TIMELY TOPICS

Northern Advocate, 3 February 1936, Page 4

TIMELY TOPICS

INSTINCT FOR FREEDOM. v

r Every normal man has a natural instinct for liberty as well as for or--1 der, writes Mr Francis W. Hirst, in his new book, “Liberty and Tyranny.” 7 To escape from disorder and anarchy, } he may consent to surrender his poli--5 tical liberty for a time, and, so long I as economic conditions improve, he 5 may put up with the loss of free instir tutions. But after a time the con- > straints of tyranny begin to gall him i more and more. He reverts to the L instinct which inspired the Declaration Jof Independence—that liberty is a natural right. That instinct is a law of nature to which nature will return; 1 and, unless I am profoundly mistaken, the tyrannical bureaucracies of Europe are doomed to disappear with the dictations whom they serve and 1 support. * * * * DISCIPLINING MOTORISTS. The sentence of three years’ penal servitude passed by Mr Justice Du Parcq on an English motorist convicted of manslaughter by reckless driving must arrest public attention, comments the “Daily Telegraph.” That was one of its main purposes. Those concerned with the administration of justice and the general public—for jurors have their part to play—must recognise that failure to punish serious read offences by adequate penalties is a grave dereliction of duty. , The Courts, it cannot be denied, , have been slow to impose exemplary penalties, and juries have shrunk from i findipg verdicts of guilty on the grav- : er charges, in the absence of crimin- 1 al intent. The public safety demands < that any driver who treats lives with c contempt should be dealt with dras- : tically and consistently. The more t publicity such cases are given the i more likely we are to reduce the t amount of brutal driving. Even more \ powerful in raising the standard of e road safely is the stiffening of public g feeling against the motorist amok. I

Words of Wisdom,

The things that destroy us are injustice, insolence, and foolish thoughts; and the things which save us are justice, self-command, and true thought, which things dwell, in the loving powers of the gods.

Tale of the Day.

The class had received a lesson on the early history of trading. At the r-.cs'j the teacher ashea, “Vow, whit do we know about the Phoenicians"'”

Bright Boy: “They invented blinds to keep the sun out.”