SIR R. STOUT'S TOUR.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1922, Page 4

SIR R. STOUT'S TOUR.

—- * ' THE INDUSTRIAL OUTLOOK

■SYDNEY, December 29.

'Passengers for Wellington by tho Alaj-ama <.to-m|orrow a're Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice of New Zealand and Lady Stout, who reached Sydney from England yesterday by the Wilt-

shire. * ( Sir Hubert Stout, took the opportunity, while in England to represent New Zealand at the historic gathering! at Oxford of representative figures! in university life in the Empire, andj also took part in proceedings of thej Judicial Committee of the Privy Conn-! til. The general impression of the •atmosphere, so to speak, in which these distinguished jurists deal with all the ramifications of the law of many lands is quite wrong one, it seems. One of the deepest impressions which it left on Sir Robert was its democratic simplicity, alike in procedure arid in its setting.

“The Judicial Committee,” ‘he re*- j marked to .ail .interviewer yesterday, “as the final Court for the Dominions, and for certain .cases in'England also, is certainly the most democratic Court in the world.as far as appearances are concerned. Picture four or five men without any robes and in their ordinaiv clothe:-:, sitting round a table in what is simply a 'big library room. There are no policemen or officers in uniform and a complete absence generally of any of that ostentation or' display which might in the mind’s eye bo associated with this great body. There are two messengers to bring in any necessary hooks, 'but that is all. Its ! simplicity of surroundings is in fit j krcj ing with its procedure, which is I the simplest in the world. In the

Court in which ’! sit were Lord Halda»e, Lord PltiUimorc, Lord ’Parmoor, .1 i Carson r nil myself. Viscount ( ivc and others were also busy in ether Courts, two of which were sitting at once on Indian cases. In all ton members oi the committee were sitting at the same time—five in each room° 'When I left there were Still 3d cases on the’list, including some -Australian cases.” THE UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM.

.Sir Robert was questioned in regard to the industrial outlook in England, and he emphasised the seriousness of the unemployed problem there. The general feeling, as ’’far as he could 'icarn, was that the-people intended to do their best to improve the position. ■The people seemed to be hopeful, but Sir Robert added, they needed to work hard anil to be careful in ndt wasting 'their means. The effect of the great coill strike, for illustration, was still perceptible and would be felt for som«j time to come. It meant, he added 'tllati the products of the mines had ‘been: reduced more than one half. While, iii|

Short, 'Britain’s production of coal has been going down, the .production in thei United States bad been going rapidly up. He thought that to export the coal from the British mines was simply to destroy British capital that could not he replaced. England, added Sir Robert, had no water power, except by the utilisation! of the tides in the south-west, and there was also the point stressed by the Coal Commission, which sat 12 or 13 years ago, and which 'pointed out that the whole of the English coal that could be mined for industrial use' would cease in 400 or 500 years, and that Scotland’s coal would end in about 150 years. Scotland, no doubt, had more water power than England, and could use electricity. Ireland, too, had a considerable water power. England should conserve her coal. To sell it outside of England to her industrial competitors was not, lie thought, good policy. l Recalling the effects of the coal strike, and referring to the stoppage of all kinds of industry on account of the non-production of the coal, he said the upheaval even prevented fishing trawlers from going to -the herring fisheries in the north. EXPENSIVE . HABITS. “The people,” he added, “got into expensive habits during the war, when of course, everything was high. And you cannot expect industrial life to be promoted if that is the feeling. They

will have to make much sacrifice if

England is to get back to normal. The world wasted millions, billions of money. How is it to be replaced? We cannot get on without capital, the state of Russia ought to be a warning to us. Compared with my previous visit, however, in 1909, I saw very great improvements in all the towns I visited. They were cleaner and better kept, the death-rate has fallen very considerably and more attention is being paid to gardens and parks and the beautifying of towns. What impressed me generally was the greater regard for the aesthetics.”

As an -observer of events at Home, Sir Robert Stout was questioned regarding the lris-1; position. “The British people,” he said frankly, “ate always forgiving; they are always anxious for conciliation. That is tile British attitude. But it has been said that the Irish people were lucky that they -had to deal with the British nation, and that if they had had to deal with Germany or other nations in Europe they would have found it a different matter. 1 have no doubt that Air Collins and his colleagues are ear-

uestly anxious that a spirit of peace and of brotherhood should prevail, but my own personal opinion is that it will probably be some time before we see that spirit manifest in Ireland. The pity is that there could not have been some arrangement in regaid to

Ilome Rule in (Gladstone’s time. At

the same time, we have no right to say that Ulster should be forced out of the Union,. Ireland will no doubt be hard hit materially as a result of the unhappy events there, for hundreds of thousands of tourists and holidaymakers who would otherwise have visited Ireland have not included it in their tours.”

ticm. That ■ is,proved by what I said I here at the inauguration of the federation of Australia. I said it would not Ibe long before-you had an attack on] j State rights. A lot of people now j want the State Parliaments i abolished.” : At the University Conference at Ox- ,! ford, -Sir Robert Stout was chairman I(A ; the committee which dealt with .finance. 'The conference, lie said, must rhave good results, for it enabled nni- : varsity teachers from all -parts of the l .Empire to meet-and to discuss many ! matters -and '.problems of common ini' terest. . . ! -sir (Robert Stout was disinclined to j ’discuss'the future of the British Laba . ollr Party on the ground that he had \ -not'been in England long enough or ; often enough to make a close study of it He had, however, been impressed 1 'bv some Of the Labour men in the s' i - House of 1 Commons-—hU r Glynes, Mr e Henderson, and several -others.