NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 93, 14 January 1929, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

One of the first things a visitor usually remarks upon when he visits a new town are the open spaces or their lack. He likes to see these open spaces made cheerful with shrubs and flowers. In .Wellington space is limited. Few houses have room for large gardens, and we cannot hope to compete with the waterfalls of coloui that have made famous the Cashmere Hills. All the same, much could be done to stock our open spaces with as many flowers as possible. It is true we have Kent Terrace; but let us have more Kent Terraces. No visitor passes down that terrace without remarking, upon its beauty. The severity of the green that skirts the Houses of Parliament would be the better for a bigger splash of colour. True, the spot is windy, but where one flower will grow surely others can be made to do so. The improvements shortly to be undertaken at the junction of Bowen Street will offer further scope for flowers and flowering shrubs. There is something austere and bleak about an open place unless it has these things. Round and about the town there is many- a grassy bank that would be the better in the spring for the yellows of the daffodils. Even London, smoky London, has her daffodils. ♦ • • ♦ There have been unemployed marches on London before. . It may be doubtful if the present march organised by Communists will do more harm than the others; but it is certain that it will do no good. The spectacular has little practical effect when it works at variance with common sense. Misguided people in early days have even dragged huge petitions to the Houses of Parliament. So big were these petitions they had to be cut up before they would. pass through'the doors and passages. It must have been amusingly spectacular; good stuff for the films if they had had them in those days. Except for. a little doubtful advertisement and a large quantity of unnecessary trouble little else eventuated. Only a few years ago an unemployed army marched spectacularly on London. Except that they filled the poor-houses and the hospitals with sick and tired men the outcome wass. farcical. There was considerable argument as to whether the poor-houses were forced to support the sudden influx, and many of these houses were taxed beyond their income. Others refused to give shelter to men from outside their parish. The remnants of a tired and foot-sore rabble that reached London .were too spent to impress their case upon the authorities. Clearly marches such as these are not calculated to help. At best they embarrass those who are trying to help the undeniable plight of the unemployed. It is not a way to find work. One wonders that the enemies of Britain can still find dupes to carry out their mischief-making plans. \ ♦♦* . * Ever since July 20, 1928, when Stephen Raditch fell mortally wounded on the floor of Parliament at Belgrade, shot by a member of the Government, troubles in Jugo-Slavia have drifted from bad to worse. The Croats, who are £oman Catholics, have ahvays conducted a somewhat provocative campaign against the so-callec Balkanisation of the administration. The Serbs, who are m power and for the most part belong to the Greek Church, have always tun the country with little regard to the sentiments of the Croats. On Raditch’s death, a week or two after the shooting affray, the Croatians and their leaders removed to Zagreb and refused to have anything to do with the Government. In fact they set up an opposition Parliament. There were bloodshed, riots, murders, and all the other demonstrations of active discontent. A month or sb ago Father Koreshetz, the Government Leader, determined to put a stop to the impasse by prosecuting certain Croatian trouble-makers. He succeeded in fanning smouldering fires into flames. Clearly the stage was set for the strong man to come upon thejjeenes. The King in his position as dictator is unenviable. Either he must find power to crush Croatian discontent or, if he fails, he must resign himself to inevitable revolution made all the more dangerous by Croatian fanatics who realise they have got their backs to the wall whatever hauDcns. T> e Balkans continue to be a danger spot to EurfiCe.