The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) SATURDAY, JUNE 16th, 1923. THE WEEK. Parliament opened its second session

Hokitika Guardian, 16 June 1923, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) SATURDAY, JUNE 16th, 1923. THE WEEK. Parliament opened its second session

vernor’s Speech was delivered. It was of greater length than usual, and made promise of quite a long airaj of intended legislation. The. pregramme put. forward is a very elaboiate one in view of the peculiar condition of the several parties, and much depends on what action is taken by the Opposition. With the slender hold the Government have on office it- is impossible to carry any policy measures to which there Is any serious objection, aad thus a deadlock can easily be reached. In view of the announcement of the intention of the Prime. Minister to attend the Imperial Conference it will be necessary to push on speedily with the legislative programme. The course of progress will be mads much clearer during the coming week when the debate on the Address-in-Re-ply to the Governor’s Speech will take place, and the attitude of the parties are definitely announced ns will probably be the case

The Near East situation does not appear to have cleared much of late, and the news of the revolutionary change made in Bulgaria will have its effect cu the situation in that stormy corner of the world. There still is a considerable amount of mystery attached to the revolutionary change made in the government. A general election took place only a- few months ago, when all or most of the facts of the existing Near Eastern situation were in fairly plain sight. In the outcome M. Stamhculiski, the Premier now deposed, scored a success that was described as overwhelming. Room thus appears for a suspicion that tho power of the new Government may rest upon

a somewhat uncertain basis. From the Allied standpoint, the change evidently is not for the better. M. Stnnibouliski undoubtedly was working for lasting peace. He had recently negotiated an agreement with Ike Allies under which the amount duo from Bulgaria in reparations was reduced and payment spread over a very long term of years. The new Government has announced that all peace treaties will be respected, and that Bulgaria’s obligations arising £ml of the war will be. carried out. Should they meditate any aggressive, action, however, their immediate power for harm must he somewhat limited. Wucn -Bulgaria submitted to the Allies, her armaments and military equipment were drastically cut down. The greater danger no doubt is that the Zancoff coup, should it he maintained, may open a new chapter in Balkan intrigue.

A Notaiu.k visitor to Christchurch during the week was Sir Alfred Pickfovd British Overseas Commissioner of the Boy Scout movement, and at a. public meeting held in the Cathedral city, a welcome was extended to the visitor, who in the course of his reply said it was his desire to give the public an idea, of what the movement stood for and to ask for their support on several lines. The movement- wanted public sympathy, it. wauled young men to come forward as scoutmasters or “seouters” as they wort* called, and it also wanted money to assist in carrying on the movement.. He wished to assure his hearers that they "ere not a. gang t f cranks and faddists because they were wearing a. peculiar looking unitorm, hut they were genuinely engaged in work for the good of the community as a whole. The movement rested on the Scout promise and the Scout law. Each Hoy .Scout made a certain promise, and he believed all would agree that in view of the insidious propaganda emanating from a country a good distance away, there was a necessity for inculcating in the hoys a spirit of duty to their country. There was only one way of dealing with positive propaganda, and that was to meet it with an equally positive propaganda of it benevolent and not a malevolent character. All Boys Scouts made a promise to do a good turn l<»r somebody every day. As there wontwo million Boy Scouts in the world air-l each was pledged to do a good turn every day they would see that the movement coniiihuted something to ■ ie total of human happiness.

