WANTED TWENTY ROPES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 284, 15 June 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

WANTED TWENTY ROPES.

By HORATIO BOTTOM LEV, Editor of John Bui!

fpHivRE are a score of men to-day who should lie hiding their heads in shame. They assumed high office and tcok iargo .salaries, not to govern the nation 111 fair weather only, but also in the hour or trial if ever it- came upon us. ]t tamo with ail the suddenness find surprise of "a bolt from the blue. It to unci the People ready, the Go.crnment unprepared; and from that (.ark hour in Augu.st, 11)14, unt.'l almost, the present moment it is the People who have been teady—the governed who hive wait I'd only to l:e told what to do to win through' to victory—it is those who govern who have paltered with our imperial destiny, have l>etrayed tneij- trust and jeopardised the Enip re. If the men who to-day are sneaking in the shades of Opposition had their deserts, twenty hempen ropes would dangle from as many lamp-posts, and would dangle with these men at their ends. Let there bo no mistake about this : Deep down in the hearts of the Brit sh people there .surges a great ocean of anger and resentment In thcu.-ands upon thousands of homes in tlic-e green island? of ours the head of sorrow is bowed low because the men in whom tho nation put its trust proved, false to their duties, traitors to the nation's cause.

THE CALL 10 THE NATION. Sacrifices, po'gnant and awful, have been made wit.li quiet resignation—in tho true spirit ol patriotic renunciation of all held most dear —where it is known that the less has been inevitable, tho precious 1 fe given for a great cause under fair conditions. But thousands of good men, tho hoj.e .woman's hearts, 1)10 ilowvr of ibis great nation oi ours, havo gone to an avoidable end, have pa.'d tho bitter price of wasted lifo exacted for Incompetence and Indecision. To-day we are called upon to make fresh Ft rrenders, new sacrifices. But at the worst they are only sacrifices of creature comforts, surrenders of ingrained habits. Some of us w ill he bett:r for the changed conditio s better bodily because we had grown s; ft and indulgent in the long year.-, of pea.ee; better morally because not a da ywill pass without our being made conscious cf something given up to help in tho winning of the war—some deprivation made necessary to hasten the hour of victory. As I'have said a hundred times, t/icro is 110 call—llo fair, legitimate call —which :ain he made upon the People to which a ready and a cheerful response will not lie given. The troublb in the past has been that the weak-kneed wobblers, the maudlin sentimentalists who trii.nl to malic war with roso water and to crush the enemy with words, feared to deal frankly with the public. E-cntial actions were either delayed or attempted with timorous hands, because the politician, measured a nation's spirit in the terms of tho polling booth. 'PUBLIC INDIGNATION. "Too late —that has been the grim motto inscribed over the doors of Downing Street: " \\ a t and See" the criminal chorus which was sung by the Old Gang unt'l its melody meant murder—and every mother's son called to the Colours had risks a hundred-fold added to his chance of Death before the enemy bsc.uiso men who loved to dally, and feared to do, usurped high office and degraded positions of grace responsibility.

There is fin mine; resentment in many a hc;>rt to-day; and tlio fires of resentment -will never die down until tlio criminal crnv who trifled with an Empire's fate and fiddled with incompcten finders while Europe burned are brought to trial for their offence, and made to pay the inil penalty for their misdeeds against the Commonwealth, their rank crime-! against the State. What do we find:' Sudden measures, lieeo-sarily conceived in haste, are now brought- forward by the Prime Alin'ster in order to counteract the gross sins of omission and commission of the old Government. Wo are asked to agree to plans b'-rapxl together in six weeks which should have been, and could have been, perfected ;ind put into operation over two years ago. I declare, with a full sense of responsibility, that to-day wo should have won the war and now have been concerning ourselves with tlio happy task of reconstructing our Empire for a. long era of pew, if the .Ministerial gang which betrayed their Imperial responsibilities had been live, red-blooded Englishmen, instead of cold, anaemic, jwmchair theorists or se!f-?eeki 11 g lawyers.

