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Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16398, 18 December 1918, Page 6

Tho Canterbury Law Society of honouring a judge who, it will ba generally agreed, is deserving of all the honour that can be given to him, has made a very liappy precedent b.y setting up a fine portrait of Sir John Dcnniston in tho Court in which he administered justice for so many years with rare ability and a single-minded devotion to the highest traditions of the judicial office. Mr S. G. Raymond, K.C., in the felicitous speech which he delivered at the unveiling of the portrait, dwelt on tho importance of lawyers and judges to tho community, and drew a contrast between the frequency of memorials of great lawyers in England with our own. apparent want of gratitude to those who have played an important part in the history of New Zealand. "When, using Mr Gerard as an authority ho referred to the present war as "a War of Lawyers," he laid himself open to tho Tetort from tho cynical in such matters that this doubtless accounts for the length of the war, the "law's delays" being proverbial. Possibly Mr Raymond may also bo reminded that in Sir Thomas More's Utopia there were no lawyers, because tho Utopians considered them as "a sort of people whoso profession it is to disguise matters as well as to wrest laws." But we need hardly add —which we hasten to do—that judges were held in tho highest esteem by that excellent and discerning people. They thought it much better that every man should plead his own cause and trust it to the judge alone to decido. "By this means," says Sir Thomas More, "they both cut off many delays and find out truth more certainly." In the happy days before us we may do without lawyers, "but we shall have an increasing need for good judges. It is well, therefore, to honour those we havo, and we feel suro that the action of the Canterbury Law Society will meet with cordial approval among the community at large.

The delay on the part of Germany in, fcarryilng out some of the naval Conditions of the armistice is possibly a matter for which the German Government, such as it is, is hardly responsible. Its authority is somewhat feeblo, and nowhere more so than in the great ports. But Admiral Browning's threat that Britain may occupy Heligoland if tho terms are not obeyed may stimulate the Government to bestir itself. A good! many people have thought that the surrender of Heligoland, or atf least its occupation by a British naval force until peace had been should have been one of the terms of the armistice. But as a matter of fact, with tho surrender of the pick of the German navy the value of Heligoland to Germany largely disappeared. Apart from that, our presence there, in permanent occupation, would have been an unnecessary provocation. It would have been, as a recent writer remarked, a perpetual eyesore to the German nation, and an attempt would have been made to got us out of it, even if Europe had to inn with blood for a second time in thef century.

Heligoland has been strongly fortified since it passed into the possession of Germany in 1890. A German naval officer who deserted from the island! fortress and sought refuge in Holland is reported to have asserted that every inch of the surface of the island had been coatcd with concreto from loft to 32ft thick, and that the stores pf provisions and munitions would enable it to withstand a siege for eighteen) months. Both these statements are no doubt exaggerations, but there is equally little doubt that tho island would be a hard nut to crack if it had to be taken by force. Tho land force on the island was stated to consist of between 8000 and 10,000 men, a number so far in excess of what is needed for garrisoning the forts that one fails to see why it should be maintained! there, especially as consequent on so many men being crowded together in a space barely a mile long by one-third of a mile wide, the place is infected with disease, and is horribly unhealthy. It was. indeed, the suffering caused by one diseaso that is rife, the chief symptom of which is an intense itching, thati the German officer offered as th© excuse for his desertion. If a British naval force were to occupy tho place, they would no doubt dismantle tho guns andl live on board their ships in the sheltered harbourage between tho main island and the smaller one, not much more than a sandbank, about a quarter of a

milo away

Tho reception of the published policy of American Bolshevism, which it is announced is to start on Friday next, must" have disconcerted the Bolsheviks responsible for it. '"New York," we are told, "remains calm," in spite of the declaration by the "People's Day Committee" that from the dato named, all debts aro cancelled, all laws repealed, all public offices become vacant, and the Army and Navy are disbanded. The attempt on the part of a handful of lunatics to introduco chaos by a stroke of the pen fell so extremely flat that a suspicion must have

dawned on them that the nation generally does not take them seriously. A few weeks ago they were given proof that tho public is not prepared to tolerate much of their foolishness. A meeting convened by tho International Socialists, at which Bolshevik doctrines were expoundod, was broken up by the attack of hundreds of soldiers aud saiiors, who first scattered the police guarding tho people who want neither law nor order, and then chased the latter down side streets.

America has had considerable experience in the past year or two of tho malignant activity of tho International Socialists and I.W.W.'s, whose leaders were proved in many casus to be paid by Germany to promote sedition and foment labour troubles. They began, it is stated, in June last year, -when thev caused strikes in the Montana copper mine?, the miners refusing to produfo copper for Great Britain. In the following month Minnesota arrested or deported *2000 of them. Tho I.WAV. throats to start fires in the wheat belt, in revenge for this action, do not appear to have materialised, but tho forest fires which broke out in California wore suspected of boing caused by this organisation in retaliation for arrests in San Francisco. Then "Judge Lynch" got to work, and numerous members of the I.WA\. wero hanged, while many others were tarred and feathered. Their headquarters in many cities were raided and cloeed, and lato in the year ihero was a great round-up all over the States Which seems to have broken the nower of the

J.W.W. Numbers of documents that had been seized proved thoir complicity in German plots to check America's war preparations, and a hundred of tho leaders were convicted in Chicago, once the Gorman stronghold in the States, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. .I.WAV.-ism is a thing of German descent, closely connected with the "International" movement, and as such it is bauned by every decent citizen of a civilised country.

When the hanks were suddenly closed during the cnidemic we supported the complaints which were widely mado by those who wore seriously inconvenienced by tliis interference with their business arrangements, but we cannot agi'eo that there is much ground for complaint over the decision that the banks shall close from December 24th to December 30th. Together with a complaint from a local business house wo print to-day other statements which show that the banks are not taking any substantial 'liberties with the public. If the usual custom were followed this year the banks would be dosed on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of next week, and open from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday. Tho decision to remain closod until Monday merely means cutting out tho two .hours of Saturday. Tho public has ample notice of tho arrangements, and provision for the payment of wages can bo made. The hardships involved are more apparent than real.