News of the Dominion.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 5, 3 August 1910, Page 4

News of the Dominion.

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER. Wellington, July 29. “ The Girl from Rector’s.’’ THE talk of the town the last day or two has been the efforts of certain good and reverend gentlemen in the direction of censoring “The Girl from Rector’s,” which the Hugh Ward Co. will produce for the first time in Wellington on Monday evening next. The intentions of these selfappointed censors were no doubt excellent. They wanted the stage uplifted, or purged, or something of that sort, and it was with that end in view that they interviewed the Hon. Dr. Findlay, in his capacity of Attorney-General. But, unfortunately, they mentioned “The Girl from Rector’s”; it was, in fact, the peg on which they hung their little sermon. They begged the Doctor to keep the thing ipiiet. “Hush, hush!” they said, in effect; “don't let those ribald newspapers get hold of it, or we are undone.” Hut, in spite of all the Doctor’s strenuous efforts to keep it dark, and oblige his deputation, the story leaked out, and now the whole object of the anti“girl” people is defeated. A little par in one of the dailies let a little light into the matter; then another par. Then, ■of coruse, “Propriety” and other wellknown citizens began to write letters to the papers. The result was that “The Girl from Rector's” has received the finest free advertisement its management coin'd desire, and the success of the sea-

son is assured. 'Ono thing that helped to rouse the public’s curiosity and the public’s ridicule was the bowdlerising with pastepot and sheets of white paper of the naughty “Girl’o” legs on the hoarding posters in various parts of the city. The frilly bundle of frivolity, as pictured on the hoardings, was too much for douco and proper gentlemen—it is rumoured it was they who subsequently interviewed Dr. Findlay. They are alleged to have inspected the terrible posters corefull from between their fingers, and to have then beseeched the hoarding proprietors to cover the nasty thing over. Accordingly, the frilliest parts of the “(Jiri,” and her beautiful red legs, were covered with large sheets of white paper- emblem of purity. And straightway the horrid public, which must go and a*k questions about everything, began Io make remarks, and the small boys to scrape those sheets of paper off; and people who hadn’t seen the posters before their bowdlerisation, began to make pilgrimages to the suburban hoardings where the posters had been left in their unsullied glorv of leg and frill. Report says that the Minister the deputation interviewed, who has a merry wit, was so deeply impressed by what he heard from their shocked lips that he lost no time in ringing up the manager of the booking-office and securing Fix scats for the opening performance of “The (Jiri.” Anyhow, whether he did or not, it would have been a lilting and proper sequel lo the interview. If the Attorney-General is not a good judge of the play, who is? And pretty well the whole town is following his example, ft doesn’t feel much like suppressing “The (Jiri from Hector's”—at any rate not until it has seen it first. Politics. Mr. Massey never fails to put the best face on the little sets-back which he ami !his party from time to time receive in •the House. His no-confidence motion, which was defeated by forty-one votes to •thirty one, seems to be regarded by him as quite a victory. The defeat of hi.s freehold proposal was a foregone conclusion, and which would have been defeated by more votes had all tin* Government members been available. The Government’s vote would have been increased to forty-seven had all its supporters been present. The defection of several country members who belong to the Government party is being widely commented on. Mr. Massey certainly brought them into hi.s fold for the time being, and very cleverly, too. They apparently did not choose to «ee that the Opposition Leader’s long amendment was a no-confidence proposal,

