TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 21, 25 July 1927, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Canada is to be honoured in an exceptional way with visits from two members o£ the Eoyal Family and from the Prime Minister of Britain. The Prince of Wales and Prince George will be warmly welcomed, -whether their tour is official or private. But special significance attaches to Mr. Baldwin's tour. There is nothing in the British constitution to debar the Prime Minister from travelling outside the British Isles, but nevertheless Prime Ministers rarely do so. A health-recuperating trip to the Riviera has hitherto been tho limit of their journeyings. Mr. Baldwin is now setting out for Canada, not as an ex-Prime Minister, but as head of the British Government. This establishes a precedent which we may hope to see extended. For years it has been expected of Dominion Premiers that they shall absent themselves at regular intervals from their countries for long periods to attend Imperial Conferences. -They have done so, but the visits have not been repaid. It cannot bo pleaded that it is impossible for the British Prime Minister to travel. It may be difficult—more difficult than for his colleagues of the Dominions—but that would excuse the rarity of tours, not complete abstention from such visits. We may hope that now a precedent is made by a visit to Canada a tour of the more distant

Dominions will not be out of the question. That such a tour would be of great value to the Dominions and to the Prime Minister scarcely requires to be said.

Without entering upon the merits of the Eanfurly Shield dispute, we would strongly urge the parties to refrain from carrying their differences into the Courts of law. There may be a legal right to do so; but that is quite beside the point. The association of sports bodies is voluntary. Players unite in clubs and agree to accept the authority of a captain or a management committee. Clnbs band together in unions, and unions form larger associations. Each unit in each part of the organisation helps to set up the governing body, and has the power to change the personnel of that body at certain times. Once the authority of an outside body—even such an authority as the Supreme Court—is invoked the spirit of the association is undermined. It would be much better for an aggrieved union to say: "We think you are wrong, but as we put you in authority we will not attempt to go past you." Best of all, the decision should be accepted without question or complaint. That might mean the loss of the shield; but it would be a distinct gain in sportsmanship. After all, the Eanfurly Shield is a trophy for. prowess in Eugby. There is a Plunket Medal for debating.

Two important points were made by the Governor-General when addressing young Navy League members at Miramar School. His Excellency spoke first of the part which the Navy had taken in exploration and adventure. This is i often overlooked. Captain Cook we may remember as an officer of the Navy; but we often forget the Naval associations of other great explorers and adventurers. Yet it is a fact that the spirit of the Navy, endurance, discipline, and heroism, has been displayed on many a field of peaceful conquest—in tropical expeditions and in exploration of Arctic and Antarctic wastes. Science owes much to the Navy for exte, -.ion of knowledge, and commerce is even more heavily indebted. . As His Excellency said in making his second point, the Navy has not only carried the flag to distant parts of the woria, but it now maintains order and'security over the routes that it has mapped. Without the adventure, commerce would never have advanced so far, and without security it could not now be maintained.