NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17361, 7 January 1920, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.

A valuable book on the first year of the Russian revolution has been written by Mrs. Harold Williams, the wife of the well-known New Zealo.nder who has made t, world-wide reputation as a newspaper correspondent and authority on Russian affairs. The dominant note of the book is amazement that the Russian people, with their many good qualities, could have allowed themselves to be dominated by a j;ang of scoundrels, mostly of alien origin, or could have reverted so quickly to the primitive savagery of the Tartars. Mrs. Williams gives an instructive account of the first and last sitting of the- Constituent Assembly on January 18. 1918. The electors had not returned a Bolshevik majority. For that reason Lenin suppressed the Assembly after the first day. The Social Revolutionaries, led by Chernoff, had polled most votes. Chernoff, whose chief ob ject- is to transfer all laud to the peasantry, is a radical Socialist, Nevertheless he was denounced in Lonin's customary manner as a " counter-revolution ary," and a 11 bourgeois," and was compelled to adjourn the Assembly, which was dissolved before it could meet again. The two leading Cadet Deputies had been arrested and sent to gaol, where they were afterwards murdered by Bolsheviks From the suppression of the Constituent Assembly Lenin's rule became a naked despotism, which no sincere believer in democracy can defend. Since that time Lenin has governed by the help of mercenaries, adapting all the worst features of

the old Tsardom—arbitrary arrests, secret police, irresponsible officials, strict control of the press, and so on—for his own evil purposes. A VOLUNTARY LEVY. The following announcement was recently made by the Chancellor of the Imperial Exchequer —"His Majesty's Government desire to express their grateful acknowledgment of the receipt by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of £150.000 of Four per Cent. Funding Loan from 'F. S. T.' for cancellation in accordance with the intention expressed hy him in a letter published in The Times of dune 24, in which he wrote : —'l give this portion (20 per cent.) of my estate as a tharikofforing, in the firm conviction that never again shall we [ hays such a chance of giving our country thai form of help which is so vital at the present time.' 'F. S. T.'s' letter to The Times gave at some length his reasons for making the gift thus acknowledged. After comparing the crisis of August, 1914, in which the nation 'was saved by the freewill ollerings of her people,' with the crisis of financial exhaustion following the war, the writer of the letter said that ,by a natural reaction 'all classes are in danger of being submerged by a wave of extravagance and materialism. It is so' easy to live on borrowed money; so difficult to realise that you are doing so.' 'How can the nation,' the letter continued, 'be riade to understand the gravity of the financial situation; that love of country is better than love of money? This can onty be done' by example, and the wealthy classes have to-day an opportunity of service which can never recur. They know the danger of the present debt; they know the practical difficulties of a universal statutory capital levy. Let them impose upon themselves, each as he is able, a voluntary levy. It should be possible to pay to the Exchequer within 12 months such a sum as would save the taxpayer 50 millions a year.'"

ENFORCING PROHIBITION. An unexpected difficulty in enforcing | prohibition, the indiscriminate issue of prescriptions for alcohol for " medicinal purposes, has been experienced in the Canadian province of British Columbia. A statement on the question was made recently by the Premier of the province, Mr. John Oliver. " The chief difficulty in the way of the enforcement of the prohibition enactment in the province is the indiscriminate issuing of doctors' prescriptions," said Mr. Oliver. " They are provided for in the Act, and their control by the Government is a matter outside of our jurisdiction altogether at the present time. We have placed certain laws governing the sale and use of liquor upon our books, and thoso laws are being l carried out, as far as the Government is concerned, by every conceivable means which we are empowered to use. The police authorities are playing their part, and the Government must live up to the letter of the law, which allows the use of liquor upon the request of a physician. The abuse of this privilege is something upon which we had not, at the time, counted, and which has arisen as an exceptionally difficult problem. The outstanding fact at the present moment is that the Provincial GoVernment officers have, done all in their power to enforce the laws as they stand on the books, and that the object of these laws has largely been defeated by the 'oophole left in the matter of prescriptions. Until some solution of this difficulty is arrived at the prohibition law in British Columbia must continue to be in the yery unsatisfactory state which is complained of by a large section of the people."

"TELL THE WORKERS." A correspondent, writing in the London Times, has a valuable suggestion to mate with reference to the education of workers. He says: The belief is genera] among all workmen that llk less work a man does the more work will there he for the unemployed. To get 1 his belief out of the minds of the workers is the duty of the Government, and the solution lie* in the threo words "Tell the Workers." The scheme of " telling the workers" is ardently followed by all Laboui leaders and Socialists for the purpose .' furthering their own aims, but iV seems to be altogether ignored by the Government and employers of labour, with the result that the majority of workers believe everything their leaders tell them. Schools should be established and classes started for instructi ing working men in the principles that govern the production and distribution of wealth, and also as a means of getting the. men to take a more real interest in the work on which they are employed. The workers are told by their leaders that to improve their conditions they must be con tinually asking, and striking if their demands are not granted, for an increase of wages end shorter hours; but no steps seem to x> taken to tell the workers that, the more their wages are increased and the hou 's of work shortened, the greater will be the cost of living; so that they are no better but worse off in the end, sincb the country suffers by losing trade. In order tc restore the industrial and social world into a state of peace, the Government should immediately organise a campaign throughout the country for the purpose of telling the workers the evil results that will take place if they follow like sheep the doctrines preached by their leaders. The blame does not rest on the workmen 'for the stops they are at present taking, but on the Government and employers of labour for not educating the workers and takinr tliem into their confidence. No tirao should be lost if we are safely to pass through the critical days that lie ahead of as*