NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12748, 17 January 1910, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

National Responsibilities. j TJip Earl of Meath contributes an eloquent articty ">Vhat the Boy Scout Movement" may Jdo for Britain," to the "Windsor . Magajzine." In the course of it lie says : — ' 'A great national, educational lesson lies at the back of the scout movement. Ib is very generally acknowledged that one of the most eerjous dangeirs which threatens our country is the indiscipline lvhich is so sadly apparent amongst numbers of the rising generation of all classes and of both;, sexes. Witness the. number of ivelMp-fio men and women who never give a thought to national responsibilities, \vho. never raise a finger in support of any useful | public undertaking unless it be by: atj tendancQ aj> samp social function where they hope to advance some persona} petty ambition, men and. women ..who | .live exclusively, for selfish pleasure, for sport, or for dress j witness the Idgxskers of both .: sexes- and. of all

'classes who shirk duty of all kinds, •who do as.little work as they can, and enjoy tho fruits gathered by the hands of others; witness the vast number of ; Wft'and women of a lower class, determined to do no work, who, joining the ranks of the genuinely unemployed, riiake it more difficult for these latter to find honest work, and who Uve upon tin? Stateor private chanty. These, loafers and idle parasites dry up the founts of benevolence, are a curse to the genuine unemployed, and constitute a weakness and a source of serious danger .to tlie nation. There is little doubt 'that the great mass of theso idlers owe their demoralization in large part to lack of training and of adequate control and discipline in youth. Of late years the bonds of discipline" have been disastrously weakened in the home, and in the school, to the detriment of society, and the State.. The causes of this relaxation of discipline are not far to seek. Some of them are due to a praiseworthy sentiment of humanity, carried beyond the bounds of reason and of common, sense. Owing to the excessive severity of our forefathers in the treatment of children, a phase of thought has of late yeaTS set in which errs in the other extreme, and which neglects the future happiness of the child in a vain effort to afford it the floeting pleasure of the moment." Lord Lansdowne. ''Lord Lansdowne, wlio moved the rejection of. the Budget in the House of Lords, is," says the London. . "Times," "a veteran servant of the State, who has filled with unfailing ' "dignity, ability, and success some of the highest aM most difficult positions under the Crown. He has • been a successful Governor-General of Canada ; a successful GovernorrGeueral of India ; a Foreign Secretary who conducted the national business with remarkable skill, converting the long-standing disagreement with France into cordial friendship,- and concluding a treaty with Japan whioh. has gone far to conjure obvious diffi- j culties and dangers in the Far East; and a Minister of War who did much j to mitigate the disasters due to thei long Jilundering and neglect, of succps-| sive. Governments of , both political ! complexions." "He is," adds "The j Times," "the representative of a great Whig family, '. he has led a party in the. House of Lords, largely composed .of Tories, with conspicuous prudence and skill. "'-'He has "filled the greatest offices and discharged the heaviest responsibilities." He "adds to his natural abilities the experience of men and affairs acquired in holding his own against the picked intellects. • of the world, and has nothing to gain , from participation in politics."