NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18772, 28 July 1924, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

SAFETY FROM " DEATH RAYS." If one lumps the properties of all known types of rays together, and fearlessly generalises from particular cases, the amalgamated ray can do many tilings, writes Dr. A- S. Russell in the London Daily News. But in practice few of these remarkable properties, are operative, because circumstances arise which prevent the ray from acting. So the elements are not transmuted, the deadly X-rays and ultra-violet rays do not kill unless you are very close up against them; at a short distance, or with coverings on, they are harmless. And owners of motor-cars', submarines and aeroplanes do not fit complicated and neatly-tuned mechanism to their machines so that when an enemy shines the ray upon them the "circuit is completed and the engine stop 3, or the bomb blows them up. Providentially, jt happens that the rays of short wave-length which are most harmful to mankind, are least potent at a and most easily avoided by screensthey are also the hardest to generate; while those of long wave-length, like wireless waves t which are sent out with great energy, are most penetrating and are perfectly harmless. Sir Richard Gregory makes another point of the same kind in the Observer. He says: Any physicist would .be prepared with an engine of his own to stop another engine by means of a beam of rays at a distance o£ a few yards. Such a demonstration is interesting, but would attract more wonder in a music hall than in a scientific laboratory. The possibility of stopping an engine at a distance of a couple of miles cannot be dismissed. The only question is as to the production of sufficient electric p'ower to do this, and its transmission through the air. But, assuming that this could be done at once, it is the easiest thing in the world to screen a magneto or an engine of any kind from such external action. THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE. The fundamental problem of the international status of the British Empire is whether, in dealing with the ' outside world, the nations which form the British Commonwealth shall act together, or whether they can, when they think fit, act separately, says the English Review of Reviews. li this problem were to be approached solely on juridical lines it would not bo susceptible of solution. If handled practically, and with sympathetic imagination oh the part of the British Government, it should prove far less formidable than it seems to be. The question really is whether what we still call the "Colonial Office." and British Ministers and members of Parliament generally, understand that, in the eyes of the Dominions, Great Britain is {merely the first among equals, not necessarily the deciding factor in the councils of the Commonwealth. The doctrine of the "Commonwealth," as distinguished from that of the "Empire," must become a conscious basis of British thought about the Dominions and of British dealings with them if it is to have vital influence. Not only should British statesmen make a practice of visiting the Dominions to gam on the spot experience of Dominion sentiments, but the periodical " Imperial Conferences" should not invariably be held in London. Were they held from time to time in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or India, they would do more to promote the. growth of a sane "Commonwealth" idea than any-

thing else could doj and were it possible for the King himself to visit the Dominions, the value of the Crown aa a > symbol and bond of union would be vastly enhanced. It is not that the Dominions lack "loyalty" to the Crown or to the Commonwealth, but that they have come of age and are disposed to assert their individuality whenever there Eeems to be a disposition "at home" to ignoro it. Aa in regard to so many British difficulties, the remedy lies in more imagination and fuller knowledge on the part of British public men. INDUSTRIAL PEACE. Mr. G. N. Barnes, in The World Today, asks how we can get industrial peace. He believes that peace depends on the spirit in which the changing circumstances of the times are met by employers and employed, and on the degree to which both will have regard to community interests. Our industrial system is not ideal, but no system can be ideal until there is an ideal human nature. It is to the emergence of the right spirit rather than to mere mechanical change tjiat he looks for relief from industrial troubles. "What is needed above everything is .that employers and employed should take large views based on citizenship. It is true that they have interests which conflict, but they have also interests which harmonise. The hope of industry lies in building on the latter. There must be a willingness to serve all. There is no hope in a mere scramble for wages and profits on the part of two groups in industry without due regard to the interests of the third—the community which includes both. In the first place, the great need is for co-operation of employers and employed. And, fortunately, organisation now gives opportunity for it, and enables each side to curb the worst and bring . out the best in its ranks. We should carry consultation a stage further than mere adjustment of disputes. There should be, in regular industries, joint councils to prevent disputes developing and to discuss anything of mutual interest. This would bring in its train-a corporate pride in industries and a desire to relieve the community of anxiety regarding them. Peace depends upon a peace mentality, but may be hastened by co-operation on a human basis. Workers must be regarded as partners as well as servitors in industry, and employers must be given fair play as men charged, in the present stage'of society, with onerous and responsible duties. In proportion as these things are done the wasps who live for and by industrial conflict will lose their power for mischief. i