reason to complain on that score. The Governors whom we have had since the salary was reduced to '£sooo have been the Earl of Onslow," -the Earl of Glasgow, and the Earl of Jianfurly. and we venture to say that there is no individual in the colony who will deux that in point of ability, in point of statesmanship, and indeed in every respect, they have compared favourably with any of their predecessors, and more than favourably with some of them. And, if Mr Seddon's argument has any force in it. New Zealand would, even if the salary were retained at £5OOO, be favoured in the future by the class of men from whom the Imperial Government selects its Governors. From the beginning of next year, when the Australian Commonwealth comes into existence. the State Governorships will command smaller salaries than the Colonial Governorships now carry, and the Governorship of Netw Zealand will relatively be a greater prize than it is at the present time. We do not see, therefore, that there is any occasion to increase the salary of the Governor of the colony to the extent proposed by the Government. But Captain Bussell's statement, that every Governor who has been in New Zealand for the last 15 or 20 years has left the colony a poorer man than when he arrived weighs strongly with us. and, while we are not prepared to go to the length proposed by the bill, it seems to us that if the salary attaching to the office were fixed at £6OOO a fair compromise would be secured.—Otago “Jtaily Times.” 4r 4? <■

The Libel Bill.

.The attempt on the part of a considerable section of the press to heap contumely on certain members of the Ministry and of the House in connection with the above Hill is unwarranted and undignified. The Bill was a private member's Bill, and was introduced for the benefit of a section of the community only. Admitting that in tiie interest of that section of the community it was advisable, it was quite within the rights of any member of the House to oppose it. The great arguments used in favour of it were to assimilate the law of libel here with that of England, and to give greater freedom to tile press, principalis in the matter of reporting; clause 3. round which the most discussion ranged, providing that “a fair, impartial and correct report of a public meeting may be privileged.” No doubt most newspapers would be glad to see the Bill passed into law, as it would make the work of reporting much more easy and less responsible than at present. This is, however, no reason for vilifying those who oppose it- (hi the whole newspapers contrive to get on very well in spite of the defective state of the law. The advantages of being able to report all that is said at public meetings is, after all. a very doubtful one. and the Bill did not propose to make ’ privileged" leading articles, locals or matter in 1 lie correspondence' columns.—. “Daily Bost," Taranaki. + + <t

The Mines Statement.

A soberly optimistic tone runs through the -Mines Statement presented to l’.<rlu meat yesterday by .Mr McGowan. Mining statements are. of course, always printed more or less in coidettr de K.se. seeing that their function is largely to advertise our resources to the world, but this year the Minister hns sound cause for his optimism. Dufing the year under review. there has been a marked increase in the production of gold, silver, coal, and other minerals (including kauri gum), representing a value of nearly half a million sterling, in comparison with that of the year preceding. Nor is this all, for when the development works in progress at many mines are Completed, and a large number of dredges now in course of construction have been put to work, it is confidently expected that the returns of gold produced will materially increase. There is also every indication that (lie out-

put from coal mint's will advance. As might be expected, however, the Statement deals depreeatingly with the purely speculative aspect of the dredging boom.

♦ ♦ * J Co-operative Housekeeping.

It is evident to common sense tlmt instead of a hundred fires cookingsmall portions of food for individual families it would be much more economical for one fire to cook the meals for the hundred families in some central position where thley could be eaten at separate t ildes in a spacious hall. 'l’lie food would be better cooked, better served, superior in quality, and there would be a greater variety. The saving would be enormous, and the charge very moderate. The sum for three square meals might possibly be not more than a shilling- or two per day. There is no reason why such a plan should not be carried cut. for those who might desire to avail themselves of it. But without pursuing the idea any further we would point out how the plan would affect servants. Of course, those who objected to have their meals in common might stop at home and cook them, or get some other person to do so. But as regards servants they would be hired for certain hours a day to do domestic work for their employers. But many of them would be employed by the public service in the laundries, kitchens, and dining- halls. They would be engaged for a. fixed time, say seven hours a day. and half the time oh Sunday in two batches. They would be thoroughly trained in their work and duty, no evasion or shirking tolerated. The standard would be high and efficiency would be expected. But when the work was done the servant would be a free agent, living- at home, and having abundant time to practise the piano or indulge her tastes in any other way she regarded most desirable. —W-a’rarapa “Star.” - 4-

Kitchener's Work at the Front.

The mobility of an army depends on this last consideration. It moves, as has been said, on its belly, at a rate calculated by that of the slowest waggon; and it was the organisation of the transport sufficient io ensure the mobility of 100,000 men that was entrusted to Lord Kitchener as soon as Lord Roberts set foot in Bloemfontein. He found a vast amount scattered widely, in large and small groups, over the country, all of which, and whatever else could be raised from every end of Cape Colony, he swept together. All distinctions of transport, regimental, departmental, ammunition, or ambulance, were done away with and swamped in a single general corps—a gigantic undertaking, only to be attempted by a man of unswerving determination. In an army each unit is allowed by regulation its own transport; regiments, staff, departments are allotted waggons “by scale,” laid down in many red books, which is pertinaciously stuck to by those to whom it applies. For example, the waggons told off to a battalion are arrived at as follows: The colonel, the adjutant and orderly-room get a tent each; every three officers have another, and fourteen men cram into one more. Staff sergeants, batmen ami other details have claims to more. Mounted officers arc allowed eighty pounds baggage, smaller fry forty pounds, each company puts in another eighty pounds for cooking pots, giving a transport allowance, roughly speaking, of 15 waggons—a brigade asking - for 70, and a division for perhaps ISO—so that an army of 100,000 men would be entitled, for combatants only, to about 2000 waggons, with 30.000 oxen, and 4000 native drivers, and would occupy road space for each division of nearly six miles. It was to cut down this that Lord Kitchener set to work. Each unit was tackled separately, the regiments, as the most tractable, coming first, to be told, probably, that instead of the regulation 15 waggons' they must- do with ten. Then came staff and departments. supply, transport, medical, pay, and what not, ench of them being liberally supplied on paper, “by regulation,” according to the relative rank of the members, bristling with field officers, every one of them most tenacious about the substantial rights

