NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19196, 9 December 1925, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE COAL PROBLEM. Five salient conclusions regarding the condition of the British coal industry were presented by Mr. Walter Runciman in a speech at Swansea. First, the world's supply of coal is greater than over before, and the chief nations of the world had a record output last year, equal to 191.3. Second, the world has learned to exploit its coal resources more economically and the ton goes further than it did. Third, the amount of coal moving from country to country is much less, which explains why shipping is suffering so severely. Fourth, Great Britain obtained slightly less proportion of the world's trade last year than in 1921, but hor relative share was still higher than in 1913. FiftJi, the coal problem if chiefly an export problem. Mr. Runciman added that the truth was that we had reached the passing of a great British monopoly and somo of it had gone for ever. A difference of, roughly, two shillings a ton between prices had had the effect of letting the foreigner in and shutting Britain out, and until the British price was sufficiently reduced Britain would remain shut out on the markets that used to be hers. SCIENCE AND ART. The differences between science and art are discussed in the Lancet by Sir Charles Sherrington, O.M. "As to what science is and what art is, let me take refuge in saying that all definition is notoriously difficult and that comparisons are odious," he writes. "Bandaging, I think I have seen in some hands an art. and not a science, and yet in others both an art and a science; and possibly in. others a science, but without art. Science pursues knowledge for the sake of knowing the how of a result. Perhaps art uses knowledge for the sake of a result without caring about the how. Science has laws, which, unlike some laws, aria unbreakable. Hence Mr. Bateson's wisa advice, 'Cherish your exceptions.' In Nature every seeming exception is bu* obedience to another law. With art laws are on another plane—even in the fine arts, The laws of the romantic school of yesterday were not the laws of the classical school of the day before. The laws of the Cubists to-day will not be the laws of the Futurists, perhaps PoJygonists, of to-morrow. Hence medicine, which has become scientific is more stable than medicine which has not. Fashions of bandaging may change, but the principle of asepsis abides. Science and art dovetail in medicine; that is the real point of importance, not any impossible attempt to distinguish them minutely. Art, whore skilfully efficient, unconsciously adopts measures science would endorse." THE PARTY SYSTEM. Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, the Lord Rector of Aberdeen University, in his address to the students dealt with the subject of party government. He presented a severely critical examination of the party system and in conclusion said that in spite of its defects, it is necessary if there is to be a stable Government carrving out the policy approved by the majority of the electors. " The party system is a means, and a legitimate means, to an end," he said "Without it Parliamentary government cannot be effectively carried on; there can be no stability, no vigorous executive, no fixed policy. . . . It. is the only available instrument of government. If it has its defects, it- has its great merits. The merging of the individual in corporate life, be it that of the party or of the State, calls for devotion and self-sacrifice. It brings out great qualities—some of the greatest in human nature. We must be vigilant lest party develops into faction, with all the attendant evils of hypocrisy and corruption. But vigilance must not be an excuse for timidity or self-indulgence. There is much to be done, many causes to be served. Selfishness, arrogance, cruelty still flourish in the world. Envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness still produce their evil fruits. Vice and poverty at home, suspicion and hostility abroad, summon us to political activity. Let us by all means purify our party politics. But do not let us from prudery or Pharisaism or idleness shrink from the tasks which our common citizenship has laid upon us." THE EMPIRE AND EUROPE. To British investors who might be disposed to subscribe to European loans instead of to those offered by the British Dominions, somo very frank advice was given recently by the City editor of the Times. "The facility with which money can be borrowed by the Dominions under the Colonial Stock Act carries dangers, and it would be better if private enterprise could bo encouraged to undertake more of the financing of colonial development," he wrote. "But whatever risks colonial borrowing carries with it, history shows that they are as nothing compared with the risks of lending in Europe. America lends moro cheaply to the Empire than to Europe. At the moment Europe is a huge, black blot of default. A vast sum lent to Russia has been repudiated in one stroke; old mark obligations in Germany have met the same fate by inflation; and, similarly, inflation has cancelled out for the most part, loans to Central Europe and reduced currency obligations in Belgium, France and Italy to about four-fifths of their former value; Turkey has defaulted several times, and very little now remains of the moneys lent to her. Even this small balance is still in default. Holland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries are conspicuous examples to tho contrary. So grievous have been the defaults of Europe that, without the help of the League, her credit would be worso than it is to-day."