CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 92, 27 July 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

IvEIR HARDIE AND ROYALTY. Keir Hardie, t'he English Labor member of Parliament, has been nurtured on notoriety. It is the breath of life to ihim. He is Jess a radical for the good of the people than for the limelight that may be shed on Keir Hardie. He is a man with a mania—a person who assumes that the sowing of discontent among people who are unable to discriminate between black and white will iblossom into reform. That he has no I real influence except among a section is ! comforting, for if his utterances on India, for instance, had been accepted as truths, he might have easily been the cause of death, destruction, and revolt. Men of calmer judgment undid the harm Keir Hardie did. Keir Hardie is a member of Parliament. Necessarily he swore allegiance to the King, and his warrant for the position he holds is that he is a servant of the King. To some of the, people of a nation that has shown the j most genuine sorrow at the death of the earth's greatest and most influential monarch he propounds the heretical doctrine that the nation is sick of kings, and hates to pay the money that is necessary for the upkeep of Royalty. Presuming that the value of the Sovereign is sentimental and not actual, it is impossible to prove that Britain would thrive in greater proportion under republicanism or anarchy. The exaltation by the people of any man, whether he be ejected or assumes his position by accident of birth, is a very real influence with the British folk. The people may not reverence the man so much as 'his supreme position. The State is personified in the King, not because he is Edward VII. or George V.—not even because he is "by the Grace of God, etc."— I hut because supposed power and authority must be vested in some person, 'and the reigning monarch of Britain is the fountain-head of power, authority, discipline, and international diplomacy. A king is not so much a man to the people as an idea. If, as in the case of King Edward, the man is unusually rich in the gift of diplomacy, the whole world benefits. The actions of a king are a

reflex of the action of his nation. Keir Hardie as President of Britain would have had the French Army clamoring at the doors of Dover. Keir Hardie as President of America would have the country in arms in a. year. Keir Hardie as chief citizen of France would have her wrongs righted with blood. The clainorings of ,small men for more limelight is one of the most pitiable features of the politics of all countries. T'riere is no republican party in the House of Commons, and Keir Hardie tilts at a windmill when lie quixotically incites Britainl to depose her monarch. Keir Hardie doi# not stir public opinion to the extent'Hi making followers who are inllnenti»|] enough to form a party potent cnouali to niter the constitution of the Empire or to dominate the doings of Britain. The monarchy of Britain is not founded on the sands of anarchical sectionalism, but upon the rock of the people's ideals and affections. Keir Hardie and his followers crv out to ears that do not hear, asking for the sympathy of those who scoff. We do not know what King George in person may do for the British people, but we do understand what the Crown is to those people. It is the emblem of justice, of freedom, and of power. Only under the British flag would Keir Hardie ■ be permitted to attack the Crown which| delegates a small duty to a rebel member of Parliament.

MORMONISM. The cablegrams mention that the Prussian Minister of the Interior has expelled twenty Mormon missionaries from his territory; and, a.s New Zealand is interested in Mormonism, it is just as well to call public attention to the fact that Mormon influence flourishes in New Zealand. Although the world was assured a few years ago that polygamy—plurality of wives—was not now one of the essential features of the social life of Salt Lake City, there is the best reason for believing that Mormons abroad still work as recruiting agents for the harems of Mormon settlers in America. Polygamy is a highly interesting subject, because polygamous marriages are natural and common to the peoples of nations other than those which are called "civilised." In our own time in New Zealand, Maori chiefs have indulged! in a plurality of wives, and it is notable that many of the converts to Mormonism are natives. In some parts of New Zealand, and notably in the North, there are small communities of Mormons. The missionaries who founded these commmunities are not permanent residents. Their influence is used by way of endeavoring to persuade the converts to give up their abode in this country and to cast in their lot with the "Latter Day Saints" in America, it is unnecessary to enter into the ethics' of polygamy,' further than to mention that monogamy has been deemed the most desirable form of matrimony by the majority of nations, and that polvgamv is illegal. It is obvious that Prussia looks upon the spreading of the gospel of Mormonism as an evil, and has taken the necessary steps to root it out. The unaggressive but certain work of the Mormons in New Zealand proceeds, and there are numerous cases of emigration from this country to the communities of Mormons- in America. Perhaps a close enquiry into the influence of the "Saints" up -North, would oe useful to show what effect the teachings of the American missionaries have had on their pakelia ana Maori converts. ' j