DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16711, 29 January 1926, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

The Russian loader Trotsky loses no opportunity of

Trotsky's Attack on Great Britain.

criticising Britain. In one of his recent public utterances,

after quoting passages from a speech of Sir William

Joynson-Hicks and recapitulating the manifold sins and wickedness committed by British "Imperialists'* at all times and in all countries, the record, of which, Trotsky urged, "should be compiled by the Soviet State Press into a comprehensive little volume for distribution among the people," ho continued: "Imagine the present ruling England as the champion of the world's peace! She has accumulated a store of hatred towards herself in the hearts of the masses of the people of both hemispheres. And this Blitish bourgeoisie, saturated with and nourished by slavcrowning and predatory traditions, a bourgeoisie which strangles millions of colonial races, dares, in the person of one or ils most knavish representatives, the Home ..Secretary (Mr Joynson-Hicks), to "assert that Moscow is plotting against Britain, the Peacemaker of the world.

. . „ Another British Cabinet Minister—one with whom we are a trifle better acquainted (Mr Churchill) —is harping on the same string and branding the Soviet Government as a "gang of plotters." Let us be frank. Britain has organised a Pact which, according to her idea, must bind together the gang of Imperialist plotters against the freedom of the world —and that is the rnal meaning of the Pact when translated into honest language. Only they arc trying to shift the responsibility on to the innocent. . . . England—the J.P. of Europe! But we, behind the scenes, are able to see who it is pulling the strings, and who is the real capitalist lord of the world. England is merely the shop-walker, almost a substitute." The Pact, according to Trotsky, was inspired by the United States which desire to ensure the payment of Europe's debts and prevent fighting among their clients. "New York has but to pull the string and the valiant Mr Churchill moves right or left according to command.'

The value and importance of the Irish Agreement (says the Banishment London Times) canof not and should not A Nightmare, be assessed in terms ..' of prospective financial profit and loss. The general political interest of these islands can only benefit bv an agreement which for the nrst time brings all three Governments into line. The disagreeable possibility of tension, even of hostilities, between the two Irish Governments as a result of the award of the Boundary Commision has been present since 19*21. This nightmare, it may be hoped, has at last been banished from our dreams. To the Northern Government the abrogation of the Boundary Clause of Article XII. will bring a sense of security and relief, and in the end a greater readiness to accept the Catholic minority of Northern Ireland as fellow citizens rather than as enemy outposts. The Free s State, as we have pointed out, secures equally solid moral and material advantages. This is a settlement by consent of all the three parties concerned —for we cannot suppose the Dublin bail will refuse to ratify it, though the small Labour Party in the Free State, who have ,never shown much political sense, may criticise, and the self-disfranchised Republicans may condemn. Subject to ratification, a solution of the Boundary problem, which has again and again prevented an Irish settlement, which has exercised an often disastrous influence on the course of British politics, has been found, thanks to the statesmanlike moderation of Sir James Ciaig, of Mr Cosgravc, and of the British Government. To the "midnight Treaty," hastily negotiated in 1921, with its dangerous indeflniteness on the vital question of the border, the new Agreement stands as the Treaty of Locarno to the Treaty of Versailles a proof of the growth of appeasement Mid conciliation.

Sir Alfred Mond, whose turning from

Unemployment and The Dole.

Liberal to Conservative was one of the political sensations of the week in England,

in a trenchant speech recently on unemployment and the dole, said: "I am tired of the 'flddlefnddle' of departmental objectors and economic theorists in dealing with human flesh and blood, which everyone knows is deteriorating day by day before our eyes. Are we going to sit for ever, like a lot of cowed sheep, at the feet of people who teach us that to utilise the Unemployment Fund to subsidise work instead' of idleness is a wrong principle? I for one am not prepared .to do it. I think it is one of the greatest crimes of this country in the last few years that we have become supine and blinded to the position. We go on year after year with the soothing syrup of the unemployment relief. Is it impossible to do anything? We lend our money to the Greeks to deal with their unemployment, but .we cannot do it for eur own country. It is an extraordinary and amazing paradox; it is a tragedy."