NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21132, 15 March 1932, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

MOTOR ACCIDENT INQUIRIES. In a recent speech Dr. Lindsay, master of Balliol, said he did not think anyone could read about an inquest as a result of a motor accident without coming to the conclusion that tho law had allowed people to lake risks—risks which represented no moral turpitude at all. If tliey considered the way in which accidents had been prevented in the mines or on the railway, they must be struck by the fact that it had been found necessary to have those accidents investigated by people who were experts on the subject. If they thought of the extraordinary care with which in quests were taken on fatal accidents that bad occurred on railways, and compared that with the kind of discussion that took place at an inquest on any motoring fatality, they realised that the enlightenment got, from the latter was as nothing compared with that got at the former. PROGRESS IN YACHT DESIGN. The question whether wo are making any true progress in yacht design is often debated among sailing men, says Country Life. Old salts sometimes remark, "Ah, it don't blow nowadays like it used to blow;" and, indeed, there is something in that anoying phrase. Tlio high sail plan and towering mast of the modern racing vessel too often debar her from racing on days of boisterous weather—what yachtsmen of a former generation would call " a grand sailing breeze." All tho sailing speeds records were made by vessels no longer afloat. The fact is that the modern racing craft is designed primarily for working to windward in a liglu breeze. Long distance racing does, however, encourage a type which must possess robust qualities, and the revival of this most strenuous sport is likely to produce a type which shall embody all that the past has taught us about sea-worthiness and all that has since been proved worth while in modern rigs.

THE JEW AND THE ARAB. "The solution of the national problems must be sought in an understanding between Jews and Arabs, and the recognition of the principle, which is an axiom, that the prosperity of one section is bound up with the prosperity of the other," says Mr. Norman Benlwich, Attorney-General for Palestine, in his book, "England and Palestine." "The Jews bring to Palestine a new energy, capital, civilisation, devotion and ideals. The Arabs have the hinterland, their great traditions arid possession of tho greater part of the soil. But thev need tho Jewish contribution for tho happy development of the country and the neighbouring countries. It is the task of the British Government while it holds the mandate to maintain peace and order so that the Jew may have the opportunity of proving to the Arab that his settlement may bring to the whole land a new prosperity. The Jew, on his side, will have to be mindful of the maxim which Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, left as his testament to his followers, 'to make your home such that the stranger shall feel at home in it.'

FUNCTION OF HOUSE OF LORDS. If such surprising things as had happened in the last 12 months were to go on happening in the next year, there was no political prophecy that could be dubbatl as too fantastic, said Lord Lloyd in a recent speech. We had got rather dangerously used to being off tho naval standard, aud were no longer much more than conscious of being off the gold standard, and lie expected that wo would get morally hardened to departing from the Cabinet standard before iong. When every anchor which moored us to the past was slipping it was well that there was an institution such as the House of Lords, which was always sensible and sympathetic to ordered progress. Never had tho Houso of Lords had an opportunity of playing a greater or more important part. " Wo can temper the whole situation and correct idealism," ho continued, " in regard to the situation in India. We can, after all, bo cateful to remember that in that country our greatest rolo is to help the simple folk in India to come by their lights and to punish the wrongdoer. We can still seo that whatever the ideals of this country are as regards peace and disarmament, there shall be, no more unilateral disarmament, because we are the stewards of the peace, of the world, and wo must retain to ourselves the forces for attaining our object. We can get fair play for our great industries and we can get a chance for our agriculture. There is infinite scope for us to behave as handmaids to tho House of Commons and yet to spur them ou to energy if they fail.

DIVERSITY IN EDUCATION. The headmaster of Eton (Dr. C. A. Alington), in the course of an address said a right cultivation of the senso of wonder was one of the main functions.of education. Discussing educational aims, he considered the question whether ono should begin with " everything about something " or " something about everything." These, ho said, were two quite different methods. They attached far too much importance to tho amount people knew. He thought they must let people follow their own taste a good deal more in their education. He was speaking now rather of tho public school. Tli'ey tried too much to force everybody along tho same road. In his profession, certainly, they tried to teach everybody in tho same way as if they were all going to be scholars, whereas 70 or 80 or 90 per cent, were not going to be. They had given them the same sort of education and tho same number of subjects, and he did not think it was fair. One had, as early as ono could, Co find out what people liked arid let them follow their own taste. Everybody must bo taught to be accurate —a very difficult thing. They tried to teach people to be accurate in a great many different ways. The accuracy about which ho knew most, in tho use of words and of a scholar, was one thing and that of tho mathematician was another. They were both quite good, but he was prepared to beliovo that the accuracy of a carpenter was just as good if one really knew. Discussing memory, he said thero were somo people who could remember poetry. The things one learnt at tho ago from 10 to 18 were the things one never forgot. It was very important in those years to uso one's memory aright. But some people could not learn poetry, 'llie job was to harness memory ou to the right thing.