VOICES of the NATION

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 109, 1 February 1930, Page 19

VOICES of the NATION

SAYINGS AND WRITINGS :: :: OF THE TIMES :: ::

North v. South—and Bananas. For many years now the South Island has been at a disadvantage In securing direct supplies of bananas. The trade in the past had been dominated by Auckland, and the expense of transport from that centre brought an automatic increase in the prices at which the fruit was retailed in Christchurch and Dunedin. When the Government steamer Maui Pomare was put on the Island trade it was for the purpose of ending this situation, but now, once more, it seems that Auckland will control the trade. Once again the South Island can enter legitimate complaint against the preference that has been given to the North Island.

Divince Curiosity. “The struggle for knowledge is an essential condition of. human life. Therefore it is to be found among every people, even the lowest. It Jias been the chief lever of culture, and the strength with which it has asserted Itself has been the determining factor of.the varying heights to ivhich different nations have climbed on civilisation’s ladder.' Hence we ought to cultivate the tendency to seek for truth as mankind’s most Invaluable treasure. It must be disciplined and guided; sheer curiosity is a nuisance and research must be conducted towards a definite goal. But its borders must be wide. The inquirer must not be hampered at every step he takes with the question, What is the-good of the search for truth in such' or such a {question, or what profit is there in this or that detail? Who can foretell where the golden grains of truth may be found, who decide what at last may prove of importance for human development? In the science of society it has often been my experience that a fact which at first may have seemed a pure trifle, not worthy of further attention, has later shed the most unexpected light over the origin or development of some important social institution.”—“Q.” '

iJudaism and the World. .< “There is a part of Judaism which Is meant for the whole world. The great ethical principles enunciated in the Ten Commandments, the moral code of the ■ Scriptures—these are the foundations upon which a better world may he constructed, arid these are independent of any one creed. The basic doctrine of human relationship—‘thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’— can be practised by everybody, irrespective of race and denomination. It is not necessary for Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, and the other religions to come to a common agreement before that Divine command can be acted upon. It is not necessary for the synagogue, church, chapel, and mosque to devise a mode of worship in which all can join before that Divine command can be put Into general practice.. . . There is so much wrangling about religion with a small "r” that we neglect Religion with a capital ‘R.’”—Dr. A. Cohen, minister of the Hebrew congregation in Birmingham. Second Wind. “The physical phenomenon of second wind can be given a mental application whereby the individual may attain success in any walk of life, said Mr. J. T. Golder,” reports the “Liverpool Post” “Second wind could be shown to be more psychological than physical. It had been defined as •‘the response of the vital forces to a will that refuses to heed their first grumbling protests’—a definition which seemed to indicate that it was the will that called the extra vital forces into action. But the will must have some motive force behind it to urge it to call up the vital forces. That something was vision—another quality of the mind. It was the vision of something desired that kept the will using the whip and spurring on the individual to further effort. The Duke of Wellington said that the French soldiers were not less brave than the British, but the British could hold on five minutes longer. That made all the difference.” Mental Diseases.

“There has grown up in the public mind the notion that any kind of mental disease is associated with some slur, some disability, some permanent disadvantage,” said Lord Dawson, the eminent physician, in the House of Lords. “With our present civilisation arid the increasing speed and strain of life associated with our material progress, it will inevitably follow that you will get a larger number of temporary mental troubles. There will be a blend of mental and physical troubles, and you will find physical trouble covered by mental symptoms, and mental symptoms covered by physical ailments. There will be a greater merging between one and the other. The fact is that disease breeds less and less true —it conforms less and less to type.”

The “Talkie” Cataclysm. “The most important chapter in the history of the kinema opened in 1020; its end is a matter of conjecture. The talking picture, with which this country has been flooded by America, has brought the whole structure of film entertainment to the ground. Producers have had to scrap all the old methods, and theatre-owners have had to spend millions in new equipment, with the knowledge that it is quite possible that these will have to be wasted, through the introduction of a much bigger picture and screen—a wider film—with colour and stereoscopic pictures, all of which are now ready to be sprung upon the world. In one short year the control of the kinema industry has passed into the hands of the electrical industry, represented in the United States by the Western Electric Company, the General Electric Company and the Radio Corporation of America. The electrical industry saved the film industry from crashing to the ground, but it wrought widespread destruction in its ruthless salvation.” —“Daily Mail .Year Book, 183O.’j_

