NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19417, 27 August 1926, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

MODERN HOUSING IN ENGLAND. " The general level of appreciation of art is declining. It cannot be said from an actual survey of this country that during the last 100 years we have gained in grace and distinction. On the contrary, we have now often to go out of our way, to discover the vestiges of a finer, a more harmonious civilisation than we can boast of to-day," said Mr. Augustus John, in a broadcast talk from London. "Since the introduction of steam power and its consequence, cheap labour, our country has been devastated by the ignoble building contractor. In spite of the many excellent architects we have, the masses of the people are now forced to dwell in houses which their forefathers would have scorned to inhabit. The English, though a comparatively young people,, have nothing to be ashamed of in their artistic past; they need only blush for the betrayal of their admirable traditions which has taken place within the memory of ou? fathers and has degraded English industry to the level of a sixpenny bazaar. Still, thank God, there is nothing permanent in our present conditions. Our slums are not going to last for ever, any more than the new mushroom villas. Probably the community of the future will grow its houses much as a motor-car industry grows its cars. But for the elaboration of the details of the house of the future will not ■ the artist still be employed ?" THE STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. The engineering perfection of plantforms was discussed in a lecture recently by Professor J. McLean Thompson at Chelsea. "The principle of reinforced concrete was not invented by man, but by the plants." he said. "The perfect mechanical construction of plants is very wonderful and very beautiful. Think how the fabric of the largo Union Jack is often torn and shattered in a storm. Yet in the same storm the most delicate leaves are unscathed. Leaves are so perfect in their mechanical construction as to be able to resist tremendous strains and stresses. This is partly due to an elaborate system of veining and to the hemming of the edges. Plants knew all about the advantages of hemming long before man had thought of tailoring. Man claims to be an inventor. I know of only one thing in which he has gone one better than the plants—man invented the wheel. In all their processes plants are highly efficient and most clean. And everything is done in perfect silence. In all the most important functions there is no noise and no fuss. The sanitation, too, is. perfect. Compare the cleanliness of plant life with the cleansing methods of animals. Plants drain the soil and the greenery of the world is the greatest purifier of the air. Plants, in fact, are the salvation of the atmosphere." UNEMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY. Apparently the Government of Germany has reluctantly, come to the conclusion that unemployment insurance .is inadequate to deal with an unemployment problem of the present dimensions, the Berlin correspondent of the Times wrote recently. It has announced a programme to finance, by" recourse to the public money market for loans, what are called "productive works." By this term is meant new construction on the railways and in connection with the posts and telegraphs, the building of new canals, the repair of roads and the reclamation of waste lands. It is estimated that the roads alone require about £100,000,000 to be spent on them before they will be adequate for the future motor traffic they will have to carry. Among the schemes mentioned in the programme of' the Ministry of Labour is a new canal in Silesia, In. industrial circles the proposals are much criticised. It is thought that the money might be better applied by supporting industry, which would at least be able to expend it in a more effective and businesslike manner. But it appears that the various Governments; are tired of coming to the assistance of industry. Speaking at Ffankfurt Herr HopkerAschoff, the Prussian Finance Minister, said the State had assisted with credits the Stinnes Trust, the shipbuilding industry, Upper Silesia industries and Rhenish iron industries. The results had not been altogether happy and he declined to take further action of a similar sort now, as the State did not exist for the purpose of playing the part of - banker to bankrupt industries. The promised improvement in trade is evidently a long way off. The report of the Sub-Commis-sion of the Reichstag on unemployment, which was considered to have taken an unduly optimistic view, predicted that normal conditions would in no case be reached before 1929. This committee indicated that, while the Government could certainly not find work for the great army of 1,750,000 unemployed, it ought to ha able to create jobs for about half a million At present not more than 70,000 are employed on the so-called "productive works," and it seems highly improbable on gfounds of organisation, that as many as half a million men can be absorbed for a long time to come.