NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22512, 1 September 1936, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

LABOUR ATTACK ON FASCISM Sir Walter Citrine, in his presidential address to tho International Trades Union Congress in London, appealed to the members to continue the struggle against Fascism. "To say that our movement is opposed to war in all circumstances," he declared, "is, in my opinion, dangerously delusive and misleading. We are pledged to maintain the collective system, and remain loyal to the League of Nations. Labour stands for the rule of law. By such unity in support of a common programme, the menace of Fascism, now nakedly manifest as tho fomenter of international strife, and the principal inciter to Avar, can be met. It is necessary for us, not only to bo on guard against Fascism, but to be resolute and persistent in our efforts to destroy it. It is a crime against civilisation to allow this monstrous system to continue which deifies the State, destroys personal freedom and the institutions of democracy, and rules by contempt of tho most sacred rights of mankind." ARMS AND WAR RISKS Does the feverish rearmament on which Europe is now engaged imply that another great war is bound to break out as a consequence? asks Major-General Sir C. W. Gwynn, writing in the Morning Post. There is a popular belief that when rearmament is complete, military leaders will bo seized by an irresistible desire to see the machinery at work. It is safe to say that in no country with aggressive tendencies would tho military advisers advocate resort to war unless the chances of victory amounted to practical certainty; and in other countries tho idea of a preventive war, except in case of actual aggression, has been discarded. A major prophet of the standing of Mr. H. G. Wells told us recently that lie did not think that another great war was coming to Europe soon, because no country is prepared for an "all in" war at the present time—if only through inability to assemble the parts of the complicated new machine. I would go further and say that, when all countries are fully prepared, clanger of a great war may become even less. Tho critical period obviously will be when "dissatisfied" nations are prepared and the "satisfied" still unprepared. I

DIET AND NUTRITION A great deal of public controversy has arisen recently around the subject of malnutrition. From the manner in which this question is sometimes debated it might be supposed, remarks the Morning Post, that under-nourish-ment was a new and growing -evil which had suddenly begun to afflict the people of the United Kingdom. Nothing, of course, could be farther from the truth. Indeed, such information as is available goes to show that the consumption of food per head at the present time is greater than at any time in the past. According to Sir John Orr there was consumed in 1934 88 per cent more fruit, 57 per cent more butter, 46 per cent more eggs, 19 per cent more sugar and 6 per cent more meat per head than in 1909-1913. Of the principal foods wheat flour alone declined slightly. The ground of criticism is not that there has been deterioration, but that the degree of progress still leaves much to bo desired. What has brought the subject to the fore has been recent research into the nutritive value of food combined with a developing public conscience in all matters relating to health. Increased awareness of an evil, not the increase of the evil itself, is at the root of this discussion, a fact too often overlooked by many of the disputants.