The Week in Review.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 26 January 1910, Page 1

The Week in Review.

NOTICE.

The Editor will be pleased to receive for consideration Short Stories and Descriptive Articles illustrated with photos, or suggestions from con* tributors. Bright terse contributions are wanted dealing with Dominion life and ques. tions. Unless stamps are sent, the Editor aannot guarantee the return of unauib able MSS. How the New Zealanders are Misled—The Abuse of the Cable System. IT is impossible for the average New Zealander, following the cables from day to day, to grasp what “’the greatest political struggle of modern times” involves, as, unfortunately for us, the cables are partisan in their statement of the position. The New Zealand papers at present purchase the cable news that is sent from London to the Australian dailies. The cable services of the Empire are in the hands of a monopoly. They are virtually owned by six London financiers, who are all Tariff Reformers. It is patent to anybody who lias followed both sides of English politics that what we get sent out here is entirely the Unionist view of the case. The space devoted to the speeches of the leaders of both great parties are one indication of it. Time and again we have half a column, a whole column, sometimes a column and a-half of what Mr. Balfour (the Unionist leader in the Commons), or Lord Lansdowne (Unionist leader in the Lords) has to say. It is followed up by lengthy quotations from Unionist reactionary journals like ‘‘The ?fmes.” ‘‘The Daily Telegraph,” “The Daily Mail,” “The Pall Mall Gazette,” and

“The Standard.” The most enlightened of all the Unionist papers on Imperial affairs—“ The Morning Post” —is seldom if ever quoted for the reason that it occasionally tells the Unionists the truth about themselves. On the other hand, when the Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith) makes a speech, the cable man seems to be chiefly employed in separating his original sentences from their context, and wording statements in such a way as not only to be misleading, but sometimes to convey a meaning directly contrary to what was originally intended. Some system of deliberate misrepresentation seems to be in operation. When Mr. Lloyd George or Mr. Winston Churchill (both of whom are cordially hated by Unionists for their attacks on wealth and privilege) make any remarks, the cables either deliberately ignore, them or give quotations from a single sentence that, separated from the context, might mean anything, and not infrequently makes the speaker look foolish. There is not space here to give the cables as they are sent out, and the remarks of Liberal statesmen as they appear reported in both Unionist and Liberal papers. But the charge of partisanship against the "cable accounts of British polities sent put to the Australian colonies is none the less substantially true. Juggling with the Language. We seldom, if ever, get anything like a proportionate and accurate view of the Liberal side of politics as presented by their own journals. The items cabled, instead of representing any of the views put forward by Liberal editors, are more often so trivial and so dexterously .worded as to rather discredit them in the minds of the Australasian public, who follow British affairs. The habit has grown up in the colonies of accepting the cabled statements as a pure and unadulterated statement of- fact. Not

a few editors in New Zealand accept the cabled statements unquestioningly, whereas, should the Liberal party in New Zealand ever be misrepresented to Britain in the manner the British Liberals are pictured to the Australasian colonies, there would be columns of protest and indignation. How Mr. Lloyd George is Treated. The system of misleading the New Zealand public seems to have been very much in active operation over the present fight. Mr. Lloyd-George, as the protagonist of the Budget, is surely entitled to be as well and as liberally treated by the cables as Mr. Balfour or the Marquis of Lansdowne. But he is not. His speeches are not only subject to the dis? torting process complained of, but fre« quently whittled down as to be almost unrecognisable. The celebrated Limehouse speech is a case in point. The cable man gave Mr. Lloyd-George’s remarkable challenge to wealth exactly ten lines. This is what was sent out to New Zealand: — “The Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking at Limehouse, said that land was not merely for enjoyment, but for stewardship, and unless the landlords discharged the duties attaching to the ownership the time would come to consider the conditions under which land is held;. His resolve in framing the Budget was that no cupboard should be bare and no lot harder to bear.” Why, might w’e ask, should the Chancellor of the Exchequer of a Liberal Ministry be limited to ten lines when half a column, a column, and sometimes a column and a-half are given to the reactionary sentiments of men like Mr. Balfour, the Marquis of Lansdowne or Lord Rosebery ? Following the usual practice of sending the partizan Press comments on the utterances either in favour or by the Unionists themselves, one would naturally expect that Mr. Lloyd-George's speech would be treated accordingly. Quite the contrary. Not a. line of what the “Daily Chronicle,” the “Daily News,” the “Westminster Gazette,” or the “Morning Leader” said was sent. Instead, the statement was cabled two days later that “many prominent Opposition speakers are complaining of the violence of Mr. Lloyd-George's speech at Limehouse,” followed by a denunciation of Mr. Walter Long (Unionist) against Mr. Lloyd-George for “attempting to destroy the great landed and propertied classes.” “Violence" and “Destruction.” “ Violence ” and “ Destruction.” The sort of “violence” and “destruction” preached by Mr. Lloyd-George is typically illustrated in the extracts we give from some of his recent utterances this week on page 2. It is time that the Liberal Press of New Zealand did something towards remedying the existing state of things by which public opinion in the Dominion as to the real state of affairs in Britain is being constantly and ■ deliberately misled.

