PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17936, 15 May 1920, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

Bot.wren many old established institutions and tho coimoUttiou of the namus t-ltoy boar there is ;i ('luiam so wide tli.it Ujo namoa aro now jnitilcadiiig labels. Nsunes jvim penim/ient, institutions aro «vnr ohiuijyiny; yot the label remains, 'lake the institution of kingship. Compared with tho Government of Ftmico tinder 7/ouis XIV, that of Britain under (i-eorgo V is raiikly socialistic. Yet both ;ira labelled monarchies, amf both rulers arc tiffined kings. If Louis XIV was rightly c.illed a king, (.Jeorgo V id not 6. king. In fact tlie title!; given in recent timo! to rulers of the vurious States give littlo indication of what thoy really are. Czar Nicholas posed as an absolute monarch and wasn tone. President Wilson pases as a limited monarch and isn't one. Tlie United States are a monarchy under president; Britain is a republic under a kin". It is time that wo commenced all jjj over again and defined our terms. Would a prosident who inherited his office be a king? Would a king who was elected for a term of years bo a president? Tho whole difference lies, then, in the method of succession. Yet even the revolutionary Rousseau, tho Lenin of tlie 18th century, said: The most palpatio inconvenience in tho government of a sole magistrate* is the- default of that continued succession —- which, in tho two other kinds, forma an uninterrupted connection in tho State. When ono king dies, it is necessary to have another. But when Icings oro elective, 6uch elections form very turbulent and dangerous intervals; and unless the citizens arc possessed of a disinterestedness and integrity incompatible with this modo of government, venality and corruption will necessarily have an influenco oyer them. This "uninterrupted connection" is the corner stone of the whole edifice. A State governed by tho party system requires a non-party head, a final Court of Appeal._ The hereditary kingship is a pile driven into shifting ground. It is a differential gear-box which co-ordinates the varying motion of rival wheek. It is tho "governor" of an engine. It is the lightning conductor of a tower. If such an institution, did not exist, we should long since have had to invent one. Following is a letter from an old friend, who lias evidently been enjoying his sabbatical year, and has returned refreshed: Dear "Civix," —Your colleague "Constant Reader," deserves the thanks of all and sundry for his wise remarks about our Princo last week. When one reads '. Gardiner's dictum. "Tho virtues of a modern monarch should be negative and official," ono chokes with suppressed laughter. It is too funny. Every one •knows Ifchat this absurd idea is tho product of a passing stage of rampant egoism which gets its way in no field, whether of business or of pleasure, of soionee or of roligion, of "socialities," or politics. Everyone knows that it is tho business of a leader to load, and of a follower to follow loyally' the leader ho has onoe deoided to be worthy of support. Every ono sees to it that, in all fields but one, tho leader is tho thing ho is supposed to bo. But when wo eomo to kings . . . Indeed, our friend is right when ho bids us -watch the Princo aa of a new, more virilo day, and when he says "By virtue of his service at the front, and beoauso ho embodies the spirit of youth and change, the Prince is fitting himself to bo a king not only in namo but in realitv." My hat of? to our keon-eyed publicist! I venturo to prophesy that when tho Prince is called upon to play tlie greater rolo awaiting him he will be all that "Constant Reader" hag , foreseen —will be, in the memorable phraso of tho greatest of all Englishmen, "every inch a king.' Marsya«. If it be true, as someone has said, that tihe best way in which a king can fcfecome absolute is to capture the hearts of his people, the Prince has the makings of an absolute monarch of the new type. That gift of wisdom which is debased by the term "tact" he is fast acquiring. Like his grandfather ho is doing tlie right , thing in placo of the obvious. When an Eastern prince whom Edward VII was entertaining threw a sucked goose- i berry over his shoulder, tfr? King promptly filled ail embarrassing pause by doing likewise. _ This gift is synonymous with genius. The Prince of Wales already possesses it. It is the , gift of a •leader, possessed by few, coveted | by many, a priceile?s inheritance. It brings a man into close touch with the , heart of the world. It makes a politician J a statesman. There _is little negative nbont it that is negative. It is positive ! in things that matter and negative only in things that don't. With Constant" j Reader and with " Marsyas" we all J agree. f '

