WIRELESS V. LETTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 24 (Supplement)

WIRELESS V. LETTERS.

A > day - * may ' come ( when broadcasting will - strike-- letter-writingi another serious blow; for / how •. much.' simpler to dictate a piece of 1 news, such as the engagement of dear Milly to "young Ransoms, than to write it out separately- for all the friends of the family—and affix stamps in addition! When everyone has wireless everyone will hoar of the engagement simultaneously. And, beyond any question, wireless has come, as they say, to stay.*' I was spending the week-end recently in a house where, although it had been carefully built in. the midst of a. wood so as to ensure quiet and , remoteness from the restless world, everyone was wearing ear-caps, and vast conucopias emitted sounds gathered from all parts of the country. Outside, it was a beautiful serene evening; . within, all was turmoil and discord. - . - '

It would be a very sad' thing for the world if letter-writing completely gave way to mechanical inventions; but I don't think .. that , likely. r No matter hijw marvellously we develop and how the beguilements of Sport and stage and cinema multiply— now? can j any ,good citizen do justice both to the movies and to his desk there .will always be a choice company of ' old-fashioned people who will take delight 'in talking on paper; and therefore there will always be letters, and good ones. I have been privileged lately to read a number of those written by a distinguished scholar and wit who died last year. He was- a busy man, a man much given to friendship and conversation, a believer in conviviality, a hard worker at his own educational tasks; , and yet he found • time and inclination •;# to write many letters which were always works or , art as well as expressive of his whimsical and outspoken mind. Some day these will be published and " The Letters of " will be a book of the soundest sagacity and extraordinary charm. But for his letter-writing habit the book would not exist. There mighi, it is true, be a''•Life"; but to my eyes a - title- - pago which promises only a " Life " has far less allurement than one which offers " The Life and Letters "o? The Letters " only.— V. Lucas, in Good Housekeeping.'