NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 141, 10 March 1919, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

Estimates providing for an army of three and a half million men for Britain would occasion disquiet to many people outside the British Labour Party if the provision made represented a proposal of a permanent nature. Tlie disquiet expressed by the Labour Party, however, seems quite, unwarranted in the circumstances which exis-t today. When the Army Estimates were brought down Mk: Chukchi i,i, explained that the figures were only provisional owing to the uncertaintics of tho future. It must bo obvious that until the terms of peace are finally settled neither Britain nor her Allies can afford to take any needless risks, and ft would be taking a rv>k to assume that wo can disband our forces until Germany has been brought to accept the Allies' conditions. The work of demobilisation hai already made considerable progress, but even under the most favourable conditions it must extend over many months. The provision made' dees not necessarily mean that an army of three and \ half million men will be maintained even for one year more. Indeed, it may be taken for granted that an army of this size could not now be kept together, even if a militant section desired it, gave under stress of some national emergency. • With the signing of peace it may bo expected that there will be a more rapid transference of men from tho ranks of the military forces to the ranks of industry, and a corresponding dwindling of the Array Estimates. * * * *

The agitation in Canterbury which aims at the speedy completion of the Otira tunnel has common sense as we'll as local to commend it. Until the tunnel is finished and the railway connecting the West_ Coast with Canterbury is running a great deal of money will oe lying idle. Whether the railway will pay its way for a long time to come is extremely doubtful, but it will at least servo a useful purpose and reduce the present loss on the money already sunk in the venture. But what tho Canterbury deputation which waited on the Minister V u u jcation failed to adequately realise is the difficulty at the moment'of securing the extra labour which they urge should bo put on to complete the work. We believe that the Minister of Public Works is unduly pessimistic on the question of the labour likely to be Available for public works, but that there is at present a shortage no one can doubt. The Otira tunnel is an important undertaking to Canterbury and to the West Coast, but there are public works of even greater concern to the country which call urgently for early attention. Some members of the Canterbury deputation urged that sufficient labour would be available for the speedy completion of the Otira tunnel if the Government would only pay high enough wages. No doubt. Money is no object with irresponsibles who put forward this kind of suggestion. Hang the cost—so long as it is the other fellow who pays. * •* * a Self-confidence, within due limits, is a quality to be admired, but the tendency of some American politicians and writers to assume airs of moral grandeur is at times rather overwhelming. Ah example in point appears to-day in the dispatch of an American correspondent who comments on the circumstances _ in which President Wilson is returning to France. His conclusions are, in brief, that European statesmen will no doubt take warning from the fact (alleged) that an "influential group of American statesmen favour the United States resuming a policy of isolation," and see the necessity of adopting American standards of morality and justice in order to make sure of American co-operation. This reads strangely when it is set beside President Wilson's declaration that if the United, States did not join the League it would be the most contemptible of nations, and Mr. Tait , S i that _if America failed to participate in the reconstruction of Europe she would be a slacker among the nations. Presumably few thinking Americans accept the standpoint of the correspondent whose words arc quoted. They are bound to recognise that the nations which in 1914 staked everything upon a bold stand for justice and the rights of small nations, and fought on unflinchingly in years during which the United States was an onlooker, need hardly look to her for a moral leal