RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 45, 17 November 1936, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events /By Kickshaws. Y A few Leftists and Rightists seems to be the way to settle political controversies in France. Mussolini’s eldest son is stated to be entering the films. Anyway, he comes from a family famous for its theatricals. * . » Before the Tasman is flown for the twentieth time we suggest moving New Zealand a little farther away, to give the fellow something worth doing. * ♦ • “Forgive me for bothering you, but you are so long-suffering that I venture to ask you who are Kipling s I' ive Free Nations,’ mentioned in “The Young Queen’?” says “C.M.D.” [The Old Country, Canada, Australia, South Africa and India.] Guam’s claim to something like a record with 50 earthquakes a day since last October may be a short periodic record. There have been occasions, however, when even places in New Zealand must have come very close, to this figure for a few weeks. A few years ago, in fact, Taupo had its daily dozen or more, but all of them were small shakes. They lasted, however, several months. Japan can claim a regular schedule year in and year out of some 15 shakes a day in some places. Twothirds of these are admittedly not noticeable except on delicate indicators. Taking the world as a whole, the most shaken countries are Italy, Japan. Greece and South America. Mussolini has been unable to regulate earthquakes. His country has had, apart from his own efforts, over 27,000 in 50 years. Japan comes a close second with under 100 shakes fewer in the same period. The two are probably equal first. Greece in that case is a bad third with a bare 10,000 in the same time, and South America is 2000 below Greece. We in New Zealand come off pretty well. Our total is still about 3000 in 50 years, not many more, in fact, than France.

Vicki Baum declares that she is unable to live on the proceeds of her writing. Either she must have a Grand Hotel standard of living or her business acumen must be below that of other novelists of about the same calibre. There are, however, some authors who never seem to be able to make money until they are dead. The books of D. H. Lawrence never earned for their author more than £lOOO a year, and often far less. To-day his earnings have risen to £lO,OOO a year. That is not much consolation to the author, but at least it does show that merit wins in the end. There are, however, novelists who seem unable to make money. At one time Anthony Hope must have been as much read as almost any other novelist. Yet when he died he left only £29,000. Indeed, Dickens himself left only £BO,OOO when he died. Large as this may seem, the fact remains that he was worth more than that. If Dickens were alive to-day he would be receiving a yearly income of approximately that sum. In his lifetime •Shakespeare had to content himself with £2OO a year from his writings. If he were alive to-day he would be the richest man in the world. Vicki Baum should take heart Maybe she will be able to live on her writings when she’s dead.

As .a matter of fact some of the bet-ter-known authors have not proved to be as wealthy as was at first imagined. Kipling, for example, left only £155 000. Some people imagined him to be worth at least one million. Authors have a curious form of wealth. They may actually be worth nothing yet have a steady Income of thousands a year. Kipling’s income would, in fact, have been greater than the accepted 5 per cent, on his capital. For example, Edgar Wallace died worth nothing at all. In fact he was heavily in debt. Yet his income was some £30,000 a year from royalties. In contrast Hall Caine when he died left a fortune of £250,000, in addition to a modest £6OO a week from royalties ou his works. • World sales of his novels exceeded 10,000,000. which gives some idea of how exceedingly well he was repaid by the general public. As a rule the backbone of the writing profession does not make money on the grand scale of the few big men. The story tellers, the John Buchans, the Andrew Soutars, the Rafael Sabatinis, they turn out workmanlike novels and, like Warwick Deeping in the earlier days, they got in return from £lOOO to £5OOO a year steady payment from their public.

The truth is that many writers whose names are well known to the public do not make more than £5OO from their profession. Yet there are some who. having combined writing instincts and business instincts, contrive to make huge fortunes. Coward is, so to speak, the reporter of the writing world. He makes his fortunes out of seizing matters of topical moment. Whether, like Dickens, he ■or his descendants will make anything out of his writings, is another matter. The fact remains that he, Noel Coward, is now a millionaire or very close to it. His plays are like newspaper commentaries. Proof that the public like them may be had from the fact that at the age of 27 years he enjoyed an income of £50,000 a year, subscribed entirely by the public. Arnold Bennett was another close observer of life and an artist at reproducing it on paper. He got £16.000 a year for his services. Wells was another who made money out of the topical moment. He got £20.000 a year from it. Shaw also is not averse to casting irony on the topic of the moment or upon modern ways. Modern readers, indeed, pay him willingly some £25,000 a year to go on doing so.

If Hitler’s denunciation of the river control clause of the Treaty of Versailles has done nothing else it has drawn attention to the waterways of Europe. The truth is that it is now possible to travel by water into the interior of almost any part of Europe. The Swiss navy literally might make a sortie, into the North Sea. The city of Bale, is in fact in direct water communication with Rotterdam. Indeed tugs suited for the purpose make regular trips across 800 miles of inland Europe. Balo is the terminus of the Rhine. No doubt interested parties will lie eagerly scanning Hitler’s latest spectacular way of doing a thing less politely than it might have been done. Belgium incidentally also makes use of the Rhine. She takes its waters to feed her canal system connecting with the Meuse. Tlie truth is that one can easily get lost iu the maze of canals that are to be found all over Europe. The French have got their rivers so interlocked with canals one will be able to go bj water from the Atlantic to the Medi terranean when the work is completed Already it -is possible to travel by boat from Marseilles to almost anywhere it France via the Rove tunnel This tun nel, moreover, makes it possible to gc by water from Marseilles to Geneva, Alsace and Germany,

“W..1.P.”: Please note that statistics of religious professions from the census I of March 24 last will not be available for some considerable time.