NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20116, 29 November 1928, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE YOUNGER GENERATION. Many things aro said against, and in defence, of the younger generation, especially thoso young people who have grown toward maturity since the war. A temperate view, embracing praiso and warning, has just been expressed by Mr. Jeffrey Farnol, the well-known novelist. " 1 believe," he says, " our British slock is as sound as ever. My only misgiving is a wonder sometimes if our young generation are not taking things too lightly. They seein 'to bo living on the easy payment system —youth at tho prow and pleasuro at the helm, and all that. Everything is arranged for their enjoyment, and they accept it too much as a matter of course. After all, a man is made by what ho does himself, and not by what is dono for him. Seeing that they take all the fun they can get, our young folk aro reducing life to a flabby sort of game, and all I can say is that they run tho risk of losing tho best of it. Consequently, they will find life all tho harder when it begins in earnest and things conic to the grapple. For lam afraid that whether wo waste our breath in scolding or not, the day will come when they will blame themselves more bitterly than we could ever do."

THE MOTOR AND THE RAILWAYS.

The argument tliat the advent of the motor omnibus and service car had not really hit the railways, but had developed fresh travel and actually helped to fill the trains, was dealt with in an address delivered recently in London by the assistantmanager of the London and NorthEastern Railways. Ho said this theory had recently been tested by one of the younger school of economists, who collaborated with a railwayman in making a study of the rail and road services radiating from an English city of about 120,000 inhabitants. The survey embraced the whole of the villages and country towns within a distance of 20 miles of the chosen centre. The conclusion arrived nt was that the omnibuses certainly brought some business to the railways by acting as feeders, but on balance about one-third of the omnibus passengers hod been attracted from the trains. In this particular district private cars were owned by most of the well-to-do families, and, as though the Baby Austins were not provoking enough, they had some of the more adventurous inhabitants flying their "Moths" instead of paying their fares. • ,

PARTY IN POLITICS. The feasibility of banishing party from politics lias recently been under discussion iu New Zealand. The subject lias been dealt with trenchantly by Mr. Robert Lynd in tho Daily News, his comment illuminating the foundation of party on unchanging human traits. "We are sometimes told that the party politician surrenders his soul and sacrifices his principles when he labels himself Libera! or Labour or Conservative," writes Mr. Lynd. " But he does this only in tho sense in which every man who joins a committee does tho same thing. Ho undoubtedly gives way on some points in order that he may win tho assistance of bis fellow-members on others. The people who denounce party politics have, as a rule, far more partisan minds than the most confirmed party hack. They mean by the abolition of party politics the abolition of the party of their opponents. Party politics, on tho other band, was born of tho spirit of tolerance. To believe in it is to believo in fair plav for the other side. You can abolish party politics only at tho price of reintroducing the penalty of exile or worse, as has been dono in Italy. Hcnco I believe that what ' tho country' wants most is tho revival and perpetuation of party politics, and a general election as exciting as" general elections were in the days of Gladstone anil the days of Chamberlain."

THE ORIGIN OF HANSARD. Just over ono hundred years ago there died a man whoso name has since becomo a household word in all British communities. Ho was Luke Hansard, whoso activities as printer to tho House of Commons for many years,' together with those of his son, Thomas Curson Hansard, gavo tho English languago a new word as a generic term for all official reports of Parliamentary debates. Luke Hansard was born in Norwich, and in duo time became a compositor in tho office of John Hughes, printer to the House of Commons. Later he became a partner in tho business, and finally he owned it and took his sons into partnership. The elder Hansard printed the Journals of the House of Commons from 1784 until his death: but it was his son Thomas who in 1805 first began to print tho " Parliamentary Debates," which, it is interesting to note, wero not at first independent reports, but wero taken from tho newspapers. Tho original business was carried on by his younger brothers, James and Luko Graves Hansard. It was not for many years that tho publication, now known all over tho world as Hansard, attained its present status as an absolutely privileged record of tho proceedings of Parliaments. As lato as 1837 tho younger Hansards had to face a libel action brought by a l>ookseller named Stockdale, based on defamatory statements contained in an official report published by them in the courso of their duty as Parliamentary printers, and tho Courts decided against them. However, tho misfortunes of tho Hansard family moved Parliament to make clear by legislation that tho cloak of absolute privilego must cover all statements printed by its authority. Since then such records have been unchallenged in respect of civil actions for libel, and with tho march of progress tho freedom to chronicle tho sayings and doings of Parliament without fear has been widened to include other printed publications also.