Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 8, 22 February 1923, Page 18

Current Topics

New Zealand’s Parliament Recently' a caustic critic described the Legislative Council of New Zealand as a body of decrepit ancients who crawled to the House now and then and slept 01 dozed for an hour or so at so much per annum. _ Our Lower House is now notorious for the impression it made on Lord Bryce, and from what one can see of the debate with which it once more opened the cultural and intellectual standard of the Government benches is as low as ever. Mr. Massey’s friends and supporters once quivered with shame when he made a certain historic gesture on the streets of Wellington. They have no great reason to be proud of the manner m which ho acquitted himself last week. In place of the reasoned and dignified language one would expect from even the “least intelligent of the Dominion Premiers” there was an exhibition of bad temper, a lack of argument, a second-form schoolboy’s standard of logic, and a general impression of sourness and surliness. Not once did he score off an opponent; it was clear that keeping his head is not his long suit; and judging from the impression made by the report of his remarks in his own press we can only say that another term of office under such a government is likely to leave the country in a very bad way.

The Reform Party The word reform implies reconstruction. No more ridiculous term could well be applied to Mr. Massey party. Instead of building up it has torn down ; instead of reforming it has deformed most things it touched. Sir Joseph Ward was an able man, as even his worst political enemies must admit. He gave the country decent railways and a creditable Post and Telegraph service. He helped the farmers in their first steps towards prosperity. In his time the shipping services were admirable. On such a foundation as he left, a party conducted with even a modicum of intelligence ought to have achieved wonders for the Dominion. What did it achieve? A decade of Massey muddlement has left our Post and Telegraph services far behind the efficiency to which Sir Joseph brought them ; our railways are the worst in the world ; there is never a passenger steamer now between Auckland and Dunedin ; the West Coast services are disorganised a service for passengers from Dunedin to Christchurch is unknown ; and only once in a blue moon is there a direct service from Dunedin to Australia. There is no direct boat to Tasmania, and a steamer never carries tourists to the Sounds. And as for the general welfare of the Dominion, one has but to glance at the newspapers and read the lists of bankruptcies which have appeared for the past few years. Add to all this a huge debt, high cost of living, a heavy burden of taxation, and much unemployment. Little or nothing has been done under Masseydcm to develop the resources of the country. Putting bigots like Nosworthy in the Cabinet and passing legislation under the whip of the P.P.A. liars seem to be all the "Reform" Government is fit for. It is no wonder that the very mention of some Cabinet Ministers is enough to produce a roar of laughter. But it is no laughing matter for New Zealand. They're Off - The long-winded debates ran their course in Parliament. Hansard will hold many pages of futile oiffle and the country will as usual pay for it. Mr. Wilford did not do badly by remembering on occasions that silence is golden. Mr. Massey left his reputation poorer (if that were possible) by forgetting the same proverb. Labor scored freely day after day, and it is evident that Messrs. McCombe and Holland carried too many guns for the floundering, blustering, bullying Prime Minister. Apart from a few flashes the entire proceedings were on a very low level, and have only confirmed

Lord Bryce’s verdict as to the uncultured and stupid average of New Zealand’s spouting men. Then came the divisions on the amendments. Our friend Mr .Poland alone stood.by Labor while other Liberals and socalled Liberals sat tight and did their bit for Masseydom. Labor was kinder to Mr. Wilford’s merry men than they deserved, and it was only by the aid of half-and-half ers that the “least intelligent of „ the Dominion . Prime Ministers” retained for the present his seat on a slippery saddle. There were, on the part of a few “Reform” persons, some exhibitions of the No Popery spirit which seems to be their only qualification for membership of the talking shop. But, on the whole, the flag-flapping of Parr and the P.P.A. canoodling of Massey left them in the lurch this time, dependent altogether for office on the good will of men who still wear a Liberal ticket. From it all we gather, first, that the Reform Government did not win ; and, second, that even when propped on its borrowed stilts, it is in a most precarious condition. We shall probably find much sport during the year in watching the game. One thing seems certain: the Orangeman is not likely now to bring in any more persecuting legislation at the behest of the P.P. Ass parsons. And our dear friend, Sir Francis Dillon Bell, is not likely to have an opportunity of draughting a Bill as stupid and as discreditable both legally and politically as was the Marriage Bill masterpiece which came to no more than saying that it was wrong to say in the concrete what it was quite right to lay down as a guiding law. What a pity Lord Bryce did not see that particular piece of muddlement work. The party race is on. The barrier has gone up, and Mr. Massey rides a broken-winded favorite with a long, rough course in front of him. The going is sure to be muddy.

