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Press, Volume LI, Issue 15463, 16 December 1915, Page 6

We ate giad to see that his Majesty tho King has not allowed Sir Geofgo Reid to retire from tho oißco of High Commissioner for Australia without substantial recognition of his services. His Majesty has conferred on him the Grand Cross of the Bath, a dignity limited to fifty military and twenty-five civil knights, oxclusivo of the Sovereign, Princes of tho Blood Royal, and distinguished foreigners who may bo nominated to the honorary distinction. This mark of appreciation on behalf of his Majesty should be some consolation to Sir Gcorgo for the exceedingly shabby manner in which ho has been treated by thn Australian Government. Sir George Beid was one of tho "social assets" of I.ondon, and stood head and shoulders abovo all the other representatives of tho Oversea Dominions in point of ability. During tho war he has been untirinp; in his efforts to see after tho interests of tho Australian Expeditionary Force, and to eo-opei'nto with the Imperial authorities in the prosecution of tho war and tho patriotic movements of all kinds which the War has brought into existence. * Germany is so full of duplicity that it is not easy to make Up ones miad as to whether the reports of urarcity of food arc circulated with the same objects as tho reports of a scarcity of ammunition, namely, to lull tho Allies into a sense of false over-confidence. Wc fnncy the truth is that the German people are very far from starvation, hut that they are suffering a sood deal of inconvenience, if not positive hardship. A letter from a "Hnusfrau" to the "Vorwjirts" in October last, stated that hei family, consisting of husband, wife, and a ten-year-old child was accustomed before the war to consume 211b of meat a month. Th« rise in prices compelled her to reduce tho quantity to 14$lb. The family';* average monthly consumption of eg/2/« had fallen from GO to 28, fo,r which uhk> paid considerably more than she dvd for 81) before the war. The but!or, for which she used to pay Is ojd, .had risen to 2s (>d, and she had beep obl/tfed to give up its ufco for cooking. Vegetables and farinaceous food Jiovo practically increased 100 per cea't. m | price. To sum up, this particular | housewife found that she was ijomi pelled constantly to reduce the tfunlity of the food and exclude ever//Ahing that was not directly "filling" : eocoa, tea and jam had been practically given up, and potatoes and war-breiicl had the principal means of nourishment. One statistician calculates that the price of food necessary for a family of four persons had from £1 os Hd per week in July, 1914, to £1 17s 4d. in June, 191u. and to more than £2 10s in September. ♦— Even the religions news/papers of America are not devoid of humour, and we fear cannot bo altogether acquitted of drawing on the imagination in seeking to minister to the artiwsenient of their renders. One of the hi recently gave a description of a contrivance which is proudly referred to as "some collection bos." Tho investor, we are told, hails from Oklahoma. If a member of the congregation drops in a twenty-five cent piece or a coin of i larger value there is sileurc. If it is I

a ten cent piece a bell rings; a five cent piece sounds a whistle, and a cent fires a blank cartridge. If anyone pretends to be asleep when tho box passes, it nwakottc him with a watchman's rattle, and * kodak takes his portrait. Our sedate contemporary, the "Christian World.'' reprint* the item with an ai r of coy hesitation which is very delightful. It opines that "there i.« a suspicion of 'pulling tho leg' in this description." Fortified by this opinion on the part of another religious pablicaiioa, wo confess to sharing in the same misgiving.

The local branch of the Lady Liverpool Fund is making an appeal for an object which ought to commend itself to tho Canterbury public. The Mayor and Mayoress of "Wellington, "on

behalf of tho citizens, have arranged to entertain the men at Trcntham during nest week, serving them with a Christmas dinner on Thursday, and providing them with a kind of free restaurant on n very large scale on Chri»tmao I>ny and the day following. As there are 1500 Canterbury men m camp, it is felt that Canterbury's people will be glad to undertake tho furnishing of tho Christmas entertainment of -these men. Tho Lady Liverpool Fund is asking for fifteen hundred h&lf-crosviis, and wo trust that our generous readers will do their share towards making up in come small measure for tho Christmas pleasures which our boys hav 0 foregone in order the sooner to be able to go forth to fight for their country.

Since New Zealand—thanks to the wicked people who do not think a nation's highest, duty U to submit in a Christian spirit to ita enemies—is a free country, the member for Lyttelton has a perfect fight to deliver political party addresses if hi ß serine of what is proper commands him to do so. It is sufficient, on that ncint, to noto that like other Labour "loaders," and unlike tho general body of workers, Mr MeCombs i« hostile to the idea of a political truce. There is not much in his speech calling for notice. H 0 claims that tho opponents of conscription at Home are free to talk without their patriotism being questioned, and that therefore, apparently, wo must treat all Iho opponent* of compulsory service here as patriots. As a matter of fact, while the vast majority of tho opponents of conscription in Britain- a ro ardently loyal and patriotic and helpful men, there is a section which is universally j-ocognised as bsing neither loyal nor patriotic. .This is the section led by such men as Ramsay Macdonald, Arthur Ponsonby, and others of tho same kind. These men have been condemned by organised i.sm and by the loyal Socialists; although thpy havo been, interestingly enough, applauded by the local SocialDemocrat losrders. Ji patriotism means only a deairo not to bo killed by the Gormai.s, wo suppose everyone - is patriotic; but patriotism moans more than that, and there is precious littlo patriotism about most of the anti-con-scriptionisty in this country. In the meantime, Mr MeCombs and his allies continue not to urge young men to show, by enlisting, that compulsion is unnece-ssarv.