The Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11506, 30 September 1915, Page 4

The Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

■ , L' "■ "Guns! Munitions!" is the title of i',. ' a series of articles published during the . jpisft few months by M. Charles Humj r _ .jfcart, Senator of the Meuse district. jiffSth M. Henri Boranger, his colleague '{s& the French Senate, M. Charles Humf''' ( Jtfcirt foresaw come of the oharacterifl*;.ties of this war, which haa confounded !'• speculations of everybody. Eight ra ago M. Humbert published a book ; 4aaiiiig witfi the state of French defences, in which he prophesied the ira;i'j Jolt ant role quick-firing guns would f- i:7 f§kks in modern warfare, and on July P- he delivered an equally prophetio address on tha comparative ar- |,. .lawmanta of Germany and France, and 'sb particular wife rtg-ard to heavy ar- " tili®ry. All thai; h*> said has been borno '' <mt by the ectujtl W; of war.

Bl Recently M. Eorabert gave a corWL xeapotidMri;, in a f«« illuminating para--K a compete rwum© of tho caanupon which IYssmm ia engaged Hi*? tiie moixwnt. At the question of niuH| is i»o less important to the BritHKisbi thatr. the French, it is interesting to Hptfcnow this very ab'a 3* Vernon man's view RTof the matter. " The immense develK- opMPub of industry in the last quarter j® 1 ' of til<s nineteenth century," hj& says, K " completely changed the conditions o? If life of societies. Whatever be if the problem set us, immediately we are K faced on a. small seal© with the essenK tial factors without which no economic If question can henceforth be envisaged—lb pliant, capital, manual labour, transl port. Obviously wax, like any other exit preesion of social activity, must be I deeply stamped with the industrial imI print." I' The employment of all the apparatus |l of modern warfare brings with it the | l joeoeesity of suitable plant—carriages to increase the mobility of heavy guns, [> »rmour-plated motors, aeroplanes, and I all the extensive machinery of modern I armies, not omitting the requirements 1 lor defence such as armour-plate, barb- | isd-wire, and machines to dig trenches. |. Hence it is the kind of apparatus which I makes war, in the same way as it is I the mechanical crafts which make texI tiles. The soldier is only the servant I of the rifle, the mitrailleuse and the I cannon, just as tho workman is merely I the slave of the machine. No doubt an I iheroio servant, but a servant all the I" same, whose role is narrowly limited to I ' the tool to which ho ia attached.

If The question of effectives; takes a I setiond placci. The workshop which I produces-most is not that which counts I the largest £rtaff. It is that which has I the most perfect machines capable of | the largest, output. The array, which f destroys most is not that which lia.s at ; its disposal the largest number of sol- ( diers. Tt is that which sets in motion : the most complete and effect ivo im!plcments of death. As all these armaments hare been contrived with a view to as rapid and concentrated an expenditure of projectiles as possible, the ! problem of feeding them quickly arises. Victory does not belong merely to the guns which hurl most quickie ' Iv the greatest weight of shell and' oi = explosives, t>ufc to guns which ;n"0 host served, those t» which the waggons f with the heaviest load of shells will f mil up as regularly as possible, those | which are protected by the best organi- | ►s.ition, that have tho best aid and be&t r managed railways, the most numerous I and active workshops, and the most i vigilant commerce and industries for I the provision of the ran material.

fc 111 this method of war individual W courage counts hiss than collect i~.> digr cdpline. It is no longer thy timo far f spectacular cavalry charges and clever f' manoeuvres. Immense armies arrayod ( face to face behind their shelters and I entreuclimeixts strugglo with Mows ui I bruta force. In this modern struggle,

