NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22620, 7 January 1937, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

THE WAY TO PEACE Lord Cecil was asked whether, in view of the behaviour of Italy and the severance of Germany from the League, he did not fool discouraged. "No," lie replied, with conviction. "Unfortunately, the countries ruled by dictators have adopted an ideology—l understand that is the popular word for it—which is inconsistent with peace. That is no reason why the ideology should not be changed. There is no reason why a dictator should not be in favour of peace and international organisation. though it happens that in Italy and Germany they are hostile to these things. J hope that will change. At any rate, the door of international organisation will be kept wide open for them to come in if and when they please. As Mr. Winston Churchill said, to talk of the encirclement of Germany is nonsense. Germany has only to come in and encirclement is at an end." DEMOCRACY'S TASK The great problem of the coming age was whether a democratic or an authoritarian theory should prevail, said Dr. Cyril Norwood, president of St. .John s College, Oxford, in a recent lecture. To the impressive totalitarian States the surviving democracies presented a contrast, at first, sight discouraging, for to them the human values for which democracy stood were not self-evident. It was, said Dr. Norwood, a dangerous situation, for many of the criticisms levelled against modern democracy were justified. If the war had failed in its alleged purpose of making the world safe for democracy it was perhaps because democracy had too much neglected the task oi showing that it was safe for the modern world. "Tlio plain truth to me." said Dr. Norwood, "is that we have not yet got a democracy which pretends to be sufficiently educated for its task " PHYSICAL EDUCATION Practical means to improve and preserve the health of the nation were described at the Public Health Congress in London by Captain F. J. C. Marshall, who is organiser of physical education and inspector of schools for Bradford. The uncertainties and instability of modern democracies, ho said, were due mainly to the loss of physical vitality with its accompanying nervous irritability, narrowness of vision, and lack of inner restraint. Physical education must begin from the moment the child entered school, as was actually the case in the Stateaided schools. Although children were now leaving elementary schools with a real love of physical activity, the same thing could not be said of those who left some of the secondary schools. Although conditions were improving, too often only the mental side of the educational process was catered for, and if the physical received any recognition it was usually taken by a master with very little training for the task. There was no wonder that a very valuable source of potential leaders was not available. Recreative physical education required a special kind of teacher, and there was a dire need of a physical training college for teachers. ENGLAND'S LANDED GENTRY In the anything but rigid social order of England, the landed gentry, mingling with the nobility at one end of the scale and with commerce at tho other, have always filled an important place in the national structure, remarks the Times. At the present time the estates of the landed families are changing hands very rapidly, and former owners being replaced by "new men." This, says the editor, Mr. H. PirieGordon, of the new edition of ".Burke's Landed Gentry," is only an acceleration in a process of disintegration and renewal which has been going on since the Conquest. New men, enriched by war or commerce, were constantly superseding men impoverished by war, or by fines for "recusancy" or "malignancy," or by their own extravagance and dissipation, or, in modern times, by taxation. But, though it is not new. the process of change is moving faster than ever before; and meanwhile the duties which the landed gentry were expected to perform have by no means diminished. They have changed in •method. Things are done by committees now which used to be left pretty much to tho personal authority of the landowner, and the work gets done now sui in old days. The future, however, is felt by some to threaten the new 'lien as much as the old. Will the old tradition of service be maintained? To lose it would be to waste all the power for good in that honest pride of family and of home of which this book is the monument. BRITISH AGRICULTURE Mr. W. S. Morrison, the newlyappointed British Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, stated in a recent speech that the National Government were seeking to establish a balanced economy in which the interests of industry and agriculture would be reconciled. In tho four eventful years during which Mr. Elliot was in office they had seen a steady recovery from depression conditions. Much of what was done in the early days to protect farming from the impact of world depression was necessarily temporary in character. To-day thev were developing more permanent policy. Long-term action was necessary if farming was to be put on a sound basis, for the farmer had to plan ahead. Rapid changes of policy were tho worst foe of agricultural prosperity. Farmers might rest assured that the policy Mr. Flliot had begun would bo continued. The world economy was not static and methods might need adjusting from time to time to meet changing conditions, but the broad principles of policy would remain the same. Recovery in the countryside had been helped on by recovery in the towns. More work and better wages were leading to a rise in the standard of living, and this was shown by the growth of retail trade. In this year to date people had spent over 6 per cent more in tho shops than last year, and sales of food showed an increase of S\ per cent. The National Government were bringing about a continuous recovery in tho home market, but this had not yet been matched by a corresponding improvement in the export trade. The recent currency changes on the Continent gave hopes of a brighter future for world trade.