Evening Post. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1920. TIME FOR "SOU-WESTERS"

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 89, 12 October 1920, Page 6

Evening Post. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1920. TIME FOR "SOU-WESTERS"

In announcing his preparedness to meet the Bolshevik gale, Mr. Lloyd George declared, in true democratic spirit, that, " whatever happened, he was determined never to surrender the rights of the community to a minority, for this would mean the end of democratic government and the beginning of a Soviet Government." In Russia, according to the secretary of the British Labour delegation, the governing body, in. the last resort, is the Communists. The Italian Socialists, who agree that the Communists are " masters of the political and economic machine," estimate (according to a Rome cablegi'am dated 7th October) that "the Communists number only 600,000 out of a population of sixty millions." This information, compiled from Labour-Socialist sources, is specific concerning the character and numerical strength of the' Russian minority, and almost certainly does not under-state the case. Of course, it would be absurd for any liberty-loving people to desert government of the people by the people for the people, and to prefer that minority tyranny which declares liberty to be " a bourgeois superstition." But, fantastic though the notion is, and > bad as it would prove for the masses, supporters of majority-rule cannot afford to rest upon their oars. Though democracy governs by the majority, and finds that to be, on the whole, the fairest system, democracy is everywhere confronted with the fact that minorities frequently possess the motive power. Those militant unionists who profess sovietism see in their own unions an exemplification of minority power, because it is the energy of the few that counts, and by sheer initiative and will-power a. Red minority has impressed itself, for quite a long time, on the general body ,(not Red) of New Zealand's organised Labour. So supporters of majority-rule cannot afford to treat cheaply those who preach and practise minority government. More is required than the suppression of outward signs of Bolshevism. It is necessary not only to prevent minority wrongs, but to perform democratic rights. National welfare should be regarded constructively, and should be placed above party interests. Mr. Lloyd Geprge, speaking in his own Wales, who has more than her share of militant industrialists,, said: We are still in the &one of hmricanes, and that is why I am in no hurry to get back to party wrangles. I would not take the responsibility before God of quitting the helm of the ship of State. My advice to my countrymen is: " Put on your son'westers." Supporters of majority-government, confronted by the present situation, should leave nothing undone to give true effect to the will of the majority. They are entitled to have their own opinion as to whether proportional representation does or does not assist in the expressing of the will of the majority, but their stand, for or against, should be taken upon principle, should be consistent with their past records, and should not render itself oper to the suspicion that it is dictated by party considerations. A merely party attitude on .anything relating to majority government is not good equiplnent at a, time when minorities are grasping for power, and when the de fenders of democracy must put on their sou-westers. Also, those who stand firm against sectional dictatorship must themselves be above suspicion of sectionalism. They must hold the balance fairly between all sections of the commnmty, between producer and industrialist, between town and country. On the advocates and exponents of the parliamentary, system, on its defenders against sovietism, rests a hea,vy responsibility, which cannot be discharged by mere passivity. Before the war, in every civilised country, there was a dispute as. to the division of the proceeds of industry. In Brjta.ir the dispute was shelved during the war on the understanding that a new allocation would be made after the war. It was hoped that this allocation would be arrived at by mutual agreement without interrupting production. How close has the United Kingdom come to an amicable redistribution on this hoped-for basis? Mr. Lloyd George answers the question in part when he states that before the war the number of strikers in Britain in a year was 800,000, but in 1919 it was two and a-half millions. And, as the industrial world is " still in the zone of hurricanes," things may have to become worse before they begin to be better. Nevertheless, that "worse" jfc is everybody's duty to avoid if he can. Ho who plays- for "worse" as a, short cut to "better"-—a policy by no means confined to Bolshevism—is no friend to the nation. The times are times that call for moderation, for tho sinking of sectionalism in every form, for obedience to the law avid, the Government, a,nd for i Government worthy of obedience.