The Star. MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1917. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11947, 5 March 1917, Page 4

The Star. MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1917. EDITORIAL NOTES.

POLICE AND THE WAR. fPggl^S The Police Department, which for so long opposed a stubborn front xo the agistment of young and able-bodied constables for the war, has at last been compelled by pressure of public opinion ;o reverse its attitude. It has not proclaimed in so many words that change of heart, but an unobtrusive advertisement in the newspapers calling for "temporary police" is sufficient inditaation that the heads of the Department have seen fit to alter their Methods. Applications are called from Men willing to take up employment as temporary constables during the period of the war; members of the First, jb'ivision of the Expeditionary Force Reserve are not eligible for appointment unless they have been rejected as medically unfit for military sen-ice. This is exactly the step which the "Star" and r.Muierous other newspapers in tho Dominion have advocated over since it became known that ihoj Minister in charge of the Department had instructed the Commissioner to appeal in all cases in which constables were drawn in the ballot. The opposition of the. Department to policemen joining the fighting forces indeed long antedated the ballot system, for since the early days of the war it had refused to entertain the •idea of members of tho police force leaving temporarily to fultil their patriotic duty in the field.

Police constables who conceived it their duty to serve as soldiers have been compelled to resign, in order to do so, thus 'forfeiting permanent position and pension, rights; and it is no doubt the fear of further resignations that, in part, has induced the Depart mem; to reconsider its original uncompromising policy. Tho knowledge*, also, that police in the Old Country had joined the Army in thousands, with the approval of their heads and the promise of their old positions after tho war, has no doubt helped to convince our slow-to-raove authorities that they would be extremely foolish to persist ■in a. perfectly indefensible attitude towards their men. That this departmental habit of appealing against the ■conscribiug of Government employees i= a viciously bad policy is, therefore, .';t last appreciated by the police, and we could wish to sec the Railway Department make public confession of its unpatriotic attitude and promise of amends. The railway services could very well be curtailed in certain obrioiK directions for the period of the war. Race trains, holiday and special trains could all be abolished and a number of strong men so released for more pressing services. In the meantime the Police Department has exhiin'Tcd sound wisdom in yielding to the force of public feeling, and to the feeling within the force itself, and we do not.' doubt that it will be able to release all its young men fit for soldiering and still carry on constabulary duty quite satisfactorily for the period o'* the war. »

HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. The appeal issued by the Minister of * ; Jmcrral Affairs to owners of historical ricc.nm.ents to present them to the Nav ticiial Collection in "Wellington is de(sipml to rescue for permanent- preservalion papers, portraits and other relies of the early days ■which might be ...... . . lo c t or destroyed if they remained'in . private hands. To a certain extent this appeal merits sympathy and support. There are in the possession of citizens of the Dominion and of families now resident in Britain documents in tho form of papers and letters and pictures relating to the history of this country which should be secured for the information of New Zealand historians, and some of this data could best be preserved in gome central national collection. But the provincial centres . hj: ve their just claims to retain r.na maintain historical collections of their own. Auckland has now an Oi<l Colo- " nists' Museum, ho'used in the Municipal ' Library biylding; several rooms are devoted to an excellent collection of . paintings, sketches, letters, proclamations and other documents specially • concerning the foundation of settlement in the Auckland province, and tne. Maori wars. Much of this data was originally held by the Auckland .uueeum, but an attempt was made to de~prive the city of its valued historical :• - collection by transferring it to the uoIminion Museum in Wellington, and the - 'establishment of the museum exeludr lively devoted to pictures and docu- _ ments . dealing with early history was ; a timely checkmate to the centralisation mdVe. Canterbury could very well take a- lesson from Auckland and specialise, in a collection of historical artides bearing on South Island settle- : • ment. Otago has done much in the direction of preserving its local historxcal memoranda, and in Canterbury,with its -wealth of material, a collec-.-tion that would be of inestimable interest to future generations could be . made, and given accommodation in a, special room at the Canterbmj MuKeum. A little hae already been done here in this direction, but an enort should be made to induce owners or documents, drawings and maps or other articles of value to citizens generally and to historians in particular to hand them over for public view and safe keeping. Local historians have their claims on such material, and they -. should not he compelled to travel to "Wellington for information relating to the beginnings of whit© settlement in ".. 'this parfe pi the Dominion. A present . objection to the .centralising of all hisabso-' I the old | t . , k theire for tie accomjable articles. The Gov--1 stage -would he better fling safe and adequate j great collection of hisis and relics now packed quite unsafe

