NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19254, 17 February 1926, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE BUYING OF MOTOR-CAES. " I always shiver when I hear the motor-car spoken of as the height of extravagance," says Mr. John Lee in the Pilgrim Magazine. "It looks extravagant : some who sit in motor-cars are almost geniuses in irritation, lolling on cushions as if in contempt of the multitude. But the fact is. that the motor-car as the means o:; circulating money is altogether admirable. It needs highly-skilled and well-paid workmen; it has encouraged by the nature of the case, a craft-pride which is of the utmost value. It is a rapidly-changing industry in which new inventions are welcomed and in which obsolescence is a daily nightmare, so to speak. No doubt many motor-cars are purchased from the desire for ostentation; but in itself the rise of the motorcar has been a good influence in encouraging the circulation of money in such a way as to develop human skill and to reward human labour.". VOLUNTARY SOCIAL WORK. The value of voluntary social service was discussed recently in a leading article in the London Daily Chronicle,. "Some of the methods which the Victorians used—in their slumming and almsgiving, their distributions of coal and blankets—may be out of date. But the spirit which prompted them can never be, and in the twentieth century there are more openings for it than ever. A characteristic of to-day, when the State does so much for the people, is the new scope for voluntary work alongside official activities in which people with the time, the capacity, and the will to do social good|without pay, can most practically set about doing it. There is a case for voluntary work, even apart from economy. Just as in politics you want self-government as well as good government, just as a State perfectly administered by officials without the control or co-operation of its citizens would be profoundly unsatisfactory, so in philanthropy the need for the spontaneous spirit of voluntary work can never be superseded by bureaucracy. This at least is certain, that Outside established official work there must always be a fringe of pioneer voluntary work—like a penumbra outside a shadow—if officialdom is to preserve the right spirit and atmosphere. The call is still for more volunteers, and it needs urgently to be answered. '* Wireless and printing. "The written word has advantages over the ispoken word with which modern civilisation cannot very well dispense," cays the London Evening Standard In discussing the question of wireless broadcasting competing with books and newspapers. "At the best, what a man remembers is a matter of opinion, and where there is no written record all one can do to ascertain what happened or what was said last year or even yesterday is to weigh one man's memory against another and one, man's word against another-—a chancy, process, as is often demonstrated in Courts of law. On the other hand, when the art of writing is practised at least' aa irrefragable minimum of evidence is established. It remains on record, and can always be referred to. But the words of the announcer spoken into the microphone, like the words of ithe orator spoken to the primitive tribe, come and go as the wind and leave no legible trace behind them. If this were ever to become our chief means of learning what is going on in the'world, one of the main pillars of our civilisation would have been removed. The invention of Marconi has not in it the same principles of permanence and conservation as the invention of Gutenberg. Nor it is merely the importance of record which is derived from writing and printing. These make possible study and depeated reference. The announcer speaks, and, having spoken, goes on, and not all the piety or wit of a million listeners can persuade him to go back and repeat even <»nly once half a. line of what he has j;aid." THE EVOLUTION OF MAN. "We are on the path to higher things, but we have not attained them; the structure is incomplete, unfinished, in process, of construction," said Sir Oliver Lodge, in an address on the evolution of man. "The world is like a builder'# yard in which an edifice i 3 rising which may ultimately be beautiful, satisfactory, complete ; but now it is covered with scaffolding, its features can hardly be discerned, a ma«s of builder's material and rubbish is lying about, all which, however, has its part to play, and is a necessary stage in the development of the ultimate fabric. The human race began but a short time ago, (and it may have millions of years on this planet. Astronomers reckon it is guite possible the solar sysem may last thousands of millions of years before the fading of the sun. In all that time, what may not happen? We know what we are; ilfc doth not yet a,ppear what we shall be:, Jind the remarkable thing is that we have become conscious helpers in the process; the reins are bring partly put into our hands. The rise of mankind depends partly on our own exertion, our own goodwill, our own perceptions and actions. It is toward that all the good work done throughout the cities in all parts of the civilised world is tending. Surely we may take heart and rsali.se not only the faults and shortcomings, which are inevitable, but also the manifold. efforts toward good which ate being miide. Let us rejoice at the vast amount of friendliness and good feeling and mutual help and cooperation and earnesu depire for better things,, whioh is permeating so many, and take' our share, our infinitesimal, but still needed share, xn the great and agelong process of the evolntiem of man."