The Knyvett Case. The deputation which went down to Wellington to submit the case for Captain Knyvett to the Premier’s consideration, has had at least this much success, that Sir Q.foseph Ward has. promised that some further investigation shall be made. We do not see that the Premier did anything to weaken the arguments that have been so strongly urged in favour of re-opening the case by entering at length into the circumstances of the Auckland company's Wellington trip, or by discussing Captain Knyvett’s past relations with his Robin. As to the visit paid by Captain Knyvett’s company to Wellington, nobody denies that he received permission to go from his commanding officer. The opinion previously formed by the Department about Captain Knyvett seems to us entirely beside the point, except in so far as the Premier’s remarks on this subject amount to an admission ■that the Department, for whatever reason, was already prejudiced against the captain. The Premier's defence of (Colonel Robin is no doubt’ satisfactory to that officer and his friends; but none of these things concern us at present. The reason for the widespread public agination in Captain Knyvett’s favour is simply that, in the eyes of a very large number of people, he has been treated with gross injustice by the Depirtment. Mr. G. Peacocke put the case briefly and forcibly before the Premier last week when he said that Captain Knyvett’s arrest, his trial and his condemnation were all alike irregular; and this conviction is by no means confined to Captain Knyvett’s friends or to the people of Auckland. Dealing with the subject a week ago, the “Otago Daily Times" describe I the Knyvett inquiry as “a travesty upon judicial methods," and added that the course followed in Captain Knyvett’s case “can bear no other interpretation than that the military authorities in New Zealand would virtually deprive a volunteer officer altogether ot the right of complaint." Such a right, as wo have already Shown, is seemed to every soldier irrespective of rank by the King's regulations; and though the' letter in which Captain Knyvett Submitted his protest to the Minister for Defence is forcibly worded, we have read it carefully without discovering anything in it that would justify the authorities In ignoring the charges made or punishing the officer wiio made them. The question as to whether Captain Knyvett’s allegations against Colonel Robin were well founded is entirely a different one; though the Premier must surely see that it is a inatier of vital importance to our military system that such charges should be carefully investigated, and he must further that Captain Knyvett. having been refused the right to discuss these charges by the Court of Inquiry, cannot formulate them fully till a properly-constituted tribunal has been appointed to hear them. But all this is comparatively a side issue. What wo are chiefly concerned

