OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 144, 14 March 1931, Page 20

OVERSEAS OPINIONS

A New Zealand Example. “One of the greatest lessons to be learned from New Zealand is the success of co-operation among the farmers,” writes Sir C. Kinloch Cooke, Bart, in “The Empire Review.” “All the butter and cheese produced for export is factory made, the majority of the factories being owned by farmers’ co-operative societies. The fact that produce from New Zealand farms can compete in the Home market with the produce of the Home country, as well as with foreign countries, even though it is 12,000 miles from its market, is a sufficient tribute to the success and thoroughness of the methods of handling the produce when it leaves the fam either as a live sheep or a churn of milk or cream.”

According to Bagohot. “Wa have all been advised to spend more as a means to recovery,” says Mr. A. A. Paton, the banker. “While this might reasonably be expected to stimulate onr internal trade temporarily, I cannot see that the orgy, of spending during the past ten years has helped to maintain our export trade on which we so vitally depend. Walter Bagehot took the view that ‘Wealth which creates wealth is augmented mainly by our not enjoying our incomes,’ and further says, ‘The principalway in which capital increases in England Is by abstinence from enjoyment’ ” Go to the Ant

"J learned a very simple lesson many years ago .when I spent nearly two years In. Central Queensland, which is " within the tropics, and where insect life is abound ant.. The one that attracted me most was the large black ant He is about half an inch in length and is very strong. Now this is the point I want to emphasise: I have watched these tiny Insects dragging pieces of material of one kind or another, often larger than themselves, and when they found a stone, or sometimes a large piece of rock in their path, they did not turn aside but simply dragged their load over the obstacle in spite of repeated failures. Now that showed great tenacity of purpose. They were not easily turned aside nor dismayed by the difficulties and failures in their first attempts, but they simply stuck'to their task until’ success was achieved. If only that spirit permeated every walk in present-day fife things would be very different from what they are.” — Mr. Frank Lees, the chairman of R. H. and S. Rogers Ltd,

The Age of Cleverness.. “We are living in an age of cleverness, and not of reflection. Cleverness is as common to-day as berries upon brambles," writes the Countess of Oxford in the “Daily Express.” “You have only got to see the talkies to feel the. bleak blast of cleverness; and after watching the tinned movements, canned voices, and vulgar enunciation of those that I have seen, I think we shall return to the peace, poetry and drama of the silent film. I hear the hoarse whistle of the slow suburban train. Looking out of the window at the landscape I repeat myself these lines: — “ 'While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, . . _ We see into the hie of things.

The Mystery’ Between. “Unless retail prices and the cost of living can be reduced there is. grave danger that every attempt at readjustment of nominal wages will meet with resistance, and that the country will be plunged into a series of formidable industrial disputes which would provide an incalculable aggravation of the handicaps under which we are already suffering,” said the Hon. Rupert Beckett at the annual meeting of the Westminster Bank. “Wage reductions alone, especially In the transport and distributive industries, would lead to some reduction in retail prices, but workers are quite naturally suspicious that such reduction of prices would probably be disproportionate to their own sacrifices. There is a strong case, therefore, for a sweeping investigation of all the causes contributing to the maintenance of the big gap between wholesale and retail prices, and also of the possibility of removing all obstacles which stand in the way of their closer relationship.”

Excess of Thrift. “It has long- been the custom to give an unqualified blessing to thrift, mainly on the grounds of personal discipline and the due recognition of responsibilities. Whatever blessings 1 - thrlft may confer, however, on the individual, there are times when, judged by the interests of general economic welfare, it may be carried to excess. To realise the truth of this statement it Is only necessary to consider the two extreme suppositions in which, first, everyone saves all his income beyond the amount necessary to keep body and soul together.' and next, nothing is devoted to consumption. In the first case it is obvious that the greater party of industry would rapidly run down and cease operations for lack of customers for its output, while in the second, plant and machinery and public and private equipment would ultimately break down for want of proper maintenance and renewal. Somewhere between these.,two extremes lies the po’nt of maximum advantage, which may be roughly defined as the amount of saving necessary to meet all demands for capital which can be profitably employed.”— Mr, Reginald McKenna, chairman of the Midland Bank. Tolerance “In >the Air.” “It would be fatal to the best Interests of religion in this country;” says Bishop Barnes, “if it were thought that those who accepted the Christian- ** standpoint were given a perfectly free hand, whereas those unable to accept that standpoint were either suppressed or heavily censored as regards what they were allowed to say. I think the British Broadcasting Corporation has been well advised in allowing men of distinction who are not Christians to state their point of .view. I think we may well urge the 8.8. C. to continue a policy which should result in the invitation of men of distinction to talk on matters to which they have given special thought, but when such men are asked to speak they should be given complete freedom. At times no doubt they may give offence to

those to whom their views are not i acceptable. They might be asked to be courteous, but beyond that I do not think it is necessary that any restriction should be laid down.”

