NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 285, 26 August 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

In all the controversy as to the best ■name to be given to the Imperial Conference quite tho happiest suggestion we have seen comes from Sir Sidney Low. In a letter to the London "Times,” he points out, as we have all felt, that tho gathering of the Empire’s Prime Ministers is something more than a Conference and something other than a Cabinet. Neither term quite meets the case. The most appropriate and dignified substitute, to Sir Sidney Low’s mind, would be Congress. The word properly means no more than a gathering or Assembly, but it has long been used to signify a meeting, for the purposes of discussion and' decision, of the representatives of sovereign States and Governments, engaged upon political or diplomatic business. The Council of Prime Ministers is in fact an Empire Congress, and it is doubtful whether a better name could be found for it. As the words "Empire” and "Imperial" are in growing disfavour, Sir Sidney Low suggests the term Britannic Congress. As for the tendency to describe the Empire as the British Commonwealth of Nations, ho finds it defective in that it *does not cover the whole Realm, but only the Dominions. Why not, he asks, "the Britannic League of Nations and Territories,” which would become colloquially known as the Britannic League, and possibly in time as Britannia? If changing conditions demand new names,, these suggestions will commend themselves to most people, we think, as the most attractive so far put forward. / , •• ' . a » ' •\ It is questionable whether-.|he Govern? ment is acting wisely in ph'tting into operation at present the , - compulsory clauses of the Returned Soldiers’ Loan Act of last year. In principle it'is right that all should be railed upon to bear their due burden of the loan. In practice it will be an extremely difficult' matter indeed for many people io find* the necessary money to-day. Of the <£6,006,000. to be raised under the Act, n million and a half has still to be fqund.f No doubt tho Government needs mytioy badly enough, but tho question is what will be the effect of calling up' the money under the present financial conditions, and. on which side will -the greater balance of hardship lie. In some instances the moratorium will havo already caused embarrassment to those liable to, contribute to the loan. Prompt"payment by some would bo possible were the moratorium at an end, and. difficult, if not impossible, during its continuance. That is a circumstance that must be taken into consideration. s * * »

With the tragic loss of the R3B, airship travel looks not quite the • diately practicable commercial undertaking that it seems when paper plans are iwider discussion. Earlier in the year the 1(34- was wrecked in a gale at the Howden aerodrome, and the two disasters mean the.loss of the best part of a million of money, to say nothing of the valuable lives sacrificed in the present cose. The R 34, however, before she camo to her end, achieved the longest air journey on record by her-' double crossing of the Atlantic last year, when she covered a total distance of 6006 miles. The disaster to the R3B would appear to have originated in a structuraldefect in her framework so far as can be gathered from the messages. Her hull structure was on the standard lines used in the German Zeppelins and tho preceding British z it was claimed that a considerable saving in weight had been effected by improvement in details. Whether-', that- saving was carried too far and was responsible for her collapse only the experts can say. Although her gas capacity was only- a third greater thap that of the R 34, and her engine plant mqjh heavier, her din* posable lift for passengers and goods was double. Despite her much greater siao she weighed half a ton less than the R 34. This in itself makes it blear- that sho must have been far more, lightly built. The heroic action of Lieutenant Wann, in making a last desperate, and successful, effort to carry the doomed airship clear of the city was in keeping with tlie best traditions of the Royal Air Epice, arid alone averted, an infinitely greater disaster. Had he thought for himself it would presumably have been quite jxissible for him to have left by parachute, as some of the other survivors did.

Some weeks ago tho Associated Chambers of Commerce in Japan passed a resolution urging! that an agreement be concluded with other Powers on the subject of disarmament in order that international peace might bo guaranteed and more energy devoted to industrial development. Mr. D. J Evans, an English journalist in touch with 'the Japanese Press, observed at the time that this resolution gave definite form to views which had been expressed by progressive Japanese newspapers tor some weeks previously. Ono of these papers, tho "Osaka Mainiehi,” pointed out that such efforts towards economy as were being made in preparing tho neut military and naval estimates were the direct result of popular agitation against increasing expenditure on these heads, und insisted that it was the duty of business men to discuss at every opportunity a question which had such a vital bearing upon the progress and prosperity of the nation as disarmament. Other Japanese'newspapers of liberal views \have been expressing themselves in a similar strain, and urging their Government to take active steps towards promoting an Anglo-American-Japanese compact to limit armaments. Mr. Evans, who speaks ap-« patently with an extensive knowledge of current conditions in Japan, declares that, in spite of .many difficulties, the' movement in that country in favour of working with- other nations towards the ideal of world peace is growing, although little news of these activities in the Press and on the platform reaches British countries.