The Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18624, 28 November 1928, Page 8

The Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

' | ■'HE MAYOR ran out of superlatives yesterday about unemployment in a manner that he could hardly have bettered if the Reform Party had been returned to office, but his heroics must not be taken too seriously. It is regrettable that so many unemployed remain in Christchurch with the approach of midsummer. To a large extent they are a legacy from the Reform regime, and Sir Joseph Ward does not need to be told that the problem awaits solution, and will have to be dealt with soon. It may be taken for granted that definite steps will be taken to deal with this problem in the next six months, whether Parliament is in session or not. At the best, however, the immediate task is merely the relief of unemployment. Its prevention is the ultimate task -with which the Government is faced, and that will be effected most speedily, we should think, by a settled land policy and’ the encouragement of local secondary industries.

f I ''HE Scottish plot to seize the Stone of Destiny from the -*■ Coronation Chair and return it to Perth is certainly not a practical joke, but it is a practical impossibility. It is reminiscent of the methods of the suffragettes in their endeavour to direct public notice to their cause. The Scottish Nationalists, who are a rival body to the Scottish Home Rule people, but have the same objective, have to be noisy to make themselves heard. England certainly came by the Stone dishonestly, but it does not belong now to Scotland any more than it belongs to anyone else, because it has been in the possession of England so long that the Statute of Limitations obviously applies. Apparently it was a mysterious object of adoration or something of the sort at Dunstaffnage Castle. Then it was carried from there to Scone at some early period when Scone, which is a village a mile or so outside Perth, was the capital of the Northern Piets. The Pictish Parliament used to meet there, and the Pictish kings were crowned there subsequently. Edward I. collared the Stone in 1296, after he thought he had conquered Scotland, and took it to London, where it became part of the Coronation Chair. Its later history deals with matters of common knowledge, and it has taken so firm a place in the union of Scotland and England that its removal now could be regarded only as a dissolution of partnership

' V ''HE New York “ Sun,” commenting on American influence in Australia and New Zealand, questions whether, in the face of natural geographical forces, these countries can remain truly British in spite of a deliberate policy in that direction. It is true that colonials appreciate American inventiveness and practical application; but the appeal is an economic rather than a national one. We praise the efficiency of Americans, and their natural flair for catering for their ow'n personal comfort. With their extraordinarily progressive ideas they have an affinity for colonials who are not walling to accept the conservative standards of Old England. But in things of the spirit, in ideals and sentiments, we are far removed from the American. It is fairly characteristic that he should regard the winning of a thing, the materia] achievement, as more important than the manner of its accomplishment. When Commander Byrd said the other day, “ Scott showed that the things of the mind and heart—the intangible spirit of man—have a more enduring effect than the material results of his struggles,” he sensed the traditional spirit of the Briton as we understand and follow it in New Zealand. The Pacific will become the centre of great activity in the near future, and New Zealand and Australia will co-operate with America in dealing with the problems of that area; but the living body of thought that binds the Empire together will not be deadened by material things.