PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17699, 20 November 1925, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION.

WHAT OTHER WRITERS ARE SAYING. i ELECTION ARITHMETIC. No one will be so stony-hearted as to grudge the political Labour Party the satisfaction which it derives from the contemplation of the figures relative to the polling at the general election that have been issued on its behalf by its general secretary. It is an old saying that figures can be made to produce any result that is desired by a skilful manipulator, and. while it might be unwise to place a great deal of faith in that dictum, the national secretary of the Labour organisation may claim credit for the ingenuity with which he- has contrived to suggest that, instead of having met

with a severe reverse, his party achieved a greater measure of progress at the polls than either of the other parties is in a position to show. We have not been at the pains to check the figures that have been prepared on behalf of the Labour Party because, after all, statistical calculations which show that the “splendid gain,” as it is called, that is manifested in a party securing the largest percentage of votes it has ever obtained has been effected at the cost cf the loss of 29 per cent of the personnel of the party in Parliament do not impress us very greatly. To the results, indeed, which have been so carefully tabulated, Mr Holland might as leader of the party excusably apply the words of Pyrrhus, “One more such victory and we are utterly undone!”—“Otago Daily Times.” THE SEAMEN’S UNION CASE. The attempt by the Seamen’s Union to define the duties of its members has been declared in the Magistrate’s judgment to be an incitement to them to strike, and therefore illegal, and the union and the two officials who issued the instructions have been ordered to pay substantial fines. Beyond his conclusion that the excuse offered by the union was untenable, the Magistrate does not suggest any interpretation of its motives, but there can be no question that the term “ job control,” which is used in an alternative charge, is exactly appropriate to the circumstances. It is straining credulity for the union to ask the public to believe that its action was due to a sudden realisation that work which has been customarily done by its members was so dangerous that it was compelled to order them to refuse to do it any longer. The whole circumstances of the clearly showed that the prohibition was issued by the union as an experiment in the pernicious practice of job control, which the affiliated organisation in Australia had only recently been compelled to abandon. Even if the most charitable view is ta£en, it is equally clear that the union executive had no right either to act as interpreter of the award or to attempt to enforce its interpretation.— “ Herald, ’ Auckland. GRAVES IN GERMANY. A war memorial has just be-'n unveiled in the British section of the cemetery in Cologne. This ceremony was attended by Mr Shepherd, secretary to the High Commissioner for Australia, and on his return to London he paid a tribute to the way in which the Germans have cared for the graves of the dead. In the German concentration cemeteries, including those at Cologne, Berlin, Cassel and Hamburg. 5059 British dead are buried, and the Germans have tended their graves with reverence and care. A similar spirit of chivalrous respect for a brave enemy was frequently exhibited even during the war itself. When General Gouraud lost his only son behind the German lines, the German commander wrote him a letter dwelling on the bravery which his son had displayed, and stat ing that they had done all they could for him after he had been taken prisoner. lie regretted that their efforts had not been successful, but he assured the father that his son had been buried with all due military honours and that he had received all the attention that was due to a brave and gallant soldier. The Turks tended the British graves at Scutari with every care. The Germans have created a favourable impression by their spontaneous gesture of friendship in lending their diving apparatus for the purpose of locating the sunken British submarine Ml. In spite of all the hatred and bitter feeling which war engenders there has always existed among the soldiers and sailors of every nation a respect and admiration for courage in the foe.—“ Star,” Auckland.