“SYMBOL OF IMBECILITY.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3470, 9 March 1912, Page 3

“SYMBOL OF IMBECILITY.”

ATTACK ON THE THRONE. KEIR HARDIE UAI'DS GAEKAYAR. Air. Kier Hardin has excelled himself in an attack on the King and a eulogy of the Ga-ekwar of Bari.da, whose perfunctory courtesy at the Delhi Durbar created’ such great dissatisfaction. In a recent, issue of the “Pioneei” — a weekly' socialist newspaper published in his constituency, Merthyr Tydvd— Air. Keif Hurdle refers ns follov.fi t-v the G-aekwar’s conduct': Apparently some, probably most, m ill's fellow-rulers had been taught to grovel low before the To rone, as becomes all who go near such -a symbol of imbecility, but he, with his American tradition behind him. kept erect, and then—horror of all horrors when leaving the dais he actually turned his hack upon the King. Remembering always that a man’s eyes are in front, and that he is not a. crab, skilled in the art of walking backwards, it is difficult to see what else the man could do. The figure which st<od fur sonic; tiling reel!., and the one that the historian will depict as being alone sufficient, was not that of the King-Em-peror going through bis little part like a. well-jointed automaton, nor the belaced and begirded uniformed men by whom lie was «so pien-tii'ully surrounded, and still less the bejewelled and bedizened semi-rulers who bent low before him, but the calm and sedate, well-built man in the white robe of a bearer, who moved aboutwith native dignity, doing all that wa.s required of him as a gentleman but remembering always that his country is in the dust with the heel of the foreigner on her r.eck. and refusing the foot of the oppressor. That, a repeat, was the only significant event of the Durbar, and its significance will become even more significant as time unfolds the tragic scroll of the future. The following are some of Mr Iveir Hardie’s other attacks on Royalty:—

For the past 30 years every conceivable effort has been put forth, by tlie ruling class to make the fetich of Royalty into a kind of deity in the minds of the people. Last- Friday the House of Commons agreed that £20,000 a year should he spent in looking after the drains of the Royal palaces! They voted' £50,000 more for putting the house of Queen Alexandra in order. Fifty thousand pounds for one woman’s house, but difficulty in getting £SOOO to look after the fives of colliers. I regard the existence of a lying as a proof of luuacv among the people. I hope it is not true that the King is intervening >in what is called the crisis (the veto crisis). I had occasion to remark before that when coronets go into the melting pot the Crown had better beware. I want to strike the House of Lords, and strike it hard. At this stage we do not trouble ourselves about the King; as long as he keeps quiet and does not harm he can go on drawing his salary.

A committe has been formed with the Bishop of Southwark as chairman, to consider and', if posibsle, carry out the sugegstion that the warehouses and other buildings which now bloc kteh view of Southwark Cathedral, and have caused it to be called “the hidden Cathedral,” should be removed to make way for an embankment and public garden. The creation of new Peerages and Baronetcies announced in th e )\ew Year’s Honors List is not without effect on the national Exchequer, though t-lie object of granting titles is not nowadays the raising of revenue, as in the reign of James’ 1., who created the rank of baronet for the purpose of increasing his revenue. The letters patent granted for the dignity of a baron cost £l5O and for that of baronet £IOO. payable to- the Board of Inland Revenue. But there are other expenses to be incurred, and, the total expenses, of a baron are not far short of £4OO, and these of a baronet exceed £2OO, The office of the Criminal Identification Bureau at Ottawa has records, ' finger-prints and photographs of no fewer than 5500 murderers and thieves. According to the Canadian Labor Department, the loss in; working days through strikes during the month of November in Canada numbered 140,000. The picture of Saint Job by Girolamo del Pacchai, the famous 10th-cen-tury master, has- been stolen from the Church of St. Sebastian at Siena-, near Florence.