NOTES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIV, Issue 18, 3 May 1917, Page 34

NOTES.

Militarism We notice that some of the English papers are uttering a warning note against the danger of Militarism getting a hold on Great Britain. The danger is a real one ; and it is just as real here. We must see to it that no government shall ever succeed in reducing us to such a state of servility. We have said little about the question of conscription of the clergy and the students lately, but we take it that the attitude of the Catholics of this Dominion is now plain to all. William and Joseph A number of people are wondering what these two heavy weights are doing all this time, and what value we are getting for paying for them ? ' It is not fair to lose sight of their splendid achievements over the water. Has not William earned a vote of thanks from the * Yellow Pup ’ for his heroic silence and has not our Joe made a tiny little speech in which he mentioned Ireland?- How ungrateful are those who want more than that! It has been suggested that they are looking out for less strenuous billets at Home, and that they may yet figure as leaders of the political life in England. Whether the House of Commons finds them; or the Zoo, the only thing that interests us is what are they costing, and why. Later on the renowned acrobat, James, and the soloist parrot will probably join the troupe. That will be worth paying for! Man-tax and Income-tax'... ✓ f L V A correspondent says ' that, a certain . journal reproaches New Zealand 'for. sending a less „ percentage of men to the firing line than Englanda statement that is not a self-evident truth. But as a man -who has-just enough to live on could not be expected to pay income tax on the same scale as a millionaire, , a

country that has a bare sufficiency of men should never be called on to recruit on the same per centag© as on© in which wasters and unemployed are numbered by the million. The Canadians and Australians had sense enough to see that long ago. However, let us console ourselves that we have done better than ‘loyal Ulster.’ New Zealand has done splendidly, and those who deny it need not trouble us. Even a decree of the Southland and Otago Council would not make us believe that such people are authorities. To knock the eye out' of the man in the moon with a pea-rifle is child’s play in comparison of finding reason in a Jingo. G.K.C. on Lloyd George In view of what we have said concerning the danger of Militarism Mr. Chesterton’s remarks on the present Premier are important. Here is what he says of Lloyd George: ‘ When he seemed most spontaneously carried carried away in the crusade for European liberty he went out of his way to give a special testimony to German slavery. With conspicuous frankness he publicly proclaimed his unshaken admiration and envy for the way in which the German Government policies or rather dragoons the working classes ... he is the one quite unrepentant Prussianist. What is now. in England [for England we may read New Zealand] advancing against us with gigantic strides is one very simple thing, it is slavery—a positive human institution such as existed in old Virginia.’ This proves the truth of an old saying: Put a beggar on horseback and he’ll ride to the devil. What concerns the people is that he shall not make them accompany him on that trip. Ghosts Ghosts are hardly respectable nowadays. The old aristocrats have gone. The bean sidhe and the sidheoe/e have retired in disgust before the sordid, unromantic, spirits let loose by spiritists. The last of the old Norman ghosts, with clanking chains and bleeding wounds, has gone too. An American millionaire bought a baronial castle, ghost and all. He took possession, and the ghost came. Hoggenheimer tried to sell him a patent lubricant to make the chains less noisy, and a patent medicine to heal his historic wounds. Disgusted and disillusioned the ghost groaned thrice, and was seen no more. Anzacs Whatever may be said about the incapacity which our rulers displayed in everything connected with the Gallipoli campaign the heroism of the Dublins and the Munsters, who accomplished the impossible by landing where no other troops in the world could have succeeded, will never be forgotten. But this was to be expected of them. Anything less would have been a departure from the traditions of these regiments—whose heroism was so sedulously hidden in the despatches sent home by generals whose position was due to causes that are a mystery to the public. But hardly less splendid is the glory of the Anzacs, men who were untrained in the ways of war, and who were borne to heights of bravery by their sheer manhood and daring ; and who, coming in as it were at the eleventh hour among soldiers who had the high prestige for which their standards stood to spur them, in on© campaign wrote their names in shining letters on the scroll of

fame. Some refer.-to «■ our Gallipoli heroes as 'the real Anzacs'; and to speak of them thus is no disparagement of the men who followed*them, no less greatlydaring even if they have found a background for their valor less striking than the steep slopes of Gallipoli. The following- verses from Punch; are worth: reading :

The Real Anzacs. There are plenty of slouch-hatted soldiers in town, Doughty and debonair, stalwart and brown ; Some are from Weymouth or Salisbury Plain, Others have ‘ pushed * in the Western Campaign ; Call them ‘ Overseas soldiers ’ or ‘ Down-under men,’ Declare that each one is as daring, as ten Call them ‘Cornstalks’ or 1 Fernleaves ’— all out for a fight— But don’t call them Anzacs, for that is not right. The Anzacs— their ranks are but scanty all told Have a separate record illumined in gold. Their blood on Gallipoli’s ridges they poured, Their souls with the scars of that struggle are scored ; Not many are left, and not many are sound. And thousands lie buried in Turkish ground. These are the Anzacs : the others may claim Iheir zeal and their spirit, but never their name. A Tete-a-Tete (‘Romano’s in the Strand. After dinner, Bill and Joe, over the walnuts and the wine.) Bill (reading the Otago Daily Times) : Silence is golden, Joe. I see that the Yellow Pup at home wags his tail in eloquent approval of ray policy. In spite of all the goodly banquets at which I have done a statesman s part I congratulate myself that I never spoke a word in favor of the land of my birth. In doubt, take a siesta, is my rule. Joe: Well, hang it, Bill, I didn’t say much after all • and it is ungrateful of them to forget how many years I have been silent about the wrongs of Catholics. Bill: Yes. There’s something in that. But after all temptation proves the man. You could safely speak after dinner at home—but these Lord Mayor’s stunts are a different proposition altogether. Cordon Bleu, or Veuve Clicquot has a way of making a man say what he believes if he is not careful.

Joe (pouting) : I hope, Mr. Massey, you are not going to insinuate that I have not the courage of my convictions.

Bill (with one eye slightly closed): Keep cool, old man. I know. you are as honest as any politician m New Zealand; and we all know how much that means. Joe: You are talking through your hat. Bill. New Zealand politicians are as good as any others. Look at these English artists with all the tommy-rot they talk about small nations, while Ireland Bill (looking under the table): S'sh, Joe ! Did you see a little yellow terrier slip-in just now. You'll be up before the next panjandrum if you are not careful. Let's sleep: it's the safest thing we can do. Joe: Going back- will be awful, won't it, Bill? Bill: Carpe Diem— heard that means don't salute the devil till you meet him.