PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 September 1927, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

1 FREEDOM AND FRIENDSHIP, la-day* it should he the undisputed formula, of Empire that freedom means friendship. Unity is the need of the hiture as of the past. In the. past unity was expressed in centralisation. As constraint and control have disappeared, equally by’ necessity and byconsent, so free co-operation, mutual appreciation, mutual services and an increasing exchange of men and ideas must take their place. It was not for Canada alone, nor even for the British Empire alone, that Confederation was a memorable event. It became of moment to the thought of the world. It put an end to that indeterminate period in which it was held for certain that colonial Empires ended in disinte- 1 gration. The conclusion drawn from the revolt of the American colonies of Britain, and strengthened by the gradual expulsion of Spanish authority from South America, was nullified in the decade which saw the establishment of the sovereignty of the Crown in India and the grant of what we now term f Dominion status to Canada. Though

I few minds realised it at the time, confederation had sent the “ ripe-fruit ” theory of colonies into the limbo of antiquated ideas and had heralded the modern conception of the British Commonwealth of Nations.—“ The Observer.”

BRITISH LABOUR’S PERIL. The British Labour movement has expressed its disagreement with the Russians in their recent sanguinary outburst, but to save itself it must do more than this. It must take care to organise moderate opinion against the insidious efforts of the disciples of Lenin and Trotsky, who are working unceasingly to win such positions in the various labour bodies as will enable them to use these for overturning the existing state of society. In the process the organisations themselves wili be destroyed, and the .British Labour movement will be dissipated. into nothingness. More than academic disagreement with policy and methods of the extremists is required. A positive organisation of opposing opinion in every manifestation of the British. Labour movement is essential.—The “ Glasgow Herald.”

LABOUR’S WEAKNESS. “ I would observe that in my .judgment the weakness of the British Labour movement—and it is a weakness that may become a positive danger in the event of a Labour Government attaining power—is that wo aro not developing on the industrial side a constructive economic policy in practical relation to our political programme. U the World Economic Conference <»• 1927 is to be the forerunner of a new outlook and policy on tlie part of Th nations, wc must arouse a deeper and

more practical interest amongst our! own puople in economic questions in their effect upon international relations and human well-being; we must strive to create an active public opinion in each country and the world at large, in support of those principles which must form the framework for the new economic policy of nations, without which world peace and progress are not likely to be secured.”— Mr Arthur Pugh, ex-chairman of the British Trade Union Congress, in “Foreign Affairs.”