The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 1912.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10966, 5 January 1912, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 1912.

The honors oil the New Year as reported by the Press As- : Thft New Year; sociation are of " littleHonors.- , interest to - the Domi-

nion : with one exception, of course, and that is the honor conferred on the judges of- Australasia: It- appears -that the judges, of the Continent ; have been using the . title _ of ■;' 'honorable" for years without, any right to the same, purely by way of corollary to the ordinary title of "your honor. The Bench vof this Dominion always, however set its face against the practice. believing that the only title it could wear was :■■■ one coming of right, not by process of seizure. It has been, long known that they could have hadthe title of "honorable" for the asking. But our judges are not of the material that lowers itself by asking for favors where it is entitled to justice. What we know in "these -countries about, the bench of justice is that it. has high character, and solid- legal, attainments. The department of- justice is one of the many departments of the national life which this British: race migrating to new countries has by. its own good sense and the free play of its instinct for selfgovernment Drought up to the right -standard of excellence. The high level of the civilisation of. these young coun-tries-is the outward and visible sign of the main characteristic of clio -Empire which is - of the highest freedom ...and justice recorded in history. AVhat . is. : notable especially about it is that it has .been worked out by the unaided efforts, of the race in its new homes. In the department of justice most of the office bearers are men born\South of the Line, and trained in the courts administered under the Southern Cross. THe extension' of the right to wear, the title of "honorable" to the bench is a recognition of the equality of the of. these lands, with those of any other throughout the Empire. It is at the same time a tribute to the strongest, claim the Empire has for cohesion in the face of the world. As the honor ■is spontaneous on the part of the giver, the cause for congratulation is all the stronger. Now that the judges proper have the right to the title which those of Australia always have enjoyed by prescription it is well to bear in mind that they ought to be protected from compulsory snaring by unauthorised : persons of their new possession. District judges and judges of the Native Land Court have been accorded-by the public the -title of "your honor" to., which they had not the same .right as the Supreme Court Bench. .We trust the same thing will not happen with, the title of "honorable" which is specially intended by the sovereign to be specific. Of the other honors—those to British ~ subjects-—there is-but little to say. The two which stand out prominently sure those conferred on Rider Haggard tne novelist and MacKeimall the artist. Of these the second reminds us that there is much artistic talent in Australia and i -that some energy has been displayed in its encouragement. About the other opinions will differ because the right | of Rider Haggard to a high place in literature is not everywhere acknowledged. But it cannot be denied that" in the whole of his literary work, prolific as it is, there ■ runs a. strain of manliness ana honor which entitles him to claim that he lias used his great graphic skill and his dramatic power .for the highest ideals. That fact, together witn the useful" Avork done by his pen in advancing "a gricultural knowledge may account for his advancement.- : We cannot help recalling at this juncture that Sir Rider Haggard has-been guilty of some "very strange "political bigotry in his time very energetically displayed against <the . Liberal Government and its great chief who restored the; Transvaal to the Boer, after Majuba. We can only say that .the Liberal Government, which admitted the Boer to the Empire after the greatest war of the African continent has shown itself very forgiving to one of its most virulent opponents. We may hazard the conjecture that perhaps - the ' King was so taken with '-Solomon's ; ]Vlin'es'? : (which is really-- a .great book by theway) in his ' youth that he has' taken the first opportunity of showing; his ap-preciation-of the author: In that light the honor will please the whole..Empire. > -Another wonder everywhere is wliy the Phillips' and. all the Johannesburg crowd have been selected for honors. We can understand the desire to do something for the British element in South Africa after the signal , benefits conferred on the Boer. But we cannot go so far as to applaud the knighthoods ofVthe "men whose class made the ..war . by their' false; representations... and crooked machinations. To _give these honors was even, a greater: instance of forgiveness than the knighthood to Sir Haggard. Viewing "the'thirig in the" best- light, however,- which is the true light" after all- in which to- view these matters, we think they must betaken as proving that' Boer and Briton are now proved- to be "welded together. with' strength enough to resist every possible concussion.