PASSING NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 24, 27 August 1920, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

By "Jacques."

One can get an occasional smile even out of such prosaic subjects as window tickets. A little while ago "Jacques" saw affixed to a pair of boots the legend : "Was 32/6, now only 37/6," and marvelled at the honesty of the dealer. At the present moment a removal notice at a Tay street business place announces the proprietor's virtuous resolve to "continue to give better service than in the past." Reads lfke something between a mea culpa and a New Year resolution. Another little gem is to be seen in a Dee street fancy goods window : "LaxoTonic Pills, to clear, 9d." ' !To clear!" This reaches a high level of advertising utility; concisely stating purpose as well as price. The church, as represented in the Lambeth Conference, is aAiin beating the air with its reiteration of the appeal for church re-union. It is a consummation devoutly to be wished, no doubt, but hardly to be achieved in the face of multitudinous present obstacles. Chief among these, perhaps, are the personal -ambitions of churchmen, and the right of private judgment. With regard to the former we all remember the late William Booth's cynical reply to the advocates of the "One Great Christian Churcli" : "Yes, it has a tempting look — but who is to be the general?" As for the latter — well, that itself was the first great cause of the present ■ bewildering multiplicity and variety of sects and doctrines, and until we are prepared to subvert the right of private interpretation, and i;eduee all men, by the simple process of intellectual bond. age, to one dead uriiformity of thought and belief, the road to church re-union will be most certainly impassable.

Through the thick darkness of horror that has fallen upon Ireland -one fact stands out in brilliant relief to command the admiration of all clear-minded men — the inflexible courage shown by the jadges (whatever their nationality) of the British courts in Ireland. Trials have been abandoned, or venues changed, through the assassination or abduction of law officers, the destruction of courthouses, the intimidation of witnesses, and jurymen and other means, but never yet through the weakness of a judge. Not one has ever yet swerved one hair's breadth from the clear line of duty. Not only have they always been at their post, but they have not hesitated to denounce the lawlessness and ruffianism which aimed to defeat justice by violence, though they must have knovm that in doing so they were inviting a bullet to their brains. The profession — which we are so prone to de-. ride — from which these men have sprung, may well be proud of its heroes.