j LAMP-POSTS FOR THE LAWYERS. Wanted: twenty ropes—yes, the hempen strands which hang :is high as Hainan —to dangle Ik: fore tlio public g:«o the pitiable attenipss of the miserable lawyers to make .war always with 0110 eye on the main chance ior themselves, and the other peering for the posibilUy of "something turning up." Jf we had lost the war, I need nr.t predict what their fate would have bojn. The-e creatures have so long imposed upon the nation's patriotism and patience that down to the very last, when they were kicked l'roin office, tboy believed they were still regarded r.s "Indispensable." To-day, instead of ! c ng men bent with shame and remorse, they dare t< -onsider themselves as ill-used: they have the impudence to hanker lor office again, and in their ciiniinal de-ire to put their hands once more into the pi biie Treasury there are those among them who would not stop at embarrassing the new Government. .Jusl realise thisthere is not a simile •.((';) taken by Mr. I.loyd George and hi-i (ol'eagues in the last month winch could not have been taken two, ye>, nearly ihne years a.go. At the very commen-cement of t!ie war I saw t!ie danger, and urged Minister., to put every avaiable a-re of land under c ultivation. Hut tliey knew better —the food nrebleni was a myth! We "ruled th ■ ,eas" nn lin tli r blatant : r,ogane • they were blind to the ohrimu danger-! of the submarine and to the risk of German embers I reaking through the cordon of our I' bet and playing the <ne! an 'costly >me ef cemmerco-raid-iu• in tl At lantie. Then there ca 111 - the growing public demand lYr the | re?erv;t on i;i our f-:odsupplv by in re,: iin' h"ine crops. S: me of i:- who had lei .' -d th" i: alter ui en t- ! e pi blie 11 t c • vvi'e <lenoiinced is panic-mongers. and w! en the i ril ii-i-in , of tlieG vernnieiit made umomfortrble they did two tine's: one, the i:-,ea! tiling. they i'liJioMlted a Committee: the other. a ne-.v de\i e. bev forged a ueapm under I lie l)e!e||.-e if I lie Realm Art, all 111- j famous teol with v. hr 'i to Mod/eon the . I're; i into s'h ■: •■, They out at the j head of I: I sira : i" >. nd w-rrd organic j a l 'tin, ti:r> !'r■ !:■ reau. a lawyer who ' tr l d jo gag the Pn'-v into .-.deuce or : alti > n::l"!y i t coerce it into praise of all the muddlcis of Powmi'.-i S.'reet. ami lie'ere he «:hii ur> bis d'-k in Whitehall he fri'd to k'll irii i.Mii and

LAMP=POSTS FOR THE LAWYERS-A WICKED LEGACY.

All honour to the present Prune .Minister for having used the British Pres.* to bent down tiie ignorance or the indifference—bytli are crimes in war —of those in authority who .would not look tho f.'icts in the face, ivnd slumbered while for want of shells our men went to the great sleep wlii' h knows no waking. It was Mr. Lloyd George who was made to realise the danger of our .shell suortugo; it was .dr. Llovd George who summoned tho Proxs to his aid—a certain meeting with a certain necr of tho Press will prove to be one of tiie mosii significant and clianiatic incidents of this awful drama of war; and it wus because of tho agitation in tho newspapers that a groat peril was overcome a danger so big and pregnant with defeat that I shudder now as I think of t, was averted. Ynu remember that Committee which inquired into our food supply. It reported in 1915, and it recommended giving a guaranteed prico to the farmer. ,'K) that if no spent h's capital in nutting more of lis land under wheat he would bo insured against less. Mr. A-iquith's Government contemptuously rc-jixted the proposal-to-day, moro than 18 months after, that guarantee is given by tiie present Government, but given at a time when, '» not too late, it is dangerously near it if we are to havo the. advantage at the next harvest. Think of it; realise the enormity of the offence of a Government which, in tho second month of tho war —in September, 1911—had the ignorance and the impudence to declaro t.iat they "would not l>e justified in holding out a financial inducement to 1 armors t-o increase their acreage of cere"ls." If the men who muddled and misgoverned had shown patriotic com-mon-sense in 1914, had laid aside their partisan prejudices, and forgotten their ••economic" fads—had realised, in a word, that we were at war—the subniariiiD peril, the danger which faces us in the .snortago of ships for bringing us food from overseas, would by this t'mo have passed. Instead of drastic measuroi; for tho feeding of our own people, tho Government would have been free to devoto themselvs to getting the enemy by the throat arid the stomach.