pure and simple; it was not the proper occasion for an affirmation of principle on the land tenure; such affirmation could, as the “New Zealand Times” very properly points out this morning, have been moved in a series of amendments on the promised band Bill. But Messrs. Jennings, Field, Dillon, J. C. Thomson, and Ross are pledged freeholders, and they considered it their duty to their constituents to go into the Opposition camp for the time 'being. Yet, on the other hand, five freeholders on the Government side stuck to their chief, and put party before principle; and Mr. Arthur Myers, whose sympathies are with the freehold cause, voted on the Government side, reorganising, no doubt, that the amendment was, after all, only a neat little dodge of Mr. Massey’s. It was rumoured a little while ago that Mr. Jennings was to join the Ministry, and probably in time take the portfolio of Lands. He would make a very good Minister of Lands, too; but after his vote last night it remains to be seen whether his courageous fault of voting against his party will be overlooked by the powers in Cabinet. That brown giant of the Government party, the doughty Mr. Henare Kaihau, was one of the votes lost to Sir Joseph Ward on the no-confidence division. He arrived in Wellington just in time to be too late; he had not taken the oath of allegiance, and so could not vote.. The Government’s native policy comes in for some vicious digs occasionally. Yesterday Mr. Pearce, M.P. for Patea, Taranaki, remarked that, “As far as I can gather, the only ones who have any faith in the Government’s native land policy are the native members in the Ministry.” The Mail Services. Our old-time San Francisco mail service, the best service New Zealand has ever had, was mentioned in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr. T. E. Taylor asked if there was any prospect of the 'Frisco service being revived. Sir Joseph Ward replied, “I think there is.” His subsequent remarks, however, indicated that he was inclined to stick to the Canadian route. What he had in mind, he said, was a service from New Zealand to Canada, across to London, and from London to New Zealand via Suez. It would not be very costly. In the meantime Canada was inviting tenders for the service to New Zealand and Australia on its own account, and would no doubt advise New Zealand as to its proposals later on. In the meantime we have got to depend on Suez and on the awkward Vancouver service, which comes no nearer us than Fiji, involving transhipping and much delay. Auckland people can, I think, do a great deal towards reviving the old ’Frisco service. If they would only marshall their facts and figures, and present them properly to members of Parliament, I believe they would succeed in working up a reversion to onr good trans-Paeifie service of former days. Wo who remember those smart steamers, the Alameda and Mariposa, which used to come into Auckland Harbour from San Francisco, via Honolulu and Samoa, with beautiful regularity and punctuality, would certainly very much like to see the old service restored. In those Alameda-Mariposa days there was no complaint about the service as far as the steamers were concerned; it was the annoying delays that arose when the mails were being transhipped South by way of the Manukau, which gave a handle to Southern opponents of Auckland as a port of call. And the later erratic performances bv the Sierra and Sonoma, when those steamers replaced tho Alameda and Mariposa, finished the Service. But now that we have the Main Trunk Railway, tho old objections to tho service on a count of the delay in sending mails South no longer have .any weight: and with new and up-to-date steamers —even if thov were not any faster than tho old-timers—we could have a vorv fine service to ’Frisco, by far our ouii-kest connection with London. Aucklanders should keen pegging awav al H>at 'Frisco service: they will get it again, and now is the opnortunitv. A Clock Tower But No Clock. Our otherwise admire hlv-oonipped Town Dall lacks one essential thing-—a clock. Ever since it was built its clock tower has remained empty, its boarded-

