NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS

Hokitika Guardian, 1 October 1929, Page 8

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS

COLLECTIVISTS AND INDIVIDUALISTS. “We are all collectivists in these days to the extent of believing that such essential primary services as education and postal communication should be run on national lines, but when it comes to earning the nation’s ivelihood by wresting it from the ioi'ces of Nature we find that sturdy .ndividualism produces the best rcults. Similarly in education, and,, in iact, through all the organisation of fife. We need the development of character which comes only from the development of individuality. We need also the development of team work. The nation which can secure fhe most harmonious working of each in doubt harness is the nation which is going to make the greatest headway. It amounts to making the best of ourselves, individually and the best .d’ our side as a team. So that, although the emissaries of Birmingham spoke apparently at cross-purposes, the judicious welding of their advice will produce excellent results.”—“Wolvcrnampton Express.”

MEDICAL -CONFIDENCES

“Every doctor admits that he must preserve his patients’ confidences. It ; true that the Hippocratic Oatli is rather hazy. It says: ‘Whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession as well as outside my profession in - my intercourse with man, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, hplding such things to be holy-secrets.’ This amounts to lit Jo more than a general declaration against gossiping. The practitioner is left to determine for tr'mself what things in connection with bis profession, ‘ought not to he spoken abroad.’ Everyone recognises the necessity and imprtance of medical coni'dences. Everyone recognises that they are sacred and precious. But we must recognise also that the rules regarding them to exist for the welfare of the •-immunity, and not for the aggrandisement or convenience of a particular Gass. We must recognise also that they must be modified to meet the inevitable changes that occur in the necessities of various generations. As Cicero says “Sains nopuli, suprema lex -•sto,’ or in English, ‘Lot the good of the people be the paramount law.’.”— Lord Riddell.

LAYMEN AS RESEARCH WORKERS.

“The layman is often deterred from serious application toi any branch of science by the length <of the road he fninks it will be necessary to travel before becoming qualified for research. T f it were essential to master a subject before attempting to contribute to its advancement by original work, none of i’s could hope to become more than industrious seekers after omniscience within a restricted field,” said Processor A .C. Seward, F.R.S., speaking at the annual-British Association meeting. “Anyone of average intelligence, provided he or she has the driving force born of enthusiasm and the faculty of taking pains, is capable of making valuable contributions to knowledge in some department of scientific inquiry. Amatuers have taken an honourable and productive part in advancing geological and botanical knowledge ; they have an advantage over orofessional teachers in that they are free to concentrate their energies where preference -leads them. Moreover, laymen are more fortunate than urofessional men of science, who are expected to he able to answer all questions relating to the subject they profess, in not being expected to know more than they know.

MASS PRODUCTION AND BEAUTY

1 ‘Mass production is here to stay,” said Dr. Arthur T. Little, in his presidential address at tile annual meeting of the Society of Chemical industry, reported in the “Manchester Guardian.” The charge that it is incompatible with beauty cannot be nghtly dismissed. Carried along in Aie flood of its output are many products deserving of a place nowhere out in a museum, of bad taste. That, However, is not the fault of the machine, but of the head, for the machine is as truly a tool of the head as the hand itself is. Though we have seemed, aesthetically, to be in danger of domination by the machine, We are beginning to prove ourselves its masters. Many machine products ale already better than the craftsman’s oust. Many others have their ov/ii distinctive beauty, because of tlieir perfect adaption to their purpose, i lie propoi-tion of both seems certain io increase. Whether it docs or not, one must agree with Beard in his introduction to ‘Whither Mankind?’ that ‘those who are prepared to sacrifice the standard of living for the millions to provide conditions presumably favourable to the creative i.its must assume a responsibility of the first magnitude.”