NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19119, 10 September 1925, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

FAIR PLAY ALL ROUND. : " If the world is to be saved, it is to be saved by the great mass of men and women in every country being fired with nobler ideals. The whole secret of business prosperity—and by this is meant prosperity for employer, employees and the public whom they serve—is 'to be found in 'playing the game' on all sides, and by practising the philosophy of fair play all round," writes-Mr. Angus Watson in the Humanist. "One of the factors acting against the ideal is the'attitude of a large number of short-sighted workers, who would dawdle through the day's , work with as little effort as possible, turning out a product which is just good enough to hold the job down, and to enable them to draw, their wages when the week's task is complete. On the other side, there is to be considered the employer who very often is concerned about nothing more than getting the work through—Bis workmen merely units of expense in costing-out the final product. If he only had a little imagination he would see behind the workman a home, wife's and children's clothes, and all the other problems that go to make up his life." . THE PERSONAL ELEMENT.

While he frankly admits that a nationalised bank could do a large part of the business of banking nearly, if not quite, as well as private institutions, Mr. 0. R. Hobson, in a pamphlet issued by the British Association of Merchants and Manufacturers, says that it could not lend money. The fundamentals of money-lend-ing are precisely the same as they were in moro primitive days," he says. "No responsible banker will lend money to a customer unless ho believes him to be an honest man who will and can fulfil his engagements. His trust in his customer—the 'credit' of the customer —is always the principal security, and it is a fundamental element of the business of banking uhat a banker must always be in a position to refuse accommodation to a customer whom he does not trust or who, he believes, is overtrading or launching out into business which he is unlikely to carry ttrough, arbitrarily and without reason given. That is a position to which it is hopeless to be able to expect the State to adhere. Under the socialised system there will be no keeping such questions out of tho political arena. Credit policy will become a matter of wire-pulling and lobbying. The member for one constituency will want to know why A., Ltd., employing 5000 of his constituents, was refused accommodation, while B, Ltd., in the neighbouring division, got the credit it needed. Elections will be fought on the cry, 'More credit for the cotton trade or the coalmines or the steel industry !' 'Larger loans for brewers' will be the modern version of. 'Hands off the poor man's beer!' " Mr. Hobson's conclusion is that State banking would make a bad job both of tho individual loan and of lending in bulk, that is, of credit policy.

THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION. Addressing a gathering of teachers in London recently, Lord Eustace Percy, president of the Board of Education, said the public were undoubtedly asking whether the system of education was not running the risk that all great systems had—especially all Government systems—of becoming too much of a system interested in all kinds of uniformity and too little interested in tho real essentials of education —and tho effect which was being produced on tho mind of the individual child. There was a certain amount of foundation for that criticism. There was always the danger in such a system of tho creation of fashions in education and of ■ what began as an experiment developing into a rigid system in itself. Public opinion was also inclined .to say that there was an overcrowded curriculum in the schools; that they too often taught fads or put on frills which had no bearing upon life; that they were too intent upon open-' ing the child's mind wide and too little intent on giving the mind anything to feed on when it was opened. He did not think that the • criticism was justified. Teachers were not in love with an overcrowded curriculum and were impressed by the necessity of concentrating upon what was most essential. In answer to these questions, Lord Percy said: "It iis our main aim to provide the child. with that armament which will carry it through life, both generally as a useful citizen and also as a worker in the particular phase of life into which it is going out from the school.. We are working to fit the children to rebuild the life of the nation. We are trying to give the child at; broad an education us we can, to give it the fitness and qualities for actual day-to-day work, and, above all, we are trying to inculcate the virtuos of courage and hope, by which we shall be able directly to help this country to pas's through its present terrible dangers and difficulties."

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. There is now a more peaceful atmosphere in India, according to Mr. Arthur Moore, director of the Statesman, Calcutta. " Three or four years ago a good deal of nervousness was expressed about India," he said in an interview in Sydney. "People even talked of a state of feeling resembling that of the Mutiny period, but that wave has spent itself entirely. The Montagu and Chelmsford reforms, in tha matter of enlarging the government powers of the natives, were a great experiment. They have been vehemently attacked from all directions, first by the Indian extremists who professed to despise them, and secondly by the English 'die hards,' who considered that Indians were unfit for any political power. It is too early to say that these reforms are a success, but the Indian extremists have realised that they made a mistake in attempting to boycott the reforms, while those who had the good sense to recognise them attained important positions and important powers*. The extremists' anxiety at the moment is not to get left out in the race. On the other hand, Englishmen who felt nervous have become reassured. Nothing dreadful has happened in India as a result of the reforms. ' On the contrary, the average Indian has shown a surprising aptitude for Parliamentary government. The debates are on a high level, and there is generally a reasonable spirit of accommodation between the Cabinet and. its critics. The Swarajists are fundamentally loyal to the Empiro, although their brand of nationalism, from the Englishman's point of view, is far ahead of the real condition of the country. That is to say, there is no such thing as a united Indian people. There are many peoples, and it is the Englishman who is giving them the conception of a single country with a single administration."