NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19218, 6 January 1926, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THRIFT AND INDUSTRY. Thrift was one of the outstanding subjects of a speech delivered in Aberdeen by Mr. Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Min--1 ister. lie said the British people as a ; whole were not wasting their savings. ( This year War Saving Certificates had , been selling at the rate of a million a : week, and each week there were 10,00 C new buyers. Altogether about , certificates. He recommended that work . people and customers should be encourI aged everywhere to participate in the ownership of industrial companies. He i pointed out that we had much to learn ' from tue I nited States, where there was a continuous process of combining the owning and the earning classes. Industrial ownership thero was spreading from the few to the many. There was, in fact, a great social revolution without violence. He recognised tho same, tendency in Britain, but it was necessary to accelerate it and he appealed to every employer to multiply the facilities by which wageearners and people with small sums of money might become shareholders. There had been much abuse of the luxury flaunted by rich people in London, but this vulgarity was confined to relatively few and the money thus wasted represented no appreciable reservoir of spending power. Tho greatest mischief done by the vulgar rich was that they were the chief propagandists of revoluntionary doctrines. DO THE -DYING FEAR DEATH? "I have been as near death as it is safe to bo, and a little nearer. If I bad died [ should not know more about the sensation of dying than I know now," writes Mr. James Douglas in the Sunday Express, and this will explain why his contributions, so greatly missed, have not appeared of late. "You will all be interested in my experience," Mr. Douglas goes on to say, "for you will all die in much the same way as I nearly died, and your feelings will be tho same as you accomplish the universal feat of escaping from this fantastic but delightful world. I have asked many doctors whether tho dying tear death. They all declare that the dying are not afraid. This confirms my own experience. It is living ihat hurts and wounds and terrifies. Life, I am sure, is far more terrible than j death. I felt that I was in a kind and compassionate clime, with no cruelty in its gentle atmosphere. Death is a sweet and serene peace. Its song is a lullaby, not a dirge. It may seem outrageous to say that dying is a cheerful experience, with rio lack of humour and mirth and joy. But that is my report of it. It may be said that my dying did not go far enough to justify my conclusions. But I can honestly say that it went as far as it could go without making finality. I saw a fragment of tho curve of death, and I am convinced that it would have been prolonged if I had not ceased to follow the great flight. This is tho good news I bring to those who are afraid of death. Thero is naught to fear." WHAT PEOPLE READ. An attempt has been made by tho manager of the Times Book Club to compare what people read now with what they read before tho war. He says the character of the books that have achieved success and have been widely read mav bo described as of a higher standard than their forerunners. Whereas before the war novels dealing with adventures of all kinds were constantly asked for, readers now appear to be moro interested in psychological problems. Such problems have found some notable exponents, perhaps chiefly among women writers. The names of Sheila KayeSmith, Constance Holme, Rose Macaulay, Beatrice Kean Seymour and Mary Borden come at once to my mind, and several others might be mentioned. That their books have been read more by women than by men is highly probable. Men generally prefer books of travel, historical works, sport, exploration and natural history. Memoirs and biographies, of which many have been published within recent years, are eagerly sought. Many are attracted by tho insoluble problems of life and death. The elect, few in number, are appealed to by the elusiveness and subtlety of the now poetry. And there is a demand for plays, although this, in comparison with other forms of literature, is of minor importance. Tfie younger generation seems to take considerable interest in sociological, economic and political subjects, which include the colour and race questions. Among nature lovers W. 11. Hudson and Fabre find many devotees. In fact, despite the competition of other forms of recreation, writers who have the magic of appeal have no reason to complain of want of recognition. It may fairly bo said that men and women have wider interests than in pre-war days. DEMOCRACY IN EDUCATION. In an article in the Review of Reviews on tho Scottish Universities, Mr. J. G. Fyfe notes,., that in recent years there has been a great change in the. direction of specialised education. But, ho adds, the Scottish Universities still provido instruction that is unrivalled throughout tho world for the traditional high standard of scholarship has not suffered through specialisation. The universities are, too, alive to the needs of the age and have adapted themselves admirably to the requirements of the modern world. Above all, they have learned to take a broader outlook and to study the finer issues of life. Tho Scottish universities have always been democratic institutions, for in Scotland the passion for education is common to all classes. Many of tho Empire's great est men have come from Scottish crofts and country manses, and Scotland kno-.vs the price that has had to be paid. Scottish thrift, Scottish ambition, and Scottish achievement are all very real, and it is to these qualities that Scottish education owes its pre-eminence. Only in Scotland can the laird's son and the shepherd's son, the boy from the wealthy home and the boy from the miner's cot tage, sit on the samo benches and meet on an equal footing. In welcoming men from all classes of tho community, and in giving all the same opportunities, the Scottish universities are not only responding to the requirements of the country, but they arc also living up to a great tradition. .