NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 686, 10 December 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The . protests, that aro being made against the. proposal to permit the establishment, of canteens for the sale of intoxicating liquor at training camps, to. be held under tho new scheme of compulsory military training, will meet with very wide support. .There are two reasons why the existing, rulo in regard to canteens at/volunteer /training camps should not apply under, the new ".scheme.In the first place the position of those taking part in the camps is quite different to those servingundci' the present system., Under the volunteer .system, men join the forces : : of their own free will, and attendance at camps can be avoided. Underiths new proposals all youths, (with a few specified exceptions) between the ages of 18 and. 21 are compelled to undergo military training and to attend camp. _ In the second'place it should be borne in mind that those at the training camps will, .consist; almost entirely of youths.; between 18 and 21 years of .age. No. one will protend for one moment that it is a desirable or a proper thing that these youths should, in addition to being compelled to undergo this'.. training,, have .the .temptation :of •• the ca,mp; can-, teen thrust, before them; '.. It■ is: true .that tho Bill provides that liquor shall not bo.supplied to these youths, but it is a rule that is not easy to enforpe.: In any case we have no doubt that : the great' majority of. parents would '.prefer that the temptation should riot be placed boforo their soneJ It would bo a grave mistake to antagonise any largo of the public to thpschemovof compulsory training by insisting on , " the canteens at training camps.-; The ' Government will concede very little by abandoning : the proposal.to.-provide , canteens at: training camps, and it will certainly make trouble for itself , arid its scheme if it persists in adhering to tho clause as it stands/- :

The frcohqld-leasehqlders : who support the; Government are, wo fear, -inaccessible to the appeals. of: reason; :"■'.'. In one .of our recent articles wo advanced this proposition:>" The question involved is a simple matter,of principle; "either tho freehold principle is the right one-for the/State to adopt in respect of its lands, or it"is not," We hoped that everybody would agree with that statement: dissent from it seemed to us tobe as unlikely-as dissent .from any. plain axiom such as that "two and two make.four, or they do n0t,"..0r that "burglary«ispraiseworthy; or 1 it is not," or that "the world^revolves■ about the mny.or it.does not;" ■ Yet,'our axionv is violently '.'. repudiated by at least one Ministerialist .contemporary- To say what : we'said,' we are told, is to "raisre?. present" the whole situation. , Our proposition "begs the whole question" I Our contemporary's attitude is very' remarkable. We certainly stated, the; whole question; we stated..the one'question , .'that is' at issue, and' Btated it completely in about thirty: words just as-aicaGcholder would state it. There ie no other:way of stating it. Perhaps, however, tho Ministerialist; journal means that wo are begging the question in saying that thoquestion involved is a simple matter of. principle. If that is what is 7 meant, we have nothing further,to. say.- :If it wishes the public to understand that the, Government has'no principles on the land question,: well and.good; That will'simplify matters immensely. '• : '.' ; ;V: ' -•-.V -.

_ The English papers of : October 27,pub'lish the text of a.long and powerful speech by Mit. Balfour in censure , of action of Mr; 'Ure, the Lord Advocate for Scotland, in persistently stating that the., Unionist • Government,' ; if ;it ; comes into power, will-take, away tho, : old age pensions. ! AVe : have • referred, to this irici-: dent before, in a note , upon the occasional mendacious statement, that tho'Eo.form ■party, in : . this country would cut wages down to . 3s. ■ a day, Mb. BalFoun s speech makes' the .severest castigation ever; applied by one leading pubhe man in Britain to another— in recent years, at any. rate; ; Ho made allowances, he said.v.for ; the, excesses of excited men.talking to excited audiences, but at was the .frigid;.'and calculated he that'moved his indignation: ■'■; /

