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Press, Volume LII, Issue 15605, 1 June 1916, Page 6

Tho mission which has brought Sir Rider Haggard to New Zealand is ono that will commend itself to every lover of the Empire. Briefly, it is to keep within the Empire the Britons who, after tho war, might be tempted to emigrate to foreign lands. It would be a calamity if any of the men who have fought for the flag were to Icavo the Empire, of which it is tho syrnboi, for alien lands. Those that cannot be provided for in England should find a welcome and a home in the oversea Dominions. Siir Rider Haggard has

met with substantial encouragement in Rhodesia and Australia, and w e hope New Zealand will also be able to do something to help him in his work. Yve have not a large extent of territory still very thinly occupied like the countries we have named, and we have our own soldiers to provide for. Nevertheless. in connexion with the war wo are all members of one Empire, and there ought to be no divisions or distinctions. In regard to land settlement. for example, we should be glad to see British soldiers, who have fought for the King, placed on the same footing as our own sons.

Following up the coincidence to which wo referred yesterday, we are interested to note that the "Spectator"' of April 22nd. which arrived by yesterday's mail, holds, as wo do, the Germans are persisting in the attacks on Verdun because they dare not eonfess to a failure. Our contemporary puts the matter very tersely thus:—

"Altogether the German* have lost close on two hundred thousand men in their unsuccessful attacks on Verdun. If they had succeeded in taking the town the price paid would be utterly out of proportion to the result achieved. As it is. the losses are without excuse. It has. been pure waste of life. What makes matters worse is the fact that tho Germans dare not break off the encounter. They dare not confess to a failure so gigantic and so tragic. Their only course is to try again, in tho hope.* growing fainter and fainter, that they may be able to 'hack their way through.' They are bound to go on attempting the impossible. 'Varus, give mo hack my legions was tho cry of the broken-heart eel Emperor. How long will it be before the Kaiser addresses his son and their in similar terms ?"

There are apparently still some benighted souls who fancy that it is good business to attack the Minister or Dofence, just as the member for Christchurch East did not know that ho was dragging out an embarnssing skeleton when he denounced Colonel Alien s "pledge' to provide a Expeditionary Force. But most of the "friends of the people" have realised that attacks upon the Minister are quite demode. I'or tho benefit of all of them, we. may quote a passage from an article in "Collier's Weekly,"' in which Mr Frederick Palmer defends the British Government against its critics:—

' To read tho excerpts from the English j>apers as published in Amend you would think that all the inhabitants of Britain were slackers, strikers, and muddlers. As the late Charles A. Dana said: 'It is not news if a do;; bites a man, but it is news if a man bites a. dog.' The unusual attracts attention. If the "Welsh miners strike, if a society composed of live, .hundred of the fortv million people in the British Isles declares that it is for ncpresistance—that is news. It isn't news if thVec million Englishmen have, enlisted to fight for England and are undergoing the merciless drill for ten hours a day."

Similarly, it was news of the most important sort here if some soldier mis.sod getting his railway ticket, but it was not news, it was nothing.worth mentioning if tho transports month by month took away, fully equipped and up to time, regular supplies of tho host soldiers in the world. '['hero is every hope that a better perspective has been obtained for the future, but if any partisan Rip van "Winkle feels impelled to denounce Colonel Allen at any time, it may help if he is reminded of Ttlr Palmer's terse remarks and of their local application.

The question, what to call the inhabitants of tho Dominions, refuses to disappear. It has just recurred in the "Westminster Gazette," in the form of a. letter signed by a largo number of Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and South African soldiers. They declare that the word "British" should be much, more generally used than tho word "English."

" 'British' applies to lis all," they say, "and though we lovo the name English and England, and all that it conveys, it is not enough to describo what our Empire stands "for at present, and its epoch-making possibilities for the future, as from every part men originally, and therefore always, British have not hesitated to leave their wives and families and excellent positions to fight under the flag which stands, for freedom. 'Tho Boys from Overseas,' whose fathers or forefathers came from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, as well as from England, -feel hurt to find tho almost universal use 0 f the term 'English'—not that they love England less, but Britain more."

Many alternatives have been suggested, such as the questionable "Britisher" and the horrible "Dominionist" and £: Dominionitc." But these, and even "Briton," which some correspondents of the "Gazette" plead for, will not meet the case. The "Gazette," like a good many people in Britain, believes that the namo "Colonists," as applied to those in the Dominions, "is bitterly resented." We are sure that it is a complete mistake to suppose that New ZealaJiders mind bein;: calleil "Colonials." The old ''Colonial" regime" has loft 110 bitter memories, and the people of to-day think affectionately of the colonist stock froni which they came.