NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 92, 12 January 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

The outstanding feature of the riotous affray at Lyttelton is the lightness of the penalties imposed on the principal offenders. A seaman uses obscene language. He is arrested, but resists, and his mates close round the police and obstruct them in their duty. The police are roughly handled, one is brutally kicked after having been thrown to the ground, but they stick to their man, and also make another arrest. Eventually police reinforcements arrive, but not until they secure a supply of batons are the police able to make their way to the police station. On the road there they have to bea-J off several rushes, and on arrival the door is rushed and stoues thrown. The original offender is sentenced to one month’s imprisonment for the obscene language he used, and is merely convicted and discharged for resisting arrest. Another offender is sent to gaol for a month lor obstructing a constable, and convicted for using obscene language, and three others have the option of paying fines of .£lO each or going to gaol for a month for their parts in the affray. It is important that the police should be strongly supported in putting down outbreaks of lawlessness and violence of this character. There may have been 1 special reasons which induced the Magistrate not to inflict heavier penalties, but they do not appear in the Bress Association report/ **, * *

" W is scarcely surprising that the appointment of Lord Reading as Viceroy of India has occasioned criticism. Before his appointment as Lord Chief Justice of England and elevation to the Beerage. Lord Reading was Sir Rufus Isaacs, a brilliantly successful lawyer and a distinguished member of the House of Commons. Lord Reading is a man ot great ability, and the criticism comes not on the ground of his personal adequacy for the. office, but in view of the circumstance that Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, and Sir Herbert Samuel, the recently appointed British High Commissioner for Palestine, are also of Jewish religion. It is said that every country has the Jews.it deserves, and it is a well-recognised, fact that ißie Jewish community in the United Kingdom, in proportion to its size, contains a remarkable number of men of the highest eminence and distinction. Mr. Montagu’s administration in India, howw, zr, has been fiercely atitacked by the opponents of his reforms, and not so long ago the London "Spectator” was calling for his resignation on five specified grounds. The appointment of Sir Herbert Samuel also made quite a stir in certain ciibles last year. Lord Reading goes to India at a rime of great difficulty and disturbance, and it is possible that the chief reason for his. appointment is the urgent need for a Viceroy sympathetically disposed towards the Montagu reforms, and with sufficient strength of character and tact to cany them into effect successfully. It will be no bed of roses, for the new Viceroy will have his every action under the keenest criticism both from within and without! India.

A plucky rescue in the Hutt River and two further bathing fatalities agpin direct attention to the lack of life-saving appliances at too many of the most frequented bathing resorts in the neighbourhood of the city. It is true that in neither of the drownings reported to-day would the provision of buoys or lines have averted the loss of life. The fact remains that there is every indication of a hot and dry summer spell, with much sea’ and river bathing, and accidents must be expected and prepared for. It would not be a difficult thing to secure a number of lifebuoys and lines—the troopship stores might be able to yield a supply—and to have them erected without more ado at the most frequented bathing places where such provision is now lacking. Remissness may very easily lead to needless loss of life before the summer is over.

From the statement by Archbishop Clune, which is reported from Baris today, it unfortunately seems clear that the attempt to establish a truce with the more moderate elements of -the Sinn Fein has meantime collapsed, in total failure. With the Sinn Fciners demanding concessions as a preliminary to a truce, and tho British Government taking the attitude that no truce will be considered while the Irish remain in arms, (here is little enough immediate prospect of the present situation changing for the better. The ouc possibly hopeful step open to the Government from which it has as yet refrained seems to be that advocated by Viscount Grey. During the second reading debate on the Government of Ireland Bill in the House of I,ords, he said he thought it would have been belter if the Government, instead of producing a large detailed Bill, bad started by laying down the broad lines of the limits within which Ireland would have complete autonomy. His own suggestions in regard to these limits were that Ireland should be put on the same footing in matters of foreign policy an

the. oversea Dominions, that the British Government should insist upon the maintenance of an undivided naval control. and that the Crown troops should be withdrawn from Ireland. Viscount Grey observed that he "saw no danger in an Irish Government raising a local (military) force for home defence.” The British Government might not unreasonably ask for firm safeguards on this point, and also in regard to foreign policy. There is something to be said, however, for the plan of stating in the briefest and plainest terms the proposed limits of Irish autonomy, and the fact that the Government of Ireland Bill has been passed does not seem to be a sufficient reason for neglecting this possible approach to a settlement.