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Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16152, 5 March 1918, Page 6

! Mr Justice Herdman received a ijor- | dial welcome from the local Bar when | he took his seat on the Supreme Court i Conch yesterday for the first time. | The good wishes so happily expressed by Messrs Donnelly and Raymond are supported by the public of Canterbury, who have only pleasant memories of Mr Justice Hcrdman's predecessor, and who look forward to seeing Sir John Denniston's' place worthily filled. The new Judge brings to the Bcnch a well-earned reputation for good sense, good feeling, and a firm mind, and there is every reason to believe that the devotion to duty and the ability that gave him his high place in i-ur polities will win for him a like success as one of his Majesty's Judges. AVe hope that his association with Canterbury will bo a long and happy one. The most complete statement of the Bolshevik doctrines that we Have seen is a "catechism in the "Class Struggle" in which Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, asks 25 test questions and gives the replies that represent the views of the different Russian parties. Reading this "catechism," one ceases to wonder at the pppalling chaos in Russia. The Bolsheviks art iirst and last anti-capi-talists, and this they carry to such a length as io regard as their "whole task" "the enlightment of the mass?s as to .the utter hopelessness of expecting anything from capitaHst Governments and the necessity of giving all power to the proletariat and the poorest peasants." There are 110 j lights and shades in the Bolslievi: doctrine, and Lenin has no hesitations. or doubts of any kind. The only form of government he can tolerate is J "a republic of the Council of Workers',

Soldiers'. and Peasants' Delegate?: j abolition of the standing army and the police, substituting for thcin ail armod people; officials to be not onlv elected, but also sub j cot to recall, and their pay not to exceed that of a good worker."' "Anarchy" he defines as a negation of the authority of the Councils of W.S. and P. Delegates, whi'-ii mu-t have complete and sole authority ••from top but torn over the white country." The State does not n.'ed oilieials «'f the or.iinary kind; officers must be elected by the soldiers, and every step of every officer and general be subject to control by soldiers' committees: all monarclis must bo tlethrcned: the land must be seized at once by the Bolsheviks (and, Lenin adds, production must be increased!'*: fraternisation between soldiers of opposing annies is '"good and indispensable'' ; and so on. 0 One of the quaintest features of Lenin's credo is his faith in. the value of Riving everyone a gun. He would abolish the standing' army and the police, as we have seen, "substituting for them an armed people." He repeats this several times, and on armed people is for him the true basis of a sound constitution: "Organise and arm the masses; thus only can the Constituent- Assembly be assured." Cut nation-building does simply in arming the masses, abolishing the police, and seising all the land. Lenin contemplates the application of .Bolshevik principles to banking. All necessary steps must be taken :'toward the union of all the banks 'nto one single national bank, and then toward a control of the Councils of Wnkers' Delegates over the banks and syndicates." Banks, we should say, would be the most superfluous of ill institutions in such- a Russia as the Bolsheviks dream of. They would have no customers. ♦ We do not cloarly understand what the Hon. J. A. Hanan wishes to bo understood from his complaint that tho Commissioner system in the public service is unsatisfactory, and we should liko to know in w r hat way nonpolitical control injures the efficiency of our education system. Wo are glad, however, to find him sympathetic towards the suggestion that some real provision should bo mado to prevent the present overcrowding in tho schools. In yesterday's paper there wero quoted some remarks on the subject by a member of tho Auckland Education Board. In some of the suburban schools in Auckland, he said, thero are classes of 100 pupils, each taught by ono assistant whoso only help is a pupil teacher or two. Throe new schools, capable of accommodating 500 pupils each, aro required, ho added, to relieve the existing strain and congestion. In the schools in this city there is overcrowding on much tho same scale. Tho result of this overcrowding is altogether bad. It is cruol to the toachers, and it is unfair to tho childdren, since, no matter how bravely the teacher faces the impossiblo task of properly teaching a class of from 7C to 100 children, the task remains impossible. Tho health of both children and teacher, too, cannot but he adversely affected by such wretched conditions. In tho turmoil of war, the noeds of national education aro very liablo to bo neglected, and this: although it is everywhere realised thai more care than ever should bo devotod to the mental and bodily development of our children. If it wero only s question of providing ornaments and luxurios, thero would bo nothing tc say, but the overcrowding of tlie citj schools is a grave national injury—i( strikes at a vital part of the nation's future. Thero is no truo economy it withholding the money required for the removal of this most undesirable state of things. The Government cannot spond money better than in building such new schools, of tho modern oponair kind, as will relieve the congestion, but tho Government and Parliament are not likely to do anything unless they aro subjected to strong and persistent pressure.