with is the obligation laid upon Government of repairing the injustice inflicted Upon Captain Knyvett, and the harm done to the course of military service here by the glaring and outrageous irregularities which the Department has perpetrated in connection with this case, and we await with deep interest some further intimation of the course the Premier proposes to follow. Jl JI A Model Industrial Village. lu the "Magazine of Conmienc” Dr. C. R. Hennings describes the model village laid out at Leverknsin on the Rhine, not far from Cologne, by the Farbenfabriken <x>mpany, which manufactures practically all the most important dyes, photographic materials, and many synthetic drugs of the greatest value. The firin employs 6,000 workmen, besides 1.700 vliieials, 220 of whom arc trained analytical chemists. The Welfare Department has become so large as to necessitate the employment of a special stall'. The number of workmen’s dwellings now amounts to about 750. and its being increased every year by about twenty. •Fa< h house is'suitable for four tenants, go provision is made for 3,000 separate families, lurch house is surrounded by a garden. The rent its 55/ per room per year. Supervision is entrusted to a committee consisting of officials and workmen. Co-operative stores supply provisions. and yield a dividend of ten per ci nt. Two bachelor homes, each occupied by about four hundred unmarried workmen, supply cheap and healthy quarters at from 2’d to 4d a day. with break Lad, dinner and supper at lOd a clay. For workmen not. living on the premi.-es a dining h.ill serves a good dinner for 4d. A refreshment-room attached furnishes victuals and non-alcoholic verages. Foremen pay £lB per annum rent. To every manufacturing department baths are attached. There are swimming ba«t‘hs on the Rhine for men. and for women and children. Free medical attendance is granted to the workmen and Their relatives. Workmen’s wives are treated entirely free at the Maternity Home. At the Girls’ Home workwomen can obtain board and residence at low cost. A .house of recreation is ] fovidAd for workmen, including a banqueting hall setting 1.200 persons, with lsdr<rshment-riball-rooms, a readingroom. and skittle-grounds. .Sons of •u'iirkinrii are trained, practically and theoretically. in a workshop for apprentices connected wrth the finishing school. !A progressive society provides a course of instruction by fully qualified lecturers. The dramatic eside is a special feature. A special m inager presides over the whoh educational system, including a library comprising 12.000 volumes, which is used by 32 per '-ent. of the workmen, OS per cent, of the ofticials. Natural Fcienee an<l travel are the most popula* •works. Eighty tboutsand books circulated jn 1907. averaging forty-two books jM‘r head for the year. Women share in all these advantages equally with men. Fpc< ial instruction is provided for the children. Boys are taught horticulture, pirl- needlework. A Toadies’ Benevolent •Association looks after the sick and flvedx . the widows and orphans. An orchestra has 'neon organised for men and l>oys a glee club, a string band, gymnatsium. etc. i o the pension system the eurployees (contribute one-third. the employers two•thirds. Workmen receive a long service premium amounting to £53 after 25 years, and £2OO after 50 years' service. There is also a pension fund for workmen who have Income unfit, which amount to £ 100.000. The Welfare Department coet th** firm in 1908 £90.000, only one-seventh of which was required by Government. The main motive of Che firm is to educate and keep a staff of employees whose interest in life is feuuuj UP with the success of the firm. JI Jl Our Coastal Waterways. The unfortunate mishap to the Kai para while leaving Auckland, has naturally directed public attention to the necessity for safeguarding oar mercantile marine by securing the fullest and moat accurate information about the conditions of navigation around our harbours and along <»ur coastal trade routes. We are not at all inclined to admit, without absolutely convincing proof, that there is, from the •tandpoint of navigation, anything radi* eally wrong with the Waitemata or the channels leading in and out of <nir port. Bat it is manifestly of the utmost uu-

porta nee to our shipping and co. :aiercial interests that the pilots and captains who work our coastal waters should be able to depend implicitly upon the data supplied them as to shoals and sound - Tngs; and the stranding of the Kai para, following on the grounding of the Wnimatc certainly suggests that, the time has come for a complete resurvey of the harbour and its approaches, (hi this subject we are glad to endorse the opinion of the Wellington "Post,” a journal with which we are by no means always in agreement, but which has just dealt with this question in a perfectly fair and impartial spirit. It is quite possible that the alleged silting up of certain parts of the harbour, of which we hear from time to time, may have produced consequences invisßde but none the less serious in Rangitoto Channel; and, as the "Post” says, nothing but " a comprehensive and accurate survey by ' independent hydrograph ers ” can set all doubts at rest. The " Post ” assures its readers that it has no intention of aspersing the reputation of our port, and the people of Auckland must see for themselves that in their own interests such a course is not only desirable, but urgently necessary. JI J« . K x . A Survey Wanted. This suggestion for a resurvey of the tv’aitemata and -the adjacent gulf raises once more the question of resurveying the whole of our coastal waters, which has from time to time cropped up in Parliamentary debates. Up to live years ago the Admiralty had a gunboat, engaged on this work. New Zealand fraying half the cost. Wh n Government decided, on the score of economy, to drop this arrangement-, it was found that it would cost £50.000 to build and equip a vessel to take the place of the Penguin, and about £12.000 a year to maintain her, as against £9.000 a year originally paid to the Admiralty. The project was therefore postponed indefinitely, and meantime recent events have emphasised the necessity for bringing up to date our knowledge of the., risks and perils of navigation on these coasts. The recent wreck of the Waikare points the moral most effectively; and though we admit that a minutely detailed survey-of the Fiords would be. a most laborious and expensive task, there is, unfortunately, plenty other work of the same’ sort to do elsewhere. Two years ago Mr. Millar told the House that the completion of the Penguin's survey was indispensable to the safety of our commerce. same time Mr. La ureason stated that hardly any systematic work had been done in surveying our coasts since the Acheron cruised here between 1850 and 1860. It is well known that many of the charts constantly used on our coasts were compiled from data collect -1 half a century ago; and we hope that Government, will be successful in the negotiations which we understand are now proceeding with the Admiralty for a new survey agreement on the lines of the Penguin contract. Considering the immense importance of our sea-borne trade, and the naturally dangerous character of our coastline, it seems to us imperative that the work of resurveying our coastal waters should be gone on with at once.