NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1724, 15 April 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Nearly everybody will be very glad if tho British Government's legal advisors fincl that Mr. George Lansbury, the Socialist cx-M.P., who was so badly beaten when he reqontested the _ seat he had resigned to sqol'g a win for tho Suffragists, has brought himself within reach pf , the law by his incitements to violence. He urged, it will be remembered, that militant Suffragists should burn and destroy property. This Mr. Lansiiury, like- a good many _ Labour-Socialists . in other oountries' than Britain, is a notor-iety-seeker above all things. Dr. Johnson, discussing a certain notorious ruffian in tho literary world, said pretty shrewdly that tho fellow throve by being noticed. "Sir," ho said, " would throw himself again and again into a pig-stye if by doing so ho could obtain attention." And the learnod Doctor advised that so soon as people ccascd to noticc the posturing fellow there would be an end of his performances. Normally, tho right way to treat" Mr. LANsyuity would bo to disregard him—ho would soou shrink into obscurity, and earn an honest living. But if lie can be brought to book, ho will make an excellent subject for- gaol. He is most unlikely to endure a hunger-strike. Not being a woman, he will not bo coddled and then 'released. But if, by any chance, he can manage to make himself a martyr by committing suicide by starvation, the British people will have no sympathy with him or the principles lie represents. With each day that passes—every day bringing new Suffragist outragestile usefulness of an apparent "martyrdom" to the cause of violcnco will declinc to nothing. The time has loug gone by when, in this matter of Suffragist violence, the public can suddenly swing round from anger to sympathy and approval. According to 1 a cablegram published in yesterday's Dominion, the Powers think Hint it is expedient for Turkey to retain Constantinople, the Dardanelles, the Sea of Jlur-

mora coast, and a sufficient hinterland. This, of course, means the wiping out of Turkey as a European Power of any importance, apart from the fact that she still has a lodgment in Europe to which she could at any time bring over her Asiatic troops; but there will bo widespread regret that the exigencies of international diplomacy have prevented the total expulsion of the Turk from European soil. The wonderful success of the Balkan Allies in the early stages of tho war raised confident hopes that the "Turkish night," which settled on that corner of Europe when Mahomet II captured Constantinople in 1-153, was about to come to an end. It now seems that the time has not yet come. At Chorlu tho triumphant march of the victorious Bulgarians was stayed on November last. It was at this point, in tho opinion of the military "experts, that the victors made their one great mistake. In a recently-pub-lished book, Mil. John Macdonai.d tells us that at Chorlu the Turlcß became demoralised and ran panic--1 stricken to Chatalja. If the Bulgarians had followed without delay and kept their enemies "on tho run" they might have captured tho Chatalja fortifications, and marched right on to Constantinople. The historic city would have fallen, and the Turks would have had to go back to Asia whence they came. "Your place is not in Europe; it is in Anatolia, at Iconium," the German soldier, Marshal Von der Goltz, bluntly told them on one occasion. The victorious onrush of tho Bulgarians was checked, not by Turkish guns and bayonets, but by cholera, and Constantinople was saved. However gratifying it might havo beon to have seen the Turk swept clean' out of Europe, it must be admitted that the capture of Constantinople would have raised a very difficult and dangerous international problem as to its future control, and it is doubtful whether even the termination of five" hundred years of Turkish misrule would be sufficient compensation for the horrors and possibilities of great European way. It will be surprising if, upon tho strength of Me. Martin's opinion, some legal steps are not taken against the local authorities who have placed the "motor hurdles" on the Hutt Road. The effect of these "hurdles" is that by 'threatening them with damage, they constrain motor-cars (which havo legal rights to use the highway) to proceed at a pace far below the limit which is their legal right. We may call attention to the curious resemblanco between these "motor hurdles" and the old man-traps arid spring-guns which Sydney Smith, voicing the decent opinion of his time, and anticipating the awakening of common sense that came later, so often attacked in the. Edinburgh Review of his day. Motorists must ho made to obey all the existing laws and regulations, but there is a right way as well as a wrong way of securing that obedience. If the authorities cannot by proper and legal means secure the enforcement of tho .law, either the law . must go unregarded or it must be altered. To place these "motor hurdles" in the way .of traffic is not different in kind from tho placing of bomb£ on the road by. day or tho fixing of ropes across the road by night. A motor-car is entitled to have a safe road so long as it is proceeding at a legal pace, and these "Hurdles" make the legal limit dangerous.. They are as criido and violent as the old man-traps and spring guns on private parks bordered by public roads.