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On this Page 19
ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE
CATHOLIC FEDERATION.
The annual conference of sthe Catholic
Federation was held in
last week, and the report presented to -
the conference shows, not only a de<
cided increase in membership, but that
the Federation has grown in. power
and influence. It has also ^greatly •
widened its sphere of operations, and
lays out a scheme for eyen greater expansion.
. . . .
A m n ^ l - ^ f of the actmties
jfndertaken by this organisation is the
establishment of an electoral bureau,
„hich was responsible for thoiftands
of Catholic voters be.ng placed on the
rolls who might otherw.se have been
- omitted. This was no small factor m
^e defeat

paig'trers at the last election. Although
the Federation takes an active
part in politics where Catholic interests
are at stake, it is not allied to
any political party, ahd this point was
Strongly stressed by Mr. Vanheems in
his presidential address. He pointed
out that the Federation was the representative
organ of the Catholic body,
and stood aloof from party politics.
He gave an emphatic denial to the
statement that the organisation was
allied to the Labour or any other
party. All shades of political opinion
ate found in the ranks of the Federation,and
the individual members vote
as they please. Theirs is only a solid
vote when there is the necessity of defending
a Catholic principle. Of this
the education question is the most
. familiar example. Catholics hold that
education is incomplete without religion,
and rather than suSer such a
disastrous divorce they have at very
great cost established their own
schools. Any political party that
stands for purely secular "education/'
or for the Protestantising of the State
schools, maintained in part by Catholics,
or for the refusal to recognise the
justice of the claim that Catholic
schools have on the State for the
purely secular instruction they impart,
may reckon on receiving the opposition
of the Catholic vote if the education
question is at issue.
Some measure of justice has been
won by the Federation for Catholic
school children by securing free medical
inspection and instruction in
sloyd work and cookery, and the! right
to compete for certain State scholarships.
It has itself contributed £2155
towards teachers' scholarships.
These are only a few of the activities
by which the Federation has
merited the support of the Catholic
people. Not only is the Federation
looking after Catholic interests, but it
is directing its attention towards improving
the morality of the Commonwealth.
This is evident from the fact
that amongst the activities of the institution
is a movement for the more
effective censorship of picture films.
The A.C.F. has certainly done much
good work, and there is much that it
still has to do. The carrying out of
its programme must depend to a large
extent on the support it receives from
the Catholic body.

MR. WREN DOES THE
PRIME MINISTER'S JOB.
The settlement of the maritime
dispute reflects credit on both parties
to the trouble. The manifestation of a
spirit of compromise, and a desire to
•waive all points of only secondary importance,
resulted in an agreement being
arrived at. Too much credit cannot
be given to pacificators like Senator
Bakhap and Mr. John Wren. These
gentlemen worked hard to end the un-,
fortunate dispute, and to their efforts
the community owes a very solid
meed of recognition. In this connection
it is pathetic to remember that
these gentlemen did work which
should have been performed by the
Prime Minister. His failure to lift a
finger in the direction of bringing
about the end of the deadlock and of
restoring normal conditions to the
suffering industrial community is exquisitely
in keeping with his whole
political record. The duty he is paid
well, to- perform others more public-
Spirited have carried out, at no expense
to the people. To Mr. John
Wren, in particular, is credit due for
the honourable settlement arrived, at.
. This is handsomely acknowledged by
the seamen's president, who knows
more about the. difficulties encountered
and overcome by that pediator
Ig^ilo
-^^id'.^^^^wlipiuv attetnptlnlBNEp
f® lei^ces to the comrounit^-
' • —— 1 .
-^gjplj&'iw ••MS&Nb' .
NO CRIMlJ.
•^-^^jMito-irt ttie Oglyactivitlci of
, jjn Ireland Jiavp re/
tfnj^ advertisjjp

