FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 181, 21 October 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By "THE LOOK-OUT/VAN

STRAIGHT HITTING

The Rev. G. R. Bullock-Webster, who, like Dorothy, Lorelei's friend in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” has “slipped a new page into England’s history,” has been taken to task by Dean Inge, who this time is rightly wrapped in gloom (thus living up to a sobriquet which does not always fit him). “Until you apologise for your scandalous and disgraceful brawling,” the Dean writes, “I shall refuse to have anything to do with you ■whatever.” To which “straight left” Mr. Bullock-Webster counters with a “round-arm swing” demanding that the Dean apologise for outraging the feelings of devout Church people by permitting the Bishop of Birmingham to occupy the pulpit of St. Paul’s. The controversy thus started by two militant clerics promises to grow to an intensity that can best be described as mediaeval. In the meantime, churchgoers and others are watching at the ringside with the keenest interest. A JUDGE'S FAREWELL Mr. Justice Stringer’s valedictory remarks to the Auckland Bar were memorable. “We all pray for mercy and that same prayer should teach us to render it to others,” he said, adding that heredity, environment, lack of proper supervision, excessive indulgence in liquor and other, causes had to be taken into consideration in passing sentence on offenders against the law. We have, indeed, progressed far from those days of desperate justice which permitted a hanging for theft of a sheep and transportation for offences which to-day are regarded as trivial. We progress further along the humane lines suggested by Mr. Justice Stringer. The vicious criminal must be segregated from his fellow men, and misplaced sympathy would be utter folly in many cases that are dealt with by the Supreme Court, but there are instances where men who have it in them to become useful and respectable citizens deserve the leniency and consideration of the court, and so long as the New Zealand judiciary contains men of the wide understanding and sympathy of Mr. Justice Stringer we may count upon the correct blending of justice and mercy. NOT A PEACEMAKER The latest amendment to the Industrial Conciliation aud Arbitration Act raises the old question as to whether compulsory judicial settlement of disputes ends conflict. It has not done so in New Zealand. The Act was placed on the Statutes in 1894, as an experiment well worth the trying. For the first ten years industrial peace appeared to have been achieved. During that time the going was good; wages moved upward and the cost of living was reasonable. Later on things became less satisfactory, and “little wars in industry” became the rule rather thau the exception. Be tween 1906 and 1910, for example, there were only 22 strikes and 3 lockouts. Since then, however, there have been 666 strikes and four lock-outs. It will not be surprising if the latest experimental patchwork legislation raises the aggregate of disputes.

THEY HAVE GONE Remissions of rent have been made by the Lands Department to men who took over lands abandoned by returned soldiers. No remissions were made to the discharged soldiers —that is why they “walked off” the land that a paternal Government bought at many times its value from Its “sisters and its cousins and its aunts.” Mr. Savage (mildest of men and in constant argument with his name) made mild protest in Parliament this week. He regretted that there could now be no remission of rent to returned soldiers who had bought (i.e., been persuaded to buy) at too high a price. “Because they have gone,” said Mr. Savage. Yes, of course they have gone. The war has gone—and (let us be truthful) who the devil cares about the soldier? You ask the soldier! When the next war comes the soldier will be in great demand (like the “tinhare” shares, he will boom) and the grand old warriors at the Veterans’ Home will stand at the salute in the hallway, reading the placard: When war is going- and danger nigh, God and the soldier is all the cry. When war is over and all things righted, God is forgotten—the soldier slighted!