up openings calling out for a time-pieee face to fill them. The City Council has apparently got so used to looking upon the empty tower that it has quite forgotten the need for something to fill it. Or they probably take the view that the Pose Office clock and chimes supply all that is necessary in the way of reminding citizens of the flight of time. However, the emptiness of that tower has just been borne in upon them by an offer from an enterprising patent medicine firm. This firm wrote to the City Council this week offering 150 per annum for the right to display their advertisements in the four round spaces of the clock tower. It would be high-class advertising—something about liver pills and that sort of thing. The Council, however, had some idea of the fitness of things, and voted unanimously against its applications. But that advertising suggestion opens up quite a lot of possibilities. In selfdefence, the Council will have to buy a clock of some sort, even if it is a “dummy” one, and fill that gaping tower. It has an undignified, unsatisfied sort of look at present. Smokers and Non-Smokers. Another curious application before the City Council this week was a letter from some crank or other asking the Council to differentiate between the smokers and non-smokers in its employ, with the object of giving more wages to the non-smoker! The writer’s reasons were not divulged; the Council just laughed, and “received” the letter—the official euphemism for the w.p.b. It would have been interesting though, to have had a discussion on the question. The ordinary man, particularly if he happens to be a smoker, finds it difficult to see why the man who doesn’t smoke should get more pay. His expenses are less, because he has no tobacco to buy; he doesn’t want so much money. ■Some people, however, seem to count it a particular virtue in a man that he doesn’t smoke. Curious logic, for abstinence in this respect, as in most others, is hardly a matter of self-denial, but one of taste and liking. A man who hates pipe, cigar, and cigarette may be a lueky man, but he can hardly claim credit for any particular saintship simply because he abstains. But he is as a rule remarkably intolerant of others smoking. I have noticed that the habtiual and confirmed abstainer, whether from liquor or tobacco or love-making, or any other of the mixed joys of life, is often an unpleasant sort of gentleman to get on with. He misos a lot of the good things of this little world, and he is soured accordingly. Fish Ho! We want fish, and we can’t get it. The stormy winter weather has no doubt prevented the coastal fishermen at Island Bay and Makara and other unsheltered points reaping much of a harvest from the sea of late, but still the Wellington supply is shorter and the prices are bigger than they have ever been. This morning I heard the “lady of the house” arguing with a fisherman at the back door over some diminutive, high-priced gurnet. As for flounder, the fish-man wanted a shilling to eighteenpence for specimens that ordinarily sell for sixpence or less. At a fish auction sale in town to-day a hapuka weighing about thirty pounds fetched 14/6. Not so long a'go we wouldn’t eat hapuka, regarding it as coarse and unpalatable; nowadays we are glad to get it, and pay sixpence a pound for it. Generally there is a good supply of fish from the sheltered waters on the other side of the Strait —Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds—but even this has failed us to a large extent this winter. Of your charity, if you have fish and to spare in Auckland, sent us some down to Wellington. That Hauraki delicacy, smoked schnapper, is practically unknown here; there ought to be a good market for it in this corner of the island. Maggie from “ Whaka.” Our old Geyserland friend, Maggie Pupakura, is in town just now, helping the Young Maori Party through with their Town Hall entertainments in aid of tho Y.M.C.A. She has taken to lecturing, or, at any rate, to giving an accompaniment of brief and pleasant talk to moving pictures of Rotorua Maori scenes, and her presence has certainly helped considerably in drawing the packed houses that have greeted the Maoris every night. • A haka and poi show is always sure of a big audience in Wellington. Maggio looks very charming, and comfortable, too, in the street in her

furs and her pink head shawl; she wisely eschews all the hideous fashionable feminine top hamper, whatever hat form it takes—coal scuttle, waste-paper basket, milk dish, soup plate, Merry Widow, or Chanteeler. Maggie tells me that arrangements have been definitely fixed up for her trip to England with a party of Maori haka-* dancers and poi girls. She leaves Neil Zealand in October. Obituary: Our Oldest Legislator. The most venerable man in our Parliament, the Hon. Henry Scotland, doparted this life in Wellington on Wednesday afternoon. He was eighty-ninel years of age, and had been In the Legislative Council since 1868. Mr. Scotland! was one of the “old-timere,” a contemporary of Grey, Fitzgerald, Fox, Domett, and other cultured and brainy Parliamentarians of the past. He didn’t care much for publicity, but he keenly enjoyed the life and atmosphere of Parliament, and the opportunity it gave him for trying his fine wit with his fel-low-members. The old man was a scholar and a gentleman, and his speeches were usually polished, thoughtful utterances, displaying wide-reading and much experience of the world, and they often attracted attention because of their rather caustic humour. Mr. Scotland’s memory! could go back to things and episodes that now read like very ancient history. He saw the first cab In London, and the first railway, and he could remember when highwaymen plied their calling quite close to London town. Co-operative Labour. Speaking on the question of co-opera-tive labour in the House last week, Mr. W. D. S. MacDonald said that although not conversant with the conditions of cooperative labourers throughout New Zealand, he could speak as to the 500 or 600 men working in his electorate. Shortly before the session he had visited these men, and heard few complaints, The majority of the men, in fact, were practically working on contract at a price for the removal of a stated quantity. The whole system was working thoroughly satisfaetorily, and the men informed him they were quite satisfied. The only complaints were from men who wanted to work more than eight hours per day. He was confident that in rough country no system could work more satisfactorily. Contract work of late years had not been satisfactory to county councils and local bodies. Money for Investment. The Attorney-General (Dr. Findlay) in an interview at Wellington, replying to statements that the abundance of money in the Dominion available for investment indicated a lack of confidence in legislation, and in our labour laws, said:—» “ For 20 years now a certain class of people in this country, with almost unbroken harmony, have been singing a* song of the exodus of capital. During this time our private wealth, not only in sum, but per capita, has been. rapidly increasing, so that to-day we are pen capita the wealthiest community in tha world. There are, no doubt, employers in New Zealand who genuinely believe! that our Labour legislation has been disastrous to our industry. But in a few cases it will be found that this condemnation of our arbitration laws as al cause of business failure is only a selfdelusive concealment of business incapacity. I believe the great bulk of tha business men of this Dominion prefer oub arbitration law system, with the greater industrial peace it has brought, to the anarchical conditions which prevailed In this country throughout the great strike preceding the passage of Mr. Reeves’ bill. It is very easy and natural to overlook! a long continuing advantage, and thosfl hasty critics of our Labour legislation should cast their eyes abroad on other lands where no such svstem prevails. Wei are repeatedlv told that the fact that! money is rapidly accumulating in our banks and other financial institutions', while there is no corresponding increase in advances, shows that there is a lack of confidence. I do not pose as a financier, but T hazard tho opinion that if oufi figures show, as they do, that the value of our products over last year exceeded that of the previous 12 months by upwards of £6.000.000. that would easily account for the rapid increase in the deposits without in any way showing that there has been a concomitant decline in the confidence of either investor*, business men, or entrepreneurs.