ment by th« resignations of Brigadier-
General Crozier and his' adjutant.
Brigadier-General Crozier was in
charge of the Auxiliary Police Division,
and he had cause to dismiss
twenty-six members of his force for
robbery and violence. The dismissed
cadets proceeded to England, where
"they interviewed a high official, who
condoned the looting, cancelled the
dismissals, and returned the men to
their unit." This "high, official" is
Major-General H. H. Tudor, Chief of
Constabulary. Brigadier-General Crozier,
in his letter of resignation, stated:
"Theft by policemen is unpardonable.
I cannot associate myself with a force
in which such acts are condoned." The
whole facts of the case are most
damning against the action of Tudor.
He was in London during the whole
of the looting and during the examination
of the thieves. The only information
respecting the crime was that
supplied to him by the dismissed men.
Yet after-only hearing the interested
evidence of these criminals he ordered
their reinstatement. In view of recent
developments in Ireland, the low
moral standard of this easy discipline
allowed by Major-General Tudor is
not difficult to understand. Hundreds
of murders by "Black and Tans," soldiers,
and auxiliary police have gone
unpunished, and even been applauded;
why, then, should such a mere peccadillo
as the looting of whisky, money,
and pictures be visited with penalties?
MILITARY LAW
IN IRELAND.
An extraordinary judgment has been
given by the King's Bench in Ireland,
and announced by the Lord Chief
Justice. It is to the effect that all
decisions and sentences promulgated
under martial law by the military
courts are superior to revision by the
civil courts. A very naive explanation
of this decision was made by this
judicial placeman. He said that
"though it was the duty of the court
to protect the lives and liberties of
subjects, it was also its duty not tointerfere
with the officers of the
Crown in the steps they believed to
be necessary to suppress insurrection."
Are the military, then, privileged
to loot, murder, and desolate
the land without any interference, censure,
or punishment by the courts
which have been set up by the civil
and superior authority? Marx, the
Socialist economist, in his massive
"Das Kapital," observed that one of
the most notable features of the English
legal code was that the power of
the military was always subject to the
civil tribunal. But we live in more
enlightened days than those in which
Marx wrote; and a servile bench in
Dublin, acting in the historic tradition
of the Irish judiciary, again seeks to
bend the law to bolster up the rule of
the English Government, whose wellpaid
servants they are. It should
prove interesting reading indeed, this
judgment of the Lord Chief Justice
of Ireland, for those people who hug
to their bosoms the pleasing notion
that the late war completely destroyed
militarism and proves that in
Ireland, at any rate„ the pickelhaiibe
-of the soldier Is superior to the grey
wig of the judge.
THE ENGLISH
GOVERNMENT
"KEEPS IT DARK."
The policy of hush adopted by the
British Government toward matters
in Ireland is significant of the evil
nature-of the deeds which it seeks to
cloak. Only the other day a motion
to adjourn the House of Commons for
the purpose of debating'the resignation
.oi Brigadier-General Crozier was
refused by the Speaker, acting under
the instructions of the Government,
^who &ared the disclosures rlikely- to
rihave beenmade. The press and PariJianieiit
in England are still awaiting
<d»e publication by the Government of
Sir Eihvard Strlcldand upon the policy
of reprisals. Even so hideboundan

