SIR ROBERT STOUT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 41, 17 February 1910, Page 5

SIR ROBERT STOUT.

INTERVIEWED AT PERTH. THE ENGLISH ELECTIONS. . CONDITIONS OF BRITISH WORKERS. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright! (Received 10 ajn.) PERTH, this day. Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice of New Zealand, who arrived by the RAI.S. Moldavia yesterday, said, in the course of an interview, that he considered the British people do not realise the important constitutional question involved in the recent elections. There might have been grave trouble ahead of the Liberal party if the King had not given Mr. Asquith a pledge as to what he would do, but no doubt some way would be found. Regarding the conditions of English workers, Sir Robert Stout paid a tribute to Mr. John Burns' efforts to improve them. What England most wanted was a crusade against the drink evil, headed by national leaders. In manufactures, he stated, England still exported twice as much per capita, as Germany, and four times as much as America, but slackness seemed to prevail among the people, who were given over to amusements. Sir Robert compared the Australian Press favourably with tne English, and declared that the "Times" had lost its independent tone, and become a party organ.