NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22225, 27 September 1935, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

DOMINIONS AND LEAGUE "Distance from the sceno of possible conflict has not prevented Australia and New Zealand from recognising that they aro affected by any development threatening the peace of the world," said the Times in a leader on August 31. "From the very foundation of the League theso two Dominions have been among its firmest supporters. They aro preoccupied with many and urgent internal problems, but they know how gravely their own difficulties would lie intensified by any breakdown of the system of collective security. In both Dominions steady progress continues to be made in overcoming theso difficulties. Confidence has been restored, thus making easier the further efforts which require to bo made, where possible, in eo-opcration with one another and with the other parts of the Empire. . . .

Serious as aro their own internal difficulties the peoples of both the two great British countries in tho Pacific do not let themselves forget that they have their part to play in |he British Commonwealth and in tho comity of nations, in defence of peace and justice."

THE SOLUTION FOR FARMERS "Every ono in Great Britain recognises how severely New Zealand has been hit by the fall of prices and tho contraction of markets, and is anxious to help," said the Times in commenting on the successful issue of tho mission of Mr. Forbes and Mr. Coates to London. "The only differences have been over the methods by which supply can best be adjusted to effective demand pending the revival of prosperity in this country and tho consequent increase in the demand both for homegrown and for imported meat and dairy produce. So far as Great Britain and tho Dominions aro concerned, there is now little disagreement over the way in which the disequilibrium should bo adjusted in tho meantime. It ig essential, however, that neither the exporting nor the importing countries should regard these adjustments as anything more than temporary, if necessary, expedients. They must seek in the other direction, for a permanent solution of their difficulties, which will continue to recur until they can find ways of increasing the demand, or rather of making effective the demand which already exists."

ROAD FATALITIES ANALYSED 'The British Ministry of Transport gives abundant matter for discussion in its analysis of the causes of 1500 road deaths, remarks the London Observer. The evidence, as it notes, has to be assessed with caution, since 95 per cent of tho motorists concerned in these contacts survive, and can tell their story, while the pedestrian's testimony is. usually, buried along with him. This circumstance qualifies both the estimates of driving speed and the descriptions of walking indiscretions. As the Scotsman aptly puts it, "no one involved in an accident ever travels more than 20 miles per hour unless the evidence against him is overwhelming." That many people cross the road without due attention is true enough. Three-fourths of those killed are either below 15 or over 55—suggesting imperfections of education in the one case and of re-education in the other. Too much cannot be done to impart a knowledge—and constant consciousness—of the Highway Code at all ages. But tho motorist is not entitled to assume that old heads have thereby been put on young shoulders, or young limbs and nerves supplied to veteran bodies.

GOOD ART SELLS If the despised designer could learn that present-day hianufacturers, instead of slamming the door upon art, were stampeding tho studios of Chelsea and Blooinsbury, to secure tho latest thing in artists, ho would probably rest in peace, feeling that tho activities of the avenging angel are still to be feared, says Mr. Arthur B. Bateinan, in writing of how the ideals of John Ruskin and William Morris have been realised in modern times. The Victorian manufacturer, ho continues, would probably conclude the world was as mad as the social theorisers of his day imagined it to be, and give the Almighty thanks that he retired from the struggle before any of these nonsensical notions gained currency. For industry had made tho discovery—somewhat belatedly, it is true —that good art is a primary selling factor, and design can no longer bo regarded as even of \ secondary importance. To-day, whether we like it or not, a thing sells less by the durability of its material than by its appearance and its fitness for purpose. "Looks" it must havo, and its attractiveness to the eye is a stronger selling factor than perhaps anything else. Originality of design, combined with a truo functional character, will practically ensuro the success of any household article, whether destined for the kitchen or for tlio drawing room, and household products possessing these characteristics have no difficulty in presenting themselves to the public.

CIVIL AND CHRISTIAN GRACES Christianity cannot flourish without finding room within itself for the characteristic civilising values of reason, boauty and civility, writes the Rev. Roger B. Lloyd in the Sj>ectator, in arguing that thero is no opposition between the ideals of civilisation and Christianity. Every crime and every weakness that is to be set at the door of the Christian Church has been duo to the lack of one or other of those values. Christian theology cannot maintain itself, as Abelard and a long succession of Christian thinkers have proclaimed. without constant recourse to the astringent purge of reason. Nor is it anything but suicidal for it ever to proclaim that thero is anything within it to which reason is irrelevant. Nor can the day by day worshipping life of Christianity long afford to offend the canons of beauty in the arts of which it makes use. And, above all, Christianity perishes when it forgets the graco of civility, and all Jhat is implied in it. Thero are two great Christian saints, heroic and noble, Bernard of Clairvaux and Francis of Assisi. But Francis was civilised, and Bernard emphatically was not. Few would deny that Francis was the greater saint of the two, and that in the long run his life was the more effective. For Francis, purely by reason of the civility which he added to his more exclusively Christian graces, was that much the nearer to the standard set by Christ Himself.