political instinct, and he achieved a work in South Africa by one wise act of statesmanship which has already borne, and will continue to bear, the most far-reaching results in the history of this Empire. This completed what was begun in the Boer War, and it switched South Africa again on the right track, and the British Empire again on to the right track, because, after all, the British Empire is not founded on might or force, but on moral principles-on principles of freedom, equality, and equity. It is these principles which we stand for to day as an Empire in this mighty struggle."-(Committee Room, House of Commons, April 2nd, 1917.)

(2) Speaking at Edinburgh, where the Freedom of the City was conferred on him, General Smuts said:

"Union was inevitable in South Africa, but it had been his desire and his striving for many years that it should be such a union as that between England and Scotland, and not the sort of union they had had between England and Ireland. They had had in South Africa all the makings of an insoluble political problem; but by God's providence, and by the forbearance of both races, and their wisdom, they had in the end achieved a union which was like that between England and Scotland. As soon as the British Government came to wiser counsels, they handed back to South Africa, so far as it was possible, the liberty which they in South Africa thought would be jeopardised; they made them a free country; and in that way they laid the foundation of a large and great State in South Africa. As the result of that policy adopted after the Boer War, they saw to-day a nation that fought against the British Empire with a vigour and persistence seldom seen in the history of the world, had been and still was fighting with all its strength for the common cause. That had been brought about, and could only have been brought about, by the spirit of liberty which had been the guiding principle of British history."(Edinburgh, April 11th, 1917.)

Certainly there is nothing more remarkable in the present war than the way in which the policy of freedom, as exemplified in South Africa, has once again, a thousand times over, justified itself.

The Ministerialist Chief Whip.

Though the retirement of Mr. Neil Primrose from the Ministerialist Chief Whipship was announced as imminent some weeks ago, he still continues to hold that office, though it is undoubted he intends to retire. At one time his successor was to be Sir George McCrae, though the appointment was never actually made, since it was necessary for Sir George to find a seat in the House of Commons. (He retired some years ago to become a Scottish Civil Servant.) Major Charles Lyell, the Liberal member for South Edinburgh, in announcing to his Executive his desire to retire on account of ill-health and inability to attend the House of Commons regularly, suggested Sir George McCrae as his successor, but, in fact, the choice of the South Edinburgh Liberals fell on Sir Edward Parrott, the Chairman of the Association. Mr. Primrose's successor, it is announced as we go to press, is to be Captain Frederick Guest.

Russia and the N. L. F.

We gave last month (at page 152) the text of the resolution passed by the Executive Committee of the National Liberal Federation on the Russian Revolution. The resolution was telegraphed to the President of the Duma, whose reply in a telegram (dated April 2nd) was as follows:

"Profoundly moved by the heartfelt congratulations of the British National Liberal Federation on the Russian Emancipation, I beg you to accept in my name and that of the Duma the expression of our sincerest thanks. However difficult be the work of national regeneration in all spheres of life, I firmly hope that the mighty spirit of freedom, to the growth of which the noble traditions of British Liberalism have largely contributed, will triumph over all obstacles and assure the glorious end of the struggle in which Russia is engaged in close union with its valorous Allies.

Education Statistics.

"RODZIANKO, President of the Duma."

Mr. Herbert Fisher, replying to Mr. Lough on April 2nd, gave the following figures concerning elementary education in certain years:

Expenditure of Local Authorities out of rates

1902-3.

1907-8.

1915-16.

... £6,620,000 £10,467,000 £14.266,000 Increase 1915-16 over 1902-3-116 per cent. Expenditure of the Board of Education

£9,310,000 £11,413,000 £12.913,000

Increase 1915-16 over 1902-3-39 per cent.

Number of children in average attendance at Public Elementary schools

Increase 1915-16 over 1902-3-5.3 per cent. Trustee Savings Banks.

The Inspection Committee of the Trustee Savings Banks, in its annual report for last year, states that there were 191 savings banks, in which the depositors were 1,966,730, with £51,412,370 to the credit of their deposit accounts, and, in addition, £6,313,801 of Government stocks. These figures show increases of 48,786 in depositors, and of £3,617,497 in the amount of Government stocks held for depositors in their own names, and a decrease in the cash due to depositors of £2,530,001, owing to the conversion of old savings, with some new money, into War Loan. The total assets of the banks showed a surplus over liabilities of £1,586,827. Municipal Debt.

Mr. Hayes Fisher informed Captain R. Guinness, in a written answer in the House of Commons, on April 2nd, that at March 31st, 1915, the total amount of the outstanding loans of the councils of cities and boroughs in England and Wales (including the City of London and other Metropolitan boroughs) was £281,390,000. Their gross expenditure during the year ending at that date was £71,480,000, excluding expenditure defrayed out of loans.

POINTS FROM THE PAPERS.

From the Daily Record (Glasgow), April 12th, 1917.

"We have from the first given the most ungrudging support to Mr. Lloyd George and his Ministry, and shall continue to do so; but we are not amongst those who think that in order to support Mr. Lloyd George it is necessary to belittle Mr. Asquith, or that it can be of service to the Government to do or say anything calculated to cause friction between the ex-Prime Minister's many staunch admirers and the present administration.

