NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21254, 6 August 1932, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

MENACES TO THE NATION The Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. St. Clair j Donaldson, attacked "the- cheap press" in a speech at Salisbury Diocesan Training College. He described it as " a menace to the nation." He said that today the great menace was that the democracy had power, without the capacity to use tho power rightly, and without the capacity to judge. People could read and write, but they could not make a proper choice between the better and the worse. There was a danger that the people would allow themselves to bo led wrongly by wrong leaders. There were two great, factors —the cheap press and the cinemas. No one could read the cheap press without feeling desperately anxious as to the power of tho people to choose between tho better and the worse. The cinema was not much better, though that was now in tho hands of investigators. Theso things were an index of tho public taste, and showed what a desperate need there was for some education if tho people were to be lifted out of this condition and enabled to judge rightly and properly. Wo were living in an age of freak religion. There was no one who could not start a new sort of cult, and if he were clever enough to use the press ho coijld get adherents. People were not able- to use their critical faculties. Tho j'l'esent age was an ago of cranks and demagogues. Lest people should fall utterly into their hands, they had to have more education. DEFECTIVES AND HEREDITY In tho causation of mental deficiency heredity plays an important part, states the committee of the British Medical Association, which recently issued its report on the problem of mental deficiency, but the evidence does not allow the expression of an opinion as to-the exact percentage of cases which can be attributed wholly or partially to this cause. In order to assist in this investigation the committee recommends that in the form for regis- ! t rat ion of marriages there should be a I column for a statement of any family or blood relationship existing between the j contracting parties, since there is a lack of 'information on this subject, especially | in respect of cousin marriages. With regard to tho diagnosis of mental deficiency, the committee states that there is undoubtedly a high correlation between scholastic and social incapacity; nevertheless, the two are not identical. It is now recognised that certain individuals may bo socially defective, but yet present no marked scholastic defect, and conversely, that certain children may present considerable scholastic incapacity but subsequently provo to be sufficiently capable socially to bo in no need of external care. It seems clear that the certification as mental defectives of children who are merely defectives in scholastic educability may impose upon them a stigma which may subsequently operate to their disadvantage. WARTIME PERSONALITIES A French author, Edmond Delage, has written "The Tragedy of the Dardanelles," a translation of which is reviewed in tho Times Literary Supplement.. The reviewer suggests that some will find their chief interest in M. Delage's summary characterisations. Lord Kitchener, j "obstinate and taciturn," who "despised s'affs, neither understanding nor feeling the need for them . . . was always several months behind both in understanding and acting," "listened with inattentive ear" to Sir lan Hamilton's appeals for more troops or shells, and "was the same incarnation of magnificent indecision that he had always been." Mr. Lloyd George, "restless and loquacious . . . attracted by the Oriental mirage," who "disliked soldiers and distrusted them on principle," is among those directors of British policy who are described as floundering in "intellectual anarqhy"; and tho whole Eastern policy of Great Britain appears as "a tissue of illusions" which led to successive diplomatic defeats in Constantinople, Sofia and Athens. M. Delage properly devotes much attention to his own generals and admirals. General Gouraud, "at once fiery and sagacious," whose loss was equivalent to that of an army; General d'Amade, with "the haughty air of a warlike nobleman"; Admiral Guepratto, with "tho face of a paladin . . . adored panache and sweeping majestic salutes. His instinctive bravery made him heedless of danger . . . ready to rush into the most formidable hornets' nest with a smile on his lips," a worthy companion for his British colleague Commodore Keye.s. "a dare-devil . . . who refused to regard anything as impossible."