OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 98, 19 January 1935, Page 20

OVERSEAS OPINIONS

Common Sense.

“We can only understand the strange paths along which man’s thought has wandered when we realise that all the questions with which he is concerned in his life finally resolve into the one question—How does he understand his life within the existence of the universe, and how does his will surrender itself to the infinite will which rules within the universe? And now comes what is called common sense, and tries to usurp the place of Thought. It thinks our Thought need not enter on such great undertakings in order to find the right path in life. Common sense is a mode of thought which only wishes to concern itself with what lies nearest at hand, and is directly practical. It believes it need not venture out on the open sea, but that it can reach its goal—a goal that lies on the other side of the ocean—by coasting along the shore.”—Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous African medical missionary, musician, philosopher and theologian. Producer and Consumer.

“The problem of to-day is to bring together the over-producer and the under-consumer. Remember the 2,000,000 good men and women —with their 6 000,000 or 7,000,000 dependants—who are out of work and living on a bare minimum of subsistence. In every back street in every town there are children at whom you only have to glance to see that they are not being given a chance to grow into healthy citizens. Who is to say that the marketing boards, with their powers not only of reducing marketing costs to the general consumer, but of diverting surpluses to particular types of consumers, may not turn into reality what has hitherto been a dream, namely, the elimination of hunger from the midst of plenty. Much of this could be done under existing powers. But, of course, sooner or later it will be necessary to go further.”—Lord De La Warr, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture. Church v. Paganism.

“The Church of Christ is the only institution in the world which ever saw paganism face to face; and the Church has never quite got over that time of terror. The Church of Christ, if she be indeed the Church of Christ, like her Lord, knows what is in man. Therefore she is patient. She waits, abiding her time. She sees her children go astray, and, in a sense, she is helpless to restrain them. She can only warn them, saying the things she has said from the beginning. They may hear and come back, or they may not hear, and they may go away as though they had forgotten her. But there is a limit to the loneliness we can bear. And besides, it is not so easy as some people think to break away finally from the God of our fathers. There is n in which the Spiritual world, like this earth of ours, might be described as a globe; so that the further you go from a certain point the nearer you are to coming back.” —Dr. John A. Hutton in “Finally.” Indian Realities. “In reinforcing the guarantees for the internal peace of India,” writes Mr. J. L. Garvin in the “Observer,” “the Joint Committee could not have gone farther without abandoning the entire policy of self-government for All-India within the Empire. The alternative to that policy is not the status quo in India. No. The alternative to the Report is the attempt to hold by coercive force an India which on those terms would be more and more united against us in a way that nothing else on earth could bring about. A policy of force more general and convulsive ' than we have ever yet tried to employ would come to its certain doom within a very few years. Meanwhile, let us remember it; and, above all, face realities —let us face in its stark truth the reality we have just stated. That is why in our conviction the constructive system of the great Report will command the assent of five-sixths of the nation when they realise from now forward before what choice of courses they stand.” Physical Fitness. “The maintenance of physical fitness is thus a problem which is concerned not only with children but with adolescents and adults. The first and the best way to improve nutrition, and therefore physical condition, is to bring the better kinds of food within the reach of humbler purses. It has been recognised that the price of food cannot be such as to bring bankruptcy upon producers, and so the proper method is to see how far prices can be reduced, while still remaining remunerative, by Improvements in production and in marketing. Anything which can be done in that direction by the cohort of boards now established in the agricultural industry will be welcomed. For example, it must give a severe shock to a housewife who complains of the cost of milk to be told by the milkman that he is not allowed by law to distribute it cheaper because that would upset the economics of the Milk Marketing Board. But it would be a mistake to expect too much too quickly, and in particular to accept the view that private retailers are one and all extortionate profiteers.”—“The Times” (London). British Tramp Shipping,

“Upon no matter has the House •>£ Commons shown more resolution than in its determination to keep the prestige of the mercantile marine high. £2,000,000 will be available in rhe coming year for help to tramp shipping, now run at a loss, that is not trading between ports in the British islands. The money goes to the vessels that have to compete against foreign subsidised shipping. Shipowners will also be assisted to acquire one ton of new shipping for every two tons that are scrapped. The first scheme provided for one ton as against three. This help is limited to a period of two years, and a total sum of £10.000,000. ■Whether the assistance now to be arranged will be adequate cannot be seen until the stated periods have passed, but it will certainly keep British shipping on the seas in the meantime. The fact that it is given inay serve to convince nations now spending large sums on subsidies that these are uneconomic, since Britain is determined not to allow its mercantile marine to be destroyed by such means.”—"Dally Telegraph” (London). —

Ribbon Roads.

