NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 149, 21 March 1934, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

Wellington's Town Hall without a tower, and minus its clock, will seem to many citizens something in the nature of a bereavement. In time, however. New Zealand architecture must adapt itself to the exigencies of the country’s seismic circumstances, and in the process will no doubt develop a character of its own. Buildings bereft of those ornate features which gave a distinctive architectural style will probably suffer in appearance, for the original design represented a composite whole. New buildings, however, will represent architectural creations designed to present beauty and dignity without ornate trappings. There is scope here for originality in local architecture and the evolution of a distinctive New Zealand school. Of such arc the sweets of adversity.

Very properly the representatives of the Victoria College Council of Convocation on the College Council have declined to recognise any authority in the motion passed at the recent meeting of graduates that they should resign and offer themselves for re-election. From what has emerged since the meeting, it appears that the procedure followed was irregular, and the decisions bv no means representative of the opinions of graduates. For the better preservation of its own official dignity and influence, and in justice to the good name of those hundreds of its members who were not present at the unofficial meeting, the Court of Convocation should now consider some positive action. A properly-constituted meeting would very soon reveal the weakness of the forces behind the ill-mannered demand for the resignation of the graduates’ representatives on the Council.

Tn their breakdown the Anglo-Japanese cotton conversations have become of rather more concern to Australia and New Zealand than they might have been if carried to a successful issue. It is unpleasantly true, as the Osaka "Mainiclii” says, that in a State-aided trade war Japan “can always boycott Australian wool.” And New Zealand wool! This is only one of many potent reasons why every clfori should be made to avoid such an outcome from the present deadlock. Another is the constant liability of national restrictions upon trade to breed war. Much better, and much safer for all concerned, to meet competition with the legitimate weapons of commerce. Despite what is said in the cable news to-day by one of her spokesmen,_ it is by no means certain that Lancashire has exhausted the possibilities in this direction. “The prosperity of Japan’s export trade,” wrote an accredited contributor in The Times at the close of last year, "is due to the efficiency and organisation of her industry. With fewer than 9,000,000 spindles, Japan has a larger export trade than Lancashire with 50,000,000 spindles. Japan to-day is equipped with the most up-to-date plant in the world.” These are advantages which may be countered without boycotts or bayonets.