purposes of a museum. But the general objection to accumulating all matter of this kind in one city will not be demolished oven when Wellington obtains its long-promised National Museum building There is one direction in which Ministers could exert their energies usefully in the interests of Dominion historians, and that is in securing from the South African authorities tho valuable Grey collection of Maori manuscripts now held in Cape Town. Auckland has made repeated attempts to secure these documents, by exchange for South African historical material now lying in the Grey collection in its j library, but without success. 'An exchange, which would mutually benefit I New Zealand and South Africa, was j favoured by Sir George Grey himself, ! but he was unable to make the necessary arrangements. And even in this instance, it is evident that Auckland lias a preference claim to the documents over the Dominion Library or the Dominion Museum. j TURKEY'S COMING EXIT. i - Recent cablegrams from Asia Minor i j point to the thorough demoralisation of ! the Turkish armies on the Tigris, whore, j according to latest advices, they are in | disorderly retreat, with the victorious I Allies fiercely pursuing. Whether or not they will make another stand, or whether this is the beginning of the end, remains to be seen, but it is unquestionably a step onwards towards the goal of Christian nations—the ejection of the Turk from Europe " bag j and baggage." Almost forty years ago j Mr Gladstone, in his never-to-be-forgot-ten Midlothian campaign, which set the : world aflame with indication against the Sick Man of Europe, demanded that this should be done, but he did not live to see his desire carried o*at. Now it seems certain that this longdeferred wish of the veteran statesman is destined to be carried out in its entirety, since it is understood that the cleansing of European soil of the pollution of the Crescent was laid down mora than two years ago as on© j of the unalterable aims of the Allies. In a speech delivered towards the close of January, Lord Eryce gave reasons for demanding that the Turk should be driven out of Europe, and it is generally conceded that in elaborating the' reasons ho was put forward by the 1 Government, w'nee he is pre-eminently qualified to speak on the subject. Noi other mau, as an American writer 1 says, is so well qualified to speak with the calm and dispassionate voice of the) I historian upon the continuous barbarity j of the Turkish rule over slibjeot peoples as the author of '' Transcaucasia) and Ararat *' and other works. He put in a good word for Russia and a bad! one for Turkey at a time when the political leaders of his country adopted precisely the opposite attitude from the strategic as opposed to humanitarian motives. Lord Bryce can denounce the Turks and be consistent, whereas British and other European statesmen mast eat their own words and denounce their own actions if they engage in the tusk.

The historian pointed to fire hundred years of oppression by the Turks, and to the fact that during tho time in which they have been enjoying the protection of a combination of Christian Powers, they have been even morel brutal towards tfabjeot races of a different religion. Such arguments as these cannot be used by the responsible heads of those nations which turned the blind, eye tcwaTds Turkish atrocities while keeping the other fixed upon the growing power of Russia. Having nursed the Sick Man of Europe, while he could be of any service to them, they are conscious of the hypocrisy of ordering his eviction now that he occupies a much smaller area and is more sick than ever. The inconsistency of minimising Turkish barbarities when it was in their interest to do so, and enlarging upon them when the Turk is no longer useful to their purpose, and when, he bns indeed, committed tho unpardonable crime of an alliance with their enemies, calls for mention only because it shows that nations are sometimes prone to trim their sails'to catch the passing breeze. But life is too short to bo wasted upon arguments as to the difference between tweedledum and* tweedledee, and the world knows as a matter of direct and independent knowledge that tho Turk in Europe is a continual offence against justice, political, personal and religious liberty. Ho may be used to serve the cause of one combination of Powers to-day and of another to-morrow, but he is all the lime a menace, and in the long run his banishment to regions where the population is mainly Mussulman will be for the benefit of all concerned.

We cannot conclude this article better than by making an extract from Lord Bryce's address, in which he laid bare many material fact®. He said in part;—

No one who has studied the history of the Near East for the last five centuries will be surprised that the Allied Powers hare declared their purpose to put an end to the rule of the Turk in Europe-, and still less will ho dissent from the determination to deliver the; Christian population of what is called the Turkish empire, whether in Asi;» or in Europe, from the Government which during five centuries has done nothing hut oppress them. The?d changes are indeed long overdue. They ought to have come more than a cen1/ary ago, because it. had then already become manifest that the Turk was helplessly unfit to govern, with any approach to justice, a subject race of different religion. The Turk never has been of any use for any purpose except for fighting. Ho cannot administer, though in his earlier days he had the sense to employ intelligent Christian administrators. Ho cannot secure justice. As a governing power he has always shown himself incapable, corrupt and erne]. Turkish rule oughti to bo ended in Europe because, evenin that small part of it which the 'Saltan still holds, it is an alien Power which has in that region "been, and novt is, oppressing or massacring, or driw ins from their homes the <*>hri&tiaji nopnlations of Graefc -or Balgaiisa stock". It ought.to- h&turned irot of the western coast region of Asia Minor for a like reason.. The people there are largely, perhaps .mostly, Greekspeaking Christian's. So ousht it to h-i turned out of Constantinople, at city of incomparable commercial and political importance, with the guardianship of ■which" it is unfit to be trusted. So ought it to be turned out of Ar-

menia and Cilicia and Syria, where, within the last two years, it. has been destroying its Christian subjects, the most peaceful and industrious and intelligent part of the population. If the Turkish sultanate is to be left in being at all, it may with the least injury to -the world be suffered to in Central and Northern Asia Minor. There, the population is mainly Mussulman, and there are comparatively few Christians. That the faults of Turkish government are incurable has been most clearly shown by the fact that the Young Turkish gang who gained power when they had deposed Abdul Hamid, have surpassed even that monster of cruelty in their slaughter of unoffending Armenians.