NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23186, 4 November 1938, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

A TIGHT PINCH A striking metaphor was used by Mr. J. L. Garvin to bjing home to his readers in tho London Observer the precariousness of tho international situation over Czechoslovakia a few weeks ago. Mr. Garvin wrote: —Many who havo motored in high mountains have known a close kind of emergency. A fall of rock in tho night has narrowed the corner of a hanging road through a steep pass. One wheel is out over the precipice; another is on the edge. It is impossible to go back, and hard to go forward; but a'measuring eyo judges that it can just be done. With nerve and sureness the bad bit is negotiated without ono liairslpreadth to spare. It is a quietening experience while it lasts. So now, wo hope, in this crisis for mankind. There is sheer danger; there is acute difficulty, but tho saving work can bo done.

AMERICAN LABOUR VIEW Unity between the host of working men of the American Federation of Labour and the democracies of Europe was proclaimed by Mr. William Green, president of the federation, at • its annual convention in Texas last month. "We regret that a great outstanding, patriotic, democratic nation in Europe was compelled to pay such a terrible price in order to maintain peace," said tho leader of 5,000,000 of America's workers, in referring to the Munich settlement. "As we see the situation in Europe, a constant and apparently never-ending conflict, for the present at least, is going on between the totalitarian States and the democracies of that great continent, for, after all, the issue in Czechoslovakia as against the dictator in Germany was an issue between democracy and dictatorship. How long can compromises bo made and the tremendous price paid for peace at this time bo repeated? That is the question we are all asking. So far as the American Federation of Labour is concerned we stand immovably with the democracies of Europe and against dictatorship there, let it be Fascism, Nazi-ism or Communism."

LUTHER'S PRAISE OF MUSIC Christian musicians may well give a thought this year to Martin Luther, writes Mr. A. H. Fox Strangways, the music critic. For it was in the 38th year of the 16th century that Luther posted on the door of "Wittenberg Church (where 21 years before he had nailed his 95 theses against Indulgences), an "Encomion Musices" or Praise of Musick. This is the gist of it: —"It is impossible to write or to condcnso all that has been written about, music. Everything sounds: even the air, itself dumb, takes the power of sounding when it is moved. David noticed (Ps. 104, 12) the birds' chorus; and what a wonderful thing that is, led by that master of song, the nightingale! Philosophers explore in vain the human voice and its power of communicating meaning: it is no more to be explained than how it is a man laughs or weeps. The uses of music, too, leave the orator gasping—to cheer the downcast, sober the merry, hearten the desperate, bring low the men of high estate, calm ecstatic love and soothe hate. The Holy Spirit claims music for its own (ii. Kings, 3, 15). Music expels Satan* as in the case of David and Saul. The prophets caused song to be joined with string-playing, so as to establish a continuity of music in the church. But what need of many words! Music is a gift of God, to praise Him withal, and woe betide those depraved minds that rob Him of it and givo it to Satan."

SYNTHETIC MATERIALS Increased use of synthetic materials by the building industry was forecast by' Mr. R. Fitzmaurice, of the Government Building Research Station, when he addressed the Society of Chemical Industry, in Glasgow. "We see a complete revolution in certain limited fields," he stated. "Cast stone has gradually won its way into the field formerly held by natural stone masonry. So far it has imitated the forms and colours of the natural stones, but there should be great scope for tho development of a cast stone technique, with aesthetic values peculiarly its own. The concrete roofing tile has made great inroads into the field which formerly the clay tile held in undisputed possession. Tho concrete brick or block is beginning to compete' with tho clay brick. An almost revolutionary change has taken place in joinery in the last few years. Plywoods and veneered boards, allied with chromium-plate and stainless steel, ar«» used extensively in place of ordinary timber, and a completely now technique has been evolved." But things were not moving fast enough, ho added. The generally slow rate of change in building methods lie attributed to the fact that building had been carried on for centuries entirely on traditional and craft knowledge. Gradually, however, science was being applied to building problems, and a logical scientific approach was taking the placo of the traditional rules.

ADVERTISING THE EMPIRE Propaganda in these days has come to take on an unpleasant aspect, says Mr. David A. Peat, writing in the Sussex Daily News. But there is a place for tho right kind of propaganda based on the truth, and this is a plea for bolder, more imaginative and even more dramatic presentation of British policy and its aims. Tho British Empire, the British Commonwealth of Nations, is ontf of tho most remarkable structures in the history of the human race. I am amazed that so little has been dono to show to our people all tho possibilities of their inheritance, not in any jingo spirit of boosting national egoism but as an instrument for the furtherance of tho ideaß upon which it is founded —self-government and peaceful change—for tho many diverse races and religions which it contains. Hero, if we can do it —and we seem to be doing it —is an example for tho whole world: French and British in Canada; Catholic and Protestant in Ireland; Dutch and British in South Africa; Conservatism in Northern Ireland, Labour and Socialism in Australia and New Zealand; a republic in Southern Ireland; many races and creeds in India; yet all at peace in spite of tho strains and difficulties of so variegated a structure! This is indeed a miracle, and thoso who carp and criticise and point to tho defects, the maladjustments and the injustices and do not see the vast achievement as a whole, are poor friends of human progress.