NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 295, 7 September 1920, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

New Zealanders will wish well to the effort to develop Palestine under Jewish auspices and by the emigration, thither of the oppressed Jews of other lands. The ideals of the Zionist movemont were ably stated by Mr. Israel Colinn at the Town Hall on Sunday evening. At the same time it is necessary to .remember that while the Jews have maintained a very distinct existence as a race and a sect, their record as a nation was historically brief and is now shrouded in the mists of a remoto antiquity. If Palestine is to be doveloped it will be through agriculture, and though the Jews are as a whole a more than usually . gifted race and excel in many directions, it is in almost every field except the art of husbandry that they have shone. They are at present a small minority in the land of their. origin, if indeed Palestine can be described as such, and the immigration of large numbers of Jows into Palestine may be expected to be vastly unpopular with tho majority of the, inhabitants of that country. With tact and forbearance tho difficulties in the way of the realisation of the Zionist ideal may be overcome. On one 6ide— the flnanoial 6ide—those difficulties should be small if the Jewish communities are generally, in support of the movement, ,

Mr. Massey's exposition of tho difficulties in tho way of providing a contributory superannuation fund for members of Parliament should give the coup do grace to this proposal. The idea has not much to recommend it. If the term in Parliament to qualify for superannuation is made very long only a handful of the members will benefit. If it is made short tho thine becomes farcical, and wo shall end by having every, man who has ever sat on a road board considering himself a 6 having epecial claims on tho State in his old-age. The alternative in most members' minds seems to be a salary of i£.)sfl. with another .£SO paid into a superannuation fund, or iloflO straight out. A payment of JJSOO is much to bo preferred, provided it is with the distinct understanding that members.' are expected to make their own arrangements for their declining years, nnd an end is made of granting compassionate allowances on account of Parliamentary services. With .£SOO a year and six months of the year free tho members who suffer financially through service in Parliament are not numerous, and in these cases it i» obvious that the income in non-Parliamentary years must bo of n sizo amply sufficient to provide for old age. x * * * Mr. Bernard Shaw has enlisted .• his' brilliant, but perverse, genius in support of tho contention that if Alderman M'Swinoy is not released his blood will bo upon tho head of the British Government. Mr. M'Swiney's self-starvation, Mr. Shaw tells us, is practically a form of determination to die rather than to submit to punishment. This may be so, but if tho punishment was justly deserved is it to be revoked beeauso tho person punished threatens to commit suicide? Mr. M'Swinoy was tried by court-martial—no other form of trial is possible in the South of Ireland—and found jruiltv of seditious speech, of having been illegally in possession of a 6ecret police cypher, and of having in his poswe-

sion documents likely to cause disaffection. On being found guilty he eaidi "I am the Lord Mayor and Chief Magistrate, and I declare this court illegal tind those participating in it liable to arrest under the Irish Republican laws." Tho speoious argument is now put forward that because he threatens suicide Jfr. M'Swiney should bo imnnino from punishment for his treasonous words and deeds. It would bo a deplorable thing should Mr. M'Swiney commit suicide, but either Britain is to enforce law and order in Ireland or she is not. If the doors of tho gnol are to bo opened to this prisoner the only consistent course :'b for Britain to withdraw altogether from Ireland. * * * * . Tho issue in tho M'Swiney case is a vital one, and makes it worth while to recall the plain and cogent words on the Irish question addressed by Mr. Lloyd George to a Labour doputation on Juno 20 last: "If it is a question of sotting up an independent Irish Republic in this small group of islands," said the British Premier, "that is a thing wo I could only accept if we were beaten to the ground. Wo take exactly tho samo viow of the position that President Lincoln took of the attempt of the Southern States to claim secession. Thero woroj men in this country who thought ho ought to have, recognised the Southern States. Lincoln, one of tho greatest democratic figures who ever lived in the world, took a different view. History lias justified Lincoln. I have mot Southerners whoso fathers fought and Euffered for what they regarded as liberty who now admit that Lincoln was right. . . . Lincoln faced a million casualties and a five-years* war rather than acknowledge tho ' independence of tho Southern States. Wo should do the same thing." Mr. Lloyd George added that he would bo glad 'to discuss the Irish question with any section of the Irish people, whatever their proposals. They said to Ireland. "Wo frankly invite you to a partnership, a partnership where we recognise your nationality— ' not a partnership where wo trample on your nationality, but a partnership where we recognise it." Tho essential preliminary to a settlement of tho Irish question is that the Irish shall recognise that noither by violence, intimidatiou, nor outrage, nor by hunger-striking, nor any other means will they compel the sacrifice of the security of the Empire. Short of that the British people are propared to givo them as much freodom as they can desire.

It becomes increasingly clear that one does not go to Bolshevism for tender dealiug. This morning we are told that four thousand Russians repatriated from Italy were ordered forthwith on landing in Russia to join tho Bolshevikarmies in Poland, and that thoso who protested at not being allowed to seo their families after five years' absence were summarily shot. This hears out Mr. Tom Shaw, M.P., when he informed the British Labour Party conferonco' in June that whon Lenin and company advise hanging the Schiedcmann6, Ramsay Mac Donalds, Sam Gompcrs, and 'Arthur Hendersons thoy mean exactly what they' say.