NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 30, 29 October 1921, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Japan, far from being the most militaristic power, is likely to lead in the race for naval disarmament—so states the London “Daily Express.” Less than three weeks ago this same "Daily Express” was telling about the "first rush of. the Oriental onset” falling on Australia but for the Anglo-Japanese Treaty, and declared that the surge of growing population and military ambition urged the Japanese to earmark the Pacific as their own. Unless the Washington Conference could avert the danger war was probable about 1923. This morning, on the other hand, we a.te told that Japan will "stagger the world” with a disarmament proposal, and may even suspend her building programme without asking Britain or America to do so. These messages convey two completely different impressions io the reader’s mind. In one we have the Pacific trembling on the verge of the abyss, and in the other the lion is roaring as gently as a sucking dove. It is possible that these sudden changes may be taking place in Japanese policy: it is more probable that this is just the "Daily Express’s” way of "gingering” the news. If it is to be war it must be a much more blood-curdling war than the "Daily Mail” can produce. If it is to be peace the “Express's” readers must be made to feel that they are getting the millennium in return for their

twopence. If Japan is.willing to diearm on condition that the United States gives her a free hand to do as she likes in China, it may be confidently predicted that Japan will not disarm, as the United States will agree to no such - condition, and the Japanese know very well that she will not.

The Prisons Report records thirteen escapes from prison last year, as compared with eleven, in the previous year, but adds in a spirit of cheerful optimism that "under the free open-air system" a percentage of the prisoners so treated will fail to respond to the trust reposed in them. As such privileges are not extended to dangerous criminals, the report further observes, "'escapes’ do not constitute in any way a menace to public safety.” This soothing syrup is all very well, but not so very long ago (at a later date than the period to which the report relates) a dangerous criminal lunatic escaped from Sunnyside Mental Hospital, and an earlier escape was made from Mount Eden Gaol, reputedly the strongest prison in the Dominion. It is to be hoped that the kindly spirit in which the Prisons Department is prepared to regard its own shortcomings in keeping track of. its wards will not prevent it from recognising that there is room for tightening the arrangements, h-ade for the safe custody of criminals whose enlargement very decidedly would be "a menace, to public safety.” The "free open-air system" is all right within dua limits, but it can be overdone.

A plainly worded warning that bubonic plague may be allowed to enter this country unless the local authorities here and in other Dominion ports take necessary precautions was given by the Minister ..of’’Public Health in the House of Representatives yesterday. Stating .that the Health Department was keeping a close watch on the situation and enforcing precautions, Mr. Parr added that if the cities and ports did not exterminate rats, it would be extremely difficult to keep the plague out of this country. ■ A responsibility is thus cast on local bodies which they ought not on any account to neglect. Plague has already developed on a somewhat serious scale in Queensland, and it is at present quite uncertain how far its ravages may extend, or how far the, risk of the disease being transmitted to 'other countries may be intensified. In these circumstances, and with the months at hand ian which plague is most likely to be imported, it is manifestly, incumbent on the City Council and other local authorities to act vigorously in terms of the Minister’s The occasion emphatically calls lor action, and) not for quibbling disputes with the Health Department or the Government over the division of authority.

Under that sacred and inviolable instrument of government, the United States Constitution, tbo American negro has had the right to vote mnee 1866. His trouble is that he ( is not allowed to exercise this right. President Harding in his speech at Birmingham, Alabama, has been telling the. negroes that he thinks'the black man ought to be allowed to vote when he is fit to vote: the common practice in the Southern States being not to let the black man vote, at all. Mr. Harding’s sentiments, we are told, were received in stony silence by the whites. Their displeasure, however, will not lose him any votes that count, as Alabama votes solidly for the Democrats as against the Republicans. The American negro is in an anomalous position. and the militant negroes are steadily stirring up feelings of resentment amongst tlie vast body of their race against their treatment by the whites. When the negro whs conscripted to fight against the Germans he chuckled and said to his neighbour in the ranks, "Brother, we’s going to make the world safe for democracy,” which ho - seemed to regard as the greatest of jokes. The whites In the South, had two points of view about the negro in the Army; one was that he ought not to bo taken at all, as he was not worthy of dying -for. his country. The other was that it was a good thing to send the negro to France, as a good number would he killed, and it would be a blessing to be rid of them. The negroes made excellent soldiers, but their conduct in the field did not improve feeling towards them in America. The demand of the negro to-day is for the equal parallel and distinct development with the white man of which Mr. Harding speaks, but it is a alow growth, and the problems created by the coloured man’s presence remain as difficult as ever, and are not being reduced by the increasing percentage of educated negroes and mulattoos.

An incident which occurred in the House of Representatives yesterday cast an illuminating light on the attitude of the extreme Labour Party where loyalty is concerned. The attention of the Minister of Education (Mr. Parr) was directed to the fact that at a Wellington suburban school on Nelson Day some children, evidently instructed by their parents, refused to salute the flag. The Minister said he was considering what action should be taken in this case, and mentioned that in connection with a similar incident in Otago, the Education Department had ruled that a school committee would bp acting within its powers in refusing admittance to a school to children who refused to salute the flag. This statement and Mr. Parr’s, further observations that he saw no reason to play with this question, and that so Ipng as the British flag flew in this country it had to be respected, were received in all quarters of the House save one with Expressions of hearty approval. Mr. Holland and some of his colleagues, however, laughed loudly as Mr. Parr concluded his remarks. A minute or two earlier the leader of the extremist group had interrupted the Minister with the observation: "You can get out of it by deporting tho children.” It was, of course, more perfectly clear that no question of a spontaneous refusal by children to join in a simple ceremony of loyalty was involved. The question raised is whether parents are to be allowed to inculcate disloyalty ' in the minds of their children, and instruct them to refuse to join in a ceremony which is simply an elementary recognition of I lie basis on which British democratic freedom rests. Air. Holland s interjection was paltry and ineffective attempt to dodge this plain issue. The Minister of Education is to be congratulated upon his firm refusal to tolerate disloyalty in the schools, and an overwhelming body of public opinion will as certainly approve his attitude as it will unsparingly condemn that of Labour extremists who find in the expression of wholesome sentiment of loyalty reason for mockery and sneering, laughter.