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Hokitika Guardian, 17 July 1928, Page 3

THE OUTLAWRY OF WAR. “ The proposal for the renunciation of war,” asserts the “ Manchester Guardian,” “is not really the acceptance of a contractual obligation so much as the declaration of a. principle which the parties to it undertake honourably to observe. Since it contains no provisions of enforcement, and sinco each nation will be the judge of its own honour in interpreting it faithfully, there is nothing to be gained by embodying in the text a minute examination of the extent to which it will be, in practice, applied under all possible circumstances which may conceivably arise in the future. To do so would, on the contrary, weaken the force of the principle without in any degree strengthening the right of each nation to decide for itself, when the occasion arose, how it should honourably adjust the ‘ inalienable’ rights of self-defence—both its own and those of other Estates to whom it may be found by treaty—with the new obligation to renounce war as an instrument of national policy.”

AFTER COUNTING THE COST. “ The British reply to" the American peace proposals is at once cordial and reflective. Great Britain—with the approval of. the Dominions of the British Empire—has now accepted it, not in the sense of simply falling into line, hut with the definite purpose of contributing ‘ to the utmost of her power ’ to the realisation of the idea within the framework of the existing political systems of the world. The aim of the British Note is clearly to advance the movement, to offer the effective cooperation that the United States has invited. The serious and reflective character of the Note adds indeed very greatly to the force of the declaration of cordial acceptance. It is after reviewing all their commitments, after, so to speak, carefully counting tlio costs, that the Government declare that ‘they will gladly co-operate in the conclusion of such a pact as is proposed and are ready to engage with the interested Governments in the negotiations which are-necessary lor the. purpose.’ ” —“ The r l imes ” (Londonp

A NATIONAL MORAL CRISIS. “ The crisis which confronts th<s American people as the presidential candidates are chosen is a inoisil crisis. Corruption is a moral issue, and corruption will bo the first issue in the coming campaign. This .is the immorality which divests political life of candour, dignity, and honour, and reduces it to the level oi n mere crafty game. It makes the politicians more eager to protect the party against a scandal than to protect the nation against being looted. It regards the people as unworthy of confidence, ami makes public office a prize to be grasped by those slick professional gamesters who have succeeded in deluding the largest number of dupes. It is this immorality which really threatens our American institutions at the foundation, and with which our public opinion must deal if the Teapot Dome experience is to have lasting value m building up the strength of the republic. The moral rehabilitation of American politics is our problem. And the moral rehabilitation of American politics requires leadership.”—“Christian Century.”

WHY NOT SPIRITUAL CHURCH UNION? “ It can scarcely lie questioned that one thing that keeps genuinely religious people outside our churches is our unhappy divisions. Not that we are divided into sections which differ in their methods of observing Christian ordinances or in Church government. but that there is aloofness, competition, exclusiveness and hostility between the sections. It is not so muc i Church union that is desirable. There is evidence enough to hand that wo can have that without, any real unity. It is rather mutual consideration, goodwill and real co-operation among the various sections, a realisation among the different denominations that we avo members one of another, am a members of the great Church of Christ one flock in many folds. No Church teems willing to give up anything considerable, such, for example, as the Church of Scotland has been willing to do for the sake of union with the United Free Church, and as Mr Sheppard pleads with his own Church to do for the sake of securing the one great Church, with many departments, winch would be likely to impress and to win the world to the Christian faith. Charles Brown, in the London Daily Telegraph.”

A CASE OF VIGILANCE “In spite of the darkness which surrounds chronic rheumatism, thcro is some brief general counsel n h may be given to all persons suflemy, from any degree or form of chronic rheumatism. First they should promptly seek discovery and remoral or i sources of infection m their •ies, which arc acting as K^ci.rt.L, centres of n.uto-infcct, on-such as m faction of the tonsils, teeth, nasal sinuses and intestinal tract. eveTthe sources of such infection may b „ it is absolutely of paramount importance that it should be dca’t rut promptly and thoroughly. - ° should be spared to cheek it at its Zy earliest stage. has been wed said that it is ‘perfectly futile o waste valuable time by palliative treatment, with anti-rheumatic i other drugs, local applications to the joints, and so forth, till the focus M infection has been cradicaed . George Newman.

LOOK TO YOUR houses. “There was once an actor, who, m the character of a poor old charwoman, used to sing ‘Oh. drat these rheumatics as come from damp attics and torture and torment a poor body so.' To-day the doctors have a, theory that rheumatism is caused by a germ, but it is still the damp attic which gives the painful malady a chance to flourish. Children of the rich we are told, are remarkably free 'iom the disease; its two chief productive factors are poverty and damp houses. It ‘comes from damp attics,’ and 1 will come increasingly, we fear, from the hastily and badly built houses of the post-war period. Yet bow little we do, in projecting schemes of wholesale rehousing, to ensure that the mass-production cottage does not carry with it a deadly handicap o leaking roof and sweating wall, or to ensure that what we save on -he builder we shall not have to pay out in doctors’ fees and unemployment relief. y —. London “Star.”

A STATESMANLIKE NOTE. “Now and again in the affairs of men there comes a moment when courage is safer than prudence, when some groat act of faith, touching the hearts and stirring the emotions of men achieves the miracle that no acts of statesmanship can compass. Such a moment may be passing before our eyes now as we meet here. I pray to God with all my heart and soul that to each of us to whom responsibility is brought here may be given vision to see faith to act, and courage to persevere.”—Sir Austen Chamberlain.