NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20074, 11 October 1928, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

NOISE AND SPEED. A vigorous protest against "tho twin evils of speed and noise" was made iccently by tho Times, after it had published a great volume of correspondence on the subject. "It is to the passion for hurry that nine-tenths of the mischief is due," it said. "Tho modern Frankensteins who have evolved and developed tho internal combustion engine have created a monster which, though an invaluable servant when under effective control, may prove in careless or incapable bands a tyrannous and destructive Robot. Without it the world, as wo know it to-day, would not exist. It has provided mankind with means of transport faster and cheaper and in many ways more convenient than any that existed or were imagined before it came into being. But it cannot bo denied that tho price now being paid for these practical benefits is a great and unwelcome addition to the tumult and rush of life, to the problem of the over-congested traffic, and to the perils that come of excessive speed—speed, that is, when used in the wrong place and at the wrong time. . . . Tho lust for speed leads to a constant disregard for the nerves and lives of other people that is fast becoming a criminal habit. In the mad desire to hurry from one place to another furious drivers and riders of cars, lorries, motor-coaches and motor-cycles dash round corners and across highways and byways, cut into moving lines of traffic at blind bonds or on inclines, and generally break all the obvious rules of safety first, without a thought for the waste 'of human life of which they and their kind are every day the cause. And, in the solo precaution which they take against the possible legal consequences of their cra/.o for speed, they aggravate their offence by tho too-frequent use, or rather abuse, of their strident electric horns." r J.he Times adds that its many correspondents are at one in condemning "the practices of those who, in (lie pursuit of their own selfish pleasures, destroy thc\ quiet of tho country, treat tho roads as their private property, crowd foot passengers and bicyclists into the ditch, make rest and sleep impossible for sound and sick alike, and wherever they go endanger tho lives of other human beings. Their lack of consideration for anyone but themselves is driving the rest of (he community to a point when lliey will inevitably band together iti self-defence."

MR. KELLOGG IN THE LAN 1). Commenting on (ho arrival in Dublin of Mr. Kellogg, tho United Stales Secretary of Sta(o, the Daily Chronicle said it was an event of great significance in the history of the Irish Free S(ato. "Her Government has been represented at Geneva, and at Paris for tho signing of (ho Pact, and TvTr. Cosgravc has been officially received at tho American capital,"' it remarked. "Hut (his is the first occasion on which a great foreign statesman has paid a formal visit to tho Government and people of (he Free State. It cannot but be regarded as a signal recognition by America of the character of the Irish Free State that its emissary on a mission of world peace should pay an official call in Dublin. Tho event will serve (o convince Irishmen in America (hat the Free Stalo enjoys that status among the nations of the world which she has aspired to hold, ller subordination (o England is ;i thing of tho past. Her representatives can speak for themselves at Washington, at Paris, at Geneva, and, of course, in London. She has as much independence as Canada, or Australia, or South Africa. Thero is no benefit she could gain by being a republic which sho docs not possess now, and she lias all tho advantages which attach to association with tho British Commonwealth of Nations." Tho Irish Times observed that Mr. Cosgrave's visit to America did much to dissipate tho carefully fostered legend that Ireland was still seething with discontent, and that her alleged freedom was a niero cloak for new and irforo subtle forms of British "tyranny." Mr. Kellogg's visit ought to complete this good work. Ho will have seen the Free State with his own eyes—her beautiful capital, her cheerful people and her peaceful countryside—and tho report of this eminent and high-minded man will carry weight with all classes of his fellow-citizens. His visit will set the relations between tho two countries on a new basis of mutual understanding and service.