which his unsubstantial rank allows him to demand. And it is here that the difficulty of “cutting down" becomes acute. The transport department. which is in possession, has to be delicately handled. The quantity of forage, stores, extra wheels, and so on, to be carried is not easy to cheek. Supply—well, the troops must be fed, and “bully beef” when ticked off in tins, the numbers rippling off the supply officer’s tongue in thousands, requires calculation. Staff are men of position and can always bring in the general, who “will have things comfortable"; while the doctors, who exact their right to the last ounce, can always shelter their demands under reference to the sick, and to the pills and other hospital comforts which must accompany them. No wonder that with all these discordant elements, each one determined to fight reduction to the bitter end. Lord Kitchener received full measure of abuse from regimental officers, from artillery officers, and from the doctors. But he was not a man to be thwarted by rank, although relative, nor by regulations, although approved by a Secretary of State, and the entire staff of the War Office. And so we are told that he effected a great economy in the number of waggons employed, without which the march to Bloemfontein and the further advance on Pretoria might never have succeeded.—From “The War Operations in South Africa.” by a Military Contributor in “Blackwood's Magazine" for June, 1960, 4- 4* 4

The Monarch-Murdering Maniac.

There is no certain way of discouraging this terrible type of crime, as anyone who essays it is aware of the penalty, ami is not- deterred from making the attempt that carries with it capital punishment. They are in nearly all cases “cranks.” who persuade themselves that by slaying some prominent person they will be rendering a service to their country. They are willing to risk the penalty, and die as martyrs if brought to trial and condemned. It is impossible to enact any law that will deter such people from committing murder or trying to do so. Perhaps the best way to treat them would be to immure them for the rest of their lives and never mention their names again, for there is nothing these criminal lunatics erave after so much as notoriety. Deprive them of that, and their admirers will soon turn their attention to some other class of crime by which they can gain the notoriety they crave for. The homicidal phase of insanity is one of the commonest of manifestations of mental aberration, and the hardest to forfend, as frequently the. first intimation of its existence in the person affected is the committal of some terrible act of violence. 4 4 4

An Advancing Canse.

Needless to say. the Hon. Major Steward has once more introduced his Elective Executive Bill. Probably he has no expectation of carrying it during the present session, or even during the present Parliament, but he does well to persist quietly year by year, confident that his proposal has the forces of the future on its sfde, and that the regime of an artificial partisanship is surely doomed. It needs perhaps to be repeated that the movement led by Major Steward does not seek to destroy any clearly defined party distinctions which may really mark broad differences of political thought. It seeks to destroy the artificialities, the hampering humbug, the unreal distinctions, and. above all. the grave Parliamentary abuses which have gathered round the existing political system. It seeks to make the Cabinet really, tts well as theoretically, representative of Parliament, and to deprive the first Minister of that exorbitant predominance which, in New Zealand at least, has worked with such mischievous (not to say scandalous) effects during the last few years. Why should vacancies in the Ministry be filled by the Premier? Why should the Ministry, in the first instance, be chosen by one man? Why should not the I’remier himself be the direct choice of the representatives of the people? The Ministry, properly regarded. are the Executive Committee of Parliament; or, let us say, the Board of Directors of a business concern. Should not the shareholders appoint the directorate? Is it not wrong that the Chairman of the Board should have sole power of filling vacancies on the Board without consulting the shareholders? By the way, we asked just now, “Why should not the Pre-

mier himself be the direct choice of the representatives of the people?” and here we are inclined to dissent from Major Steward, who proposes that the Ministers, after being elected by Parliament, should proceed to choose their Premier. But we shall probably take another opportunity of recalling the attention of our readers to the provisions of the major's Bill. 4 4. 4.

The War Hospital Allegations.

The scale of hospital appliances adopted by the Government is admitted to have been ample. Provision was made for ten per cent, of sick and wounded. This is stated to be the standard adopted for operation in the Tropics. This fact relieves the mind of the impression that niggardliness and disregard of the lives of our soldiers has been a cause of suffering. This suffering has been terrible, and it may be that the narrative has been somewhat coloured, and that familiarity with the horrors inseparable from war might have prepared a visitor for the dismal sights that met his eye. No doubt that is so, and it is not matter for regret that the glamour should be taken from brilliant feats of arms by the revelation of the inevitable incidents of a campaign, and that those who are responsible for an appeal to the sword should be forced to realise what fighting implies to the soldier. The nation must suspend its judgment till the whole of the circumstances have been carefully considered from all points of view by the competent tribunal which is to be set up for the purpose. Every general in the field and every Government will act on the principle that when military exigencies are entirely incompatible with the proper treatment of sick and wounded soldiers, they must be left to suffer till the military situation is relieved., “Waikato Argus.”