Imperialist as l#rd J&uckmastV WA's.
forced to interpret the Government's
refusal in this matter as an admission
that the report contained damning
evidence against the auxiliaries) and
"Galloper" Smith was forced to admit
that "the public were entitled to early
and complete information regarding
Irish affairs." Mr. Bonar Law, speaking
at Leeds last week, was driven to
say that "excesses had certainly been
committed by the police and military
in Ireland." These must be extremely
serious when the Unionist leader is
forced to make this declaration. Right
on top of these admissions we learn
from the English press "that "a very
serious split in the Cabinet is inevitable,
unless the policy of reprisals is
discontinued and the Black and Tans
disbanded." The recent debate in the
House of Lords, during which the infamous
secrecy on Irish affairs was
severely assailed, was remarkable for
the statement made by Viscount Canterbury
concerning "the absence of
detailed official informatioh regarding
Crown reprisals, which were shaking
the allegiance of law-abiding people in
Great Britain." The British Government's
policy of hush is gradually defeating
its own purpose; but the Government
cannot let the light of day
in upon the dark deeds of its forces in
Ireland; ,they" are too infamous for
that.
WHAT IS SURVIVAL VALUE?
It would be interesting to know
why Dean Inge, of London, is ailowed
to air his views on the future of
the white races to the extent of a
third of a column-of expensive cables.
Merely because they are opposed to
the doctrine of a White Australia, apparently.
But they are also opposed
to everything that the Western world
regards as humane and civilised, not
to say Christian. "The result of the
American, European, and Australian
Labour movements," he says, "has
been to produce a type of working
man who has. no survival value, and
but for protection of ' an extremist
form, namely, the prohibition of immigration,
would soon be swept out of
existence." And again: "Nowhere
could the white races compete on
equal terms with coloured labour. Under
a regime of peace, with free trade
and unrestricted immigration, the
coloured races would outlive, outwork,
and eventually exterminate the
whites." And so all barriers should
be broken down in order that the fittest
may survive 1 The fittest for
what, though? These devotees of a
raw pseudo-science never ask or
answer that question. If two men
face a common danger and one runs
away, does his survival prove his fitness
in any human or moral sense?
It is precisely because mere survival
or the ability to live on a handful of
rice proves the lack of any high
standards that the barriers have been
set up. And the Oriental races have
not even shown that their cheap industrialism
is anything more than the
thing of a day. It has hardly .'lasted
for a generation yet, and signs of
physical deterioration have already set.
in among the peoples concerned. "Any
man who exalts it at the expense oi
Jour humaner civilisation is playing the
part of devil's advocate. That is the
role of Dean Inge, who has cultivated
cheap notoriety in London by his
v
homilies.
THE RETURNED
SOLDIERS AND
\
j
IMMIGRATION.
The returned soldiers have aojt yet
teen settled on the land to the Jull extent
of their numbers. At the samfc
time, it is proppsed to bring-to Australia
many ex-sfcrvice men of thfe
English' army. As soon ^s «ur xwp
soldiers have been
farms, we shall be ready for immigrants.
^TJien it jvi!t'i># &
men as agriculturist
m^i^l^I^ ca^ to* Afls-

