CASUAL COMMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1937, Page 7

CASUAL COMMENT

AND SOME OBSERVATIONS.

(By Obsorver).

What is this non-intervention business? One paper has referred to it as a comedy, but the situation is too serious to regard it so lightly. Actually, it appears to be an ,effort to stave off war, and diplomacy has to play, a part in keeping up the fiction which the name implies. Its operation in the meantime, appears to bo something in the nature of a breather, while breakneck preparations are going ahead to prepare for eventualities should the temporising end. There have been incidents in plenty to cause vv ar, had the nations been prepared for a conflict. An incident much less in gravity has started the Japanese onslaught on China. But round and a bout Spain, almost daily incidents are occuring which in ordinary circumstances would be provocative of war. Jt remains to be seen how long the game is to be' played and the offenders get off scathjess. The “Times” fulminates against the offenders which may be some indication that patience in Britain is exhausted.

Meantime the Non-intervention Committee meets and adjourns with consistent regularity without results being in sight. And from the frank expressions of some of the diplomats, there is not any possibility o c agreement. Britain was trusted to produce a general plan of non-intervention, but the proposal to exclude volunteer combatants proved, and is still, the main stumbling block. It seems clear in the interval that ammunition and supplies must be reaching Spain in considerable quantity, The sustained bombardments and the spirited replies, combined with the air raids and the retaliatory acts, could not be possible without a regular supply to maintain the vigor of the efforts. To talk of non-intervention when such conditions are the. order of the day, is to reduce the situation to its tragic course mopping up daily so many lives, and destroying so many towns and homesteads. • Spain, fnust be,'crippled in the end to such an extent; that a, generation will not suffice for its adequate recovery. . ■'"' l

One of the. returning Parliamentarians; has . come do ; the' conclusion that “New Zealand has a lot to Learn” from Old, England, This confession suggests that ir< his case at least the trip abroad has not been without value. The idea that New Zealand leads the world is not now horn, ifor it is heard often, and, there is some political ambition to that end. However, the . Parlmmentary party which went to Britain and moved jibout the provinces, s.aw and Jieard much which disillusioned them on the point of leadership. They saw the Old Land rearing its head at a time when there were ominous news from • Fmlrope and the Far East. It was then that Britain decided to move right ahead in self-protection, till now the country is in such a position that the safety of the land is more secure than ever. In modern defences, Britain appears to lead definitely, while in point of view of the desire for world peace no country has shown a more consistent attitude, nor sacrificed more to maintain it.

The Minister of Internal Affairs has found time to attempt to create a con trolling body for sport. This appears to be done with the object of utilising games to improve the stamina of the growing population, and to provide tor an improved means of utilising the in creased leisure the communities now en joy under the 40-hour week. However, the citizens have taken up the problem , naturally and nationally. To-day test; teams of New Zealanders will try tlieir strength in Rugby League football at Auckland, to select the final test 13 to proceed to England and France in a re'wesentat’ve capacity. Jn straight out Rugby, the All Blacks will meet the South Africans in the first test at Wei lington. At Sydney the New Zealand touring hockey team will play an AllAustralian team, while on liistoriLords, the New Zealand cricketers wif play the third test against England’s eleven. That programme indicates New Zealanders are very sporty, and cer tainly ambitious in tackling the best in oversea contests. May fortune favour the brave to-day.

The biggest victories of the Springboks in New Zealand in 1921 were against Buller-West Coast (33-3), South Canterbury (34-3), and Marl-borough-Nelson (26-3). In the Tesi games. New Zealand won the first at Dunedin by 13 points to o. South Africa won the second at Auckland by 9 points to 5, and the third at Wellington was a draw —no .score. The lure ®of the game has attracted West Coasters for the first test at Wellington today, while there will be an exodus from the Coast for the Canterbury game next- Saturday, and for the second test in Christchurch three weeks hence. The public therefore, display the keenest interest in the fortunes of the game, now regarded as the national game of the Dominion. The result will be that despite the probable result, overflowing crowds will patronise the matches and take the liveliest interest in the exciting proceedings. The strain , of a tour such as the South Africans are undertaking must be donsiderable, and playing in a field surrounded by thousands of spectators, it can be realised the atmosphere -will dielectric.

When the summer season arrives, ami with the extra leisure now provided by a beneficient Government, folk should see more of the surrounding country. A new track from the Ross road to Picnic beach, Lake Mahinapna,