PUBLIC OPINION

Hokitika Guardian, 25 May 1929, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION

THE HMIXM.ANI) OCCUPATION. “In Britain, and because we are neither a vindictive nor pedantic peo pin, Hie Press as a whole has shown towards Germany a more and more friendly temper without faltering for a moment in attachment to France. lif the Foreign Secretary had opportunity to acquire a wider acquaintance with the facts, lit- would he soon aware that never since the,; war has the Press in the English-speaking world been more largely and earnestly devotee! to the spirit- of peace and to the way.-. and means of reconciliation. While newspapers in tins manner are trying not only to mend those broken windows and rebuild those demolished houses Tor which nations, not their A!blisters liayc to pay, the- Foreign Secretary the -.other day sent'’a stone through a large pane of glass. It was not in Uh> least an intentional shy. He mmol, in e-in at a bird that Hew in f •on of a wind iw. 'Speaking in tin? Meuse of Commons, he asserted the typical Ercn.-ii thesis that the continued ~<• a •; ‘ bin of German soil by for eign troops is legal. Happily, he wen; on to say that in spite of the theory wo look forward, in fact, to withdraw al as soon as possible. But few things in international and private intercourse are more • disturbing than -tic iinnecessary emphasis ol a disputed abstraction.” —Air J. L. Garvin, in the “ London Observer.”

THE FUTURE OK WOAI'EN AS WRITERS. “In the past, the virtue of women’s writing often lay in its divine .spontaneity, like that of the blackbird’s song or the thrush’s,” writes V irginia Woo lif in the “ Forum.” “It was nil taught; it was from the heart. But it was also, and much more olten chattering and garrulous—mere talk spilt over paper and left to dry in pools and blots. In future, granted time and hooks and n little space in the house for herself, literature will become for women, as for men, an art to ho studied. Women’s gift will bo trained and strengthened. The novel will cease to be the dumping-ground for the personal emotions. It will become, more than at present, a work ol art like any other, and its resources and its limitations will be explored.