trjlia hftyft 4ri(tfcd quickly t» the oities
and added to their, over-population.
With immigrants from other parts of
Europe the experience is different:
men of Teutonic blood, particularly
Germans, Danes, Scandinavians, have
done tremendous work in the development
of our country districts. Canada
has already given up the hope of getting
Englishmen to settle on the soil,
and is encouraging big drafts of all
Europeans to take up farm work.
Spain, which has sent out comparatively
few immigrants for the past
couple of generations, is now sending
shipload after shipload to the various
parts-of America. The time is at
hand for the Commonwealth to get
busy and secure the pick of the men of
ruined Europe for our empty lands.
The Federal Cabinet has seemingly
no policy on the matter. Meanwhile,
golden opportunities are slipping by.
THE MOVING PICTURES
CENSORSHIP.
In its early stages the cinema was
regarded as an instrument not merely
of amusement, but of instruction.
Natural science, industrial processes,
scenic beauty,, etc., were approvably
levied upon for the supply of subject
matter for moving pictures. Films
based upon these subjects supplied excellent
instruction to those uninitiated
in such things, and supplemented the
information gained from books with
the added knowledge imparted by accurate
pictorial representation. But
as the "screen" industry became more
powerful financially, and the public
mind became more or less educated to
the erotic and "society" type of picture,
a greater daring crept into the
films being screened, and to-day so
morally bad are some of the subjects
shown that one despairs of even
matching them in the most canarycoloured
of the worst yellow-back
novels. In addition to such pictures,
there are other types just as reprehensible.
Evil-doing, robbery, and even
murder are held up as admirable
things; thus the effect of cinema exhibitions
on juvenile crime is easily accounted
for. Only recently in the
House of Commons the Government
was urged to prohibit films dealing
with murder, suicide, and robbery. The
Secretary of State, however, made the
startling reply that he had no authority
to instruct the Board of Censors,
which was controlled by the trade.
Fortunately, in Australia there is some
sort of Governmental censorship
exercised over moving picture films;
but, as pointed out at the recent conference
of the Catholic Federation, it
is most ineffective. The whole world
at present seems to be living entirely
"on its nerves"; a species of hysteria
appears to be abroad. It is highly desirable,
in such circumstances, that
anything appealing to abnormality
and lack of restraint should be severely
frowned down. The moving pictures
offer' a fine field for action in this
direction, and a more sternly effective
censorship of picture .films should be
instituted in the interests of the
moral welfare of the community, particularly
of the juvenile section of it.
CHURCHILL ON TOUR.
One of the first acts of Mr.
Churchill as Secretary of State for the
Colonies is, apparently, to tour Egypt
and Palestine. It is not likely that he
will get a better welcome in Egypt
than his predecessor, Lord Milner.
Probably it will be even more chilly.
It is well known, that Mr. Churchill is
at the head of that solid phalanx of
Imperialists who have 1 been instrumental
in strangling Lord Milner's
scheme for Egyptian self-government
His temperament does not inake it
probable that he will be inverted, as
Lord Milner was, to the belie! that it -
is impossible to dragoon Egypt into
submission; he will rather regard any
boycotting that he may receive as a .
further prpof jthat ifon fist is: necessary.
Sine* Mr. CSjirchill has been
appointed Secretary of State It '^ttjj.

been announced thai the name of the
office will be altered, in order, the explanation
goes, to meet the wishes of
the Dominions. The suggestion is
absurd. What the Dominions have
sought for is the separation of their
affairs from those of the Crown colonies,
and the privilege bt communicating
directly with the head of the British
Government, The giving of Mr.
Churchill's office some grandiose Imperial
name will satisfy no (one but
Mr. Churchill.
THE PRUSSIAN
TURNIP GHOST.
For some time the militarist writers
in both Great Britain and France have
been harping on the revival of junkerism
in Germany. Prussia, apparently,
was to be in the forefront of this revival.
The Hohenzollerns were to be
, brought back, and the old ideals were
to be restored. We were told that the
Prussian elections would astonish the
world by the proofs they would give
that reaction was triumphant in Germany.
Well, the elections have taken
place, and the prophets of militarism
have been confounded. There has
been no landslide in favour of junkerism;
instead, there has been fairly
solid support for the Government in
office. This consisted of a coalition
between the Majority Socialists, the
Catholic Centre, and the Democratic
• Party, each of which was represented
in the Cabinet. The full returns are
not yet to hand, but it is already apparent
that these parties will have a
majority, even if all the other parties
(from National Liberals to Communists)
unite against them. This is not
likely to happen, of course, and the
Government seems secure enough,
though probably there will be some
readjustment. But if reaction is so
impotent in Prussia, what is its chance
likely to be in the rest of Germany?
It is to be hoped that after this the
creators of turnip-ghosts will hide
their heads and let the world have a
little peace.

THE ADMINISTRATION
OF TERRITORIES.

It is rather hard to understand the
attitude of a section of the press toward
Mr. Staniforth Smith. Apparently
it is hostile toward him because
he kept on good terms with the
people of the Northern Territory while
he was Acting Administrator there. It
is not suggested that he was casual or
lax in administration; he was merely
popular. It has become an accepted
theory that the Territory is inhabited
with a peculiar type of outlaws who
need to be governed with a firm hand.
"Mr. Staniforth Smith is suave, polite,
and ingratiating in manner," says the
"Argus," "but a man of iron is required
to administer law in cur turbulent
Territory." This is only a slight