i Frenclnnen Prefer Liberty. “We have done business with liberty for a very long time, she’s an old connection of ours,” writes Maurice • Bedel in the “Atlantic Monthly. We know what we can take and what we must leave: we are not of these younger peoples whose v heads are turned by her like a schoolboy with his. first cigarette. Liberty does not play tricks on us as she has on the Italians; so we do not feel the need of getting rid of her, whereas? Italy has acclaimed her disappearance and does not ask for her return. Fascism cannot be transplanted ° ut ® l d e o£ J,* 1 ?’ Mussolini has said. Certainly it is 11 its proper setting there; it isthere that it has its greatness and its beauty. There also, perhaps, it has its neces sity.” Life and the Materialist. “If you believe that your essential value is four shillings, there is no good arguing with you, except to commend you for your modesty, and to express the conviction that if you lose vour leg in a motor accident, you will not be willing to accept, say, sixpence, as one leg’s share of four shillings, and will probably claim £lOOO damages. If you believe otherwise, then the whole tremendous vista of the soul that Christ affirmed and opens out before you. It is sufficient to confront the materialists theories wit’ll the simple facts. Having listen ‘ ed serenely to his talk about the chemicals, it is time to confront him with man—with Plato, • St. Paul, and Jesus-not with their teaching for the moment, but with them. The best theory is that which best explains. If hedoesn’t believe in the historicity of Jesus, I shall be content « plain the man who invented Jes “; Rev. Harold Brierley, in his book, “Life Indeed.” The Limit of Taxation. “I do not believe there is so very much more revenue to ge got out of increasing direct taxation. If you get to a poin/when you do not make it worth anybody’s while to be rich, nobody w be ricin If you raise taxation until you have got rid of all rich People you will not have any revenue; you cannot have it both ways. If the Government depreciates the credit of the cojintry, if it competes with industry in the raising of capital, it means that the expansion of industry must be restricted. They seem to be embarking on Government interference with industry; that, I think, is a mistake. The test of good government is not whether they increase the benefits to the unemployed, but whether, while in office, the numbers of unemployed had been reduced. I believe that the nationalisation of our productive industries would be fatal to this country. No Government ever conducts industry aS wisely or as economically as private enterprise.”—Lord Grey of Fallodon. Minister and Motorists. The British Transport Bill in brief provides:' - “Abolition of the speed liimt for mo-tor-cars and motor-cycles. “Motor-coaches to be subject to a speed limit of 30 miles an hour. “Heavy penalties for ‘careless driving’ and ‘dangerous driving.’ “Minimum age for motor-cyclists is raised from 14 to 16. “All applicants for driving licenses to make a declaration of physical fitness. “Compulsory insurance against thirdparty risks. “Area Commissioners to license public service vehicles and regulate routes and services. “Powers to local authorities to run omnibus services outside their districts. “Minister of Transport to issue ‘a highway code’ applicable to all road users, including pedestrians.” “The motorist will have a good time if he behaves himself and a rough time if he doesn’t.” —Mr. Herbert Morrison, M.P., Minister of Transport. Fearing and Greatheart. “Mr. Fearing in ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress,’ it will be remembered,” says the “Times,” “was a very brave man who was frequently terrified. He had plenty of pluck; but he was always ready to believe the worst and even to doubt the reality of his own achievements. He had not the high and steady spirit of Mr. Greatheart. And after the Prince of Wales’s words to his Victoria Cross guests and the second of General Smuts’s Rhodes lectures at Oxford, there seems to be little doubt that a kind of valour much needed in the world at the present moment is a kind to which the humblest may prove his title; nothing else than the high and steady spirit which will always take (as Mr. Greatheart always took) a very good look at the worst to keep itself free of delusion, but will steadily affirm its faith in a progress towards peace which men of experience and wariness believe to be now something more real and solid than a dream.” Railwayising the Miners. “In the old days, when each railway made its own arrangements, there was always unrest and jealousy as between One section of men and another, which led very largely to ,the position which arose in 1911, whereby groups of men in various centres stopped work because they believed themselves worse treated than men working for other companies. AU that has been swept away, and now, with our national agreements, centrally negotiated, every man knows that he will be treated fairly, no matter in what part of the country or on what railway he may be working. I cannot believe that in a great.industry such as that of mining, with all the national and international responsibilities which it must fulfil, any. good can result from continuing district settlements and district negotiations. I therefore hope that, in the interests of the nation as a whole, something will be done to get uniform national settlement so far as the mineowners and miners are concerned. — Mr. Cramp, of the N.U.R., in the .. "Daily Herald.”-