NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1711, 31 March 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

At a banquet in New Plymouth last -week the Hon. 0. Samuel made some very surprising references to "party government.'! Party spirit, he regretfully thinks, i 3 becoming stronger. It is not a very small company to which 'Mb. Samuel belongs in condemning the party system; tho ease against party government has been stated over and over again by many ablewriters in Great Britain. But we have nowhere seen a case made out for even the possibility of non-party politics'in a live, country. The defects of the party system are obvious enough, but so too are the defects of tho existing social systehi. There is spine resemblance between the frame of mind which impels some men in their irritation at, the disadvantages of tho party system, to cry, out for the abolition of party and the setting up of "elective executives," and the frame of mind which drives others to demand a Socialistic State as a cure for' the manifest imperfection of the world. And just as rrlost people know that Socialism cannot cure men of men' (which is the real disease, if it is a disease), so the establishment of an artificial, nonparty government will not get over the fact that men will think in parties. It would appear that Mit, Samuel's complaint of party is. tho outcome of some troubled thinking about Legislative Council reform, for he says that to make the Council .elective will be to extend "the abuse of party politics," and he adds that it will be better to have only one Chamber This is a very strange non sequitur. The aggravation and the alleviation of party feeling are with .which the system of government has nothing to do. Few people really doubt that if an elective Executive system were established, party lines would still exist; and, in point of fact, the more seriously tho people take their politics in any country, the firmer and clearer are the party lines.

The Wellington Education Board acted wisely on Friday in expressing a strongly' commendatory opinion upon the Education Department's rule that free-place scholars must, as a condition of their free places, conform to the Defence Act. In approving the rule, the board did no mine than voice tho feeling of .the vast majority of the people of this conntry. In taking care to make its approval emphatic, the hoard was doubtless moved by a desire to cancel the folly.of 'one of the other local education authorities; and it was right in doing so. Faced by the unanimous opposition of the rest of the board, Mr. A. W. Hogg, who denounced tho rule last month, retreat, cd a little from his position, and incidentally revealed the folly of the "anti-militarists" for whom he spoke. He "agreed that it was the duty of everyone to do somcthing.for the defence of the country," but "he was against interference with personal liberty." Ho "did not see the necessity for teaching the science of taking human life" ; yet if it became necessary to fight "there was not a man in the country who- would not do his part to-morrow." The inconsistency of such an attitude is obvious. War, as Mn. Hogg ought to know, involves the taking of human life; and those nations aro most likely to survivo which learn the science and practice of war. The more these "anti-militarists" talk, the more difficult it is to comprehend them.

Tim Naval Statement of the First Lord of l.lw Admiralty prex-onlm! to the House of Commons last week was

one of exceptional interest tu the overseas Dominions because of the suggested disposition oi what might be termed the Pacific Fleet. Mil. Ciel'Jichii.l's proposal is that the fleet, composed if gift • battleships from Canada,- the Malay States, and New Zealand, should have its base at Gibraltar. The policy of concentrating practically tlie whole strength of the lirst-elass warships of Britain in the North Sea has provoked a good deal: of adverse criticism on account of tlfc consequent weakening of the Mediterranean Fleet; and 110 doubt Mil. Churchill's idea is to utilise the overseas gifts to remedy this strategical weakness. So far as New Zealand's gift Dreadnought is affected, it has been made perfectly clear that the Dominion is willing that the naval authorities should place her where she is likely to be of most strategical value. But apparently the proposal of the F,irst Lord of the Admiralty involves something more than this. He indicates that he looks forward to the possibility of t-ho overseas Dominions supplementing the gifts already made, and these additional vessels a:;e jvlso to bo added to this ileet, with its'base at Gibraltar. This, of course, raises a question involving the whole matter of the future naval policy of this and the other contributing Dominions. It is generally recogniijed that we shall, have to do more than we have done, but there is anything but unanimity as to the particular manner in which we shall go about it. Sir George llf.id, in his comments on Mr. Churchill'? speech, states the real objection to the Gibraltar proposal. To quote his words: "It did not contemplate the development in the Dominions of the call of the sea which must not be confined to British ears, but listened to by the whole race, if they were to lay a sufficiently broad foundation for future responsibilities." This sums i.p the position very well. For the needs of the moment, Mr. Churchill's scheme is probably an-admirable one, but it is not 011 c likely to bring home to the peoples of the overseas that sense of responsibility in naval matters which must develop with a ileet in their own waters—under tluir eyes as it were— manned by their own offspring and maintained from their own purses. Such a fleet wot.ld be aVailable in time of emergency to act in the Mediterranean or anywhere else where it wiis.mosil needed.