NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22754, 14 June 1937, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

BASIC POLITICAL PRINCIPLES

They of the Centre and Eight political parties, said the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Samuel Hoare, in a recent speech, preferred experience rather than experiment and tradition rather than revolution. Unity, continuity, and opportunity ouj|ht to be the three basic principles of the national life; unity between class and class rather than class tyranny; continuity between the past and the present, between King and country, between Church and State, rather than sudden disruption with tradition and a totally new chapter in the life of tho country; opportunity for each one of them to live his own life and to make his own career in his own way, and none of that dismal uniformity impressed upon so many of the peoples of the world. GERMAN CHURCH DISPUTE "Many of tho clergy in Germany perceived the true character of tho : Totalitarian State long before the politicians and economists did," said Mr. F. A. Voight, in a recent broadcast talk. "Before it was established by tho .Nazis in Germany 21 pastors of Altona, near Hamburg, issued a warning to the German people. This warning contains the following words: 'Whoever places the Church and her message under tho influence of a political power converts that power into a religion hostile to Christianity. . . We reject every deification of the State. If the civil authority claims dominion over the human conscience, it thereby becomes anti-Christian. . This warningwas printed and circulated in the form of a long manifesto more than four years ago. It has passed from hand to hand ever since, and has been eagerly, read. ]f wo read it now, wo are bound to admire the prophetic insight of those few pastors of Northern Germany:, their words contain tho very esseiico of all that lias happened since." AMERICA AND THE WORLD The 20th anniversary of America's entrance into the Great War is being observed in Washington chiefly by discussions as to why the United States fought and as to whether in similar circumstances she would fight again, writes a London diarist. The post-war generation appears to think that tho action taken by President Wilson in 1917 was a mistake that ought not to bo repeated it and when—as most Americans believe to bo likely—war breaks out in Furopo. The feeling that the Old World has one set of political interests and America another is finding emphatic expression just now all over the Union. On the other hand, there is a stronger disposition in Washington than there has been for some decades to co-operate with Europe commercially and financially. Foreign trade, which used to be regarded by Americans as a. convenient spillway for their surplus production, is now seen as one of tho supports and stabilisers of American prosperity. An Anglo-Ameri-can trade agreement may bo near at hand. BUDGET AND CHANCELLOR To tho end of his Chancellorship of the Exchequer Mr. Neville Chamberlain lias remained faithful to the standards which ho set himself when bo first be-

came responsible for the national finances at a time of great anxiety, says the Times. His Budget statement was marked by the same solid qualities which have served the country so well during the years of his stewardship. His sound common sense, his courage in facing realities, however unpleasant, and his confidence in the readiness of the British taxpayer to make any sacrifice when convinced that it is needed, were as Conspicuous as in any of his previous Budget speeches. His whole endeavour has been to meet the n,ew burdens in a way which in his judgment "will exercise a decided check upon any development of speculation or of feverish activity without either destroying or seriously impairing the present upward trend of national welfare." He has done so in a Budget which forms a fitting close to the great succession of Budgets which ho has introduced. Three years ago it seemed as if, in his own words, Britain was finishing the story of "Bleak House" and about to open "the first chapter of Great Expectations." These hopes have not been realised. Thanks to the growing tension of international relations and the feverish increase of armaments in other countries Britain is committed to a period of great and probably increasing expenditure upon defence, imposing new burdens of debt and taxation. It is not a pleasant prospect, though it is being faced .with courage and determination.

CINEMA AS CHURCH ALLY At a conference at King's College, London, of younger clergy and ministers, arranged by the Cinema Christian Council, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is president, tho Bishop of Croydon announced that the council was. considering tho setting up of "a special producing agency, combining expert knowledge with genuine religious conviction." Taking the subject of his opening address, "What part can tho film take in the life and work of the Church:'" the bishop said that the business of the Cluirch in every generation had been to transmit tho truth and life and love of God all over the world. Tho principal witness must always be the witness of life —of truth through personality; but, in addition, the Church had used the witness of tho spoken and written word, of pictures, and of music. Now it had a new and powerful influence at its disposal—the cinematograph. In Great Britain 20,000,000 people were said to attend the cinema weekly. What a force the cinema could bo for moulding civilisation! The Church could not he indifferent to its educational possibilities, and must seo that its recreative side was free from inanities, futilities, and vice. This generation was very "eye-conscious," and the Church must not bo too lato in seizing this opportunity. The Cinema Christian Council was fully alive to tho scarcity of suitable films, and was associating itself with the ordinary film-producing coinpanics. Jint in addition they were considering the setting up of "a special producing agency, combining technical knowledge with genuine religious conviction."