lIKFKttiUNu to tile Scout law, Sir Alfred said that it did not contain a single negative. It merely set out to show what a Boy Scout- was and uliat be had to do, not what he had not to do. The Scout law said that a Scout must he trustful, loyal to God. king and country, and to his teachers, parents and, what was more important, to those under him; lie must bo a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout, no matter to "hat social class the other may belong; he must be courteous, a friend to animals, obey orders, he smiles and whistles under all difficulties; ho is thrifty and is clean in thought, word and deed. He claimed for that .splendid old hoy, the thief Scout, Sir Hubert Baden Dowell, the hero of Matching, that ho was a genius when lie gave the movement to the world, -because he gave them something new, something natural and something simple weeaiiso it was natural. The movement provided the youngsters with a well-balanced system of education. It eateied for their natural needs. The basis of the Boy Scout movement was that they trusted tot* boy and.the conduct and training of tho hoys in a patrol was the business of the patrol leader and nobody else. Tho scoutmaster did not act as a commanding officer nor as a teacher, but as an eliler brother to assist and help the boys in every way possible. Tho rest- was left to the patrol lender. He outlined tho growth of the movement which had developed not out of an organisation but out of an idea. There were four main avenues of training. Firstly the. goal- was that of good citizenship; secondly, they sought to make the boy handy and useful to himself and other people, and to en..uio him to express himself in the way he liked; thirdly, physical fitness, obtained mainly through games that were played for the side and not for tHo individual; and fourthly, that the character, happiness and p..ysic»l fitness should be used for service for other people. He wislic-d to say in conclusion what, the Scout movement was— It was non-military, it was non-c-lass, non-sectarian, noti-raeial and non-political.

Tiik cables of late have made many references to the United States piohihition law and the regulations made to enforce that law, affecting shipping. The passenger vessels trading between Australia and New Zealand and the United States and Canada which will be affected by the American Government regulation regarding the carriage of liquor are the Maunganui, Tahiti, Niagara, Makura. Sonoma, and Ventura. The latest regulation received by the American Consulate-General on the question rends as follows:—‘‘lf any foreign vessel leaves a foreign port before Juno 10 (Sunday last), having liquor on hoard for beverage purposes, guch liquor shall not be seized under section 19 of the Treasury Regulation. ’ Tho Maunganui, which left W ellingtcn for San Francisco on May 2*2, sailed under orders from the Union Steam Ship Company to land tho main supplies of alcoholic liquors at Papeete. Passengers must- indicate their requirements for the remainder of the voyage, so that the vessel will bo free cf liquor when arrivng at the threemile territorial limit. Coming southward, froni San Francisco to Papeete, there will be r.o liquor on board. At the latter port the vessel will re-sh:p her main supplies, and passengers will be allowed liquor for the remainder of the voyage to Wellington. The same instruction applies to the Tahiti. As regards the Vancouver service, the new regulation has been, applied to the Makura, which left Auckland on Wednesday, and will also affect the Niagara. As these vessels touch. Honolulu, which is United States territory, en route they will not be allowed to carry liquor on leaving that port. They will dump their main supplies, at Fiji, and only carry the passengers’ ascertained requirements to within

throe miles of Honolulu. From that port to Vancouver, the vessels will bo ‘'dry”, but, on the return voyage they will he allowed to carry liquor from Vancouver to the Honolulu territorial limit. There will bo another dry spell from there to Fiji, whore they will re-ship their supplies, and wet canteen conditions will he allowed for the run home to Auckland. The Sonoma and Ventura, trading between Sydney and San Francisco, will he always “dry”, as they are under American articles. Having been assured that some foreign Governments apparently were in doubt concerning the status of merchant vessels belonging to i-e United States Shipping Board, particularly with respect to questions of immunity from arrest, and other special advantages generally accorded to public vessels of a foreign nation, the Secretary of State has addressed each Foreign Office concerning these vessels in the following sense:—“Tile United States will not- claim that ships ounrated by or on behalf of the l nited States Shipping Board, when engaged in commercial pursuits, are entitled to immunity from arrest, or to othci special advantages which are generally accorded to public- vessels of a foreign nation. Such ships when so operated will be permitted to he subject to the laws of foreign countries which apply under otherwise like conditions to pri-vately-owned merchant ships foreign to such countries. The United States will, however, when occasion arises, continue to ask that foreign courts ami tribunals and other Government Departments and agencies recognise the application of section 7 of the Suits in Admiralty Act, approved .March 9, 1920.”