NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22687, 27 March 1937, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

JURIES IN TRAFFIC CASES ; "There is little hope that we shall i ever reduce the number of latal road accidents so long as juries are terrified of the verdict of manslaughter," said Mr. Justice Humphreys, at Leicester Assizes. A jury had found an accused not guilty of manslaughter, but guilty of dangerous driving. The Judge said ho disagreed with the verdict. He added: "In my opinion, the evidence in support of the charge ol manslaughter was conclusive, 1 hold that view in spite of the verdict of the jury." TWO SORTS OF AGE "There are two sorts of age. There is the age of the body and the age of the mind," wrote the East End parson, the Rev. \Y. H. Lax, of Poplar, London, in his autobiography published just three days after liis death. "The one, to a hu'go extent, governs the other. You cannot keep the two apart. The age of the body, apart from actual disease, depends upon the vital organs: the heart, lungs, kidneys, and the like. These are 'set' for a certain period. They may get worn out, either by fair wear and tear or, much sooner, by unfair wear and tear. You cannot help that. But you can control the ape of the mind. You can, if you face life in the right spirit, keep the mind young almost indefinitely. And remember that i tlie mind controls the activities and energies of all the rest of the body, ft is the supreme organ. If you let the mind grow old the body will grow old also." PROBATION FOR CRIMINALS The value of the probation system in reducing crime was emphasised by Mr. S. W. Harris, Assistant-Under-Secre-tnrv of State to the British Home Office, in a recent address. Mr. Harris said that in 1934 nearly 20,000 persons guilty of indictable crimes were placed on probation. What would have hap- j pened to them if there had been no probation system ? That system and the giving of time for tlie payment of fines had been the main causes of the immense reduction in prison population compared with 30 years ago. Statistics showed that the proportion of offenders over 16 had shown a tendency to decrease. There were, however, instances where probation was unsuitably applied, especially to young offenders. Conditions had to be reasonable. A youth must not be required to give up smoking, be at home every night and go to church every Sunday. The young cinema fan must not be required to deny himself Mickey Mouse and Laurel and Hardy for two years. Jn one case a man and woman, charged jointly, were forbidden to speak to one another, with the result that they were married within a month. The probation officer of the future would be more fully equipped than now by training, both theoretical and practical. "THE FIERCE LIGHT" The position to which his birth and i the strange movement of unforeseen j j circumstance have suddenly called His I present Majesty, is one so prominent, ; | so difficult, so exacting, that the brav- | | est spirit may well flinch from the j j burden, writes the Bishop of Durham, j I Dr. Henslev Henson, in the diocesan j j magazine. I cannot find in all histrtry ! I the bishop proceeds, any parallel to the j j position of the King of* England. The constitutional development which, in the course of many centuries, has withdrawn from the British Sovereign that direct control of government which his Royal ancestors possessed, has had the effect, not'of dwarfing the Crown into a quasi-Merovingian impotence, but of bringing into more illuminating prominence the man himself, and investing his personal conduct with an ever wider range of influence. The example of the King is no longer only potent within the narrow and relatively secluded precincts of a Court, hut tells subtly and constantly over the whole area of popular life. Throughout the vast expanse of the British Empire, the King's voice can be heard by his subjects, and even the smallest details of his daily habit can be known and judged. The fierce light that beats upon a throne was never so fierce as when that throne is British. The essential equity of the British people is not unmindful of all this, and its sympathy goes out in full measure to the man who, through no choice of his own, but in response to the clear demand of patriotic duty, lias been called to such a position. ABSOLUTE RIGHT AND WRONG Tolerance and understanding are immense and valuable virtues; but flabbiness is a vice without excuse. " It* doesn't matter what you believe, so long as you do believe it," is a popular modern cry. ]t is one of the silliest, most perillous slogans ever invented, ft is the child of folly and sloth, writes Mr. John Council in the Evening News. No ono has any proof that the 7.52, because it ran up to timo all last week, will run up to timo all this week. And, if there is fog or snow or frost further down the line, it may not run to time; hut so strong is our faith in tho material arrangement of the world that day after day tho platform will ho regularly and pathetically crowded from 7.50 a.m. onward. Why should we shed that sense of conviction when we enter the non-material world? Why should Ave bccomo immediately "broadminded" and see "all sides of the question," and suggest compromises and hunt for acceptable formulae? In the material world, if a chequo is returned, it is an unhappy jolt to tho' banking and credit system. But in the moral and spiritual world nowadays there seems to be nothing worthy tho vigorous defence which tho banking and credit system puts up against fraud, carelessness and wanton extravagance. It is a situation topsv-turvey and paradoxical. In the world of morals there arc certain things which are right and others which are wrong; in politics certain things which must be done, others which must bo avoided. And wo are tho judges. Wc cannot sit back, say, "Judgment is reserved," and adjourn tho court sine die. For wo are tho litigants too, to some extent. As wo adjudicate, so wo must live. Wo must be on ono side or the other, for right or wrong. Wc have got to find again and reassert our standards and our values —not to impose on others, but to be the measure and the slide-rule for our owu lives.