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THEPACIFIC CANADIAN%Weekly News Digest and JournalObservation and CommentVol. I.NEW WESTMINSTER, B. C., FRIDAY, April 21, 1916.Number 7A SIGNIFICANT SUBTERFUGE.It was quite evident, as pointed out by this paper atthe time, that the introduction by Mr. Place (Nanaimo) of his woman suffrage bill into the House, to become effective, if passed, on June 1st next, was going to seriously embarrass the Bowser Government and its “solid” thirty-eight in the Legislature—for the reason, as indicated, that the Government’s sudden conversion to a prohibition referendum, and professions of great zeal in that regard, had laid a heavy obligation upon the Administration and its supporters to prove their sincerity as champions of the cause by making their general policy conform to those professions. That the conferring of the franchise upon women now, as proposed in Mr. Place’s bill, giving them a vote in the next general election and on the prohibition referendum, would greatly increase the chance of prohibition carrying, goes without saying.The Bowser Government was, therefore, in a peculiar sense, on trial as to its consistency and sincerity,in the attitude it might take toward this measure. Thus tested, the Government fell down most signally. The bill having reached a stage when the Government was compelled io show its hand, Premier Bowser, on Thursday of last week, asked Mr. Place to withdraw his bill, so that the faithful would not have to go on record, for or against, on division, and announced as the Government policy the great side-stepping act of referring woman suffrage to a referendum, along with prohibition, at the next general election. And straightway all the Government supporters in the House (who are only too glad to get out of their unfortunate predicament on the question), and all the journalistic supporters of the Government throughout the country, acclaim the act as the right thing in the right place, and simulate unspeakable scorn of the Liberal party for opposing the use of theirreferendum policy in this instance.All this furor, of course, is designed as a screen, to enable the Government to get away with its discreditable side-stepping act on this question. The signal is given, and the tom-toms are beaten and the dust thrown into the air while the manouvre is being carried out. But it’s no'go. The shift is too bare-faced and the trick too transparent to fool the most gullible. Every one realizes that the Government has been guilty of a cowardly subterfuge, and has inflicted a double wrong—denying the women their right to the electoral franchiseat this time and prejudicing the cause of prohibition by the position which it has taken on this question. And every one realizes just as clearly that the stand which the Liberals have taken in the House, in support of Mr. Place’s woman suffrage bill and in opposition tofVio riAvoriimAnl nrnipni' fm* rlpfpvrincr it Vtv moanc rtf aPREMATURE PEACE TALK.HERE AND THERE.There has been a good deal of more or less incoherent and premature peace talk in the daily press of late, revolving round recent utterances of the German Chancellor, Von Bethman-Hollweg, Premier Asquith, Lord Cromer, and others, and one over sanguine European correspondent went so far as to draw the inference that we might wake up some fine morning and find the war was over. The ordinary every day observer certainly will fail to see any such indication or possibility, much as he might desire to see an end of hostilities, based upon some sure guarantee that the tremendous sacri^ees of the Allies would not have been made in vain and that the recurrence of such a conflict would be rendered impossible for a very long time to come.The spirit of the British people, and indeed of all the Allies in this war, has been well expressed in the paternal counsel of Polonius to Laertes, in Hamlet: “Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee.” And this, not from motives of mere revenge, but from considerations of the highest foresight and prudence—to insure so far as possible that the belligerent bully who had precipitated the quarrel should be deterred, by the only sort of argument that would appeal to such an one, from entering upon such an enterprise again. That the bully in question has as yet given evidences that he is reduced to that proper frame of mind, where he will submit to the terms that, in the interests of the world and of humanity, must be imposed upon him, is not apparent.Those terms have been clearly laid down and emphatically reiterated by Premier Asquith (speaking in answer to questions in the House of Commons, on February 23rd last), as follows; “What I said November 9. 1914, I repeat now: ‘We shall never sheathe the sword, which we have not lightly drawn, until Belgium—and I will add. Serbia—recover in full meas-urealland more than they have sacrificed; until France is adequately secured against aggression, until the rights of the small nations of Europe are based upon an unassailable foundation, and until the military domination of Prussia is wholly and finally destroyed.’ What is there wanting in clearness and directness in that? I ask Mr. Trevelyan and the German Chancellor, how can I make it fuller and more intelligible? How can I do more to convince him and all our enemies that not until a peace based upon these foundations is within sight of alChinment, and not until then, shall we or any of our allies abate by one jot our prosecution of this war.”That certainly is clear, direct, and explicit enough. There is no misunderstanding it, and there is no goingA contemporary points out that “the British member of Parliament receiving pay as army or navy officer must choose between it and his sessional indemnity,” whereas in Canada he grabs both and everything else in sight ’Self respect and the imperative law of self-preservation, says the New York Times, “will forbid further keeping up of the ghastly pretence that we are in friendly relation with a power that, notwithstanding our many protests and in violation of its own promises, continues to destroy the lives of American citizens by its assassin practices in sea warfare.“The tide of public opinion as reflected at the by-elections is rapidly changing in favor of the Government,” is the hopeful diagnosis of his own political condition and prospects in which Dr. Bowser is reported to have indulged lately, after taking his own temperature and feeling his own pulse. Wonder what kind of dope the “doctor” prescribes for himsslf?Prime Minister Hughes, of Australia, visiting inEngland, was slated as a delegate-to the Entente economic conference which was to have opened in Paris yesterday, and was expected to take an advanced position for a joint tariff system which would establish, minimum rates among the allied countries and their overseas dominions and less favorable rates to countries with which the Allies are at war and to neutrals.I“Everybody was doing it,” was the ingenuous, if not ingenious justification put forward by H. C. Hanning-ton, Inspector of Legal Offices in the Attorney-Gener-al’s Department, Victoria, for having, contrary to the statute in that case made and provided, taken $2,000 commission on a Government real estate deal—to wit purchase by the Government of a new Court House site in the Capital City. The Government official in question, who gets a salary of over $3,000 a year, testified before the Public Accounts Committee that Attorney-General Bowser had casually asked him to ascertain what a certain eligible piece of property could be obtained for, and he had gone to a friend in the real estate business and the two Had “split” an accruing commission of $4,000 between them. The act and the excuse for it are illustrative of the high moral tone permeating the money changers’ temple at Victoria.Vtar*lr nnnn if TVip nfVtpy* Allipc Vtotrp cnnl/on oc rvlainUrOf all the truly wonderful things in this wonderful war, says a correspondent at the front, most assuredly the morale of the French army is the most wonderful of all. Think of it. Twenty months of devastatingwav rmp FVpnr»Vi wnmnn nut rtf pvpvw fVtrpp in rnrtnvn-\.s±\ ^* n• r
Newspaper Details
New Westminster Pacific Canadian
New Westminster, British Columbia, CA
Fri, Apr 21, 1916
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Julie M.
CA 30 Mar 2023
Other Publications Near New Westminster, British Columbia
New Westminster Pacific Canadian
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