A WICKED LEGACY. To what extent Jlr. Lloyd George was a party to these dangerous and delaying methods I <llll not prepared to sav. At any rate, we know ho has "found salvation ; and, whatever his share of t-ho guilt, lie is aton'ng by the courage and energy with which 110 is attacking tiio prolJems left a> a wicked legacy by his late colleagues. But do not let the Prime Minister attempt to make any excuses for thu-e dark, b:>d days. Whether or not lie remonstrated at the mdiffcrenco to the food danger, we know he fought hard ana avoji in the matter of shells. Let him realise that every speech ho makes, every step he take.-i, is a cirushirg indictment of those with whom he once sat in Council. He has turned "King's evidence"; his speeches are speeches jor tiie prosecution of the Old Gang. And let- me say something more, m all sincerity and candour. Do not iet the Government—which has_ properly renounced the old Hide-t..e-Truth policy and is now making revelation, honestly and frankly, of the dangers and difficulties winch lieset our path \vhile taking strong and immediate measures to deal with them —lose all w.'iise of your liead.s. ' That is my advice to the Cabinet. J here is not the smallest ground for panic, i sav, and I repeat that the Hun is beaten and broken. Jf v.o just maintain our nerve aihomo and show the .same splendid courage and enuuranee as i|i,e men at trie Front, there is nothing to fear. Jt is only natural that this sudden d'splay of candour after ne.irl- three years of de<eit and humbug should have a disturb:ng effect on the public mind. But let us ;:.l 1 remember that there is nothing new in the situation —the submarine rnt'ii'i'.-o is a thing of many months. U hat is i:ew is that tin* People are told the truth. And it is the truth we want* however momentarily disturbing I it may bo. \\ hat-ever is demanded of us -wo shall give. We have just bcien asked to lend our money, and'the answer has, to the (Government, proved electrical. As to men —well, remember avo have to work and maintain our financ'ai position as well as find men for the lighting lines. Don't let us have .my inoro muddle 011 that score. AuJ when 1 read of a suggestion to 1 conscript up to I'fty years of age I I begin to wonder who arc the panicky ; folk. How long it will l>e before til" i

fi.oiny rs broken 111 tin 1 tick] depend-; upon n,'iit;irv considerations wliuse full signilioaneo ran ho levcakd only in flic stvrocy of the Cabinet. There is tiio strategy of nif Groat I'u-li; there "rot!: • tact'cs oi attrition—each to ho ,lu ig<d relative to the cost in men, tlio jir'co in casualties. A hundred comider.itie.ns will ''ounition the t 1 mo ;ina inaiin r i 1 our \ ictory I hero is no ground ior d pre-sion: tho sky to -oine ' : you may t. r a niom'ont appear fi<»: iy. lii.l there is tlio Sun of Victory w •'i'>ll i.i luii'il through. lie ct good cheer ' It ill -ii hi ho over !

to strangle the voire of public opinion. \\ lmt did lio claim as his :-lnef function as Pres.-; (.en-or.' It was to make it im-po-siblo tor the newspaper to turn out the Government if noodles and nincom(XJop.s. If tJiis smug official had had ii's ™ay playing with Tino and making a joke of tho blockade; cotton would be carried under tho pugnacious nose of our glorious Navy to make explosive-, for the enemy. But for the Press—which tho Government did its l>est to muzzle—wo should have lost the war for tho want of h'gh explosive shell j and at the moment when Germany once more tried t'> .la.it her way via \erdun to the >j>lendid British Army would have shed tears of bleed because it«s guns would havo been silent. A BIT OF SECRET HISTORY.