PASSING EVENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4938, 30 April 1894, Page 1

PASSING EVENTS.

(Lyttelton Times.) It will surprise no one in spiritual this country to learn that peers. the presence of "spiritual peers" in the House of Lords does not add to the popularity of that august body. The average colonist is no respecter of persons, and, above all, he fails to understand why " ecclesiastical legislators " should have the power to assist in obstructing the will of the people. He, will, therefore, extend his very warmest I sympathy to one of our English contempo* I rarie_, which has raised an earnest protest against the privileges conferred upon the dignitaries of the dominant sect. "If they have led badly on spiritual matters," says the Speaker in discussing the political attitude of the Anglican bishops, "they have followed a bad lead upon secular matters. Their silence on certain occasions ha 3 been only lees disastrous than their unfortunate speeches on others. In the House of Lords, we see year by year the secular hand washing the spiritual, and the spiritual the secular. We may search the files of Hansard in vain for any firm protest ever made by the Anglican bishops against destruction or mangling by the temporal Peers. Whioh of them had a word to say against the long refusal of justice to the Irish tenant? Which of them protested againßt that mutilation of the Mines Eegulation Bill, which postponed the reform of child-labour in England for twenty years, or stood up for the pit-lad when the Lords deprived him of his chances of education in I860? Where were the bishops, again, when the Peers attempted to prevent a obeap press, when they mutilated the first chief measure for the housing of the working classes, or when they insisted on the doctrine of common employment? They might, if they had chosen, have confined their attention to purely spiritual matters, and taken the line that ordinary politics, even when they entered into primary matters of public well-being, were not their business. That course, however, they have never adopted. They hare turned up on all unexpected occasions. The Bishop of Ely even came down the other day to record a vote against the Scottish Fisheries Bill. But iv all their appearances during the present century they have never stood together to check one piece of mischief, or to utter the strong word of protest which at many a crisis might have come with overwhelming force from a group of _u_n who spoke in the name of religion. Silence, absence, or, at most, the votes of one or two, have been the sole contributions of the prelates to the cause of popular reform." This is a strong indictment, justified in every particular by tho facta, and whatever may be the .result of the present agitation against the Hosse of Lords, we may be quite sure that the days of the spiritual peers are numbered.

In a recent issue of the mate Nottingham Daily Guardian socialism. iUere is a lengthy article entitled "State Socialism in New Zealand." The writer, who is | content to remain simply " a oorrespon-

™—'-*—■■■—p.——— —————I , imrwn dent," declares that this colony has made further and bolder advances in the direction of Socialism than any other English community, but he very justly observes that the Socialism which finds favour in New Zealand has nothing in common with the extreme socialistic doctrines, blended with anarchy and revolution, which, on the Continent of Europe, are a source of grave danger to national security and prosperity. The political complexion of this colony iB Liberal j -of that there can be no doubt ; and the Liberalism is of an advanced type, but it is a constructive rather than a destructive policy that is preached by the leaders of the people. The democratic feeling, while strongly developed, is both protective and law-abiding. To some English people, accustomed to slow and often dilatory legislation, the rapid, thorough, and even forcible manner in which vital constitutional changes are effected in this country may, as the writer in the Daily Guardian suggests, seem ill-advised and dangerous. It is clear, however, that where this country has led, older countries are preparing to follow. By the middle of the next century New Zealand's "State Socialism " will be gratefully remembered as a bright and effective example to the world.

Critics writing just before loan and the last English mail left mercantile. London had naturally some difficulty in understanding why the directors of the Loan and Mercantile Company opposed so strenuously the order for the public examination. Sir Henry James, who appeared in the lower court for the directors, was emphatic in his contention that all his clients objected to was the imputation of fraud conveyed by the order. They did not, he said, object to examination. In the Court of Appeal Lord Justice Kay at once noticed that Sir Henry omitted the word " public " before "examination." "The kernel of this dispute," he laid down, "ia whether the examination of the directors and officials Bhall be public or private." Sir Henry James, wo are told by our London correspondent, winced at this, but he managed, nevertheless, to obtain an amendment of the order, which relieved his clients from the imputation of fraud. What " city men* thought of the law proceedings maj be gathered from a paragraph published in the London Times. "Mr Justice Vanghan Williams," says the great daily, "closed his judgment with the remark that the discussion in open court must have shown the distinguished men now or formerly on the directorate that whether or not the report makes out a prima facie case of fraud, as, in his opioion, it clearly doeß, it at all events shows a state of things demanding rigid investigation. Ke thought, therefore, that they themselves would earnestly desire, conscious of the r own innocence, that thera should be an immediate public inquiry* and significantly adding 'Nobleste oblige,' he dismissed the application with cost*. But these distinguished men, one of them the chief of the department specially charged with the care of British trade and commerce, take a different view of the whole matter. The public will view with astonishment their attempt to escape, by appeal to another court, that investigation for which conscious innocence and regard for their public position ought to render them impatient." We know now perfectly well that t he majority of the directors had no fear of displaying their knowledge of the Company .affairs j they simply dreaded an examination that would expose their culpable ignorance of many of its important transactions.