USES OF LEISURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15094, 10 September 1912, Page 8

USES OF LEISURE.

Ix a speech which ho delivered the other day the Premier of Tasmania hinted at an important factor'in national ..life which stands in grave danger of being overlooked. He pointed out that the tendency of recent legislation has been in the direction of increasing greatly the leisure of the community. Shopkeepers put up their shutters quite early in the evening; the hours of the labourer have been considerably curtailed ; and in other ways the leisure of the people has been greatly increased. " In this very matter of the multiplication of leisure," remarks the Hobart Mercury, "there lie both tremendous possibilities and tremendous perils. The idleness of an entire community during a considerable proportion of its waking hours may become a- huge national asset or a serious menace to the well-being of the State. People are too apt to suppose that character is determined by the main business of life. This is a fallacy. It is the use to which tho margin is put—the section, of time that remains after the main business has been dealt with— reveals individual propensities and, in the long run, determines national destiny."