WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 189, 12 August 1933, Page 8

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

POINTS FROM THE PRESS. AGE LIMITS. Tile Stat6 is entitled to ask for the best service, and when it deprives itself of the best in order to facilitate the rise of younger men it is subordinating the interests of the State to the interests of the individual. Private enterprise never handicaps itself bv fixing ail age limit. It always uses the capacity test, and puts a \aiue on experience. In the political arena there are in the world to-day many men who are long past the sixty mark and who are among the most vigorous, the keenest of the world's leaders. Age should not be made a bar to employment. This uf<e of the age limit in public service must deprive the country of many men of high capacity. Foch was sixty-seven when the war ended, and Hiridenburg was that age when he broke the Russians in Eastern Prussia, and lie was seventy-eight when he was elected President of the German Republic. In law there are many instances of vigorous septuagenarians serving the State effectively. In Australia the Chief Justice sits in the Federal High Court at the age of eighty-one and the Governor-General of Australia is seventy-eight. No one could sugorest that tlici'e is any sign of failing powers in these mefl. A man's age depends on something more than years. Some are drained of all capacity at forty, some never had any capacity to lose, some are «iirong, mentally and physically, at three score and ten. K ln the Civil Service some retiring age may be necessary; but it should not be made a hard-and-fast rule. In all cases public interest must be the deciding factor,, because in matters of this kind the requirements of the State should not be sacrificed to the ambitions of youth. — " Southland Times."

SMOOTHING THE BUMPS. Recently we referred to the possibilities of Government action in lessening the differences of boom and slump, by stimulating private business in a slack period, as, for example, with the present unemployment subsidy for building. A similar issue was discussed in passing by Professor Dennis Piobertson in a British broadcast debate with Major Douglas on the Douglas Credit scheme.

I look forward, said the professor, to the time when public opinion will be much more enlightened in these matters than It is fiow, and when it wal be possible, without fear of undermining confidence, to make much more use than we do now 6f Govern' m£nt finance as an auxiliary engine to banking policj, by giving mojicy away to people in time of slump and—one- must not, I am afraid, forget the other side of the story—taking it away from them by extra taxation In times of over-confidence and overexpanslon.

The idea is quite an attractive one. The Government should function as a regulating engine to maintain an even balance of public spending. Just now thousands of people would -applaud the idea. Of course, the Government is acting in this way, though in a rather one-sided irtannsr. It is taking from all workers and recipients of income to give to those with no income; and it is taking from the community at large (through exchange) to give to the farmers. Those who have a prospect of gaining more would say: "An excellent plan. Start it now." There is, however, an obstacle in the way o. an excellent scheme. Public opinion is not as enlightened as Professor Robertson would have it be, and public opinion would pull the little lever of the Government auxiliary finance engine. What does experience teach us? Democraticallycontrolled bodies of all kinds go the way that public opinion wishes. When the public is overconfident and spending freely central governments and local.governing bodies join in the rush and spend freely, too, not from hiirh rates and taxes, but from loans. The additional public expenditure makes the boom greater; and the loan method of financing makes the slump worse when it comes. If governments would tax and rate heavily in prosperous times and create reserves they would do double good by establishing a store for use in time of need, and checking boom spending. But public opinion will have to be much mpre enlightened before this will be possible, for a Government which dared to take this cou]-fo would speedily bp displaced by one ready to give the peonle what they want. New Zealand at one time did accumulate a surplus, and part of that is proving useful now, but the greater part was applied to purposes which helped to raise the land boom higher.—Wellington "Evening Post."

POWDER IN POLITICS. It is difficult to decide whether Hitler's ba.n on cosmetics is the result of the native naivete of the lie-man or the outcome of a careful study of feminine art and psychology. For when a woman powders her nose she is like a soldier who shoulders arms. She becomes confident and purposeful, and her easiest victim is the mere man of brawn. Therefore, man's most logical defence is to decree that women should wear their faces a" uaturel, and it will be interesting to see whether this latest move will destroy or perfect the art'of instant, beauty. But the economic consequences of the new crusade are not to be ignored. From the scientist and the chemist to tile labourer in the rice fields of China, millions toil daily to supply the refinements of the boudoir, and few, indeed, can estimate the extent to which the power puff keeps the wheels of industry turning.—" Christchurch Star." \