“I also make bold to say,” continued Dr. Findlay, “ that the normal relation between the volume ,of deposits and advances will, under the play of the recognised economic laws, soon be re-estab-lished. The point I am making might be illustrated by putting the case conversely. If the value of our products, as compared with that of the previous ij2 months, had fallen instead of risen by upwards of £6,000,000, we should probably have had a striking decline in deposits, while for some time at least advances would remain at their existing Volume. One might then as reasonably argue in such circumstances that because the deposits had substantially fallen and the advances remain stationary you had a striking proof of the confidence of financial institutions and business men in the industrial future of the country.”

A State Bank. The Prime Minister, replying to a deputation from the Trades and Labour Conference, said that so long as this Country was associated with the Bank Of New Zealand as a shareholder, it would be impossible to establish a State Bank. The Conference, he said, had passed a resolution to stop borrowing, except for the redemption of loans and the completion of works already authorised. Nothing could be more disastrous to the country, and the Government would not give approval to a policy that would be devastating in its effects generally. Tram Brakes. TVhen the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the efficiency of tram brakes was sitting, evidence was given extolling the air brakes at the expense of the magnetic brake. A copy of the evidence bearing on the question was forwarded by Mr. Stuart Richardson, city electrical engineer, to the general manager of the Glasgow corporation tramways (Mr. Dalrymple), who writes: "As Jyou are probably aware, we have been Using this brake (magnetic) ever since it was introduced into this country. During the whole time we have had the magnetic track brake in use we have always Considered it the most reliable brake, and, When properly applied, it is, I think, to be preferred to the air brake. The air brake, of course, has not been adopted to any extent in this country, and on some Systems they have not adopted anything outside of the rheostatic and ordinary hand brake. I may further add that I am shortly proceeding to build 50 new pars, and these will, like the others, be fitted with the magnetic track brake.” Stock Pilfering. i On Friday afternoon the member for Taumarunui (Mr. Jennings) asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will take into consideration the suggestion that in regard to the registration of stock a system to be known as the Leger System could be brought into operation, So as to prevent stock pilfering. Mr. 'Jennings added that the mistakes, to put it mildly, that frequently arise in connection with stock prove that ear marking and branding is not sufficient to stop the adding to stock by a process known as natural selection, which causes a great deal of irritation in new districts where fencing is not of the best. King Country Sharks. ~ *The eyes have been picked out of Ithe King Country,” declared Mr. A. W. Hogg last week, and he went on to read the names of a handful of landowners ijvho between them possessed a-quarter bf a million acres. The King Country, (he said, had been simply massacred by Speculators. The native land laws, which permitted it, would be a lasting blot /upon New Zealand’s history. Land sharks had snapped up everything, not (With the idea of making homes for themselves, but for the purpose of securing all they could out of land transactions. r ‘l consider this tremendous piece of plunder should be inquired into by a comjinission,” declared Mr. Hogg, “and the (responsibility for this huge crime in land administration sheeted home in the right quarter." .< Water Power. JSpeaking on the subject of the development of water power, Mr. Mander said Calculated that it would take the ivernment 440 years at an expenditure bf half-a-million a year to develop the Water power possibilities of the Do-