The Purpose of Wealth. “Wealth must aim at well-being, and well-being is personal. We must return from the individualism which is still with us —getting on, doing what.l like with my own, making as much as I can in these hard times—to individuals ; from socialism —however interpreted—to society. The call of the present age is for the vindication of persons,” writes Principal W. F. Lofthouse, D.D., in the “Expository Times.” “Our most serious foe at present, in this country, in spite of the vast mass of unemployment, is not poverty. What we have to fear, now the the worst of economic poverty has come to an end, is that we shoujd settle down to a new kind of poverty of spirit. Science has brought so many opportunities ;.for cheap amusement within our reach that life is altogether changed from the domination of the old dull fear of destitution that enslaved so many in the past.”

A Neglected Force. "We shall not solve the last mystery of creation, but we unquestionably have within us some formative power which is allied to or is part of the infinite creative power, and which we can consciously direct. Do we use it? Scarcely at all,” writes Mr. Arnold Bennett in the “Daily Express.” ,‘fNot even the most superficial student can fail to be convinced of the enormous influence upon character of steady continuous thought, thinking directed and used according to principles which have already been to some extent ascertained. This science is, and sooner or later will be considered to be, the greatest, the most fundamental and the most important of all sciences. It Constitutes the subject which interests me beyond all others to-day, and I anticipate that in a hundred years’ time it will interest an enormous- number of people beyond all other subjects. If I was capable of being amazed at any peculiarity of human nature I should be amazed at the present astounding neglect of the subject”

Philosophy’s Business, “The business of philosophy is to explain the Universe. This means to make plain, not only to the philosophic specialist, but to the ordinary man and woman; the man in the street, In the home, in the counting-house, the scientist, the moralist the artist; tile relations of all the parts of his Universe to one another, and to the whole. If philosophy sets before itself any less task than this, it abdicates its true function.’’—Miss fe.. I*’ Young, in "A Philosophy at Reality.” . * ' ■ , What is a Good Education?

...Professor J. Graham Kerr, writing in “To-day and To-morrow,” gives an admirable. summary of what is true education. He writes:—“A good education is one that succeeds in making the average individual a good citizen who will-play successfully the role allotted to him as a constituent member of that complicated organism the civilised community, < It is -one which ensures that the heritage of ‘biological capital’—in the form of health and strength and capacity, physical, . mental, and moral—received by each individual from his parents, shall be increased in amount , and shall be. coined into a type of currency (such as specialised skill of. one kind or another) readily negotiable in the particular environment of the particular individual.” Honesty—Virtue or Expedient? “When I read other people saying that they are only honest because it is the best policy, or yet others saying that with them honour and honesty and decency rest on some reflection that they want to be happy and to secure their own interests, but they doubt if they could be happy or secure themselves, if they neglected the interests of their neighbours, since man is a social animal, I find myself wondering whether this creed of honesty the best policy, or this better creed vaguely called utilitarianism, less vaguely and perhaps more correctly called .a high form of hedonism, offers any guarantee to the’ world of continued honesty, honour and decency. 1 feel myself wondering whether it will continue long to bear the strain placed upon it when temptation comes, as it must come, as soon as the influence of Christian education grows weaker, and as soon as the tempted man and woman realist more fully that honesty is not the best policy always of perhaps often, scientifically speaking, for the individual, only for the race and the nation.” —Principal Maurice Hutton, of Toronto University. Anglican Church Discipline.

“I intend,” declares Bishop Barnes in connection with the Prayer Book controversy, to examine all candidates presented to me, as Bishop, for institution to benefices, that I may. learn whether they are not only prepared to take the Oath of Canonical Obedience but also to keep it. in particular. I shall inquire whether they are prepared. to obey my instructions to discontinue, or not to adopt, tlie illegal practice of reservation. Should the result of-such examination be unsatisfactory, I must refuse institution. If any legal action be brought against me. I shall not enter a defence, as I am resolved that I will not maintain order and sound doctrine in my diocese either by being prosecutor or by being defendant in legal proceedings.” Melchett.

“Lord Melchett was more than a great financier. He was that rare thing, a man who combiried vision and a conscious philosophy with the executive capacity and commanding energy to attempt to put his philosophy arid his dreams into practice on the grand scale. We shall see all our economic problems more clearly when we realise the significance of Lord Melchett’s career. He was the most striking example this country has yet produced of an employer and financier whose business activities in themselves made him a great public figure, obviously exercising more of the substance of power than most Cabinet Ministers. To include such a figure the old controversy about private enterprise and Socialism must be stated in new terms; the ‘money motive’ which is supposed to be the incentive of private enterprise, becomes irrelevant. It is. at all eveuts, largely replaced by an intense absorption in the task of scientific reorganisation for its own sake; an increasingly disinterested concern with the task of making industry efficient.”—“Manchester Guardian.”