NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1640, 6 January 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

'It is obvious enough that neither of the main British parties is anxious for a general election just at present. Apparently Mn. Asquith's inquiry of Mr. Bonar Law a,s to what would be the Unionist Attitude if tho Homo Rule Bill wero submitted to tho electorate has been interpreted in some quartets as .a hint that tho Government is contemplating the possibilities of ■ a dissolution. , The Liberal newspapers, however) deny that the Government intends to precipitate _ an election. They add that there is a strong temptation to do bo in the internal distractions of the Opposition. No doubt there is some truth ill that, for unless a' general settlement is arrived at on tho fiscal issue, the Unionist party will suffer the effects of disunion. By his injudicious speech at Ashton-Undor-Lyno, Me. Bonar Law has ; seriously disturbed his party, but ■ tho ultimate result ( Of that speech may bo beneficial, since it Way lead to the adoption of a scheme of prefer-ence,'into-which food-taxes will not enter. The Unionist Leader hay promised to consider carefully the representatiofls ■ of Lancashire Unionists on the point, But tho Government's: difficulties aro very great.. Tho Welsh Disestablishment Bill has alienated a large number of moderate Liberals; the land-tax campaign of the Chancellor of tho Exchequer has, alarmed, probably, a! still larger Bcction of Liberal opinion: and tho. Insurance Act is unpopular with everyone,; The Government'would run ,an excellent chance of being soundly beaten on these issues alone. But; of course, Mr. Redmond is the main obstaOlo to a dissolution. Ho does not. want. Homo Rule to be subjected to any further risks, and ho may be trusted to restrain Mn. AsQuite from Appealing to the country until he has: carried Out his share of tho bargain. '

: Ons : of ■ the southern fiewspapers opposed to political reform is very indignant with our designation of the so-called "Liberal", Party as tho Spoils Party. We really cannot be blamed for using a term which the facts of the case long ago fixo'd as the proper term. J acts, are the things that, matter, and it i is no less a fact that the. old Spoils Party was not>" Liberal' even the : nowspaper'referred to has recognised for some time past that it is no'' Use calling tho present ■party; in power anything but the Reforin Party. In theso quicklymoving times _ tho : very _ primitive device of calling ft political party by a derisive name which facts will' not support is quite useless. When we say "the Spoils party," we hayo tfre facts-behind us; and the public k&owii very well that it. is the only thing to say of the reactionaries who lbng for a return to power of tho politicians who ran the country for themselves' and their best friends.' But we are threatened with reprisals 1 If our friends _ori the anti-Reform side can do nothing else, they yet are. able, so we aro told, to say "you are: another !" Nobody can possibly ( mind 1 . their doing so. For it requires facts to fix a label. Just b.v way of . showing what it can do in this way,, the southern journal says that the Reform party is itself the Spoils party; because of Sir Walter Buchanan's knighthood. It' positively can think of no • reason that is not' indecent, it proclaims, for the hbriour conferred upon this vet' eran colony-builder ! And yet from one end'of the country to the other it must have seen that friends and opponents alike of the Reform party have had a kindly word to say 'concerning this recognition of honourable . public service. Tho case' of tho old Spoils party is worso than;We imagined, when one of the most energetic of its defenders has oome to this pass. /

. The discussion of tho Trades Union Bill at the British tradeunion conference indicates that the Labour party does not intend to abate its demand that the unions shall bo vested with very full tyrannical powers. The Bill aims at reversing the effect of i the Osborne judgmont, which, it will bo remembered, declared that in Using their trades union funds for- political purposes the unions had been acting illegally for years. The Government's proposal was to extend the powers of the unions by enabling ythem, not only to. pay Parliamentary representatives, but oven to issue newspapers in support of any particular party or policy. This, of course, is a grievous injustice to those, trade-unionists who are. not supporters of tho political Labour party. But' it was, shown to bo tar more than that by the House of Lords' judgment in tho ' Vachcr case, which we noted last week. That judgment decided • that tho Trade Disputes 1 Act of 180G gave unions immunity in respfict of any tortious act committed at any time, whether "in furtherance of a dispute" : or not, _ The effect of the Trade Union Bill will therefore be. as Mr. W. V. Osborne has pointed out, that "unions may enter into trade and oompete against others by wrongful means, and yet carry the absolute immunities of the Trade Disputes Act; or they may run newspapots, and libel and slander till who cross their path,, and yet leave their victims without redress." Every fair-minded man, whether a trade unionist or not, will admit that this is a monstrous privilege to grant to any section of tho community. Lord Robert Cecil introduced a Bill which proposed to mitigate this flagrant injustice by limiting a union's immunity to those unauthorised acts of its members or others which liavo been effectively repudiated by tho Managing Committee. Tho Labour lnadors are complaining bccauso the Government'!! Bill does not go tho full length of setting the unions ab-

solufcely nbovo tho law, and it is to bo feared that the Government's dependence upon tho Labour vote is not favourable to tho prevention of tho threatened tyranny.