NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19235, 26 January 1926, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE DISCIPLINE OF MUSIC. " We listen too much to music, and do not perform enough. Wireless, the gramophone, the pianola, will never take the place of the music we may make ourselves," said Sir Hugh P. Allen, in an address in London recently. " Music is an expression of the inner life, but English people are as a rule very loath to give any evidence of what goes on within them. The ordinary man, when asked to sing, pleads inability. But the proportion of people who have no singing voice at all is only 3 per cent. There are, however, pitfalls to be avoided, such as the unnecessary restriction to bass songs which people who have deep notes in their register impose on themselves, and the difficulty of persuading tenors to leave a top-note once they reach it is well known. Music, especially singing, is one of the very best disciplines. It teaches courage, and—except to soloists —humility. The chorister learns to adapt himself, to sink his individuality, and ever to bear the almost intolerable remarks and looks of fellow-choristers who seek to foist their own mistakes upon him. Singing also teaches patience, perseverance and punctuality. How wide is the appeal of music can be seen in the number of ' communal' songs, designed to enable workers to work in unison. There are spinning and weaving songs, haulage and' sea' songs, and, of course, cradle songs. A law should be made to compel all to learn to sing; when they are young, and people should not neglect the art when they grow to man's estate."

HOW WOMEN VOTE. Tho influence of women's enfranchisement on British politics is discussed in a recent magazine article by Lord Danesfort, K.C. " While there, are wild and mischievous spirits in both sexes, I am convinced that the influence of women generally in , politics tends to stability," fee says. " When they arc confronted with revolutionary experiments they are disposed to take ' safety first' as their motto. There have now been four general elections since the granting of suffrage to women. In each of these elections I took such part as I could; in two, as a combatant engaged in fighting my own seat in York, in the other as an auxiliary to others. My personal conviction is that, in those contests, the majority of the women who voted cast their votes on the constitutional side, and against political or social disruption. In many cases it is undoubted that, working-class women voted anti-Socialist, while their husbands voted Socialist. I have spoken to many members of Parliament on this subject, and their experience confirms my own. The average woman is not naturally prone to violent change. The desire for change, for the sake of change, does not -disturb her judgment. The life of adventure, with all its uncertainties and perils, makes 110 special appeal to her. In spite of the unsettlement of the war and the obscuration of many ancient landmarks, I believe it to be still true that to tho normal woman the security of the home, the welfare of husband and children, the love of the family, makes the strongest appeal."

VETO ON FOREIGN MATERIAL. The drastic step of vetoing the purchase of foreign cement by the Middlesborough Corporation was recently taken by the British Minister of Transport, and the Unemployment Grants Committee. Commenting on their action, Mr. T. E. Smith, an official of the cement industry's joint industrial council, said that in 13 months the country had imported 201,873 tons of foreign cement.—an amount equal to the whole annual output of tho largest cement works in Britain. It seemed [ absurd to have to point out that the | manufacture of this cement abroad represented less employment for British workers; but, obviously, certain official bodies were insensible to this elementary fact. While the foreign cement was commg in, great numbers of cement workers were out of employment in the Thames and Medway area. The manufacture of 200,000 tons of cement would give employment to 1000 cement workers, while the coal trade was directly affected to the extent of orders for at least 100,000 tons of coal—for a ton of coal was used in the manufacture of two tons of cement. Middlesborough was not the only council which was prepared to embark on this uneconomic scheme of foreign purchases. There were towns—Portsmouth and Chester are among them—which buy foreign cement for their public works. It mav not- be generally known," he added", " though I entered a vigorous protest at the time, that the London County Council constructed the London-Soutllend Road, an unemployment relief scheme, with Belgian cement. And also, I may add, they then refused to employ as labourers the local cement workers who had thus been thrown out of employment. It is to be hoped that the publicity given to the action taken by the Government in regard to Middlesborough will rouse national opinion to the scandal of public money being spent in providing work and wages for foreign labour at a time when a million of our own countrymen—many of them ex-Service men—are kicking their heels in enforced idleness."