NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21641, 6 November 1933, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

LABOUR AND LEISURE "The maggot which is running about in my brain," said Dr. Temple, Archbishop of York, when opening some workrooms for tho unemployed, "is the problem wo have to faro in tho general increase in popular leisure. 1 am convinced, and a great many students of social questions aro convinced, that we are going in tho future to have a rather rapid increase in the amount of time which people have to fill in. Then comes tho question of the distribution of tho time—whether some have to work all tho day and some not at all, or whether the spare time is to bo spread over all the citizens. After all, ono of the hardest things about these periods of unemployment is tho sense that it cannot help bringing upon a man that he seems not to be wanted. Society has no nicho for him, has no call upon him for his services. If we can find ways in which, none the less, ho can still bo of service in those channels which are parallel to the main channel of industry we can to some extent remove that horror from unemployment. In tho meantime we are preserving skill or developing it so as to enable a man to serve the community better."

•NAZI MILITARISM In an article in the London Observer, Mr. Garvin refers to the' German militaristic philosophy propounded by Professor Banse. Ho says:—"Under a true system of State eugenics—goes on the Professor —warlike individuals must be particularly encouraged to procreate. Women, when their new-born babies are put into their arms, must firmly contemplate the ultimate destruction of these infants. Babies of all nations are brought forth to kill each other periodically when mature. The dying warrior must shed his blood as in glad libation of his 'National God.' 'Our good old god of Brandenburg;' as the ex-Kaiser used to say in his fashion of localising a diety. Religion and the Churches must be utilised more efficiently for the purposes of the warphilosophy. Under the auspices of true national religion, false sanctimoniousness will be banished. In no nation on earth but one to-day," says Mr. Garvin, "is this kind of infernal preaching not only allowed but officially instituted, salaried and encouraged. Of what avail are mechanical cures, such as have been impotently discussed these 10 years, for a mental perversion so monstrous as this and for a moral disease so virulent?"

HEALTH AND NUTRITION "It is not exaggeration to say that some of our commonest diseases are directly due to deficiency or excess of certain food constituents," says Sir George Newman in his annual report upon the health of the British people. "As instances in which there exists legitimate suspicion that a commercial process may involve a definite risk to health or debasement of nutritive value I may cite (a) the fumigation of food with toxic gases to destroy insect pests; (b) the presence of heavy metals in foods due to the materials or containers used in manufacture and storage; (c) the increasing use of poisonous insecticides and fungicides in agriculture and horticulture; (d) the treatment of flour with bleaching and improving agents; (e) 'fortification' of foods by artificially added vitamins; (f) the uncontrolled and unregulated exposure of food to ultra-violet rays, or (g) the introduction of new synthetic colours and flavours. Innumerable processes have been introduced in which the danger lies not in any direct menace to the health of the individual, but in the possibility that the nutritive value of the food has been adversely affected, or that the food has been so treated as to give ••V totally falsa impression of its nutritive value. There is a tendency at the present time," Sir George adds, "for manufacturers to avail themselves of the publicity value of recent vitamin research by adding vitamins empirically to a variety of foods, without due consideration of the results which may accrue from such haphazard practises."

THE RADIO LISTENER Broadcasting demands a, special technique, both in the artists and tho listener, writes Mr. &t. George Kitson in tho Bookman. "The, perfect wireless artist is a man who gestures with his voice, and ignoring studio audiences, announcers and all other immediate ornaments, however attractive, concentrates entirely on the listener. The perfect listener needs a brain several times larger than that required by film or theatre 'fans.' The listener is an individual, not one of a crowd. There aro no boisterous galleryites or luxuriously comfortable seats to put him in a good humour. Ho is not enveloped in soothing darkness. Surrounded by familiar objects of his household, lie does not experience any of those enjoyable thrills that aro part and parcol of a 'night out.' There is only the wireless set and tho voice that issues from it. It is entertainment stripped bare of glamour. Most listeners, unconsciously irked by the lack of external stimuli, stare at their sets in a 'Go-ahead-amuse-mo-if-you-can!' frame of mind. The perfect listener realises that wireless variety is a unique form of entertainment. He knows that the friendly, all-here-to-be-pleased atmosphere attendant 011 film and theatre shows is necessarily denied him. He uses his imagination. He turns a blind eye to his environment, visualises the broadcaster whoso voice he hears, and supposes that tho artist is in his room, talking or singing to him alone. By thus creating an air of intimacy the listener ceases to regret tho absence of sympathetic company. These uiulerlying principles are the secret of ,all good listening, irrespective of the nature of the broadcast."