Imperial Public Opinion.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14976, 25 May 1914, Page 6

Imperial Public Opinion.

When Earl Grey visited New Zealand, his speeches and his statements to Press interviewers were naturally printed as fully and as widely as was due to his position as an eminent -Imperial statesman. And one result of this was—Earl Grey being a Unionist and a competent witness on British political problems—that in many, perhaps most. New Zealand newspapers, the caso for Ulster was for the nrst time presented to tho public. Perhaps it is the fault of nobody in particular, but tho Irish question has never been placed before tho colonial public fully and fairly, and tho tame may be said of many other British political questions. The cable messagos. however, as anyone must admit who carefully reads the weekly bundles of the principal English newspapers on both sides in politi-s, have upon the whole been very good and impartial. In this the New Zealand public has been moro foriuiiato than the Canadian public, whose case was recently tho subject of a useful despatch from the well-known and reliable Toronto correspondent of "The Times." Not only the newsletters,

but tbe cable metsagf-, most widelypublished in Canada, come from sources in which the bias against tho Unionists is strongest, with the result that tho general picture of British politics presented to the Canadian public is grotesquely untrue, is little better, indeed, than the picture which the London "Daily News'' daily draws for its most ignorant readers. With its correspondent's letter as a basis, "Tho Times" wrote an article on "An Imperial Public Opinion," which has some lessons aud much interest for all intelligent citizens of tho overseas Empire. "The Times" observed that nothing just then could exerciso a more salutary influence in Britain than an authoritative pronouiicmeiit by the overseas people upon the Irish question,' but that there was uo prospect of any such pronouncement. It was difficult enough at Home to follow the thread of truth through the maze of blunders and evasions, of bluster and panic, which made up tho Ministerial record, and "how much " more difficult for those who livo in " the outpost countries of tho Em"pire." "For tho most part," it added, "it is clear that tho peoplo of "the Dominions have utterly failed as "yet to realise that Honie Rule has " brought Great Britain to the thresh- " old of civil war." This, perhaps, is an overstatement of tho case, but it is true, nevertheless, that there is really much need for attention to tho encouragement, at every opportunity, of improved means of communication between one part of the Empire and another part. Distance can never bo wholly overcome, but with every mitigation of its disadvantages, the Homeland and the Dominions will know each other bettor. Long years will almost certainly have to elapse before men can speak of "Imperial public opinion' as freely and as confidently as they can on occasion speak of Canadian or New Zealand, or South African public opinion. When that time does como, tbe large questions which will then, as now, present themselves for treatment, will be much less difficult of solution than they -will bo if tho intensification of the national individuality of the various component units of the Empire is uuaccornpanied by a growth of knowledge and mutual understanding.

Some of the Opposition apologists, as we havo often noted, arc obligingly apt to tell tho truth about, their friends now and then. Mr Atmore, M.P., whoso denunciation of Wardism secured him tlie support of the Reformers in IUII, lias been talking in Southland, and he has been commended to tho people of thnt district in those torms :*—

Mr Atmore has crammed into his .short political career a considerable amount of experience, For a fortnight he was considered the most important member of tho "Reform" Party, for upon his vote was to depend Mr Massoy's victory on the iirst no-con-fidonco motion. But Mr Atmore, though ho concealed tho fact very ingeniously, was not a ''Reformer," and bis vote actually saved the Ward Government from defeat.

This k a passage from an article eulogising Mr Atmore as ono of the "ablest and bast-informed" men in the "Liberal" Party. Next election, of course, ho will be defeated with uncommon emphasis, because tho electors of Nelson do not appreciate their member's -skill in concealing facts quite co much as our Opposition friends do. In the meantime, "ingenuity" such as his is in it_ proper place on tho Wardist side.

Writing of the ''magnificent tradition of dignity and authority" which has ■ made the House of Commons the finest legislative body in the world, an Opposition journal observes: —"But that tradition has rested upon the national habit of accepting loyally tho conditions of democratic rule, and this foundation is shattered directly the party which happens to be In a minority refuses to-abide by the rules of the political game." The occasion of this rather sweeping statement is tho organised obstruction sot up last week by tho Unionist Party. But when the Now Zealand "'•"Liberals" refuse to accept tho democratic principle of government by tho majority, and refuse to abide by the rules of the political game, everything is as right as right can be. The Unionists were, of course, merely retaliating upon tho party who had set the example of obstruction in l_oo, and wore fulfilling the prophecy of Mr Lowther, who warned the Liberal Opposition that on another day the other side would copy their example. It is characteristic of our poor "Liberal" friends that they should say that obstruction, or anything else, is good or bad according as they like or dislike tho actors. They forget that the plain man has a less accommodating sort of judgment.

