NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20903, 19 June 1931, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

WAR DEBTS AND WORLD TRADE

" The chief question suggested by the various reasons advanced in favour of war debt revision is whether the economic maladjustments from which the world is now so plainly suffering would be materially lessened if the debts were either to be scaled down or even entirely cancelled," the London Financial News remarked recently. " There can be no doubt that the debt payments have con- - tribuled to the maladjustment. At the same time it would surely bo an exaggeration to suppose that they have been a factor of the first importance. Moreover, in some degree the war debt payments have already led to the adjustments in international trade consequent upon the expansion of German exports. The cancellation of the debts would create a new factor of maladjustment. In a word, unless the revision comes quickly the argument from maladjustment will rather support the continued payment of the debts than their cessation. It would seem, then, that the war debt problem, as an economic question, remains as it was considered by the Young experts, primarily a question of German capacity to pay. There is, of course, an entirely different aspect from which the question may bo regarded—the political aspect. From that point of view the all important consideration is the bearing of reparations upon the sentiment of the rising generation in Germany itself." , CHARTING THE OCEAN. "The whole maritime world lies under a deep obligation to generations of British naval officers who, often under great hardships, and always out of the limelight, have enriched the world . with greafc folios of charts which combine the highest product of technical skill and mathematical precision with the love of boauty of the true artist," the naval correspondent of the Morning Post wrote recently. "Many a landsman must havo marvelled at the myriads of 'soundings' thrft cover the canvas. Each 'sounding' has, in the past, involved a great labour in lowering and raising a lead-line to depths varying from one fathom to five miles. Each sounding has been 'fixed' by observations of the heavenly bodies and is generally accurate within a few hundred yards of its exact position. 1 o Langevin, the French inventor, marine surveyors owe a great debt. No longer need the lead-line bo raised and lowered by hand, or mechanically by Lord Kelvin's deep-sea sounding machine. Soundings can now be accurately obtained by echo off the bottom, the echo being mechanically timed and converted into soundings. The delicacy of the instrument can be appreciated when it is realised that the time needed for the reception of an echo in three fathoms is a hundred-and-fortieth part of a second, the speed of sound in water being 5000 ft. a second." PAYING-WARDS IN HOSPITALS. A scheme for meeting the needs of persons of limited means by providing accommodation for paying patients was announced at the 75th anniversary dinner of the West London Hospital. Prince Arthur of Connaught, who presided, said the scheme, when completed, would prove an inestimable benefit to that large body of most deserving people who were embraced within the term " the middle class." For the past six years the hospital had provided accommodation in private rooms for 26 middle-class patients. That experience had shown that thero was a very real demand for this kind of accommodation, provided that the chaiges (including fees for specialists' services) could be kept down to a moderate level, and it had been decided by the board that an additional block of 74 private rooms should be provided for middle-class patients, bringing the accommodation for those patients up to 100 beds. A flat rate scheme of weekly charges had been adopted, with a minimum of £7 7s a week. That payment would entitle the patient to board, accommodation, nursing and treatment by the members of the honorary medical and surgical staff cluding "operations of any nature), X-ray treatment, massage, etc. These private beds would be entirely self-supporting and any surplus derived from patients who were able to pay more than the, minimum scale would be "devoted to the upkeep of the general wards. A MEDIC AN SALESMANSHII\ An audience of 3000 members of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce was addressed last month by the Princo of Wales on his observations during his -South American tour on matters affocting the interests of Great Britain as an exporting country. He particularly emphasised the necessity for more activity in salesmanship, especially in advertising, in which connection ho advised British traders to take a loaf out of the American book. "To grasp the extent to which tho influence of the United States has penetrated the commercial and industrial world of South America, you mtfst realise the daily experiences of the average business man resident in one of the great States there," said tho Prince. " His telephone was of North American manufacture; 99 times out of 100 his car came from tho United States; his newspaper was well stocked with news from that quarter of the world; his office furniture and equipment was something up to date and efficient from tho same source, a<nd 1 when he finished his day's work and went home, and his mind turned to relaxation, he would find his American radio and his American gramophone, or American films in the " movie " theatres waiting to entertain him—films portraying tho life 1 and cultu.ro of the United States, but ; with captions printed in his own language. And any time after dark he would find the manufactured goods of the United 1 States attractively and prominently ad- • vertised on illuminated signs in every available position in the city. Well we may hope that he will be pleased, when he takes off his shirt at night to sec if it is clean enough to wear the next day, when he finds that that artidl® at least ; comes from Manchester."