Thero oto causee for everything. T1 cause usually assigned to the declinir birth-rato in Scotland, referred to in la: ■week's Notes, is not related in any wa to the reasons suggested in the followir letter by a correspondent : — Your note last week on the dyingout of the Scottish race is interesting in the light of impending happenings in Scotland. So howk the tow oot o' your lug till I hao ma say. Tho American Prohibition invasion of the United Kingdom by " Pussyfoot" Johnson arid tho now luminary that has blazed on tho teetotal firmament yclept " Matchless Mary" has apparently induced tho Scot to tak' a thocht and man' his whisky-imbibing procleevities. Tho Scottish Labour Conference at Paisloy in January passed a resolution in favour of Total Prohibition by 97 votes to 58, and urged tho workore to vote No-license at the local veto plebiscite this year. Which is Bymptomatio of changing views since tho days when the deil was awa' with the exciseman. If Willie can no longer brew a peck o' mnut and public men can noo tak' a caulker of Glenlivot before spootin', can "CivLs" tell what'll happen in" Scotland? Will there be an exodus of non-teetotal Scots? Or will liquor reform put a period to, the decadence of a raoe which the world cannot permit to die out? I incline to the latter" view. The gist of the letter is contained in th last couple of lines. I hao ma doote Decadence may be a matter. of quantity or of quality. The quality of the Scot has bean • going up, and the qttmtitj down. Tho demands of Pussyfoot John son and of Little Matchless Mary wil have as much effect cm the quantity a a epot on the sun—perhaps less. Th< quality of the Scots remaining in Scot land will be affected precisely as rm correspondent suggests: "There will bf an exodus of non-teetotal Scots." Scot land will be put through the separator and what will be left 17111 be skim-milk. " Stands Dunedin where it did ?' "The Scot," siys another oorrespon dent," is dying out, and the reason giver is that he has to emigrate to BrifcfS: possessions abroad—Ofcago getting doubtless a large share of him. Yet has dascendants are continually being told that Otag-o and Dunedin are not making any headway. What is the reason of this unprogressivwesS? Are the Scotch descendant® here lacking in something that their forefathers possessed?" Yes, Dunedin is an exception tihal almost disproves the rule. Read what Sir Charles Mke in his "Greater Britain" says: In British setflemontii from Chnoda to Oeylon, from Dunedin to Bombay, for ©very Englishman you meet who has worked himself up to wealth from small beginnings 'without external aid, you find ton Scotch men. To Judge by tho Scot in .Dunedin, Sir Charles Dflho was as blind to the future of tho " Scot Abroad " as he was to his own. The Scot in Dunedin worked up magnificently, and then he stopped. While working up ho built the first cable tramway, and tftie ftrat electric tramway in the dominion, ho ran fonry, steamerc to Anderson's Bay and Waverley, and Vauxhall Gardens weire a favourite pleasure resort. He built the South Seas Exhibition of 1889-90. He maxle Dunedin the commercial capita] of New Zealand, Now-a-days, the Peninsula Ferry Company haa to lity up its boats for want of patronage, and Dunedin lias to boTOT a hall to entertain the Priuco of Wales. Ocean-going steamers come down as far as Lyttelton, then turn tail and flee northwards. Dunedin is cut out of the itinerary of travelling ttheatrical companies, Palmerston North and igp&k of the aautti«m fcopgr

skips of Oamn.ru, Dnnodin, Balclufcha, •and Invoroargill. DiiniMliu is hoinc .steadily pushed off tho bus. Who still clings to tho back .step crying out "I s am still (he educational capital, 't am t still tho Southern Athens!" This is tlie last, stage of hopelessness, when all elso 0 fails. .Ami thu step itsislf will noon give way. Lot us wake lip! Tata ono thing nt a lime, and let tho fin-;I progressive movomout l:o a determination to outdo r tho rest of the dominion in tho welcome giivcri to tho Prince. „ . —' Assuming that the writer of this column j is an expert in tho elucidation of esoteric mysteries, a correspondent, sends tho ftil--3 lowing advert,iseineni whinli appeared in a Southland p;j,per: 3 No Shooting Allowed. Farmers, L Cookies, anrl Trespassers, with guns, ' dogs, ferrets, spades, pocket-knives, or r tooth-pricks (sic) will bo prosecuted, i, Thus Southland sets a salutary example 1 to Ireland and Arizona. But " tooth--1 prides" ? This beats me. Whatever ini, terpretation I should offer would be con- [ tradicted by some other expert. Which i reminds ono of tho unreliability of experts [ as a. class. An inscription was once found in 1840 among the ruins of Carthage. It wa.s referred to an expert—a renowned antiquarian, who road it as follows: — . ■ Hero rests Ilamilcar, father of Hannili'ko him dear to his country and terrible to his enemies. A second antiquarian, equally renowned, gave as his version :— The priestess of Isis roared this monument to Spring, to tho Graccs, and to tho Roses, who charm and fertilize tho world. A violent debate ensued, and the matter was referred to an- arbitrator—a third renowned antiquarian. Ho arbitrated by declaring both wrong. According to him tho inscription meant: This altar is dedicated to tho god of tho winds and tempests, in order to appease their wrath. Boar "Civis,"—Can you, as a newspaper njan ( tell me if I can always rely upon tho tJny scraps of worldly wisdom which tho linptypist places at the foot of his columns in some of the daily papers? For example, I read, "Tho rat was carried from India and Persia to England in 1727, and by 1750 had mado its way to France, and tfienco ' spread throughout Europe." Are thoso faots authoritativo? Whether raits- camc to France shortly before the. Revolution I know not. After reading accounts of the Revolution, I think it quite likely. But my carre-' spondent misses the linotypist's aim and object. He has iji mind a text-book entitled "Aids to Conversation." Any person desirous of showing conversational brilliancy at a social gathering, haa only to cut out these aids, writ© them on a card or on the back of his programme, and conversation will proceed smoothly. He will, far example, begin thus, using "aids" culled from this week's papers: An abbey, you know, is really a seJfgoverned monastery of not fewor tlian twelve monks or nuns. He should not wait for assent or contradiction, for this wonld take him outside his list. He at once proceeds to the next: Boss weighing one pound in weight (sic) comprise over 5000 insects. He hurries on: There can bo no abduction of a malo person over 14 years of age., As Ire is now on a dangerous topic, lie plunges ajiead: Some spinsters advanoo step by - step until they become stepmothers. The pace is now becoming hotter, and delay is dangerous. Next: Some girls in Central Africa oan jump five feot in tho air without an effort. The marriago ago in warm countries He need not go further. The linotypist haa done his work, and lies in wait for his next victim. Civis.