minion. It did not seem to him a sensible thing to prevent private enterprise going in for industry. He suggested that the Government should select developments that it could complete within, say, 15 or 20 years, and leave the remainder to private enterprise.

Mr. L. R. Phillipps, in referring to the same subject, urged that if the Government proceeded with its policy and spent £ 500,000 per year on the development of water power, the matter should be placed in the hands of an independent board; otherwise there would be a scramble from all parts of the country, and the usual political wire-pulling might divert the expenditure of public money upon entirely useless schemes. Raising the Royalty. Several important clauses are contained in the Hon. R. McKenzie’s Coal Mmes Act Amendment Bill. Clause five provides that any money paid out of the Sick and Accident Fund or Coal Miners* Relief Fund in respect of the death or injury of any coal miner shall not be deducted from any compensation payable under the Workers’ Compensation Act, 1908, in respect of the accident that caused the death or injury. The most important proposal that the bill contains is contained in a desired amendment to section 80 of the principal Act, whereby the royalty on lignite and brown coal is raised from a farthing to a half-penny per ton for the benefit of the coalminers’ relief fund. This new clause, of course, affects the miners in the Auckland district to a very considerable extent. Earthqnane Shock. A sharp shock of earthquake was felt at Palmerston about 2.15 on Saturday morning. It was quite the most marked experience for some time past. An Educational Advance, The distinction of having been the first to have proposed legislation providing for compulsory education beyond the age of 14 years is claimed by the member for Caversham, Mr. Sidey, who has introduced an Education Act Amendment Bill, requiring compulsory attendance at continuation classes. The necessity for this, he explained, was becoming more and more important because of the country’s industrial system. Education was now compulsory to 14 years of age, but he was informed the period of 14 years to 18 years of the life of their young men was a very important one, during which criminal habits might be formed. The State, he urged, must not lose control of their young men during these years. If they were not prepared to go beyond 14 years, they would soon fall behind in the race for supremacy in which all nations were engaged. The Bookmakers’ Plight. The position taken up by the public on the question of the bookmaker and his proposed abolition as put before Parliament, is interesting. In the House of Representatives last week Mr. Arnold presented a petition signed by 2633 people in Dunedin and the neighbourhood, praying that the bookmaker should be retained so long as the totalisator is allowed to exist. On the other hand, the number of petitions presented to Parliament this session against the bookmaker is 56. nineteen in the Legislative Council, and 37 in the House, signed by 5332 persons. The average number of signatures to the petitions presented in the Council was just over 112, and in the House just over 83. Medical Assistance. The Hon. J. A. Millar last week stated that it had always been the practice to allow medical men to travel by any train to attend to urgent cases, as in many instances they are even run by Velocipede where the circumstances were such'as to render immediate attention essential. Arms and the Man. Messrs. Jas. Allen and T. E. Taylor have both been endeavouring to ascertain what the Government is going to do in regard to the appointment of staff officers under the new scheme, since Lord Kitchener emphatically suggested that none of the officers now serving should be transferred to the staff corps. Sir Joseph Ward last week stated that the staff corps suggested by Lord

Kitchener had not been overlooked, nor would the appointments be made without proper qualification. Entrance to the staff corps to be eventually established would la; subject to examinations and qualifications considered necessary by the director of military training and education under the instructions of the Commandant. The officers and N.C. officers of the ranks of lieutenants and sergeants now being selected were being taken on six months’ probation, when, if they proved themselves qualified, they would be enrolled in the New Zealand militia. There was no necessity to delay the appointment of these officers until after the Commandant arrived, as they would still be in the probationary stage at that time. He had already publicly indicated that the appointment of captains and majors would be held over until the new Commandant arrived.