NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23168, 14 October 1938, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

PLEA FOR CLEAR SPEAKING A plea for clearer speaking was made by Sir Barry Jackson, when he opened the British Drama League's ten-day drama school in the Buxton Playhouse, England. "Elocution everywhere to-day is so slip-shod that it is extremely difficult to hear what is said even in a room, let alone in a theatre," said Sir Barry. "I had believed that this fault was confined to England, but a French critic who is slaying hero told mo to-day that exactly the same thing is happening in France. It is possible to drop one's voice almost to a whisper and vet to be heard quite distinctly if one speaks correctly," said Sir Bnrrv in a quiet voice, and he added: "Pronounce every syllable of every word, because it is very often the last syllable of a word that gives tho clue to an entire sentence." RATE OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS The Economic Intelligence Service of the League of Nations, in its latest survey of "World Production and Prices" (that for 1937-38), attempts to measure the rate of economic progress in the post-war world. Considering tho world as a whole, thus including Soviet Russia, tho production of foodstuffs per head (excluding milk and meat) increased by 19 per cent between 1920 and 1937, and that of manufactured consumption goods by 40 per cent, notes the Manchester Guardian. The output of capital goods increased still more —by 60 per cent. The year 1920 however, abnormal, for Europe at least was still suffering from the dislocation of the war. Making the comparison with 1925, as a year when the sharpest effects of tho war had worn off, wo find that tho output of food per head in 1937 was much the same as it was in 1925, while production of manufactured consumption goods had risen by about 15 per cont —a "definite, though moderate, increase in average standards of consumption." In spite of all our;vicissitudes the world's standards are rising.

PROFIT AND LOSS "I sometimes wonder whether we all of us, of th© world of to-day, are really more civilised than our ancestors in the past in consequence of modern transformation in our lives," said Lord Ponsonby in a broadcast talk. "Socially, of course, there are vast improvements. But most of them are essentially materialistic. Man's ingenuity has advanced by leaps and bounds, but quite certainly there is no equivalent advance in his moral sense. Science, I admit, has made giant strides. But after all, it has been well said that the purpose of civilisation is not the progress of science, but the progress of man. Some people may contend that we are indeed cleaner, better, healthier and wiser than our predecessors in centuries gone by. I won't contradict them; but it has yet to be proved. *1 would remind you also that while science may have made life easier and more comfortable for many people, at the same time man's inventive genius is hard at work devising methods for destroying life and property on a scale undreamt of in human history. If these terrible inventions are ever tested by use on a large scale, we shall hardly be able to claim that we are more civilised, when, as a result of our efforts, we destroy such civilisation as we have."

PATRIOTISM AND FITNESS

Both this summer and last summer I have paid a visit to the Continent (this 3'ear to Germany), and I have tried to sum up the lessons I havo learned so far as the fitness campaign is concerned, writes a correspondent to the Times. The totalitarian States are arming rapidly, and the streets of all towns are filled with soldiers, more particularly, I thought, of airmen. They regard physical fitness as essential for the soldiers, but they, of course, are trained in barracks and camps. Every town of any size has its civilian physical fitness and games instructor, who takes classes of people of all ages. The people are obviously not paraded by order, but enter into the classes and games for the fun of the thing, and more particularly, it seemed to me, because they thought it the right thing to do, not only for their own benefit, but for the good of the country. They evidently find a band of assistance to rally the people together. This brings me to what I consider to be the key to the whole business in Britain, and that is to instil a spirit of pride in the country and in the Empire. If we could revive and increase this pride, which existed to a larger extent before the war, I am sure it would go a long way to getting people to improve their physique, as the urge to do eo would be greater.

SCIENCE IN PEACE AND WAR "Has tho man of scienco a special responsibility that he does not sharo with other citizens? How often has he invented a 'scientific devilment, deliberately contrived to cripple and destroy?' " asked Professor Allan Ferguson in a broadcast talk on tho recent proceedings of tho British Association. "If you study chemistry at all, you are bound to study the action of nitric acid on various substances. You will discovor nitro-benzene, tho key to the aniline dye industry. Sooner or later you will hit on nitro-glycerine, and develop an explosive which may be—and is—invaluable in tho arts of peace. Mustard gas? It has been known for near two generations as a quite unimportant chemical compound. Its terso and official description, 45 years ago, was 'oil, very poisonous, violently inflames the skin.' Thermite incendiary bombs? Lord Rayleigh himself recalls how he first met thermite in 1901 when he heard a lecture at the Royal Institution on 'Metals as Fuel.' And it certainly never occurred to the lecturor or to any of his hearers that tho mixture .thermite, that i>i so useful in welding operations, Had any application to war. The aeroplane? Tho simple fact is that the pioneers in this conquest of the air had not the slightest interest in its military possibilities. Lord Rayleigh's summing up of the matter may be condensed into two sentences—that 'the application of fundamental discoveries in science to purposes of war is altogether too remote for it to be possible to control such discoveries at the source,' and that 'the world is ready to accept the gifts of scienco and to use them for its own purposes. It is difficult to see any sign that it is ready to accept the advice of scientific men as to what those uses should be.' "