In ordinary circumstances the cause no

more than the usual flurry. The Government, in treating it as of so much importance that Mr Lloyd George must intervene with a speech, which is an unpleasing mixture of the hysterical and the sanctimonious, was moved by its anxiety, first, to avoid another defeat for a Minister (Mr Mast-erman), and second, to win at the critical stag© of tho Homo Rule Bill. The Chancellor said that if the Government held tha seat, a great victory must bo admitted for Government policy. But this line was hardly open to a party wEich had refused to admit any significance in the long and almost unbroken series of Government defeat- at bv-olcctions since the last general election. The seat has been consistently Liberal for many years. A Liberal has headed each poll sinco 189-5: it is nearly 25 years since the Unionists were in a majority. The striking victory of the Unionist candidate on Saturday must, he a particular heavy blow to the Government, after the Chancellor's statement as to tbe critical character of the contest.

Wo confess to a considerable interest in by-elections, whether in England or in New Zealand. Just now, when tho anti-Reform candidates are travelling about the country—with a freedom which shows that all tho money does not belong to the common people who vote Reform, and that somebody has a good deal of cash to lay out in tourpromotion —the "Liberals" have an admirable opportunity to explain that the Egmont, Grey, and Lyttelton by-elec-tions were great ''Liberal victories. Their loud assertions of the great "revulsion of feeling" in their favour would look so much better if a few facts and figures about these contests wero put forward. In each case, it is true, the Opposition nominees wore at the bottom of the pod, but bur Opposition friends have shown us all that they can always alter figures to suit their case. They ought not to bo so modest; they ought not to spare our feelings by preserving so firm a silence respecting these three glorious Wardite victories.

A disquieting rumour was circulated a few weeks ago to the effect that the Obnr-Ammergati Passion Play, which has been held once overj* ten years for a considerable time, was to he abandoned. Fortunately it has turned out that tho report is unfounded. Tho Berlin correspondent of a London newspaper telegraphed to Anton Lang, who took tho part of Christus, for tho facts of the case, and was informed that what is to be discontinued is merely an intermediate representation given once in five years and dealing with tho history of the Old Testament. There is no tradition connected with this, but the great spectacle which attracts visitors from, all parts of the globe will be (riven in 1920, tho last representation having been in 1910.

It is not generally known that an imitation of the Passion Play has been started in France, and is in fact now going on. It was initiated in 1901 by Canon Petit, cure of St. Joseph, at Nancy, who thought he saw his way to raise the funds for a new church. Like the Ober-Ammorgau Passion Play, it is intended to be an event rccurriing every ten years. The second representation was commenced on Easter Monday last and will be continued till October of this year. According to ths correspondent of "Tho Times," tho first representation in-190-1 was very successful, and the play was witnessed by 120,000 persons. All the actors, and there aro some 500 of them, w 0 learn, are amateurs, and all are anonymous. Christ is reDrcsented by an assistant in' a large factory at Nancy, and his simple -ignity, wo are told, is ono of the outstanding features of tho performance. "Tho Virgin, clad in a robe of grey and violet, admirably contrasted, is played by a young woman whose touching rendering of the part has elicited great praise." When it js added that the scenes of the entry into Jerusalem, the trial and condemnation of Christ, and the Crucifixion, aro tho most solemn and absorbing of all, and create a deep impression, it will be seep that the great exemplar at Ober-Ammcrgau has been close'y followed. The latter, however, will continue- to hold its own for many reasons. In tho first place there are the traditions and associations connected with the place, and the fact that tuo simple villagors just live fur tho play and have nothing to distract the ! r attention. Moreover, tho picturesque village in tho Bavarian Highlands furnishes a "mise-on-scenc" which it would be impossible to equal in a city like Nancy.

The institution of the Passion Play at Nancy has led the Paris corresponden. of "The Times" to enquire whether thero is not a religious revival in France. He finds a good deal of evidence to support this view. Ten yea.s ago when France was in the throes of the great anti-clerical campaign which followed tho Dreyfus controversy, :t looked as if Franco was as a nation becoming atheistic. This view was strengthened by tho abolition of the Concordat. It would appear however, that a reaction is now setting in. Tho correspondent of "Tho Times" was struck by the lorce congregations at'the parish churches during Lent. On Palm Sunday tho churches were thronged with men, women and children, carrying boughs of green box, which in France aro the substitute for palms, as the willow catkins aro in England. At Notre Dame tho Archbishop of Paris, in accordance with custom, solemnly blessed the palms. It is a common practice among French Catholics to carry away with them branches of "le buis benit" on Palm Sunday, and to weave them round the crucifix, which in many home- still hangs above the bed. Apart from iaese special observances, it appears that the T-enten sermons attracted unusually large congregations, especially thoso at tho Trinite and St. Roch, by the Abbe Coube, a preacher of great eloquence. It is worthy of note that the Archbishop of Paris recommended the preachers to concentrate on the spiritual life in its various aspects, and, above all, to avoid politics—advice wnich. one is glad to hear, seems to have been scrupulously rollowed.