NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 170, 14 April 1932, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Reform of local body government has again been reverted to by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and there can be no doubt there is wide scope for rationalisation in this direction to give efficiency with economy. At the same time it should not be forgotten that here and there local bodies are putting their own houses in order. If , for instance, every other local body in the Dominion were able to make such a satisfactory showing as the Masterton County Council was reported yesterday to have done, there would be no need for a commission. The council has returned a credit balance for the year ended March 31 last of £9333, which is £l5OO in advance of the previous year’s surplus. Moreover, the general county rate during the year was reduced approximately 30 per cent., and the 12| per cent, rebate allowed by the Government was passed on to the ratepayers, lhe staff was increased, not reduced, and £7632 was expended on unemployment relief under the No. 5 scheme in addition to a further expenditure of £2OOO in transport of relief workers and insurance. Finally, a further reduction of 20 per cent, in the rates is contemplated. Here is a record of which any county or borough could be proud.

There are some grounds for reflection in the unofficial figures of the second ballot of the German, presidential election. Field-Marshal von Hindenburg’s re-election is, of course, well assured, and the fact that there was a heavily-increased poll on this occasion no doubt partly accounts for the addition of well over 900,000 votes to his credit. On the other hand, the margin between him and Herr Hitler has been reduced from over 7| million votes to something, under six million, the latter obviously profiting by a swing-over of votes previously given to defeated candidates at the first ballot. The voting is no doubt a fairly accurate reflection of the state of mind of Germany to-day. The German people are experiencing severe vicissitudes and the Bruening Government is driving them as hard as it can in order to combat the economic depression. In the circumstances it is not difficult for a firebrand political adventurer like Hitler to dazzle them with fine promises of an easy release from their troubles.

It is barely thirty years since the inception of the Rhodes Scholarships scheme. Comment has frequently been made that little has been heard of the mark which' the Rhodes Scholars were expected to make in the world. In an interview in Auckland, Sir Francis Wylie, who for 28 years has held the post of Oxford secretary to the Rhodes Trustees, declared that on results the scheme had justified itself. The principle of the Rhodes scheme was that the young men selected for scholarships should be measured by qualities of manhood and leadership rather than by academic standards, the idea being that in course of time, duly equipped by the liberal preparation assured them under the conditions of the scholarships, they would take leading positions. The theory has not worked out just in that way, although the Rhodes Scholars have on the whole justified their selection by their subsequent achievements in less ostentatious fields. After all, the real builders of an Empire are not always those who loom largest in the public eye; the foundations are seldom laid by him who receives the silver trowel.

As far as the explicit terms of Mr. de Valera’s representations to the British Government are concerned, the White Paper presented to the House, of Commons reveals nothing new. It does, however, betoken a state of mind on the Fianna Fail side that is distinctly disturbing. In the first place Mr. de Valera says that the question whether the Oath of Allegiance was or was not an integral part of the Treaty is not now the issue. "The real issue,” he says, “is that the Oath is an intolerable burden.” Secondly, he declares that the Agreement of 1921—which in substance is the Treaty—instead of making Ireland free, had meant “the consummation of the outrage of partition.” It words mean anything, the foregoing'' statements from Mr. de Valera can bear no other interpretation than that his policy is directed not only at complete separation from Britain, but at the future absorption of Northern Ireland within the Free State. His ideal apparently is an Ireland insularly complete and independent. The implications resident in this attitude are grave indeed. It may be hoped*, for the sake of Ireland and the Empire, that when the Dail meets next Wednesday a check will be put on Mr. de Valera’s ruinous courses.