“The Government of India Bill must necessarily take precedence in importance, and therefore, so far as possible, in time; though some progress is to be made with other measures before it is introduced. But, without denying the urgency of all these other measures, it must be pointed out that one is so urgent that, if it is not passed soon, it might as well not be passed at all, says “The Times.” “This is the Bill ‘for the control of building development along main thoroughfares,’ which is the official description of that old enemy ribbon development. The Government are warmly to be congratulated upon including a promise to attack this pernicious practice in the King’s Speech, but the promise is also an incentive to the ribbon developers to increase their activity. The qualification, ‘if time permits,’ attached to the promise is therefore disquieting. What is wanted is an immediate measure.” The Re-arming of Germany.

“Germany, having been allowed to re-arm in principle, has re-armed in practice, although by doing so she has technically violated the Treaty of Versailles. The disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles have ceased to mean anything except in so far as they relate to the ‘demilitarised zone’ which is covered by the Locarno Agreement. That agreement still stands and will continue to stand. To suppose that we can force Germany to disarm all over again, to scrap her heavy guns and tanks, to destroy her GOO (or more) military aeroplanes, to fill her subterranean aerodromes with earth, to dismantle her new armament factories and turn her munition workers op to the labour market —to suppose this is simply not to be serious. But what are we to do? German disarmament is impossible ’ German rearmament is producing a most dangerous situation. A predicament indeed —the worst that has confronted European statesmanship since the end of the war. ManChester Guardian.” Arcos Pays in Cash.

“The new policy of purchasing for cash adopted by Arcos, _ the Russian trading corporation in this country, is a reflection of the growing financial strength -of the Soviets, and robs the inveterate anti-Bolshevik of one of. his favourite war cries. The suggestion that Soviet credit is not good was always without foundation. Now that Arcos is paying in cash, it ceases even to be a possible suggestion. But the new system will clearly do nothing to encourage British exports to Russia, which will be limited severely, so far as these transactions are concerned, by the amount of gold and foreign currency which the Soviets happen to control and choose to use for this purpose. Is it not time, in view of this last development, that the present restrictions to credit dealing with Russia should be revised?” —“NewsChronicle” (London). Australasian Sliipping.

Australia has a vital interest in the maintenance and extension of Australian. British and Maoriland shipping in the Pacific. Apart altogether from trade, an adequate mercantile marine is a necessary adjunct to any defence scheme. It needed 38 ships, the largest of which was 13,500 tons, to carry the first Anzacs to Egypt. If it were necessary to-day to send a self-contained division to Northern Australia or New Guinea, it could not be done in Aus-tralian-owned vessels without almost completely denuding the coast of everything down to trawlers. In 1924 Australia and Maoriland had Gl5 steam and motor-ships of 757,085 gross tons; by 1931 (the Commonwealth Statistician gives no later figures) the number of vessels had declined to 593 and the gross tonnage to 677.463. It is in no unfriendly spirit that Australians and Maorilandcrs demand that foreign ships competing against Australian. British and Maoriland lines with the help of subsidies should be treated as their Governments treat British shipping, subsidised or not. The policy is necessary to both their countries and to Britain. —’’The Bulletin,” Sydney.

A Stake hi the Country. “The citizen with a stake in his country, whether it be his house or an account with a building society, savings bank, or the like, has a sense of civic responsibility which is proof against irresponsible propaganda. The thrifty citizen is the despair of the agitator. Thrift is not sectional in its appeal, nor does it meet with a sectional response. On the contrary, it tends, if suitably encouraged, to be practised over the widest area, and hence benefits the widest range of thrift institutions. The history of thrift in Britain since the war is conclusive on this point In a well-ordered system, with each institution organised to make an effective appeal, there is room for all. Nor is this remarkable, for as Sir Josiah Stamp has pointed out, referring to Britain: ‘There is no real rivalry between the Building Society movement on the one hand, and National Savings, and even Bank Deposit facilities on the other. Each total may be a little less than it might have been if the others did not exist, but each taps a different field of human psychology, and each contributes a huge addition to the total savings that would otherwise not exist.’ Sir Harold Bellman. A World-Interesting Experiment. “Is the United States, in her own experimental way, finding the middle way between llassez fnlre and Socialism ; between the ‘rugged individualism’ of pioneer capitalism and the nationalisation of all industry under Socialism: between letting the price system and competition be the son? force which moves capital and labour to the places where they make the things and render the services for which there is already a demand, anil the universally planned Communist State? Or to put it in New Deal language, is the United States discovering how the State can. through the prin ciple of its own ‘compensating activity,’ keep the national economy in balance even in an ever-changing anil progressive world: meet the disloea tions which are inevitable so long as economic nationalism is the dominant creed of mankind : and eventually bring these national economies info liar monious balance with one another—thus reopening the way for a return to Democracy and organised world peace? It is still too early to answer But the experiment is worth the care ful and sympathetic study of all thoughtful men and women."—Mr. J. L. Garvin.