1919—A RETROSPECT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18292, 31 December 1919, Page 6

1919 —A RETROSPECT.

* When’ the year 1919 was ushered in the noise of tho guns in Europe had just died away. Four ' and a half long, weary years of battle had ceased with the signing of the Armistice in November, and twelve months agp the states- , men of the Allied countries were assembling for the Paris Conference. With high hopes and great ideals, went the representatives of tho numerous countries comprising what may aptly be termed the League of CivilisationPresident Wilson, with his lofty principles and altruistic designs; Lloyd George and 'Clemenceau, bent upon the mating of a Treaty that would he severe and yet not unjust, a salutary lesson to the ene'my, a lastjng preserver of peace; Botha and Smuts from South Africa, taking their splendid place among the foremost men of the world; and among tho rest Mr Hughes, Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward from the v Antipodes, charged specially with tho responsibility of seeing that' Germany should nob again menace tho safety of these southern seas. Those high hopes have not all materialised. Conflicting opinions, and, still more, conflicting interests made the task of the Peace Conference one of colossal difficulty. Territorial and political and racial problems on a scale without parallel in history were presented for solution. A large part of Europe had 1 to be remapped, according to considerations of .race and language, of physical boun- > daries, and according-to the claims of ■ countries which had shared in defeating the Cental In the

of these difficulties, .to say that tho Conference failed to make a perfect peace is merely to say that it rvns human. We need not here go into the terns imposed upon Germany,, which are, in our opinion, severe but not at nil too severe. The big features of the Treaty are the disarmament of Germany, on land and sea (one part of which was dramatically insured by the Germans themselves in the sinking of their fleet at Scapa Flow), and tho adoption of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Unhappily, this scheme has not yet been ratified by the United States Parliament. Unhappily, also, there has been, a practical renunciation of the League of Nations in the filibustering career of the poet d’Anminzio in Fiume, of which at the moment there arc some indications of collapse. The event that will always make 1919 stand out in the pages of history, however, is th® PeacC Treaty, though it is.too soon for us to know how some of its provisions are going to bo applied, and with what eventual success. Following the war, Great Britain has been passing through remarkable phases, by no moans finished yet. A khaki election at the end 1 of 1918 had put the Coalition back into office with emphasis. The people had decided, with proper patriotism, that it was the correct thing that the Government which had done so much to bring the fighting to a victorious conclusion should havj the support of tho constituencies in tho making of the peace. Apart from that consideration, however, the verdict has not very well justified itself and would not be repeated, if the by-clections inay bo taken as a guide. Incidentally, we mention as a matter of great interest tho election of Lady Astor to the House of Commons. Politically, socially and economically, tho Mother Country has been sharply tested during the year, and is still undergoing the process. . A ponderous investigation of the coalmining industry produced sensational evidence of owners’ profits and several important recommendations. Nothing definite has so far come out of tho inquiry, but not a few publicists and economists are predicting some form of nationalisation which will gjvo tho miners a share in the control. A big industrial event was the railway strike in Britain. This served to illustrate tho enormous possibilities of motor traction, a demonstration which ho doubt contributed to tho settlement of tho striko, a matter on which, by tho way, both the Government and tho representatives of the railway servants deserve to be complimented.

The political atmosphere has been stirred iu Australia and New 1 Zealand by general elections in each country. Mr Hughes and his friend's went to tho country waving the flag of Nationalism and lost several seats, but the Government will be safe with the help of the Fanners’ Party. The position is, however, peculiarly unstable, since- the governing majority is made up of elements that do not usually mik very much easier than do oil and water. !ln New Zealand tho elections in December were preceded by tho ending of tho National Government in August. Sir Joseph Ward’s action in ending tho Coalition when and how he did 1 has been much discussed, and enemies of tho Liberal Party have professed to see nothing but wickedness in tho proceeding. Our opinion is that Sir Joseph Ward acted in the interest*) of the country, for tho Coalition had become an inert, inept organisation, and, moreover, its mission bad been fulfilled. As everybody knows, the "Reform Party has obtained a strong majority in the now Parliament. The Liberals lost a number of seats, and among the casualties, most unfortunately, lias to be included tho defeat of Sir Josoph Ward in the contest for Awarua. The unscrupulous methods employed against the Liberal leader, who was punished because of his religion, reflect grave dishonour upon thoso responsible. Other veterans of tho Liberal Party who went down in the good fight are Sir James Carroll, the Hon G. W. Bussell and the Hon D. Buddo. A feature of the elections is the largo number of minority members who are returned to the new Parliament, most of them 'Reformers. There are, in our view, no hotter prospects for political peace in New Zealand than there are in Australia, for the reason that the ruling ride obtained nothing like a majority of the votes cast throughout the country. The Parliament is not the choice of the bulk of tho electors, and the portion of the Parliament which is able to rule oweß that ability not to the goodwill of the people .but to the defects of the electoral law. The Reform Party’s present position, fine as it may appear, rests upon an insecure foundation.

Another question which has profoundly stirred public opinion in New Zealand during the year is the liquor question. Under the very defective law pasted by Parliament in a great hurry in December of 1918 there have been two polls taken—one in April on the issue of continuance versus prohibition with compensation, and one in December, when the choice lay between (1) continuance, (2) State purchase and control, and (3) prohibition without compensation. Prohibition was defeated in April by some ten thousand votes, and it looks as if that issue has been lost at the second poli by over two thousand votes, though the final results fare not yet available. The voting on behalf of State Control was surprisingly and disappointingly small —disappointing to us, at all events, for tho “ Lyttelton Times ” has been an old friend and advocate of that policy as a solution of the liquor problem. Howevor, the issue was placed before the people in an unattractive fashion, and must havo lost a great deal of support through the failure of the Government to accompany the issue with a definite statement of its meaning. Wo remain convinced of the merits of the scheme. Tho increase an the prohibition vote, or the decrease in the majority by which the proposition was. defeated—-and we are very glad that it was defeated—is not easy to explain, but we should not be surprised if tho fact that.no compensation was involved in the December referendum, aided' tho prohibitionists. We regret to Juure to think this, for we regard

prohibition without compensation as immoral. In America and Canada the politicians, not tho people, have adopted prohibition—which seems a rather hazardous experiment. Among other events of the year have been the demobilisation of the Expeditionary Force, which has proceeded with a rapidity very creditable to the Defence Department; the payment to tho soldiers, by Parliament of a gratuity of Is 6d a day‘from embarkation to discharge; tho raising of a further large local loan; tho granting to women of the right to sit in the House of Representatives; and the steady increase in the cost of living. Qoncerning the last-named item, Mr Massoy boasts of having placed drastic legislation on the Statute Book, hut up to tho present there have been no punishments meted out to the profiteer and there are no indications that he is even perturbed ovor the “ drastic ” machinery which is supposed to he hanging over his head like the sWprd of Damocles. Industrially, tho year has been marked by the continual chase of wages after prices, tho latter always winning, and by tho indefensible go-slow tactics adopted by the coal-miners: Locally, tile year lias been one of ordinary hut not outstanding advancement. Tho Canterbury Progress League has developed into tho live body that it promised to be, and has done a great and useful service in crystallising tho aspirations of the people in many practical directions. Jhe seasons have been rather unseasonable, but not sufficiently so to seriously affect tho prosperity of the country people. On. the whole, 1919 has been a happy year simply by comparison with those dreadful years that preceded it, but it closes with many large public questions awaiting treatment.