modification of the gospel of blood
and iron which has been so successful
in dealing with the lower races I Unfortunately,
the Territory is not merely
a colony that we have to rule, but
an integral part of Australia that we
have to settle with those of our own
race. And people will not be encouraged
to go there if their" only reward
for pioneering is the forcing of an
inferior status upon them. Senator
Smith's attitude is quite logical and
honourable. He says that he went to
the Territory with a promise from the
Federal Government that it would
have representation; he withdrew his
application for the position of permanent
Administrator when the Representation
Bill was. wrecked in the
Senate. Yet, whether the Territory is
entitled to representation or not, it is
certainly, entitled to sympathetic consideration
from fbe Ttesl t»f Australia.
What is more, the daSs of impartial
§" ; administrators shWld-ije encouraged
lather than boycotted. JK we are to

central these outlying territories pro*
perly we need more men of the type
of Judge Murray,
*
THE SCALES OF
JUSTICE.
The Allied Conference in London
that is discussing the Sevres Treaty
has amusiug features. While the chief
Allied Powers are deliberating in the
main assembly the Turkish and Greek
delegations are-waiting in the wings,"
each vigorously asserting its capacity
to beat the other in the field. Justice
will apparently be meted out according
to the opinion of the military experts
as to which is right. In each of
the traditional scales there will be a
sword, and it is a question whether the
curved one or the straight one is
heavier. Thus far has Right triumphed
over Might in modern diplomacy I But
even the opinion of the military experts
is influenced by other considerations.
Both Italy and France want
the Sevres Treaty altered. They believe
that it gave Greece undue power
in the Mediterranean, and that Greece
would be only a vassal of British
naval power. ^Accordingly, their experts
are enlarging on the lack of
morale in the Greek forces, and their
incapacity to wage a successful campaign
against the Kemalist army.

Great Britain is sitting on the fence,
for it has no reason to believe that
Greece will be amenable to its influence
now that Venizelos has been deposed,
and for some time belligerents
like Mr. Churchill have been holding
out hopes that Mustapha Kemal
Pasha might be used against Russia.
It is probable that the Sevres Treaty
will be altered radically, and that
Thrace, at least, wilL be restored to
Turkey.

JUGGLING WITH
MANDATES.
The note that President Wilson has
sent to the Council of the League of
Nations, protesting against the present
disposition of mandates, is evidently
based on facts that have not
yet been made public. It is known
that the United States objects strongly
to the British intention of using its
position in Mesopotamia to gain complete
control of the oil there. That
is not the only violation of the spirit
in which the mandates were supposed
to be issued, though. It is certain
that there has been a good deal of
bargaining about mandates going on
beneath the table. Great Britain and
France, for instance, have formally
concluded a convention under which
part of the Syrian mandated territory
has been ceded to Great Britain. And
this ' without any reference to the
League of Nations at all! Unless the
United States takes a firm stand the
whole system of mandates will break

down in farce. We in Australia are
concerned that it should not break
down, for the provision that the
Japanese shall not fortify the ex-German
islands north of the Equator is
at least some security for us. . What
has Mr. Hughes, who was hostile to
the whole mandatory system, to say
now? Is he content that it shall
break down, and that these islands
shall be spotted with guns and fortifications?
As if is, the Japanese
Foreign Office is drawing up a proposal
to-be-submitted to the Allies for
the revision of the League of Nations
Covenant, "in order to harmonise with
the changes which have occurred in
•world conditions since the instrument
was first formulated." This is ominous
The changes which have occurred
in world conditions have not been to
thewdvantage of the weaker countries.
JAPAN'S SPECIAL
POSITION.
The chief alteration to the Covenant
that Japan desires is the insertiQB