f with strokes of tons of metal and explosives, maicriial cioutrk; %■ ovc-ty-I thing. Before the war M. Humbert pointocJ out tho great efforts GoiT.'ftn.y had rnada in bringing into tho fioic? a new kind' or howitzer intended to destroy vhe enemy's nrtillory, but the stalls of tho French Minister of War refused to bo convinced. Since* tho fearful aggression of Ormany France has been, able io tflko tho measure of this imstaEo. Industrial mobilisation has boon carried out very efficiently and the munition factories are working under high pressure. The rooall to the workshops of men engaged at other tasks, more spectacular but less necessary, has boon completed. Mr Plumberfc concluded 'his short review with a word of exhortation to his country:—"As an athlete's merit consists not in tho bulk of his muscles," he said, but in the strength of his heart-, so militant Franco will bo victorious not by effectives put in the field, bat by the activity of her workshops-. It is her ( heart which she must temper for the struggle, her heart of steel whoso potr- j erful strokes hurl themselves again:;! j tlie battle front the ma~s of metal and j of explosives by which hor organs of : combat are fed." I

The Gaming Act Amendment Bill is a. strange addition to what hns been termed war legislation, and tho arguments adduced in support of it are, if anything, more strange than the Bill itself. Lotteries are to be legalised for " purely patriotic purposes,"' and the average man can only conclude that the Government subscribes to the doctrine that the end justifies the meatus. Tho Minister long before he inade the plunge, and although ho carried tho Bill safely through troubled waters he may still have to contend against wave upon wave of public opinion. In Jimes of peace, when things were indeed proeperous, the Legislature decided that this form of gambling must be severely restricted, and it took that stand on the ground that lotteries, ait unions aud so cm, had many questionable features. And now, in time of war, the limitations are removed. What was injurious in times of peace, it. is contended, has become desirable in times of war. Arguments in support of this contention are hard to find! and it must be said that those who supported th© Bill in the House yesterday failed to advance any of real weight.

Gambling is a moral issue, and if the Legislature, on the grounds of national morality, imposed severe restrictions in peace time, xmon what grounds can it justify any removal of the restrictions now? Money is needed for the various funds, but there must be a wise discretion as to the manner of raising it. The " Evening Post," discussing this Bill, heads its article "A Mystery of Morality,' 5 and to many people the action of the Government is indeed mysterious. In order to justify the measure the Minister of Internal Affairs had to resort to strange, even petty, arguments. Dealing with art union prizes he said: "He intended that in no case should any raffle take place for any mineral specimen unless the clearest proof could be established that the specimen was actually in existence." The Minister knows as well aa anybody that the production of the nugget does not alter tho position a little bit. A bank can supply the nugget and after the lottery is drawn will purchase it back for a certain sum. That is no nets*thing in lotteries. 'lf the money were offered as a prize, presumably the Minister would object, but the offering of a prize, known to be worth so much and to be .readily saleable at the figure advertised stills the miniFterial conscience in some way.

Slowly but surely Stat© lotteries have been disappearing. France abandoned them a few years ago because it was proved that they tended to destroy the habits of thrift in the people. And, although money is needed for our fundi, thrift is needed in our people. The funds should benefit by each citiaen giving what he can afford to give. That has been the basis of many appeals all over the country. " Give what you can, when you can,' 3 one speaker put it. But it must be apparent to everyone that there is a vast difference between people giving what they can afford to assist these most worthy funds and people being induced to plunge, by the prospect of getting £4OOO worth of a land company's shares for ten shillings, in order that the funds may benefit. This country is doing what it can to assist the Empire in a great war. It must conserve its resources in every way, and it cannot be argued tha big lotteries will, assist to do that. Nob even so good a cause can justify such questionable means! As the 4 'Post" says: :—"This doctrine implies that a high end justifies lowly means, even to the lottery. The higher the motive, the better the claim which the lottery has to legality If the argument is shifted —as it logically can be—from this terrestrial world to another Kingdom, I the lottery may be an act of piety and I grace, according to New Zealand's ! Gaming Act Amendment Bil. By this S reasoning, based on Mr Russell's Bill., i the State-sanctioned "tote," in certain circumstances—sav, ;i race-day for the wounded and the children of the killed —can take on an odour of sanctity :ind radiate a dim light of holiness."'