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Press, Volume LII, Issue 15487, 14 January 1916, Page 6

Not long ago "Punch" had a picture of the rector urging "the worst character in the village" to go to the war. This ill-looking rascal, with a face eloquent of worry, bad temper, and obstinacy, replied that "he didn't believe there weren't no war; he believed it was all a plot to get him <jut of the village." We fancy that most people will agree with us, after reading the report of last night's meeting at Wool* ston, that Woolston is a place in which the rascally fellow in "Punch's" picture would find congenial company enough to make him feel quite happy and at home. Some of the speakers at the meeting—and they seem to have got a majority to endorse their weird ideas—declared that the suggestion of compulsory service is "all a plot." Perhaps it will not be considered necessary to say much about these interesting people, but we may note one point. The mover of the "anti-con-scription" resolution said "he hoped that Woolston was not going to turn down their brothers in England, who practically to' a man had pronounced against the idea" of conscription. The statement in the second clause is gloriously incorrect, as everyone knows, and |is for the general sentiment it is quite sufficient to call Woolston's attention to Mr Arthur Henderson's way of looking at compulsory service, as recorded in our cable messages to-day. He appealed to liis fellow Labour members to support the Military Service Bill and thus send a message to their brothers in Flanders that the hour of deliverance was near.

Reports which appeared in the X>uuedin papers as to friction between the medical staff of the Maheno and those responsible for the navigation of the ship are emphatically contradicted by the "New Zealand Herald,'' which says:—"The statement tlist there was at any time .friction or even misunderstanding, between the medical and nautical staffs is emphatically contradicted in Auckland by people who should be able to speak with authority." In reply to the criticisms made as to the propriety of bringing back the ship to New Zealand to be reconditioned and recommißsioned, it is pointed ou{ that none of the medical and ambulance staffs on the hospital at work between tho French and British coasts are allowed to remain continuously at work for more than three months at a stretch, owing to the very great strain of tho work. OurDunedin correspondent now sends us a report as to the unsatisfactory condition in which the ship is alleged to have been found when she was visited b v a number of medical and other officers. It will be well, we think, for the Government to make enquiry into these states inent6 3 so that if there hai been any! laxity it may be guarded against when tho ship next goes forth on her errand of mercy. That the medical and nursing staff cannot stand the strain of such work for any lengthened time, and ought to be relieved, is obvious. We would euggest, however, that instead of bringing the nosnital shin back to New Zealand, thus taking it away

from the war zone for four or five months, it- would be better to send a relieving staff by passenger steamer, and to do any refitting that may be required in one of the Mediterranean ports. * Another striking proof of the financial resources of Great Britain will be fcund in our cable news this morning. It will be remembered that, with the object of steadying the American exchange, the Government announced its willingness to buy or borrow American and Canadian securities held in Britain. In the former cast? the holder would receive o per cent. Treasury Bonds in exchange; in the case of the borrowed securities the lenders were guaranteed one per cent, above the rate of interest yielded by the bonds. "We are now told that the Bank of England has been so rushed with these securities that the staff were unable to copowith the work. It said that there are some £■700,000,000 or £800,000,000 of these securities held in England, and we have little doubt that we shall soon .see the America,n exchange brought clown to very nearly normal. The benefit of this will be felt even in New Zealand, since the adverse exchange lias made New Zealand as well as English merchants pay more for American goods. The German mark, on the contrary, is steadily declining in value, and Germany has no means of arresting itj fall.

The news of the withdrawal,, of the resignations of Mr Henderson, Mr Brace, and Mr Thomas, the Labour members of the British Ministry, is good hearing. Two months ago, whilo the Derby campaign was in progress, it was possible for almost anybody to declare that "conscription" would never be tolerated and that a Bill to introduce it would probably not get through Parliament. The position has wonderfully changed. Representative Labour men in the House of Commons have denounced the extreme objectors as unrepresentative of organised labour. The Irish Nationalists, who seem to have made up the bulk of the "Noes" on the first reading, have decided not to offer any further opposition to the Bill, and the second reading has been carried by a majority of eleven to one. Opposition is threatened outside the House, of course; the South Wales miners, for example, have carried a hostile resolution. But no small minority has ever been able successfully to resist a measure approved by a vast majority of the people as essential to the welfare of the country. No opposition of a substantial kind, based upon reason, justice, and a conviction of righteousness, has ever failed to get itself reflected in the shape of a powerful resistance in the House of Commons. The general acceptance of the Bill Oy the House is the most striking possible proof that it has been iiccepted by the nation.

The German people, it must be supposed, believe what tho German Press tells them day after day. But it is difficult to believo that tho cheerful view- expressed recently by the "Frankfurter Zeitung" is really shared by its. readers. According to the "Zeitung," "the policy of. isolating Germany" has failed completely, and Britain is hopelessly discredited. "There remains only British supremacy on tho sea," the Frankfort journal cheerfully points out. Only the British Navy, and nothing more. But Germans need not worry over that. "The Chancellor has said," it is explained, "that Germany does not want to rule the seas, but will make them free for all." The idea is, apparently, that Germany can trade her land victories for liberty to resume her maritime trade. "Tho whole theory of sea supremacy," the Germans are further assured, "is based on antiquated analogies with former times." But though thus satisfactorily philosophised out of existence, the British Navy will continue to maintain the supremacy of the seas in quite the antiquated British manner. We have all heard of the German . savant who evolved'a camel "out of his inner consciousr.ness," but this is nothing in comparison with the destruction of British sea-power by a'feat of mental strength.