NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 302, 21 September 1928, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

Any hopes of a reasonable compromise on the Licensing BUI were dissipated on Wednesday evening. Ihose members who had committed themselves to a two-issue ballot-paper and a bare majority vote on the question of Prohibition or Continuance simply voted “Aye” or “No,” as the case might be. They did not att< ; in Pt t° answer the arguments of those who advanced views opposed to their own nor to justify their own action. they had pledged themselve on the main issues of the measure, and to them nothing else matted than thi honouring of their pledges. In such circumstances it was a waste of time to hope to secure converts by reasoned argu ment The position reached, however, should not be without value in impressing electors with the danger underlying unconffitional election pledges on issues, the merits of which may be affected by changed conditions.* * * * When the annual report of the Government Printing Office was under discussion, the Labour-Socialist members of the House attack the principle of permitting private printing estabhshments to han 1 e a certain amount of the State’s printing requirements The members of the Labour-Socialist Party are no doubt aware that the trend of the printing industry is towards specialisation, and that it is an economic impossibility for one establishment m a country like New Zealand to cater satisfactorily for every printing requirement. The many new processes introduced in recent years, often involving he cost of very intricate and expensive machinery, can only be profitably carried out by specialisation. If every printing office in the Dominion endeavoured to cater for all classes of work, the trade would soon find itself in difficulties. It is much more profitable to pass on certain classes of work to a printer specialising in it than to purchase new equipment, which must necessarily remain idle for many months in the year. * * * * Despite Russian gestures in favour of disarmament, the policy of that country has been the reverse of pacific. Litvinoff was taxed by Lord Cushendun at Geneva in March last he was constrained to admit that Russia’s desire to promote general peace did not preclude the Soviet from continuing its world policy of creating civil wars in other countries. lhe expression of a desire for “general peace” was, therefore, misleading, and the true policy of the country can be inferred from the utterances of the statesmen of that land. That policy was expressed by Rykov, Lenin s successot, when in 1925 he addressed the Army authorities: “Do not. forget,” be said, “that our task is to internationalise Communism. . . . We shall help with all our force the brilliant and final victory of Communism in the world. The Red Army, immense disciplined, and imbued with the spirit of Lenin, will be its principal architect Later Stalin, in the Communist Internationale of December 14, 1927, p. 1893, wrote: We have no right to forget the words of Lenin, that in our constructive labours a great deal depends upon being able to put off the inevitable war with the capitalist world, either until the time when the pro Xian revolution is ripe in Europe, or until revolutions are ripe in the colonial countries, or else until tbe time when the capitalists begin to fight among themselves for the division of the colonies. This is why the maintenance of pacific relations with the capitalist countries is for us an indispensable task. Russia, therefore, constitutes a martial menace to Europe, in the face of which it would be suicidal to wholly disarm. America does not need an Armada-like Navy, which the Navy Bill provides for, and the only excuse for this move which is advanced is that it is to maintain America’s prestige. Could the British Empue, to which the freedom of the world’s sea-lanes is necessary for its existence, calmly contemplate this prestige navy and take no action It could not. Britain has already gone a long way on the road to disarmament. Her naval strength is below that of 1914 by a wide margin. No one has applauded and no one has followed her in this. 1. o disarm further would place the security of Great Britain and each Dominion at the disposition of America. It is not pleasant to contemplate, but it is a fact nevertheless. Further disarmament for the British Empire, therefore, is impossible until Russia renounces her subversive activities and America decides which she will choose, the palm of peace or a prestige navy.