POLITICAL NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1918, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

PATRIOTIC DEMONSTRATIONS. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Nov. 0. In moving the adjournment of the House yesterday in commemoration of the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Austria-Hungary the Prime Minister made quite a nice' little speech along the conventional lines. He must have found it a little disconcerting to have his remarks punctuated by the rat-a-tat of iron -work proceeding in another part of the building close by, painfully reminiscent of some of the weird ;.uk-.'-s that rent the air during the muni- :, ial celebrations of the previous day,

.it in tnese th.im ,ie i">. Diver--ed from the even te;ior of his way unrt he spoke his piece with impressiveness and considerable effect. His main appeal was for tihe study of history and for the preservation of the tradirion of <t)ie British race with n, proper measure fii hero-worship and national pride. THE FUTURE. Sir Joseph Ward, who followed Mr Massey, touched lightly and with a becoming diffidence upon post-war problems. Notfaing, he said, could restore the lost lives and the broken homes, but he believed that out of the war with its great sufferings and great sacrifices would come blessings which would be passed on from generation to generation through all the centuries aSiead. Education would be more rational and more intense, equality of opportunity and equality of sacrifice would be realities ar.d not merely phrases, and a chastened, educated and disciplined democracy would safeguard the best and highest interests of the world. He agreed with Mr. Massey that there still would be differences of opinion, but fiic also agreed with his chief that there would be, as never before, unity of purpose and sane progress towards a common goal.

HOIST WITH THEIR OWN PETARD. Mr Harris, the member for Waitemata, '•'eaugiht the Speaker's eye" as that gentleman was about to put the motion to the House, and having held the floor for the best part of half-an-hour was succeeded by Mr H. E. Holland, who recited for embalmment in "Hansard'' the story of the secret treaties witfe which he has made his Labor friends fairly familiar. Ministers had asked for history and they were to get it. Mr Holland's argument appeared to be that if diplomacy had been frank and open tfhere would have been no war, and that if Britain had refused to meddle with other nations' affairs she would not have been involved in their troubles. It was the speech of the Little Englander who would have had tflie nation save its own skin at the cost of its ■soul, and the House listened in impatient silence.

THE WAR AND POLITICS. There can l>e no doubt that the overwhelming success of the Allies' arms on every front is making the way of the National Government much easier tJhen it appeared to be three or four months ago. Disgruntled members of the House who came up to Wellington to make things unpleasant for Ministers in general and for the Minister of Defence 'm particular may not have abandoned their intention altogether, but meanwhile they are remaining strangely silent. The prompt rejection of Mr HmdmarA's amendment to the Address-in-Reply the other day is significant of the spirit that is abroad. Adversity, of course, would have produced the same result. But then it would have been an appeal to members' patriotism. Now it is au appeal to their national pride and it is irresistible.