STRANGE JAPAN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 16035, 16 September 1912, Page 6

STRANGE JAPAN.

The suicide of General Nogi and his wife as a tribute to tho dead Emperor of Japan is one of thoso incidents of Japanese life that are inexplicable to the Western mind. General Nogi was a great soldier and a man of wide culture. He was a hero of the RussoJapanese war and a leader of national thought in his country. His studies and his travels, as well as his experiences on the field of battle, had brought him into close touch with modern science and thought. But it appears that he felt it his duty to do honour to his Emperor by a deed that would bo regarded as proof of insanity in a European community. Tho Japanese eoldier, it is scarcely necessary to say, cannot be suspected of baring yielded to an irrational impulse. He simply took a course that has been regarded by the Japanese nation for more than a thousand years as honourablo and praiseworthy. He bathed and dressed himself in his best, as became a descendant of tho Samurai, and gave the Inst saluto where the body of his ruler lay in state. The Mikado to him as to tho vast majority of the Japanc.:.« people, was more deity than man, and his veneration was nearer akin to worship than to loyalty as the white peoples understand the two sentiments. Then he wrote letters of apolog3' to the persons who might be inconvenienced by his death, including a specially courteous note to Prince Arthur ot 1 Connaughfc, the representative of Great Britain at tho Emperor's funeral. Having discharged these duties, General Nogi, with his wile be-, sido him, "went forward smiling to meet death, so that, cleansed and purified, ho might the more fittingly do honour to his master." An action more foreign to Western conceptions of conduct could not easily \ w conceived, yet it would be foolish to think of General Nogi either as a fanatic or a fool. His death symbolised the spirit that lias brought Japan to tho rank of a Great Power within the period of a single generatioa.

THE FEDERAL THEORY,

Mr Winston Chtjbchiix seems to havo been talking rather recklessly at Dundeo when he sketched a scheme of federal home rule for tho United Kingdom. Ireland's claim to possess a local Parliament, subject to the supremo control of the British Legislature, is entirely sound, and it follows naturally that Scotland and Wales should bo allowed to manage their own affairs if they wish to do so. A rearrangement along these lines would do justice to sentimental associations, promote efficient administration and make it easy to ereato a real Imperial Parliament, able to devote all its timo to the important affairs of tho Empire. But it has always been assumed in tho discussion of tho devolution theory that England would bo regarded as a political entity, with a separate legislative body, and Mr Churchill introduces a new element altogether when he talks of dividing England into several selfgoverning areas and cites 'Yorkshire, Lancashire and London as possible units. A Yorkshire Parliament, whatever name it might be given, could not be anything more than a powerful county council in fact, 'and certainly could not exercise tho powers that the Irish Parliament will possess without creating an impossible situation. Mr Churchill fears that an English Parliament would bo so strong as to clash with the Imperial Legislature, but it can be assumed that the duties of tho two bodies would be clearly defined and in any case England's representees would form a majority in the greater assembly. It has to be remembered, too, that the balance would bo changed by the growth of the dominions, which sooner or lator would have representation in tho Empire's governing body. Mr Churchill seems to have lost sight of the Imperial idea underlying devolution and to have confused tho federal scheme with plans for municipal and local government reform.