Worthless Leaders All the promises made to us during the war have been broken. The war that was to regenerate the world left it far worse than it was ten years ago. Humanity has been tricked and deceived until it has become hopeless. The persons to blame for the great betrayal are the leaders of the Allies in whose hands was the making of the Peace conditions. Lloyd George, Orlando, Clenienceau, arc the culprits and the enemies of the people. The American Review of Reviews for January says: "The European countries that took the principal parts on both sides in the Great War have not been led thus far by their Prime Ministers and their rulers into pleasant paths of mutual helpfulness. They have not stood firmly by the agreements they made in the settlements that were signed, sealed, and delivered in the summer of 1919 at Versailles."

They broke faithbroke faith with the living and with the —these Prime Ministers and rulers of ours; and to-day the world suffers for the perfidy. In England the people have rid themselves of the chief pledge-breaker. In this at least England is worthy of imitation.

Peace Moves in Ireland Our cables tell us that in response to the appeals of the prisoners, d© Valera intimated that he was willing to submit to a referendum of the people, to be taken on a Republic against a Free State. Mr. Cosgrave is reported to have expressed his agreement, with the obviously necessary proviso that arms must be laid down as a preliminary to the referendum. This is necessary for many reasons. One is because, most people now doubt de Valera's power to control the forces, and Liam Lynch's condescending tone to his old chief supplies very good grounds for such doubts. Indeed, the cable reports that de Valera's proposal has been followed by fresh acts of criminal violence on the part of the men he nominally leads make it almost certain that he is not in a position to deliver the goods. Again, Liam Lynch has a reputation as a breaker of his word of honor. Henoe, it is reasonable to ask that as" a guarantee of good faith arms be laid down before holding the referendum which de Valera proposes. Both sides have in the past put themselves in the wrong. There is no excuse that we can see for the Government's

executions by way of reprisal, and there is nothing but madness in d© Valera’s defiance of the wishes of the people and in his campaign against private property. For our part, we do not attach very much importance to the cables, and we will believe in peace when it becomes a reality. Should the referendum be taken we have no doubt that there will be a huge majority against the men who are burning the homes of the people, even with crippled children locked in them. Such acts have put the party responsible for them off-side with all those who have a spark of humanity in their breasts.

The Casus Belli De Valera says he wants external association, and he says (what is not true) that the Free State swears allegiance to the King. Ireland has won internal association and' takes an oath of faithfulness to the King, dependent on Ireland’s partnership in the Commonwealth. Now so good a judge as Tim Healy has said that the Treaty is worth more than Document Number 2. During the debates one of the members of the Dail said he would not shoot a dog for the difference between them. But de Valera is not only shooting dogs, but he has shot Michael Collins and several other good Irishmen, and is making life a hell for the whole people because they do not want what Tim Healy tells us is a worse thing than what they have got. The Review of Reviews thinks it a pity that England was not more generous and that she did not let de Valera have his way as to do so meant only changing a few meaningless words. This would also seem to be Dr. McCartan’s view of what de Valera wants, for he told the Dail frankly that it was not the men who signed the Treaty who betrayed the Republic, but the Dail Cabinet who agreed in secret session to let the Republic drop before the delegates went to London, It is thought by some people that England may grow tired of seeing the Irish killing on© another and yield to de Valera’s demands by changing the “few meaningless phrases.” We do not see much room for hop© in that direction. De Valera, in spite of his pledges, is playing England’s game very well and the enemies of Ireland can sit down with folded hands and watch the gam© to their heart’s content. There may be fun in it for the Morning Post and the Spectator but there is none for Irishmen. Her© let us note that we have heard some

persons say that they think the Treaty must be bad for Ireland because so many English papers welcomed it. If they had their eyes open and used their brains they would know that the papers that welcomed it fought the Lloyd George Government on behalf of Ireland, and that it was this opposition and the spirit it roused that had most to do with making Lloyd George yield. And, on the other hand, the papers that had no compassion for Ireland under the “Black-and-Tan” rule were and 'are still opposed to the Treaty. England had to make a compromise not only with Ireland but also with the Tory Die-Hards, and that seems to be the reason why the few “meaningless phrases” were not changed. It is possible but not probable that they may be changed yet; but, in the meantime it is not dogs but the very soul of Ireland that is being killed for them. As we often said before, the destruction of life and property is bad enough, but it is as nothing to the destruction of the moral standards of the young people, some of whom have as little hesitation about killing a man as they had about shooting a crow in other days that we shall see no more. And as for the girls who gather in a street and hoot and hiss at a venerable Cardinal who

