The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 1923. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 December 1923, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) SATURDAY, DECEMBER Ist, 1923. THE WEEK.

I III: week-end tilings lis within a I’m lnight of the opening of the big Coast Kxliihitii hi. This day ifortnigiu the West Coast will lie all on the move. Special tiains and motors will bring thousands into the town, and a gala ilay will result. The business people have been asked to decorate or hetlug their premises in honor ol the event, and the sttoots should present a ry

flight appearance. The Exhibit ion buildings ino now piacticidly in the I.anils of the Exhibitors and their v.< rkinett, who arc busy preparing flutin'- niai.y line displays to he made. The filtniglit which remains is sun' to lie •] very busy period. It is good to hear that the act "inundation ijnestion is being grappled with. The setting up ol an accommodation bureau was redly D o obvious thing to do in the ii« •linstances, and this will assist gre.iilv in planing visitors mole satisfactorily. During the last few days the town has worn a busier air, and this will become more noticeable with the passing days. Tbs genet al organisation fur the Exhibition appears to ho working out satisfactorily. which is a tribute to the good foil lit l;i lion work laid by the Executive (luring its many regular weekly meet-

1 hi. reviewers m Mr l.loytl George’s hook, ‘ls ii Peace?” say that his weak-i-e-s as a statesman is never to have understood that, while a few ineon-ixt-encics are easily forgiven, too many oi lliem, and ton rapid, must in the end he fatal to lcsppol and confidence. But i:t accepiiiig his hook as a distinctive mlditijoii to eiirrent litorature, they prefer to part, with him at, his host, as in the address called '‘The Great Peril” where he pleads with fine cits ipiem-c for a new .spirit in international ielutions. Wo—oven the soldiers their. - solves, lie says- have forgotten the fears and honors of the war; but ‘Tear is base,” and “you can only redeem mankind by appealing to its nobler instincts.” There is only too much work for those instincts to do. “Was the Devil numbered amongst the slain in the war?” .Mr Lloyd George asks, and teplies by saying that “in international matters man is still a savage.” Which i- v"iy true. Man is .selfish, suspicions, i| iiui rclsonic, merciless. Afr Lloyd t.leorgo pleads that mankind should aim at a new spirit, “lad us think of each other with charity. When we speak i f foreign nations let us remember not their failings, not their crimes, lull the greater things eaeli has brought to the common stock of happiness and well-being.” This is Die substance of All Lloyd George's sermon. It will doubtless he felt that Afr Lloyd Geotge .should temper his election utterances with that moderation ho recommends to others “Let us think of each oilier with charity,” he urged. Presumably lie had committed another inconsistency by imputing to his political opponents the most degenerative of motives. Hut if Air Lloyd George ha.s not always followed his own precepts, we should not judge him too harshly; for is there any preacher who lias?

Tki: hostility shown by tlie British I-ahour Party towards preference and migration is unexplicoide since nnpm- ] loymcnt. is such a. serious prohh-ni. Great Britain is a small island, with a population which has increased far beyond the means of subsistence supplied by that island, it can feed the surplus only by means of imports, for which it [lays by big exports of manufactures, oi; by other services. The overseas Dominions, on the other hand, have l'-tigc tircas and vast tesourees, am] smaller populations. They have tbereiore room for the surplus population of Groat Britain, provided that the stream of migration is probably directed. That the migration system has abuses is no

| argument. against migration, any mote • ban the abuses oi the capitalist system "Inch have steadily diminished in recent years, are against that system, or the abuses of religion are against Christianity. Everything has abuses. K<>r ('’rent Britain to give preference to the products of other parts of the British Empire in return to the preference to British goods, is, apart, from all highflown fiscal theories, such obviously sound business that it would commend itself to the Labour lenders at Home, if they could get rid of their conservatism and pre-conoeived notions, and think for themselves instead of uttering shallow generalisations. Preference and tariff reform in Great Britain, coupled with a sound migration policy, would not abolish unemployment- in Great Britain. hut it would in the long tun immensely improve the position. But the influence of shibboleths like free trade and capitalism dies hard with the inherently conservative British worker. Capitalism itself would sound sweeter bj the name of social service, which in essence is what it is. Broadly speak-

ing, men accumulate capital in return

lor services. Even the workers arc debauched by the accursed thing! Tho wcrkeis of New Zealand have many millions oi capital in Savings Bunks, or invested in homes and other interests. Would the Labour I’aity abolish their capital along with the rest? It is all v.-iy well to theorise. Stern realities must- he fared and the industrial situation improved, since dislocation ol trade and industry inevitably means distress.

Tint Conservatives seem to have detailed hold Birkenhead specially to reply in the great contest- at Home, and he invaded the Labor leader's constituency to do so. The noble lord made a special set against tie anti-capital platform of Labor. That plank is universal so far as the aims of Labor organisations are concerned, though it is hinted that Labor itself is not unanimous on tlio •point—which is hopeful for the luture of the party. Its prospects of attaining success at the polls are indicated as doubtful by the Lloyd's rates. Liberal prospects are evidently much brighter, no doubt due largely to the glamour cast over the polling tin 1 breezy, pointed speeches of -Mr Lloyd George. The ex-l’rime .Minister has a very ready vocabulary, and his imagery is always plainly understood, his similes being homely and readily grasped. His platform work in the conflict .seems to he outstanding and remarkably well sustained. Ho is still an asset of the Km pi re. Mr Baldwin is holding on gamely but lacks the experience of Mr Lloyd George’s overshadowing experience. He has talked out his subject to some extent, or has not the facility so reclothe it in a fresh garb from every platform. Vet Mr Baldwin might

So-called prohibition in the 1 niicd States is loading that country with much trouble and distress. The effort to enforce the law is rather ton much for the Outliurit ins, which suggests that such an unwelcome law is at once <i failure. Where a law is not respected bv a community there is something internally wrong in the "principle’’ which it is attempted to entoree. I’iohihitoiy or restrictive laws aie invariably ilifli-

i ult to enforce. "\Ve sec it in our ow n coiiutrv in regaid both to betting and all. I hours trading. In regard to both, the law is being broken continually, not with a desire merely to break L.e law or infringe it. hut with the intention to satisfy desiios w hich are believed to lie normal and within their rights as citizens. It is die same feeling which prompts and encourages the opposition to the prohibition law in America and tliis week there is a case ivi-nuled in which it is shown that it is possible even for Britain and America to come to variance. In New Zealand ■ i Magistrate lias passed opinions on the fitilme to adequately enforce the law :>i rejard to betting, which it is well known is very openly broken in all the (ities. The experience again emphasises the obvious fact that it is difficult to make | cojile '"good" by net ol harlot incur.