POINTS FROM OTHER LETTERS

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23917, 8 April 1943, Page 6

POINTS FROM OTHER LETTERS

On “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “Billy Boy” writes: “Would it be possible to put on drama, operas, or pictures to suit all types of theatre patrons? I think not. I, for one, enjoyed every minute of the absurd situations, wonderfully portrayed by every member of the company. In one or two cases Hollywood would like to give them employment. Radiant Hall was packed every night, showing its popularity.” On the same subject, “Fun Lover” writes: “Some time back I saw in an American magazine reviewing this outstanding New York success, that Mr, Kesselring, the author, ‘set out to write a play about the thing his grandmother would be least likely to do.’ Let us hope that the people who took this play seriously are in the minority, for it is a farce of the first order.”

Regarding discontent about the hanging of pictures in the exhibition of the Canterbury Society of Arts, “Full Brush” suggests that the society should consider appointing a hanging committee comprising two Christchurch members, one country member, and two artists of repute from other centres. “Such an arrangement would surely meet with the approval of the majority of members and make the society’s exhibitions representative of good art without fear or favour, and merit a larger public support.”

On “Universal Language,” Anton Vogt writes: "The trouble with Latin is that it is too difficult. Esperanto is easy. After years of Latin the ordinary student can’t translate an odd tag. After a few months of Esperanto the ordinary student can read it, write it, and speak it. . . . There is already a vast.literature, original and translated, and there is only prejudice to overcome. Why not allow.it for matriculation?”

On the same subject, William Mills writes: “If G. F. Seward had devoted the same time to the study of Esperanto (as he has to the study of Latin) he would have been able to make himself understood in almost any country in the world. There is nothing ‘ersatz’ or makeshift about Esperanto, which has been in use for more than 50 years, not 20 years, and a short study of Esperanto would, I think, convince him that Esperanto is also based on Latin, which is now generally recognised as a dead language.” “Lingua Internacionale,’ on ‘ A Universal language,” says that in 22 years away from New Zealand in seven foreign countries he did not hear the word Esperanto used. The languages most spoken throughout the world are first English and next Spanish. "If a foreign language is found necessary,” he writes, •“let it be of a Latin origin, i.e., Spanish or French.”

“Exit Gold Standard” writes: “If the proposition as outlined by Secretary Morgenthau is accepted by the people of the United Nations, then the peace is already lost, and the seeds will be sown for the next carnage, Revolution.”

C. Clarke asks: “Where can one buy New Zealand-made woollen trousers at 14s lid? It has been stated by Mr W. J. Poison, M.P. for Stratford, that this is the retailed price. No doubt he will be pleased to supply me with the necessary information. I find that the price is about 255.”