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Otago Daily Times, Issue 16766, 7 August 1916, Page 4

Germany probably counted a good deal oil tho supposed decadence of Great BritaJn when she plunged the world into war. She was not alone in regarding the British as a decadent raw. The self-depreciatory habit of the British people themselves— or, as Earl Curzori recently put it, the passion for depreciating himself which the Englishman exercised as a prerogative that could never be taken away from him— must have contributed very largely to the creation of tho impression that the British nation was composed of muddlers and blunderers. It is hardly probable that many British people throughout tho Empire have ever entertained any leal doubt as to the ability of the nation, given time, to emerge successfully from the war. It would "muddle through." It would make mistakes in great numbers and mistakes so grave that in the case of many another nation they would prove fatal. But it would ■\vin the last battle in the war, as it has done in so many previous wars. With the British prerogative of self-depreciation Lord Curzon has coupled another prerogative, that of abusing the Government. It is a prerogative which, to the intense satisfaction, we may be sure, of the enemy countries, has been exercised freely enough in tho course of the present war. The sins of omission and commission that have been alleged against the Imperial Government at Home and against the Governments of the various dominions haive been many and \aried. In some cases the abuse which has been hurled at tho Governments has been just even although it might have been better m particular instances if it had been reserved until tho war was over. In other cases it has been unjust.

An illustration of the unjust criticism which Hie Imperial Government has been called upon to meet seems to be afforded in the allegations made by a few public men, supported with eager readiness by a few influential newspapers, regarding the air service. Not many weeks ago British people throughout the, Empire were disquieted, if not actually alarmed, by the repeated assertions that the Imperial air senvicc was inefficient, that there was not an adequate supply of machines, and that, as was taid by Ixird Montagu of Beaulien, whose testimony on the subject carried a weight that woubl not be given to that of a Pemberton-Billing, " the Empire was piactically defenceless from above." The result of all this agitation was the establishment of an Air Board to control the organisation of the air service. But it is impoiMble to suppose that this Air Board, brought into existence two months ago, is responsible for the TOMilts which the Imperial air sen ice has been accomplishing within the past few weeks. Those results, furnished in the reports from the western front, showed that the mastery of the air unquestionably belongs to the British and to the French airmen, and no less to tho British than to the French. They are, it is to be admitted, somewhat discounted by later official statements, but it remains true that the observation work performed by their airmen has been of inestimable service to the Allies. The achievements of the air fleet have been the vindication of the measures taken by the Imperial Government to organise and equip "the fourth arm." Those who prophesied disaster through the "inefficiency" of the air service merely indulged tho Biitish passion for self-deprecia-tion. And, with it all, the picture which the nation presents to the view of a friendly neutral, the New York Times, is that of its unbroken front, its solidarity, its stubborn tenacity. " England," says that paper, " denouncing herself as inefficient, is yet the greatest moral asset of democracy in Europe." There is a fine story, or sketch, in Punch, / of May 31 : true, it may be, in detail; certainly true to contemporary typo. It is entitled "The Birthday Present," and the scene is the breakfast-room in one of " the stately homes of England." It is the eighteenth birthday of the third and youngest son; his two brothers went to the front some time before. The mother is the first to enter the room, and she notes two official envelopes among the correspondence awaiting her husband. St">--is in anxious suspense for some minutes, but he comes at length, and the letter* are opened. She watches his face, and reads confirmation of her fears. "Dead"* ~ . . which? Oh, Harry, not both?" Some moments of silent agony, and they hear steps on the stairs apd a voice singing. Tho boy is arrested by sight of the strained faces; he notices the official papers. " Bad news, dad?" There was no answer. He had not expected one, for he read tho truth on tho face that had never lied. He stood very still for a brief moment, his head up— characteristically—bis face a little pal©. Both brothers! Then he breathed deeply and turned to his father in expectation. Tho latter know what was wanted. "You are eighteen to-day, boy. You may apply for your commission." There was a cry, quickly stifled, from tho mother, and the boy said ' very quietly: " Thank you, dad; of course, 1 must go now." Then he went to his mother and kissed ' her, and was not ashamed to cry. It was his father who broke the silence. "May God grant you many returns, many happy returns, of the day '." We know of at least one exactly parallel case in New Zealand—the third and only remaining son going to the front after his two brothers had been killed. The story is poignantly illustrative of the stern, almost unnatural, restraint which private affliction habitually imposes upon itself in. these days of trial.