BEHIND THE CABLES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 176, 27 July 1936, Page 6

BEHIND THE CABLES.

ENGLAND WEEK BY WEEK. FUTURE OF MR. BALDWIN. (By G. S. COX and J. A. MULGAX.) LOXDOX, July 4. "I retire when I think fit."

With these words Mr. Stanley Baldwin, his heavy face lined, hi,s heavy figure typifying more than ever the solidity of John Bull, settled, for the time being, in a speech to the City of London Conservatives, all the rumours about his possible retirement. But only for the time being. For the question immediately arises—when will Mr. Baldwin think fit? Under two circumstances when his physical condition gives out, or when the support of hit, colleagues gives out. He might 'as truly have said, "I retire when I no lon'iei .feel lit to carry on." Mr. Baldwin is in Inn seventieth year.' He has been suffering severely from insomnia—it is said that 'luring troubles of the Hoare-Laval plan lie did not sleep for four nights. Hi.; physical health cai not much longer stand up to the strain of office. When it goes, he must go The second circumstances, that 01 tne support of his colleagues, depends on events, particularly on foreign events. Mr. Baldwin is recognised by his immediate associates as being incapable of quick decision. He 1 reported to have said to Mr. Anthony Eden, "Do what you like about sanctions— but take things easily. Thev have a habit of settnn o themselves." But 'this habit of mind, typify in-? the British characteristic of muddling through" is not always successful in times of stress like the present. It stands a little too much for an attitude of waiting for history not to happen, as one critic has put it. Ana ■history has, from its very nature the unfortunate characteristic of happening. What otliei loaders of the Conservative party are afraid of is that, another foreign crisis—the seizure of Danzig' or Czechoslovakia or Austria bj Germany—will occur in a form which requires rapid decision such as Mr. Baldwin is unable to £>ive. But until tlien, or until his health <rives out, Mr. Baldwin is here to stay. C His successor will be, without doubt (though with misgivings on the part of the more "" radical - section of the Conservative party), Mr. Neville Chamberlain. Danger Spot of Danzig. In Danzig there are rumours of impending Nazi actions, of the possibility of Gcimany seizin," this territory which, prior to the Great War, "was German, and is now controlled by the Lea "lie of Nations. But what, the question may be asked, has Danzig to do with Darga vill'e or Dannevirke or Dunedin? The answer is simplv, "What had Serajevo to do with those places?" For Danzig is one of those spots which in the future, though not at the moment, may provide Europe with tho Serajevo-like spark to set it alight. Situated on the Baltic, at the mouth of the Vistula, it has since the earliest times been an important port. Part of its time it has been under Polish control, but in the period of the partition of Poland in the eighteenth century it passed to Prussia. At the Peace Conference after the war it presented one of the most difficult problems. On thq one hand, its population was 9G per cent German. On the othci hand, it was the very port needed by Poland to give that new and struggling country an outlet to the sea. So it was joined to Poland ill a Customs union, to act as the Baltic port of the Poles, but with a semi-independent status under tho sovereignty of the League. But to Hen - Hitler a settlement like that is like a red rag to a bull. Here is a German town under foreign sovereignty, being deprived of the inestimable advantages of suliscribing to tlie "persecute the Jews, the Communists, the Socialists, the Liberals, and glorify Hitler and Germany" creed of National Socialism It must be made German. But when? What Will Germany Do? At this point the question becomes international, and, becoming international, affects you in New Zealand. For to make Danzig German the League rule must be defied, the Allies of the Great War must be defied, and Russia must in particular be defied, for possession of Danzig would consolidate German's position near the border of the U.S.S.R. These factors bring a series of problems which are likely to hang up the Danzig problem for some time. Germany will not do anything rash, such as marching in and taking possession, because she does not wish to alienate England (Mr. Eden is League rapporteur for Danzig) ; she does not wish to offend Poland (she lias laboriously built up friendship with her recently, and Poland wishes Danzig to remain "independent"). Yet she would- like to take Danzig, as yet one more proof to the discontented German working class that Hitlerism, if it does not mean plenty, means glory. So for the time being things will hang fire. But when Herr Hitler decides to make his next expansionist move, it will bo either to Danzig or Austria or Czeclio-Slovakia. Surrealism. Hanging on the wall of the New Burglington Galleries for "the past fortnight has been a photograph Of a Maori kite, which is a representation of a bat in fiiglit. Standing near it a few days ago was a woman dressed in a long gown of white satin, with a veil of roses over her face, and an artificial leg stuffed with roses in her hand. The International Surrealist Exhibition had opened in London. Surrealism, so far as we make it out, is a form of art which says "Art up till now has painted only the surface of things. Let us give tho real feelings and emotions of people about things, even if those feelings and emotions are disgusting, unpleasant. Let us drag them into the open." The surrealists believe that we do not put our true thoughts and feelings in the open, that in our subconscious minds are a mass of thoughts to which we only partly give expression, and of which we should say and think more. Quite often when we talk of a thing we express not the pictures which really come into our mind in connection with it, but only those which we think ought to have come into our mind. And the result of the surrealists' expression of what they really think has sot all London talking, and brought out a poster from the "Daily Mail" (proudly hung now as exhibit No. 1 at tho exhibition), "A Shocking Art Show."

Tlie Maori kite is apparently an example of primitive surrealism, but 1 feel the old Maori makers of it would feel a little uncomfortable could they see it beside a teaset of fur, a picture which shows a gigantic pair of crimson lips filling- almost the whole of a six-foot canvas, a picture of a huge safety-pin superimposed 011 a sketch of the countryside, and a broken rainbow effect called "Marks and Spencer in a Japanese Garden," which means as much to lis as it does to vou.

Mr. Savage and the Stock Exchange. But to finish oil more serious topics. Mr. Savage's announcement that Xew Zealand seeks to convert some of her external debt to a. lower rate of interest headed the news in the financial papers for two days. One could not help feeling that more explanation here would have been invaluable. The news was received just midway through the afternoon, leaving the afternoon papers no time to get from New Zealand House any official statement as to its full meaning. And the City jumped to the worst conclusion—that default was in sight. Mr. Savage's statement the next day did not have a greatly reassuring effect, as his final remark about not sticking in the old rut alarmed the Stock Exchange by its vagueness. The Government must remember, one financial paper pointed out, that amongst the capitalists one must do as the capitalists do. And the first thing with a capitalist, if you want to borrow from him in the future, is not to scare him. Full explanation beforehand might have saved a good deal of unnecessary antagonistic feeling. Mr. Xash's statement, quoted in full in all to-day's papers, [lias greatly improved the situation.