NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21114, 23 February 1932, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

EDUCATION AND LEISURE. The opinion that the purpose of education was to equip citizens with the tools with which to live was expressed by Mr. Arthur Greenwood, who was Minister of Health in the Labour Government in Britain, in an address before an education conference in Nottingham. He said leisure time would grow as productive power and the capacity to control machinery increased. He believed it probable that within the next quarter of a century our industrial leaders would have been able to show how mankind could live a reasonably happy and prosperous life with a working day of perhaps four hours. That would raise grave sociological problems. There was very little use in leisure time if it were to bo used in propping up a public-house at a street corner. He dreaded to think of (lie nation becoming bookish. It was essential when leisure came that they should have somo way oi using it that would be of personal advantage, make them happier, and reflect credit on tlieni. DUBLIN RECONSTRUCTED. " The year 1932 —the Irish Free State's tenth year, and one that promises to exert a decisive influence on her fortunes —has dawned upon a virtually reconstructed Dublin. The destruction of ten years ago has, with insignificant exceptions, been repaired, and to outward view the city presents almost the appearance that it had before the war," a correspondent of the Times wrote recently. " The Four Courts, which formed the chief stronghold of the Republican remnant in 1922, have been restored at a cost of £400,000. Another welcome restoration is that of the Customs House, which many judges have pronounced to be the finest building in Ireland. Its destruction in 1921 anticipated the Anglo-Irish Treaty; but the damage, fortunately, was less extensive than that done to the Four Courts The cost of restoration in this case amounts to .some £250.000, and the work has been accomplished with admirable exactitude. A similar respect for noble originals, indeed, has animated all the works of restoration carried out in Dublin. The General Post Office, in Sackville Street, which was gutted in the rebellion of 1916, and has been reopened only within the last three years, retains all the outward distinction of its former days—the only difference apparent lies in the absence of the Royal Arms from the facade—while the interior has been redesigned in accordance with modern needs." LESS DRINKING IN BRITAIN.

The reduction in the consumption of alcoholic liquors in Britain was emphasised in the report of the, Royal Commission on Licensing, -which was issued at the beginning of last month, a fewdays more than two years after the appointment of the commission. The report observes that, while there was a definite increase in the consumption of intoxicating liquor per capita over the last 20 years of the nineteenth century, the contrast between 1599 and the present day is very remarkable. The consumption of beer in 1899 was 36.840,000 standard barrels, representing 32.53 gallons a head, and in 1929 it had fallen to 20,300,000, representing 16.42 gallons a head. The fig-ires for t lie earlier year are for the United Kingdom; those for the latter year are for Great Britain. The fall in the consumption of spirits was yet more remarkable. Jn 1899 the consumption in England and Wales was 31.195,000 proof gallons, representing 0.97 gallon a head, and in 1929 10,053,000 proof gallons, representing 0.25 gallon a head. It was noted that in the years since the war there has been a. steady tendency to a rise in the consumption of wine, subject to a check in 1928 following an increase in the duty. This tendency is attributed to some extent to the very great increase in the duty on spirits, which in 1914 was 14s 9d per proof gallon and by 1920 had risen to 72s 6d, at which it still stands.

THE COCKTAIL HABIT. One passage in the report expresses concern at the growth of the cocktail habit among young people of both sexes. " We recognise, however, that it is hardly possible to touch the considerable amount of cocktail drinking which takes place in private houses," the report continues, " and that any further raising of tin* minimum age for the sale or supply of intoxicants must present enhanced difficulties of discrimination and enforcement. While, therefore, we regard this growing habit with apprehension, we do not feel able to make any recommendation in tho matter." Dealing further with the general question, the commission says:— " It is considered that, despite the great general improvement, the drink problem, if no longer a 'gigantic evil,' has still a certain magnitude in that excessive drinking persists in large measure, and that, apart from actual intemperance, expenditure on intoxicants still reaches a figure which is definitely uneconomic. The commission are not satisfied that the situation can be sufficiently met by trusting to the continuation of the general progressive tendencies of the age, aided by the operation of the licensing laws within their present limits. It is recorded that no witness suggested prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors as a practical proposition for present application to this country, and the commission therefore do not enter into any discussion of the merits or demerits of such a proposal."