"There has been a reprehensible tendency in some quarters to commit both these faults. Most of the mistakes of the war and most of the hardships consequent on its prolongation are in these quarters attributed to shortcomings of Mr. Asquith and his Ministry, and any action which by any means can be construed as a slight to Mr. Asquith is applauded, no matter what its defects may be.

Naturally this causes resentment amongst those who, in Parliament and out of Parliament, recognise the great value of Mr. Asquith's long services and the noble way in which he has consistently supported the new Government, and placed patriotism always above and beyond personal and Party considerations, and the time has come when fair play for Mr. Asquith' should be insistently demanded as an essential of that unity which is necessary for the national welfare."

From the Daily Record (Glasgow), April 14th, 1917.

"The object of the political truce is to secure and preserve national unity in the face of unprecedented peril, and any intrigue or manœuvre which endangers that unity is against the national interest.

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Of such a nature is the conspiracy against Mr. Asquitha conspiracy to undermine his great influence by seeking to fasten upon him all the odium and all the obloquy for national shortcomings and failures under the stress of a war which the great majority of the population believed to be impossible until it was upon them, and for which the nation had refused to be prepared.

"Mr. Asquith is too great a gentleman to reply to his traducers, and to risk being involved in a campaign of recrimination, and is thus at a disadvantage as compared with the people promoting this subterranean campaign. All the more reason, therefore, that those who remember his great services to the State should protest against the tactics of his traducers; and why, in particular, Scotland, which honours him as one of the greatest and most trusted of her Parliamentary representatives, should refuse to have her political annals sullied by being mixed up with their unworthy manœuvres.

"If the most illustrious servant of the British Crown is, with impunity, to be made the target of endless abuse and calumny, it will be impossible in the future to enlist men of the outstanding character and ability of Mr. Asquith in the public service— and national calamity lies that way.

Both these articles are headed "Fairplay for Mr. Asquith." The significance of their appearance in a non-Liberal journal is obvious.

WE hope that all our readers will always remember that we are compelled, both by the shortage and dearness of paper, to limit, each month, the size of the MAGAZINE. This necessarily makes our task one of singular difficulty, but we hope we succeed in our effort to give what is essential and of real importance.

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

THE INDEX to Volume XXIV., completed by the January number of THE LIBERAL MAGAZINE, is now ready. A copy will be sent post free to any subscriber on application to the Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, S.W. 1.

THE bound volume of THE LIBERAL MAGAZINE for 1916 (Volume XXIV.) is now ready, and may be obtained for 5s. 6d. post free from the Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, S.W. 1.

THE DIARY OF THE MONTH.

(1) Mr. Asquith on the Food Supply.

"When it is suggested in some quarters that there was something in the nature of negligence or lethargy in this matter (the food supply) I feel bound in justice to my then colleagues as well as to myself, to refer to one or two of the precautionary steps which were taken when the submarine peril was still in its infancy, or, at any rate, only partially developed. I need not dwell upon the efforts which were made over a long series of months to arm our merchant ships, to accelerate the construction of new tonnage, and to set ships free from unnecessary for necessary work. But in regard to the actual supply of that part of our food for which we have been accustomed to depend upon importation, it is well that it should be clearly known that from the autumn of 1914 onwards wheat, the principal item, was steadily bought by the Government from all quarters of the world, and largely from the efforts of my friend and late colleague, Lord Selborne, greater quantities were stored and held in this country than I believe has ever been the case before in our history. In the same way my colleague, Mr. Runciman, having requisitioned all the refrigerating space of British tonnage, and arranged to take over the whole supply of Australian frozen meat, brought it about that by December, 1916, nearly £50,000,000 worth of frozen meat had been secured by this country. And similar steps on a smaller scale were taken in regard to the supply of dairy produce from Holland and Denmark. There can be no doubt that, owing to the vastly increased activity during these later months of the German submarine, the situation has for the moment become sensibly worse, and the Government are perfectly right to take any steps which seem to them practicable both to safeguard our imports and to increase our domestic supplies. Here at home there are two things to be done, both important first, to secure an adequate supply of skilled labour for obtaining the largest yield from land which is already under arable cultivation, and, second, to offer the best and most practicable inducements for the speedy bringing under tillage of grass land which is suitable for the purpose."

And on the Irish Question.

"The one admitted failure of our statesmanship is to be found close to our own doors-in Ireland. It would be a worse than futile task at this time of day to rake up the embers of controversy and to seek to apportion among the successive actors in a secular tragedy their due respective shares of responsibility. Nor is the task of settlement, easy as it may seem to theorists and benevolent outsiders, one that can be solved by short cuts and simple formulæ. But solved it must be. The war has created new ties and new obligations founded on common efforts and common sacrifices in a cause which is as dear to Ireland as it is to Great Britain, to our Dominions, and, indeed, to all lovers of freedom in every race and in every clime. We are face to face with one of those golden opportunities which history seldom offers and still more seldom repeats. Let us bring to it while we can the varied experience, the combined wisdom, the fervent goodwill of an Empire which, except, indeed, in Ireland, has everywhere found in the union of liberty with justice the secret and the safeguard alike of local contentment and of Imperial strength."