NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 41, 12 November 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

, It was to bo expected that tho French ; would take occasion to pay a tribute to the. lwdv of the unknown British soldier i.ti its transport from Prance to "Westminster Abbey, and through it to tho deiul of the British forces which shared tho perils of four years' war shouldor-to-shoulder with the Fronch Army. The imagination of the French is always keenly alive, to the significance of such ceremonies, and in these moments the beautiful and chivalrous spirit of our AUv shows at its clearest. "We have fought with France, squabbled with her and been friends with her by turns ever since Britain was Britain and Franco was France. But even in its worst moments each race has retained its respect for the sterling qualities of the 1 other. "When we have fought it has been a clean fight, with sin enemy active and determined, but gallant and chivalrous. In the happier days of peace we i do rub each other, the wrong way on occasions, as witness the prcsont gruni- , bliuirs on both sides of the Channel, but if France is impetuous and John Bull obstinate, both have a large enough endowment of commonsenso to find a- way round most of the brick walls they encounter. And when we British feel our obstinate backs stiffening we' may perhaps unbend a little as we see in our mind's eve tho solitary figure of Marshal Foch standing at the salute as the body of our unknown soldier is borne away . norosß the water on its journey home. • • i • That neglected institution the Domin- , ion Museum again came under the .notice of Parliament yesterday. The scant , attention it received was not on its own merits, but in consequence of the fact that tho Government is bestowing ,£25,000 on a, proiect for a new museum in Auckland. It is cold comfort to be told by Mr. Anderson that the Auckland grant is.not to be regarded as a precedent for subsidising museum schemes elsewhere. The Government, as we have previously pointed out, is definitely pledged by statuto to build-a Dominion Museum in Wellington. There is no statutory obligation to erect a new museum at Auckland, and we have never heard that Auckland has anything like the same mass of irreplaceable scientific material on hand that ia now housed and stored under danirerouslv unsafe conditions in the ancient and inflammable building in Museum .'Street; Mr. Anderson holds out vague hopes of doing something for the Dominion Museum at some indefinite date in the future. The promoters of the Auckland scheme have a definite ,£25,000 set down bv the Government; but it remains to be" seen whether they will even, then be disposed of. Their plan, we believe, includes .£50.000 from the State, of which sunnthe present .£25,000 is in their eyes merely Iho first instalment. The Government by its legislation explicitly took over tho Dominion' Museum as a national concern, and if that collection has not gone, up in smoke before it is housed in -tho- fire-proof building projected years ago. it will be more by good fortune tha.n bv any concern by the State for its safety. » • • * The excellence of the publications of New Zealand's Statistical Office can only be fully appreciated by those, for instance, who have sought for statistical information concerning tho United' King. dom in similar compact and handy form. Tho Dominion Statistician has comp back from his tour abroad with plans for still further improving the matter issued by' his office. In Parliament yesterday a plea wastmnde for the strengthening of tho staff and the extension of its work. In normal time's this would be a work that would have the support of all .who appreciate the value of full and exact informatics.! concerning our national affairs. At the moment it is a question of cuttine one's coat according to one's cloth. "We hope at any rate that the Cfovernment will be able to give a sympathetic eye to auything that Mr. Fraser regards as urgently desirable. " * * * The sensation-niongering newspapers is an affliction from which tho British public has,suffered for a long time, but wo doilbt if that section of the Press has before sunk to such ignoble depths" as over the Greenwood murder case. The circumstances of the case are certainly unusual. A middle-aged solicitor in a small "Welsh town almost immediately on the death of his wife marries a young woman with whom, it is suggested, he has previously been philandering; suspicion is aroused, the wife's body is exhumed a. year after death, traces of arsenic are discovered, purchases of arsenic by the lnißband by a roundabout method are disclosed, Rnd a trial on a charge of murder follows. Now we have the indecent spectacle of an educated and presumably responsible man stepping from the dock on suchi a charge, and proceeding to auction an interview and the story of his life to a set of newspaper representatives'. The incident is tlio most disgraceful we have heard of in the history of sensational journalism in Britain. ;Last week we had th'o appearance of. Mrs. Asquith's amazing disclosures by a firm of money-makipg publishers. A little while back a British Judge, severely rebuked a leading film' firm for requesting special facilities for observing Judge and prisoner on tho passing of a death sentence, with a view, to exhibiting a mock representation of tho man's agony for the purpose of gain. These things all point to a weakening of the normal Teticence of sane- and healthy people as one feature of the postwar malaise in Britain. It takes a lot to contaminato 47 millions, but what tho greed of some people can do will be dons. • • » » If the strange "pestering campaign" of tho Commonwealth Civil Servants annoys the members of Parliament it must ; gladden tho heart of the Treasurer and . Postmaster-General. Letters and telegrams, wo arv; told, are to be dispatched by the thousand to members, demanding a. 'basic wage, The politicians will doubtless'bo put to some inconvenience to dis-c-over the mail matter that .interests them among the voluminous basketfuls that do not, but If any serious annoyance is to bo caused a Parliament of 108 members it will only be by a largo expenditure on 6l«mps and telegrams. Jn the eml no doubt, the Civil Sctrrnnts* will gel something of what they want, but it is bewildering to find these outbreaks of the Pankhurst-Pethiok suffragette style of tactics in such unexpected places.