OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 258, 28 July 1934, Page 20

OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Is Japan’s Policy Right? “Japan Is prepared to maintain the 'Open Door’ and equal opportunity in China. She desires the unification of that distracted country and the restoration of order. These, surely, are objects which should receive the fullest support of Great Britain. Yet since the Japanese declaration our pugnacious. pacifists: have been in full cry, hurling abuse at Japan and calling for measures which could only lead to war with the strongest Power in the Far East. “’hey-would like to see this country take a provocative attitude in so-called defence of British trade with China. What does that trade amount to? Last year it had fallen to £6,300,000, or about one-seventieth of our total exports, a result partly due to the anarchy and mis-rnle which have for years racked that unhappy land.. While such conditions endure, our trade and our vast Investments must suffer; It is to Britain’s Interest to give • strong support to any policy designed to restore prosperity to China. Such is the policy of Japan, and to involv? ourselves in a quarrel with her because she is trying to do it would be the height of folly.”—The “Daily Mail” (London).

' Economies And Birth Control. “The hidden social revolution now being brought about by the practice of birth control is probably as important as the political and economic revolutions which more ostentatiously distract the contemporary world; and before long it may cease to be hidden,’’ says the "Economist” > “When the industrial revolution first made it possible to feed a greatly increased number of mouths the fear of excessive numbers first began 'to trouble the world. At one and the same time the , birth rate rose, the death rate fell, the material resources '. 'of society were rapidly advanced, and.: the theory of population was Invented. If was argued that the population was manifestly increasing, that any rise In thestandard of living would make it rise faster, and that the supply of food could not possibly rise as fast. Very ineffective answers to these arguments were produced by the controversialists of the day ;,but an extremely effective answer was produced by the course of history. Food supplies multiplied even more Quickly than the human race; and. contrary, to the expectation of every economist and philosopher, the higher the standard ‘of .living the fewer children were born."

Judges and Penology. ■“The time will come, I think, when all engaged in trying and sentencing law-breakers will have had some training in the wise\ handling of delinquents,” writes Mr. Claud Mullins, the well-known magistrate, in the "Quarterly Review.” “It will be demanded of all on the criminal Bench, from the highest to the lowest, and of all lay magistrates who wish to take part in the criminal work of Police Courts, that they shall in one way or another fortify themselves on their appointment and before they begin judicial svprk with some knowledge of penology. Those on the Bench, from High Court judge to Justice of the Peace, can never be experts in penology, and it is hot desirable that they should be. But . all should visit, and, what is more important, know what goes on in prisons.” Experiment in Religion and Science. ■ "It is through its willingness to test its faith by experiment that religion has its,closest point of contact with science. Through experiment scientists translate their faith into knowledge througn appropriate action. Back of ' every scientific experiment is an act of faith ; faith in the existence of a real world with laws that make prediction po s •sible.;., .faith,, that . these ..laws can be known by man; faith that the way U learn what they can teach us is to fol- : low- to- the- best'insigh' that has been given us up to date. We call the insights of science hypotheses They siim up what scientists believe enough; to acf upon their beliefs. From this action-two results follow:, for one thing a clarification or correction of the original insight; for another, the enlargement of man’s power to use nature’s gifts. The experiments of religion have a like office ... Yet with all similarity, there remains this fundamental difference between the experiments, of, science and those of religion, that In religion a personal factor Is involved which is absent in science.”— Dr. Adams Brown. The Country Teacher. “I know from observation what the good teacher in the rural elementary school cah-do to spread happiness. He can open the eyes of the children to • the beauties Of the countryside, to the ways of birds and beasts and growing things,” said Mr. J. A. Spender, In a recent speech. “We talk a great deal In these, times about land policy, and quite rightly, but at the back of it all Is the need of rearing a population which win be happy on the land and find their interest in living in the country. These wll) resist the drift to the towns, and these in the end will be the good agriculturists and the successful allotment holders. In the making of these the village teacher is the indispensable man."

Caucus Politics. • . “Under the once-reprobated Caucus system, which all the parties have taken Over from Labour, the people are denied freedom of choice as regards candidates. The political heads decide who shall creep Into or be kept out of , public life. In the background, directing and controlling the political bosses, sit departmental bosses, anonymous and Irresponsible to the extent that 90 per cent, of the electors don’t so much as know their names, while no power but time can shift them from their Jobs. Your Caucus politician lives from day to day. He prepares for nothing except the next election. He has to be hounded Into almost every necessary action that threatens to lose his party a block vote or alienate the support of the particular batch of permanent civil servants whose advice on departmental problems enables him to save face in Parliament. It follows that a country has little hope of safety in the long run without newspapers which are prepared to talk sense and truth Irrespective of political and departmental overlords. And the duty has to be performed In peace-time; the moment a war starts an open dictatorship is proclaimed by the Government of the day, and no one gets a chance to tell the truth for the duration.”—“The Bulletin" (Sydney).

