WORD SPINNERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 37, 13 February 1929, Page 6

WORD SPINNERS.

It is one of the penalties of modern civilisation (hat -we are compelled to spend a portion of our lives listening to people haranguing us on every conceivable, subject, and chietlv telling us what splendid fellows they are. In every civilised country the talkers are legion and beyond counting, and they flourish exceedingly. Only in those lands where the natural man still survives and people are not so genteel in their manner towards public nuisances has the talker got to mind his tongue lest it. be silenced for ever.

Lord Atkins, of the English judiciary, speaking at a recent meeting of the Grays Inn Debating Society, described eloquence as «n unspeakable nuisance. One shudders to think of the term his lordship would have applied to that vast army of long-winded talkers which is neither eloquent'nor even coherent. The trouble about eloquence is that, although the stringing together of wellbalanced words and phrases may be pleasing io the ear, it is seldom sincere. There is always the suspicion that the axe is being placed on the •rrindstonc, and that the listener will be expected to provide the driving force. If I were asked which of all the professions was the most widely followed, I would unhesitatingly reply that talking was. It is like the Irishman's idea of a free light, anybody can rush into it. It needs no special qualification, except unbounded assurance and that cheerful optimism which induces some people to cast their bread on the waters in the hope that it will return to them with the addition of a slice of ham.

Let us consider for a moment the stupendous amount of energy that is let loose in the world every year in delivering the inane and utterly useless speeches that are inflicted upon a longsuffering public. Xobody whose duty docs not make him be a frequent listener to a dreary assortment of speeches can have any idea of the feeling of deadly depression they engender. Ordinary conversation is a necessity of human nature, and it would be a dreary and unprogress!v> world without it. In classical times only those who had a message to deliver and could do it intelligently and coherently were suffered to speak in public. That was something we could copy witli advantage from the ancients.

It was stated recently that aeroplanes were be in;; fitted with loud speakers, which would onablo the human voice to l>e distinctly heard over a wide area from an altitude of 1500 feet. This may be nil rijrht if the system does not come into general use by politicians. Sliould that dire calamity come about, citizens will have to arm themselves with anti-aircraft guns, and there will have to lie. no close season for aerial orators. The id.-a will naturally appeal to the political talkingpest. Ho will realise that from the serene security of the ether he can pour out his soul indefinitely, free from the assaults of dead cats, over-ripe eggs, decayed vegetables and other hints to shut up from his infuriated listeners. —H.F.