NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23047, 26 May 1938, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

ON READING THE BIBLE "How to Know the Bible" is the subject of an article in the Listener by the Archbishop of York, Dr. Temple. He writes: —If, when the lens of the camera is opened, there is behind it not a photographic film or plate, but a piece of looking-glass, there will be for the moment a very accurate reflection of the object in front of the lens; but there will be no photograph. If there is to be a photograph there must bo a film or plate which is sensitive to the rays of light. So, too, if we read the Bible with alert minds but without spiritual sympathy, we shall acquire precise" knowledge about it, but no knowledge of it. If we are truly to know it, what is required is that while we read the prophet's record of the Word of the Lord that came to him, the Word of the Lord should be heard in our own souls. AVERTING CATASTROPHE It is monstrously absurd to believe that we cav convert dictatorial governments to the pure gospel of democratic liberalism by threatening to bombard their cities, or to invade their territories —even if we had the armies to do so, Avrites Sir Philip Gibbs in his new book, "Across the Frontiers." We cannot induce the National Socialists of Germany to love the Jews by a naval demonstration in the North Sea. Wc cannot insist that they should re-establish their Parliaments and their trade unions and their free Press by any combination of armed democracies. That point of view which seems to bo the attitude of militant democrats is grotesque in its vision of realities. There is surely another and better way of upholding democratic ideals and bemg true to our liberal faith, that is by • a policy of appeasement, by the remedy of injustice wherever possible, by a generous spirit in all international relations, and by a refusal to advance along the road to war under the delusion that -we are defending liberty, or upholding the ideals of peace. BRITISH AND GERMAN ARMS During the last few years Mr. Winston Churchill has devoted much of his attention to Germany's military expenditure, and once again in the House of Commons he has detailed what he considers to be the latest information. He said:—"About £280,000,000 has been spent on defence services in Britain in the last financial year, and we are now asking for £350,000,000 in 1938. These figures are rightly judged enormous, but they acquire their significance only in relation to what is being spent elsewhere. £350,000,000 for 1938 compares with at least £900,000,000 in Germany, and it must be remembered that for the last three years in succession German defence expenditure has been running at about that level." After giving figures for army and navy expenditure, Mr. Churchill deduces that £240,000,000 is available for the air force and continues:—"Our comparable British figures are somewhat over £100,000,000. It would therefore not surprise ma at all if Germany were going to spend in 1938 more than twice as much upon her air force as Britain, and it must be remembered that this expenditure follows upon several years of even much larger preponderance of 'German expenditure upon the air compared with British air expenditure."

VALUE OF RESEARCH "The National Physical Laboratory has many duties," said Professor W. L. Bragg, the eminent scientist, in a recent broadcast talk. "It provides the nation with precise and reliable standards of measurement, and it tests and checks instruments of all kinds. It assists firms to solve their individual difficulties in manufacture. It carries out much of the fundamental research work on which improvements of industrial processes must depend. May I give a few examples which show how our work affects you personally? I wonder —is your household meter measuring correctly how much electricity you use? Your local supply company must now check its customers' meters against standards which the National Physical Laboratory certifies as correct. You are guarded against paying too much, although the company is unfortunately also guarded against charging you too little. Have you really got 'flu, or does your temperature appear to be up because the thermometer is not reading correctly? If the thermometer is one of the half-million certified each year by the laboratory you may depend upon its verdict. In hospital operating theatres with floors of rubber or other non-conducting substances, and in which the air has been made dry by air-conditioning, there is a risk of explosion of anaesthetics owing to electrio sparks. Research carried out in the laboratory has led to recommendations which greatly reduce this risk."

MILITARY DISPLAY Writing of his observations on a recent visit to Central Europe, Sir Alfred Zimmern says:—l came back to London with two very distinct impressions. One is the effect that is still produced on tho public mind by the old-fashioned use of military force. Every eye-witness that I spoke to—and I encountered quite a few, for I visited a border town —agreed that tho appearance of the German troops in Austria with all the apparatus of military might caused an immense psychological effect. And ripples, or rather waves, of that sensation are coursing through the Continent of Europe, especially to the south-east. This was something of a stage display which was in fact not nearly so decisively powerful as it looked. After nil, the tanks, aeroplanes and all the rest of tho equipment of Germany's military might aro largely composed of materials derived from sources under the control of tho free peoples—from sources, that is to say, which could be closed down, temporarily or even indefinitely, if the free peoples chose to exorcise their controlling power. But the peoples in Central Europe, whether within or without tho German cordon, cannot visualise this power of tho warpotential of tho free peoples, and so, in tho hands of clever men, military power, in spite of its essential weakness, is made to do duty for real power. It is taken at its face-value, carrying with it the prestige of overwhelming superiority. This is dangerous when the apparent power is used for other than beneficent ends,