•f a clause asserting the special position
of Japan in the Far East, and its
responsibility for mkintaining peace
there. This is a thing to which the
United States could never consent. In
all the negotiations between the two
countries during the last few years
Japan has striven hard for this recognition
of its special position in some
word or phrase, and America has just
as firmly determined that it would
agree to nothing that could be so interp'reted."
~ The" insertion ~ of" such a
dause in the Covenant would, of
course, make that document ridiculous.
Every country has a special position
ip regard to some other country. In
reality Japan has been exercising special
rights over Eastern Asia during
the last few years, but it would like to
have them legalised. This might remove
a possible cause of war between
Japan and the United States, but it
would mean the end of China and
Eastern Siberia. And at the best it
would be merely postponing trouble.
The great military and industrial empire
which Japan would build out of
the ruin of the other Asiatic countries
would be bound to come into conflict
with Western civilisation before long.
It is doubtful, though, whether even
England, anxious as it is to placate
Japan, would agree to this recognition.

MILNER AND EGYPT.
There seems to be no doubt that
the Milner proposals about Egypt are
to be shelved. Even at the time thev
were outlined there was room for
scepticism about the good faith of the
Government in regard to them,
though it is probable that Lord Milner
himself was sincere enough. His
mission was boycotted absolutely because
its inquiry was conducted on
the basis of the Protectorate, and he
seems to have become convinced of
the impossibility of an indefinite prolongation
of government by martial
law with a large army of occupation.
In May of last year he invited the
Egyptian delegation from Paris 10
London and began negotiations with
them. A set of proposals was drafted
by Lord Milner, and was provisionally
accepted by the delegation, a
period being- allowed for them to be
taken to Egypt for discussion. These
proposals were regarded as Egypt's
charter of freedom, and all agitation
in the country died down. It was
taken for granted that Lord Milner
was acting for the British Government,
and that the Cabinet was fully
cognisant of the proposals. In that
belief the delegation went back to
Egypt and secured the goodwill of
the Egyptian people for the new
policy and a mandate to act on their
behalf.

ANOTHER GREAT
BETRAYAL.
What happened? The delegation
returned to England it the end of last
year, bringing two slight amendments
to the proposals. One was a request
that the Protectorate should be
abolished in as precise terms as the'
Treaty, which was to take its place,
was created. The other dealt with
minor and secondary points, designed
to guard against encroaching control
by British officials and to assure
Egypt of its complete independence
so far as British interests were not
concerned. In themselves these
amendments were. comparatively unimportant.
Lord Milner took them t»
the Cabinet, and at once there were
rumours of ft Cabinet crisis. The
sinister figure of Winston Churchill
seems to have made its appearance,
with Lord Curzon in the background.
Almost immediately the reactionary
press began an attack, not «p&n,the -
amendments, but upon the original
proposals, which had hitherto "been
generally accepted. Now.^ thbugh
tb&e has been no definite state-

ment on the matter, it is evident
that Lord Milner and his proposals
are to be thrown over and the Protectorate
is to remain. The whole
business is an example of utter bad
faith, and will do Great Britain untold
harm throughout Asia, and indeed all
over the world. What small country
could deal with a Cabinet that appoints
a Minister to negotiate, publishes
bis proposals, and then, when
agitation has died down, cynically
repudiates them?
'

"HAMAR'S WEEKLY."
One of the most striking develop
ments of Government propaganda is a
little paper known in Ireland as
"Hamar's Weekly." The idea of this
paper originated in the- mind of Sir
Hamar Greenwood, and its purpose is
alleged to be the heartening of the
Black and Tans. It is paid for out of
public funds, and is issued free to the
police stations. The policy of this
paper, is to reprint every incitement to
reprisals that the editor can find in
other papers. Recently there have
been some flagrant cases of outrages
by the Black and Tans following precisely
the suggestions of this paper.
A paragraph from some journal announcing
that a member of Parliament
is to propose that there shall be
no discussion of reprisals in the
House of Commons is headed, "Free
Hand till Murder Gang is Crushed."
What could be expected of men to
whom this sort of literature is served
out officially? It would inevitably
give them the impression that their
worst excesses were approved of officially,
and it is difficult to discover
any other purpose in the paper. A
similar journal was published in Russia
some years ago to stimulate the
reactionary ruffians of tha Black
Hand.

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