NOTES AND COMMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 22 November 1924, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Welcoming the Alien: Sir William Joynson-Hicks, the newly appointed Secretary of State ior Homo milairs will earn tho eiernai gratitude ol' the British people .if i c hrmly grasps the ugly problem of the undesirable aliens who swarmed into Britain in increasing numbers during the reign of the first Socialist Administration. The Minister, the cable messages tell us, contemplates taking drastic action. The “Evening New.-,’' of London says that it transpires that the Labourites, under pressure by the extremists, who secured the withdrawal of the Campbell prosecution, admitted to their ranks hundreds 01 revolutionaries who were tormerly debarred, and whoso errand was to exploit the British revolutionary movement. Many of them assisted the Labourite and Communist election candidates by breaking up the Conservative and Liberal meetings. Sir William Joynson-11 inks, speaking at Croydon, said there wore -‘2,0b0 aliens registered with the police Britain. So far as he was concerned the administration ol the existing acts would be based on the principle that aliens desiring admission must puno that they were coming lor the good of this country, and secondly, any alien disgracing himself or breaking the Jaw would be deported. The new Ministt. should be supported in bis comageous policy. The. most outrageous act of the Macdonald Administration, however, was tho indirect subsidising ol revolutionaries and other undesirables. This is a serious charge to make, but it is an established fact that the Labour Covernment which was overthrown the other day made the alien eligible for the dole—in other words, revolutionaries and rowdies I rout other countries were granted facilities fot taking the henelit of the dole and when they felt inclined they could return to their own country. Britain was rapidly becoming (he paradise of the loafers and the wild men of Europe. Their influence was felt at the election campaign meetings whore they created unexampled iipmc-, while the effect of this outrageous Ini royal of a sacrcti

trust was seen in" the enormously increased demands the dole made upo.. the national purse. The extraordinary decision of Mr Macdonald’s Cabinet to facilitate the granting of the unemployment dole to aliens prompted “Touchstone,” early in the year, to pen these lines in a London journal:

O! England, splendid is thy name For «*ospitanty, Since even aliens now may claim 1 Heir board and lodging free. Each hungry soui may seelc the dole Wliate er iiis country be.

No thought of tharity may give The gentle German qualms. He may demand tlie right to live Nor know the taint ot alms. And strangers here from far and near May ease then* itching palms.

Hole? Nay, the word is out of date For what is now a right. And, though it may exasperate 'lue British worker’s plight, He surely will pay up the bill With 111-conctviled delight.

What though we own a dwindling store ? Qijr bosoms swell to-day To think we pay the costs of war As victors in tlie fray, And now, again our foes maintain On unemployment pay.

Sir 'William Joynson-ITieks should net only compel undesirables to obey the law under penalty of deportation, but he should cancel the provisions to make the stay of the alien and tlie revolutionary in Britain a charge upon the national exchequer. As the wise philosopher who lived long ago said, “the wise men of the world are compelled to spend half their lives repairing the mistakes of those unfitted to govern.”

Brotherly Relations

Unquestionably Mr. Baldwin s Administration is entering upon its Cabinet duties in a workmanlike fashion. A notable commencement has been made in connection with jsmpire affairs; Mr Baldwin having smashed all precedents by instituting what are to be periodical consultations —“informal chats over tea cups”—as it were, between members of the Imperial Cabinet and tlie accredited representatives of tlie overseas dominions. Moreover, the new Administration ac Whitehall is not likely to, strike another blow at Empire unity by accepting a protocol that would make a question like immigration a mattei for decision by the international court. None of the overseas dominions would tolerate such an infringement of their national rights. In many ways, the new Government differs from its predecessors. However, Mr Baldwin and his colleagues may fall short in their brotherly relations with Russia, and although the Radical Prime Minister of France may no longer find a twin soul at The Chequers, there is little doubt that brotherly relations with the Dominions will be cultivated more tlia they were by 'Labour —even more than they were by Labour—even more course, during the war Mr Lloyd George never wearied of well-doing—-nor of well-speaking—(kif the magnificent response of the 'overseas Dominions. After the war, however,’ as his hail* grew whiter and longer, his soul grew cooler towards us. Once a Little Englander always a Little Englander. He fought the elections on the cry of “those greedy rich squatters of Australia and New. Zealand” and scatliingly ridiculed the claims for imperial preference. Presumably lie scented the direction of the wind, for he was a notable absentee when the preference resolutions were submitted to the House of Commons I"* Mr Baldwin. The new Govern me" ‘ s constitutionalism as oppo c Socialism of the Labour Pm \k* Baldwin has probably no less desire to see Englishmen all employed at good wages, living in comfortable houses, and eating the best food,' than has Mr Ramsay Macdonald. He differs, however, as to tlie means to this end. He accepts no advice from M. Zinovieff. Nevertheless the Conservatives will probably Cu their best for the amelioration of the very bad condition of post-war England. Wo have the assurance, however, as many Australian commentators are saying with excusable pleasure that, unlike the last Cabinet, the Baldwin Administration will not allow either dreams of a new* panacea, or the conditions of work and wages in Manchester and on the Clyde, to make it forget the British peoples overseas.