The Otago Witness. (WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1917.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3309, 15 August 1917, Page 35

The Otago Witness. (WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1917.) THE WEEK.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THH SOUTHERN MEROUBI.

"Nnnquam allud natura, allud sapientia dixit. "■ — JUVBNAL. "Good nature and good sense must ever join."— Pops. There is a close connection between tho Stockholm Conference and The Stockholm the strike in Sydney which. Conference. he who runs may read, and the connection is one calculated to profoundly affect the course of the war. Socialism" received a rude shock when at the outset of hostilities it became manifest that the call of nationality was louder than the call of universal brotherhood, and that the Socialistic creed was not strong enough to resist the racial passions raised by the war. August, 1914, witnessed, amongst other . things, the breakdown of international Socialism; but the dream of an International Socialistic Conference for the purpose of ending tho war has never been absent from tho thoughts of the men who direct Socialistic action. The idea has been kept alive among the neutral nations, and especially in Holland, Norway, and Sweden. Last, year the neutral members of the International Socialist Bureau met at The Hague and passed a resolution that the International Bureau be called together as soon as a suitable occasion offered. Therevolution in Russia seemed to the neijtral members to be such an occasion, and this more especially since, for the first time since the war, delegates from Germany and Austria signified their willingness to attend. Accordingly, a Dutch-Scandina-vian Committee was constituted, and invitations were despatched to all the Socialist organisations, inviting representatives of Majority as well as Minority parties tomect at Stockholm to confer with the committee. Thi,s Stockholm Conference, originally fixed for August 20, has now been postponed until September 10, owing to the differences of opinion in regard to the conference held by the various bodies of Socialists among the nations. The first objection to the conference consisted in the fear lest it might prove to be a trap laid by the German Government, and baited with peace talk,

designed to hire Russia into a separate peace. Reliable information, however, inclines to the idea that the German Government is exceedingly doubt! ul as to the desirability of the conference, but acquiesced in a delegation in the hopes of being able to use it for its own ends. Unfortunately, at present advices, there seems little hope of the conference being truly international, since Belgium, Italy, and America have declined representation ; indeed, the American authorities have gone so far as to refuse passports to delegates wishing to attend, it is a little difficult to ascertain the attitude ot the Russian Provisional Government towards the conference, since reports are so contradictory; but, whatever M. Kerensky s personal opinion, there is a strong desire on the part of the Russian delegates- to participate. In France the Government is palpably embarrassed at the eagerness of the French Socialists for the conference; whilst in Great Britain Mr Lloyd George s attitude is frankly hostile, and British 'Socialistic opinion is seriously divided on the subject. Weighing up the pros and cons, the advantages of a conference representative of international Socialism—belligerent as well as neutral—may at once be admitted. The delegates from Germany and Austria, for instance, womd have first-hand opportunity of becoming acquainted with the real aim and ambition of the Allies, and the ensuing enlightenment could scarcely fail to be beneficial to the cause of peace. The Russian delegates, also, would gain a clearer conception of the essentials of a world-peace and of what is necessary to safeguard Europe from future wars. But it certainly seems that, if any good is to come from the conference, it must be truly international and only consultative in its character. Rightly composed and properly directed, the Stockholm Conference might possibly be the prelude to that permanent World Congress for the enforcement of international law and the maintenance of the peace of mankind, which a thinker like Mr H. G. Wells deems "so reasonable, and attractive, and desirable that if it were properly explained it 'would probably receive the of 19 .out of every 20 intelligent persons."

Modern warfare is no longer a purely military process; victory ' Soldiers and depends no less upon the Workers. industrial army, busied with the production of the necessary munitions, than upon the men actually engaged in the right. This is the significance of the soldiers and workers committees which—one outcome of the Russian Revolution—now seek to establish themselves upon British soil. Militarism is and must be essentially an autocracy; the committee is equally the sign of democracy, and the attempted union of •the two extremes has been the chief source of the failure of the Russian arms since 'the revolution —a failure which has driven •the King and Queen of Rumania into Russia, and which forebodes German supremacy at Odessa and on the Black Sea, with fatal consequences to the Allied forces in Mesopotamia. One of the surprises of the war was the ready acceptance by the young democracies of the overseas dominions of military rule and •regulation. The war weariness engendered by three long years of conflict is creating the inevitable reaction, of which the most potent signs are the strike in Sydney and the protest in Glasgow against the prohibition of the Workers and Soldiers' Conference. These movements, taken together with the resignation from the War Cabinet of Mr Arthur Henderson, must be accepted as signs of the gravest moment. The controversy between Mr Lloyd George and Mr Henderson is not yet sufficiently clear to be adjudicated upon, but its immense significance cannot .be 'overlooked. Mr Lloyd George has all along recognised the importance of carrying with him the judgment of the Labour party in all his policy departures, and the inclusion of Mr Arthur Hendei-son in his War Cabinet was one of his crowning triumphs. With Mr Henderson at his back, Mr Lloyd George could afford to ignore the antagonism of the extreme Labourites like Mr Ramsay Macdonald and Mr Philin Snowden, and to despise the hostility of Mr H. W. JMassinghamand the Nation". But Mr Henderson's resignation puts quite another complexion upon affairs, and it remains to be seen whether another political crisis may not be precipitated. There is a certain amount of reassurance in the report made by Mr Barnes, as Minister of Labour, that the bulk of the workers appreciate the national difficulties, and do not entertain a revolutionary feeling; but popular feeling is fickle and subject to change. The situation to a large extent hinges upon the nature of Mr Henderson's promised statement in Parliament, and how Mr Lloyd George emerges from the ordeal. In a sense Mr Lloyd George represents military autocracv and Mr Henderson the democracy, and it may be that the issue can only be decided by a general election. The bearing of all this upon the conduct of the war is at once apparent.

In his address before the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. Mr New Zealand 0. Fen wick voiced the prevaand the War. lent opinion when, referring to the Financial Statement, he said : "Then came, to the surprise of most people, "a complete failure on the part of the 'Minister to secure contributions from those best able to bear progressive taxation —a mysterious leniency and consideration for great wealth that to most people was unaccountable and ■which Sir Josenh Ward had not attempted to explain." These words, \ittered not by a Socialist agitator at the street corner, but by the president of so eminently Tespeetable and conservative a body as the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, con stitute a heaw indictment against the Government which cannot be lightly passed by. A National Government should be national in more than its name if its continuance is to bo justified : to legislate in the interests of one class against

another is to pronounce its impending doom. But, unless the present taxation proposals are largely amended when the Bill comes down, Sir Joseph Ward and his colleagues must bo adjudged guilty of attempting to discriminate in favour of the well-to-do against the great bulk of the population. Every man and woman in the Dominion is loyally desirous of contributing his or her fair share of the heavy war expenditure with which this Dominion is saddled; but it must be a fair share, and no more. And Sir Joseph Ward's taxation proposals shift the heavy end of the burden from the shoulders of the wealthy on to those of the man of moderate means. Another grave cause for dissatisfaction is to be found in the report that the Government proposes to alter the ago limit, so that lads of 19 may be called up and sent to the front. Thi meetings held and resolutions of protest from all parts of the Dominion are sufficient evidence of the feeling of the people on this point, and it is unlikely that the proposal will be persisted in. Taken altogether, the National Government is not in great popular favour, and the failure to do anything to curtail the cost of living is adding to the general dissatisfaction. France has shown that the price of the loaf can be kept down to the pre-war rate; but New Zealand, with tons upon tons of produce in stores, has been unable to do anything for the workers except impose a duty of 3d per lb on tea.