NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2432, 10 April 1915, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

The speech of Mr. Lloyd George which we print this morning should be read by every man and woman. It is the most powerful appeal that has been made to the British people to throw the whole of their resources into the strugglo in which they aro now engaged. If England, safe and unscathed, has failccl to realise the tremendous nature of the issue being fought out on the Continent, it is still more difficult for us in our security twelve thousand miles away to bring home to ourselves all that the war means. Mr. Lloyd George at Bangor addressed himself principally to the workers and employers of Britain, to those who remained at homo not directly meeting the foe face to face, but whose labour in the supply of munitions and stores to the armies abroad .is as vitally necessary to the success of the Allies as that of the soldiers in the ranks themselves. This war, on which the fate not only of the British Empire, but of civilisation itself depends, he truly cried, will be fought out as much in the workshops of Europe as on the battlefield.

It is not enough that we in New Zealand should hold up our hands in lamentation over the stoppages and delays that have occurred in the British arsenals and factories. The question is whether it may not be possible for us to aid the work there in some degree as we are aiding it on the battlefield. Me. Allen has told us that the Government is more than meeting the wishes of the War Office in the dispatch of armed forces from. New Zealand. The lack of munitions and equipment must set a very definite limit to what we can do under this head. But is it not possible that we could send forward supplies of labour to help in the work of equipment in the British workshops? Our _ labour would mostly be unspecialised, but if Britain Jias need of it, it would be freely at her call, and the Government would have but to give the word to have more volunteers on its hands than' it could deal with. It may be that there is no need of more workers of the classes we oould offer. But if we can in any way assist to make good the shortage of labour to which reference has been made from time to time in the British Press our duty is plain. The Government would at least do well to ascertain exactly what the position is. *

An explicit reply is printed this morning to the charge that gifts for the men of the Expeditionary Force had been improperly sold in the canteens in Egypt. Major Hall, the officer concerned, has 'evidently gone into the whole matter with the most painstaking thoroughness. The only gifts to be put up for sale through the oanteens have been some cases of mullet, the proceeds from which have been paid into the various regimental funds. It appears, however, that numbers of the men having received gifts which they did not particularly desire have bartered them for other articles with the traders around the camp, and the traders have retailed the gifts. This practice has given rise to a suspicion that gifts are being sold instead of distributed, and Major Hall states that he is trying to stop the,traffic —possibly a difficult task. The charges were' lightly made in New Zealand and circulated broadcast with little or no evidence in support of them. As Major Hall points out they happen to be a direct impeachment of his honour and integrity, and he very properly requests a full inquiry, which has been granted. Everybody desires to see tho members of the Force treated properly, but tho incident shows that the kindest.and wisest course for all concerned is to make some endeavour to get iit the facts and not rush iuto print with baseless, tittle-tattle.

The circulation of indccent literature, and indecent pictm-cp and.portearns is Hot »a caw, watle* to deal

with. A nice discrimination is needed in deciding where tho lino shall bo drawn, and it cannot be said that the police have in all cases- been happy in their prosecutions. It has long been apparent that an unofficial body interesting itself in the work could do much to clear shops and bookstalls of an undesirable class of matter. The task has been undertaken by the New Zealand Catholic Federation, and some account of the methods it has adopted is given by Monsignor Brodie in tiro Auckland Star. No strait-lacci attitude is taken up, and the committee uses every precaution to see that its ends are not defeated by publicity being giveu to a book to which it objects. So far only actual complaints have been investigated and no organised effort has been made to inspect the shops. In most cases a hint is all that is needed to secure the withdrawal of objectionable matter, and the knowledge that there is a body with its eye on this class of stuff should have a healthy effect on dealers generally.

The discussion at yesterday's meeting of the Makara County Council once again directs . attention to the 'vexed question of the s maintenance of arterial roads. It is complained that 110 less than eighty per cent, of the county revenue goes in the maintenance of that portion of the Main West Coast Road between Ngahauranga and Messrs. Mace and Nicholson's quarry a- mile or two distant. _To save itself expense tho Council declared the road closed to heavy _ traffic from May 1 through the winter. This convenient solution, however, would carry with it the closing clown of the jjuarry, which transports its output into the City for delivery to the Corporation by traction and wagon. To the not unexpected protest against its action the Council has replied with an offer to compromise and open the road to the quarry traffic on special terms. But the fact remains that local bodies with straitened finances throughout the Dominion arc everywhere maintaining roads for traffic of more benefit to their neighbours than themselves. The result is a steady deterioration in tho /roads and the growth of a huge bill for renewals that will have to be met some day. It is in- the interest of national cconomy that the problem of arterial road maintenance should be dealt with without delay.

Criticism on the food prices problem continues on a magniloquent scale. In the discussion at the Timber Workers' Conference the Chairman remarked that "there was everything in New Zealand necessary for the upkeep of life, and it seemed a strange position that prices should have increased so ' much."—Everything, that is, except a trifling matter of some millions of bushels of wheat.

Yond Cassius has a lean .and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. So'declares Julius Caesar in the play. "Would that he wore fatter !" he adds. To this maxim of tie great Roman's, Mr. F. T. Moore, of Johnsonville, added another in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. "All littlo men," he charitably declares, "are vicious!"

The whirligia of Time brings in his revenges ana not the least strange of these will bo the appearance of a delegation of. British militant Suffragettes at a Peace Conference at The Hague. Mrs. Pankhurst disapproves. True to''her principles, she still thinks it better to pump lead than platitudes into the Germans. .