I ■ .. Occasionally," he proceeded, " things' are said which pass the line, and when they are's-,id niamfostly with deliberation, obviously'-.; with intention, and whon_. they -are .repeated time after time, then I think no languor of oondecwahon is. excessive which is iised to exposo that enormity; before the public ' Tho I worst-offender at this moment by. far. is aniemI Dr "Represent Government. The Lord Advocate of. Scotland occupies a high office, which atall: events to the minds of all Scotsmen ve-' presents a great tradition... .'■:. . I really andsincerely_think'that a more scandalous dercKMi On °/^ n % th ? n ;t , hht ' which 'the :present" I Holder, of the office has been guilty of has never been seen; m politicians of. his emihence, cither : pf.his personal: ability-or , -his high office.' He I Un ?.Epßo OJi either by direct.statement or unmistakable .•suggestion—he has gone oh repeating a calumny, which he must have known was a calumny, to audience, after audience, where there might be.somo ! preseut who did not know what he knew. He has committed in that a double crime. J need not. tell you that, I am ■ referring ■ to ■ what ho said about old age pensions, and the peril in which tho receivers of old age pensions will find themselves' if after the.general election there is a change of Govornment. Ho. has committed a crime in- repeating day after day those.' mis-statements. .... I cannot imagine, a crimo from which anybody -who. really understood! the interests of freedom and constitutional government Would |:shnnk more than the- crimo which tho Lord Advocate, as far as -1 can understand: his speeches, has been deliberately guilty—guilty not once, .not twice, but .ina'nv; times, miiltv ■after 'wariiinß,''- ; gmlty : . wi'th- - knowledge, miiltv -'.with \al the facts of -bis ■ sfcite'tuent .before him,, guilty with a deliberate object—the ■deliberate object of perverting public opinion by spreading broadcast public calumny. : - <'l confess I am s.orry that the Lord Advocate is a Scotsman, it seems to me to be a course which he has adopted stoadily, persistently intentionally, with a plain , and obvious' doi sign. . lie has dishonoured tho profession to which he belongs—lie lias dishonoured the office which hp holds, and ho has dishonoured tho. country in which he was bom. I hope I believe, that he will find no imitator amongst responsible men of cither party. , ; . .-. .How ii man ofhis traditions, of his upbringing, of his experience and ability can have sunk , so low I know not.' I aivo no explanation of it, but I ciHvexpress, and I d,p express, the'earnest hopo that ho may .'stand alone as a , solitary example of tho unscrupulous uso.of public misrepresentation, which I .believe- to ho almost unique in the political annals oven of .this controversial country, and ivhich -I- hojn may lonu romain unexampled." ; .; ..-.■•.;• ■ - : -.■-.-; ; v .- Our Radical frionds should bear in miiid these.: stern worde when next they .-■ fed--1 tomptod.totalk of "38, a'day," : -."■; '■■■ :'■'.'

There .is talk of the High Cornmissioncrship'falling vacant shortly, it being suggestod that ill-health, is likely to necessitate the Hon. \f. Hall-Jones should relinquish the post; Curiously enough, the namo of the Hon. T. Mackenzie is mentioned in tlie same connection as being a possible successor to the office. Wβ commented yesterday on tho. fact that soma of the. Radical mem- j bers of the Government's following regarded _Mr. Mackenzie as out of place in a Liberal Government, and wo have no doubt that, Mr. Mackenzie's elevation to full Cabinet rank—he is at present a Minister without pay—would cause further discontent. But if he remains here, how is it. possible for tho Government to pass him over? Would his removal to the High Commissionership relieve Sir Joseph Ward from an awkward situation and silence the malcontents? Possibly itwou]d;but at the same time it would create a new difficulty for the Prime Minister. To whom amongst the goodly number *of eager aspirants to office in the ranks of his following would he turn for his new colleague? We must confess our inability to answer, this question. Mr. Guinness would probably bo more acceptable than anyone else to.the majority of Ministerialists; and of the others, Mr.. .Baujie is: the most outstanding figure.. But would either meet the, reouirements of the Prime Minister himself ? A choice more agreeable to him could probably be made from Messrs. Field, Hanan, Davey, or Laubenson. The! lastnamed, however, has not been a conspicuous success in his new position of Government Whip, and his prospects do not appear to be so rosy as they were a few months ago. In the meantime, however,' Sir Joseph has his hands very full with the business, of the session." After 1 membors have returned ~tp their home! we may hear: something about the matter.