is over eighty years of age, the less said the better. The only thing the whole situation has not gone beyond is prayer. Amateur theologians who are foolish enough and vain enough to criticise the united Bishops of Ireland have but little idea of the great and perhaps irreparable damage done to religion in Ireland in this generation and for many generations to come. Out of the mouths of sucklings wisdom does not always come, and a little knowledge is proverbially dangerous. We know on good authority that the . task of the priests and bishops has been made infinitely harder through the foolishness of some divines who have practically

told tli© raiders that they are quite right in defying the bishops and going on with the raiding and killing.

European Chaos In the American Review of Reviews, that keen critic of international affairs, Frank H. Simonds, draws a picture of the chaos of Europe even more gloomy than Signor Nitti's presentation of the situation. Last year, according to Mr_ Simonds, was the most discouraging since the war. It was a period of general disintegration, political, economical, and moral. The overthrow of the Italian Parliament by Mussolini and the alarming victories and the fresh insolence of the Turk mark in red letters the state to which Europe has fallen. Mussolini's revolution was a reaction against the futility and incompetence of accepted statesmen, and the awful spectacle of thousands of Christians butchered by the Turks found the various States of the Continent powerless to move a hand to save the victims. Everywhere was despair, and despair darkened as the year went on. Mr. Simonds tells us: "I found on the Continent in March and April a sense of despair absent in the bitterest days of the war, and those who return in December report the intensification of this feeling of depression. In the larger view there is an unmistakable sense abroad that events have escaped the control of statesmen and of governments, that a certain sinster and overmastering fate seems to be blocking the feeble efforts at reintegration, that Europe is sinking, visibly sinking, and that as it declines, while new difficulties rise the old not diminished but increased. More and more as days pass the question is being asked, not in one country, but in most, not by one group of party politicians or national representatives, but by men of all shades of partisan and national faith, whether Europe can save itself now, whether the European civilisation which we have known can by some superhuman effort rescue itself, or whether we are seeing the onset of another decay such as attended the downfall of Rome and the shipwreck of ancient civilisation." That is a terrible picture of the ruin for which we have to thank our Prime Ministers and our politicians and our lying pressmen. England is fujl of starving workers who cannot find work; Germany is bankrupt ; Austria has been murdered ; the Turk is trampling on the Christians as insolently as ever Italy has had a revolution which made a clean sweep of the political incompetents who brouglit the country to ruin. And if we look farther afield we find the Balkan States

seething and Russia a land of waste and misery. How it all affects the Empire may be gathered from the following remarks of Mr. Simonds: “British policy, which for nearly four years has concentrated its strength upon the restoration of the European markets, is frankly abandoning hope that this policy can prevail and is envisaging a British retirement from the Continent almost as complete as that of the United States from Europe and is feverishly striving to find within the Empire some way of stimulating the markets and thus of arriving at the absorption of British manufactures and the reduction of British unemployment. Yet there are not lacking those who declare openly that this too an illusion.” Europe is in chaos indeed. We used to say that we won the war, but it now looks as if the Turks won it, for there is no doubt

that the Turks have dictated to Europe and Europe has had to swallow the degrading terms which she is too weak to resist. That is bad enough, but what is worse is the fact that all Islam has been aroused by the success of the Turks, and no man can forecast where Islam will end if once it moves forward on its march towards the West. Here is an indication of the trend of events; “It is a matter of common knowledge in Europe now that within a brief time British troops must leave not only Mosul but Bagdad, and that Franc© is reducing her garrisons in Smyrna at a moment when large reinforcements would be required if the country were to be held. Unless all signs fail, the new year will see perhaps in its early months the British back at Basra and the French at Beirut, that is practically out of Mesopotamia, Syria, and even Palestine, while those Christian minorities which supplied at least a

# -.w M basis for western concern in Near Eastern affairs will be either exterminated or eliminated from the Turkish Empire.” That means nothing if it does not mean that the British Empire has surrendered ignominously to the Turk.