TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 121, 18 November 1929, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DAY

i "No Government will ever tolerate an arrangement with a foreign Government by which, the latter is in formal diplomatic relations of a correct kind with it, whilst at the same time a propagandist body organically connected with that foreign Government encourages and even orders subjects 6f the former to plot and plan revolutions for its overthrow. Such conduct is not only a grave departure from the rules of international amity, but a violation of specific and solemn undertakings repeatedly given to His Majesty's Government." This is an extract from the warning given by iMr. Ramsay Mac Donald in 1924 to M. Rakovsky. Mr. Mac Donald stated Britain's position so clearly that Sir Austen Chamberlain quoted the statement when he found it necessary to repeat the warning in 1927. Now it appears that Mr. Henderson may have reason to call to mind his chief's admonition to the Soviet. The Communist International has issued a manifesto warning Indian peasants and workers not to trust "the Imperial lackeys posing as the British Labour Government," . and urging India to spurn Dominion status and establish a Communist Government. Mr. Henderson, having agreed to an exchange of ambassadors on the undertaking that such propaganda would cease, has been shutting his eyes to Soviet breaches of faith. In the House of Commons he has belittled the importance of Russian Press statements; but he cannot disregard so impudent a manifesto as the one addressed to India. When Sir Austen Chamberlain warned Russia in 1927 it was just such practices as these which called forth his protest. Moscow was looking to China to set the ball rolling for a revolt which would spread to India. The old practice has not changed, and, according to "The Times" Riga correspondent,

Soviet newspapers ridicule the ' British. Government's assumption that the Anglo-Kussian agreement will change the International's activity. ■

Mr. Henderson may choose to ignore the Soviet Press, but for how long? In Russia the "Izvestiya" is an organ of State, and other newspapers, while they may be free to express their own opinions, have been taught to be careful lest those opinions clash with the views of the central authority.

Few people nowadays deny the value of holidays. There may be some who boast that they find such rest unnecessary, and can apply themselves to their work without break or change; but they are the exceptions. The average man is not anxious to follow the example of John Gilpin:

Though .wedded we have been These twice ten tedious years, Yet we no holiday have seen.

Many employers, moreover, recognise that annual leave is of value to them as well as their employees. Yet there are difficulties in the way of making annual holidays compulsory by legislation, as proposed by . a private Labour member in England and by Mr. D. G. Sullivan in New Zealand. In 'England the Labour Ministry has accepted the principle of the Bill for eight days' annual leave, but has admitted that the matter "could not be dealt with in such simple terms as the Bill used." Here in New Zealand we also have practical difficulties. These are overcome to some extent by the Arbitration system, which has led to the holiday principle being embodied in many awards. The Conciliation Councils and the Court are best able to. judge

how and when the principle can be extended to other workers covered by the Arbitration Act. It is not wise to legislate in a way that interferes with the Court's jurisdiction. It is true that there are many workers not covered by the Act, but they are excluded from its operations for special reasons, the main reason being that rural industry does not lend itself to hard-and-fast regulation. This would apply also to holidays by statute. Before such legislation is approved the whole question needs to be examined. It is a task that could be undertaken by a National Industrial Conference if one were' summoned again.

! Slowly but steadily scientific and industrial research is taking its place in the Dominion as an aid to progress in production. When the new department was established there were many scoffers and doubters, especially among the rule-of-thumb farmers, who refused to believe that the scientist, either in the field or the laboratory, could achieve anything of value to the farmer on the farm. The progress reports of the Council of Research have already done.much to correct thiajmpression. The latest report (published in "The Post" on Saturday) shows the wide range and practical nature of the work undertaken. Parasites for gorse, blackberry, and ragwort are the subject of experiments, the mineral content of pastures is being methodically investigated, and other research work undertaken deals with transport of cheese, wheat-growing, cold storage of meat, forestry, and the briquetting of coal. Some of the problems are proving exceptionally difficult; but the most difficult will be the most valuable when success is achieved. The parasite attack on noxious growths, for example, will bring thousands of acres of -worthless land into profitable use. The dividend may be deferred, but when it is received it will well repay the investor.