“Security First” “France adheres to Security First as a principle and to definite defensive compacts as a means. Everything pointe to an ultimate renewal on this basis of understanding between France and Russia. It would seek by pacts of non-aggression. more or less on the Locarno model, to reinforce the status quo in Eastern Europe. This would mean a general agreement that existing boundaries and nationalities for a term of years should remain undisturbed. Austria, the Entente and the Baltic States, as’ well as Greece and Turkey, would obtain the same reassurance as Poland, for instance. has provided for herself by her separate arrangement with Berlin. This will be the crucial test of Herr Hitler’s statesmanship. No..one proposes to interfere with his re-arma ment. It cannot be limited.except by an effective Convention, which it is impossible to conclude except with the Fuhrer’s free and equal consent. Will he guarantee to respect for a term of ten years the existing integrity ami In dependence of the nations in eastern Europe as of western Europe? If so, regulation of armaments may be possible.”—“Observer” (London)

Kidnapping As a Business. “The ominous increase In' kidnapping is a reflection of the rise of gangsterism and the application of current methods of organisation and financing! to criminal activity. To-day there are said to be 600 persons in the United States on a national protection list, safeguarded 'by federal and state authorities against possible kidnap ping. But police and courts cannot be charged with all the responsibility for controlling crime. Moral training of children, as well as elementary parental and community safeguards. Is basic Checking crime is everybody's job—citizens, newspapers, schools, colleges, churches, women’s clubs, parent-teach-er associations, and. above all, parentsA more vital training in the basic moralities and right conduct, and better supervision of children and young people, are basic among the many, remedies needed.”—“Christian Science Monitor.”

Creative Imagination. J “It is for us to decide what qualities are supremely needed for our time and then to devise, the discipline and education which will bring them out,”- said Dr Margaret Lowenfeld (co-director of the Institute of Child Psychology), in a recent speech. “Are those qualities which our educational system has put before us in the past those which are needed for us as a nation ab the present time? I put it to you) that they are not. We are surrounded on all sides by a curious paralysis of. corporative initiative. .Conservatism will not help.; honesty is merely negative. Courage is not sufficient by itself. The crying need of the present age is creative Imagination, and this cun be cultivated if we will take the pains. What is needed is originality of heart and mind, the will to stake one’s all on a new conception. Modern civilisation demands a sensitiveness to social evil. Again, there is needed a realisation of beauty. Above all, there is the need for a belief in man’s innate power to triumph over any difficulties created by man."

Free Opinion. “Fascists have the right enjoyed by every other body of opinion in Great Britain to place their case freely before the public, but the defence of order and of free speech belongs to the agents of the Government. All parties alike have a common interest in seeing that the protection of a cherished liberty is left to an impartial force and not to the supporters of some would-be dictator. A long battle for the free utterance of opinion was fought in this country. In large part it was carried on by men in defence of others whose political and religious views were re-, pugnant to. them.; The victory that they won is not to be Rightly surrendered to forces whose ver? existence would be a denial of the efficiency of Government.”—The “Daily Telegraph” (London).

A Fascist Parody. “Fascism has, of course, the same right as any other political creed to lay its case before the public. But there Is rather more in this business than that. The claim which the Fascists are making is a much bolder one. To-night’s experience,” said Sir Oswald Mosley at the end of his speech, “will have convinced everyone who has been present at it of the need for a Blackshirt Defence Force to' secure the right of free speech in this country. It will convince everyone still capable of reason on the subject of the exact reverse. The defence of free speech is one of the functions of the police, supported by a public opinion which; recognises without distinction of party their legitimate authority as responsible agents of the Government. The claim of an Irresponsible private body to maintain by force what it holds to be order is a parody of the forms of law.”—“NewsChronicle” (London).

A Federal Party Crisis. “As though there were not difficulties enough In the way of consolidating the .anti-extremist vote for the Commonwealth election, the executive of the U.C.P. in Victoria, or a section of it. is now trying to impose upon candidates nominated by that party a condition, the acceptance of which would stamp them as of the type least fitted to be entrusted with a member of Parliament’s responsibilities. They are to submit to have a pledge riveted round their political necks which, when they, enter Parliament, will oblige them each to leave his conscience outs’de. The candidate is asked to bind himself to vote not necessarily according to the principle upon which he was elected, but as a majority of the party in caucus may direct him to vote, and to take no part in the formation of a composite Ministry without special permission. As for opinions of his own, he will not be supposed to have any. Or. if he has. they must be like those of the American politician who, after enunciating his policy, said, ‘Those are my views, and if they flo not suit they can be altered.’ The Labour Party was the first to introduce this system to Australia, and on the date of Its Introduction the decadence of onr Parliamentary life began.”—“Sydney Morning Herald." •