NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18551, 8 November 1923, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

APPEALS TO THE KING. The King is by the constitution of tho Empire tho fountain of justice, writes a legal correspondent of the Morning Post. It is at once his prerogative and his duty to sec that no injustice- is done to any of his subjects; and, whether the injustice arises through the imperfection of tho law or the mistake of its administrators, the ultimate appeal against it is to His Majesty. This prerogative of the King to see justice is dono to the subjects depends on no Act of Parliament, and is above the law. It is according to the constitution part of the conception of his office. The King at a very early date delegated his duty to enforce the civil law and his right to suspend its operation to the common law Judges and the Lord High Chancellor. Gradually he delegated, too, his right to alter tho decisions of all these officers where they are wrong or unjust, to the House of Lords. In practice this has put an end to appeals to him in council in civil matters. But in theory these still exist, as the creation of a Court of Criminal Appeal shows. ' The existence of that Court and its decision in the True case did not prevent tho King upsetting the judgment of death. He is entitled in the same way to upset a decision of the House of Lords, though there is little likelihood of his doing so. In deciding whether ho should entertain an appeal, and, if entertained, what his judgment should be, the King— a good many other things to relies on the advice of his Privy Councillors. But the decision is tho King's; and every British subject has tho right to apply to tho King to see that justice is done him; and tho King has the right, if ho. thinks fit, to hear the application and do justice. '

A LEADER FOR SPAIN. Has Spain at last found in General Don Miguel Primo do Rivera, Marques de Estella, her representative man, the man of heart and intellect to quicken the life of the nation? Will the sTow-moving Spanish people, that part of the people which has stood aloof from politics, take fire and awake irom its indifference? There is no doubt that a great fund of capacity and potential energy lies dormant at present in Spain, and the question is how to succeed in attracting and utilising it in the service of the State, writes a correspondent in Madrid. The King's personal prestige can do much in this respect, but the presence at tiho head of the Administration 61 a strong man who is not a politician, and stands for no particular group or imerest will also inspire confidence in the nation, and it is lack of this confidence which recently has caused the deplorable weakness of successive Governments. The second Marques de Estella, who has been several times wounded in the battlefield, inherited the title from his uncle, the late MarshaJ Don Fernando Primo de Rivera, on whonfc it was bestowed in return for his capture, of the town of Estella, the residence of' the Pretender, Don Carlos, in the Carlistwars. He is a man of just over 50, but scarcely looking as old; a man of strong build, with an intelligent, determined expression, but without a trace of the tyrant or autocrat. Throughout the war he was a strong and persistent friend of the Allies. He is a man of great moral and physical courage, and the Spanish people, above all things-, love courage, while his affable, democratic manners appeal to everyone. So far he has shown quickness, resource, energy, and good sense, and it may be confidently asserted that he is not one of those who start with enthusiasm and begin to tire and hesitate after a few weeks or months.

SOCIALIST PROPAGANDA. A suggestion was made a fow weeks ago that the National Unionist Association should start a campaign with a view to educating the British electorate on the political questions of tho day. A correspondent of the Morning Post explained why Conservative activities were limited : —All this propaganda costs money as w»ll as energy. It is in the nature of things political that the' attacking party evujses more enthusiasm than tho defensive. In this case the attacking party—the Socialist—has no need to bother about funds. It has the practically compulsory Trade Union levy at its back, and is never short of cash ; whereas the Conservatives have to rely on voluntary subscriptions. This is why the Socialists are able to boast of an organisation so complete, and to throw candidates into the most hopeless constituencies. One sometimes hears it said that the Socialist orators are better trained than those on the other side. There may be some truth in this ; though many of the Conservative speakers are skilled debaters with accurate and detailed acquaintance with economic problems—not, like bo many of the Socialites, men who have been taught to see only one side of the question, and have been reared, so to say, in intellectual blinkers. The wonder is that the revolutionaries are not far better equipped than their platform adversaries. They have Labour colleges and Socialist schools where (thanks again to the political levy) thoy can maintain students in great numbers. Conservatism, on the other hand, has only one institution of the kind, at Overrtone Park. Northampton. The bouse and grounds wefts bought for the purpose by Sir Philip Stott, who has also generously offered to bear any loss that may result from this—the first working. It might be imagined that the captains of industry and others who are vitally concerned in the maintenance of the present economic system would contribute largely to the carrying on of an institution which trains men and women to be able* to propagate sound views in opposition to Socialist fallacies. Such is not the case ; and there is some fear that the work at Overstone Park may have to be curtailed or even discontinued.