NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19459, 15 October 1926, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

FACTS AND THOUGHT. "In our schools, the methods of the catechism have been relied upon too strongly. The pupil is asked a question, and is expected to state a fact in a few words," Mr. J. K. Elliott remarks in an essay on the art of conversation, ill" eluded in a recently published volume. "The search has been made for facts rather than ideas, and yet facts are but the toys with which our ideas must play. The short precise answer is all that has been sought; no effort has been made to get the child to endeavour to express its ideas continuously. Here is the great error. If the children of to-day, who will be the men and women of the coming years, are to be better conversationalists than their parents they must be given freedom to express themselves—the old tyranny of the 'catechism' must go. They must be taught to think as well as learn—to make use of the facts they learn, as well as simply to have an encyclopaedic knowledge."

THE PLEASURE OF WALKING. "Old Shanks's pony nowadays eats his head off in the stable. We pass through life—from scooter to motor hearse—on wheels. Yet wo were designed to walk. Mankind was granted (or maybe grew for himself) legs for this very purpose," writes a correspondent of the Morning Post. "Walking, indeed, is nature's massage for our every muscle. It gives bodily exercise, but, unlike other sports, leaves the mind free. For this reason walkers become philosophers, while many golfers, although they walk, do not. The first essential toward true enjoyment of walking is to regard it as an amusement rather than a medicine. He who invented the term 'consitiutional' dealt a harsher blow to leather merchants than he who invented motor-cars. The second essential is to realise that there is little virtue in the short walk or the long walk practised spasmodically. To obtain true amusement one must form the habit of walking regularly long distances. The best of all walking rules is that there are none. Every man has his own proper and natural gait. It should never vary from the first step of the day to the last."

THE HIGHWAY OF SUCCESS. That success is not difficult of achievement for those with genuine ability is one of the conclusions presented by Mr. Edward W. Bok in his latest book. "I have found every avenue leading to success wide open and certainly not overpeopled," he says. was surprised how few there were who really stood in a young man's way. I found that favouritism was not the factor that I had been led to suppose. I realised it existed in a few isolated cases. Here and there a relative 'played a favourite,' but even with the push and influence behind him 'the lucky one,' ns ho was termed, did not seem to make progress unless he had metft. It was not long before I discovered that the possession of sheer merit was the only real factor that actually counted in any of the places where I had been employed or in others which I had watched; that business was so constructed and conducted that nothing else, in the face of the competition, could act as current coin. And the amazing part of it all to me was how little merit there was. Nothing astonished me more than the low average ability of those with whom I worked or came into contact. I looked at the top, and instead of finding it overcrowded, I was surprised at the few who had reached there; the top fairly begged for more to climb its heights."

CARELESS LEGISLATION. The sanctioning of postmark advertising has been cited by the Times as "a staring example" of the way in which, in the modern hurry and crowd of legislation, Government departments can get their proposals through the Houses without either Parliament or country discovering what is being done. "It does not seem very likely that such a scheme would have been accepted if it had ever received serious consideration," the Times remarks. "The moral to be drawn from this, and similar surprises in other matters, is the need for the formation of committees of independent members of Parliament, united in their interest in some particular aspect of public affairs, who will undertake to give careful examination to every bill as soon as it is printed, with a view to discovering whether there is anything objectionable in it from the point of view which they represent. Bills dealing in appearance onlv with one subject often include clauses affecting sogme other which seems to be very remote from their own primary business. If there were in existence a committee which undertook to be on the watch against legislation injuriously affecting the natural beauty of the country, its treasures of art and architecture, and, generally speaking, all that concerns the decency and dignity of the national life, it would find plenty of work to do, and often in unlikely places."

\ GUARDING THE NATION'S DIGNITY The objectionable clause was inserted for the purpose of "removing doubts" as to the right of the Postmaster-General to insert in ordinary postmarks "such words or devices" as he may think proper, "including words or devices constituting advertisements." The doubts had better have been left unremoved, tho Times declares. Their removal has led to others; doubts as to the wisdom of the Postmaster-General in not being ashamed to accept such a policy, and, happily, also doubts as to whether advertisers will not- be deterred from using it by the fear that the indignation of the public will prevent such advertisements from becoming a paying proposition. Frankly, the suggestion that we should not be allowed- to write to our friends without involuntarily advertising somebody's boots or pills is intolerable, and should be withdrawn at once. Parliament forgets one of its first duties if it forgets that it is the guardian of the dignity of the nation. If money is to be the only consideration and we put self-respect altogether aside, shall we go on to erect hoardings in the parks and allow bills lauding the virtues of soaps: and tyres to be affixed to the walls of the Government offices and the Palace of Westminster itself ? The fact is that there is a principle involved, the principle that the Government is; responsible for the dignity of the nation. And that principle once admitted forbids the use of the national buildings or the national services as vehicles for the competing advertisenjanta of riral tradfiESu