NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19008, 4 May 1925, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE USE OF WEALTH. A definition of Socialism and nationalisation was given by Mr. Ramsay MacDonnld in a speech in his constituency recently. Ho declared that if humanity was going to progress it must not be crushed out by materialistic, considerations. He liked to hear the attacks sometimes made from the Church that they were too materialist. He wished the Churches had their eyes open more to materialism in modern society. That was not a question of creed, but of practice, and the sort of stuff now filling the newspapers made every decent man and woman blush and wonder what was coming over society. Could they not see that it was a sign of deterioration of those who were not doing decent work ? Ho would be the last man to say that all these things were confined to one class, but if society were healthier in its capacity for sacrifice and for thinking and acting honestly, fewer of those things would happen than apparently was the case now. Was it not far better that, instead of humanity being ruled by the material possessions of man or by his pocket, they should by common effort properly organised, using the wealth and capital already created, make more wealth, more riches, but instead of raking them all into a great heap at one end, distribute them so that those who produce the wealth by brains and by hand should enjoy that wealth ? That was Socialism, and,when they talked about nationalisation that was what they meant. THE STATE OF ENGLAND. Addressing the Islington (London) Chamber of Commerce, Lord Burnham said that conditions in London were not a complete reflection of the state of England. In a sense, London was the sheltered centre of trade. It did not suffer from unemployment as much as those northern cities and towns which depended on their staple trades. London was still a great port; it still did the merchandising, not only of the country but of the world. London was increasingly becoming a pleasure resort of the new world and of the Dominions, and could rely upon a regular inflow of ■ tourist traffic. When so much money was being spent in London they were apt to think that all was well. They had to recollect that the greatest of the retail stores were set in the London area. These stores supplied the home counties, so that, in a sense, all the middle profits of half the country were made and collected in London. On the other hand he did not think that there was any reason to be too well satisfied with the state of things as seen in the country at large. England was becoming a paradise for "slackers." A different state of leeling was found abroad. Germany had once more come into active competition with them for th« trade of Europe. If they were to get back to the level of the productiveness before the war they had to put their back into the work in a very different manner from what was being dono in England to-day. THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLAND. Addressing a gathering in London of the Royal Society of St, George, Lord Birkenhead said the only country about which little or nothing was heard was England. And yet, after all, that small isle supported a population greater than the whole white population of the rest of the British Empire. It supplied 90 per cent, of the whole manning of the Navy, 83 per cent, of the total strength of the Armv, and in the recent war for every two men whom the rest of the Empire (including Ireland, Scotland and Wales) contributed to the fighting line this little England contributed eight. They were at least entitled—he did not claim more—to bold their heads up in England, According to a certain school of thought, they were not to be allowed to call themselves English. They were to be described as British. The other day there appeared a discrimination, in some military publication, in which it was said that there were so many Irish, so many Scot.*, so many Welsh, and so many British. And they were not. to talk of the English, language. They were to talk of the British language. If one went to Scotland and made a speech and said "English " Ihe whole audience would shout "British." H' Edinburgh was described as a "British" city the speaker would not leave it alive. The time had come to make a definite stand. Geographically so inconsiderable, great only in the proud expansive and unconquerable spirit of its inhabitants, England had sent forth its sons into every corner of the habitable world, had established mighty continents, and was father of that exuberant republic, the United States. Not content with that effort, by one of the most gigantic conquests in history if became the mistress of that illusive sub-continent, India, and called into being, inspired by the genius of Chatham, the self-governing Dominions, which to-day constituted the greatest Empire which the world had ever known.