NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23206, 28 November 1938, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

LOCAL GOVERNMENT The work of local government today was strenuous, and it made great demands on the time of the elected representatives, said Professor It. A. C. Oliver in an address to local body staffs at Manchester. Local government was going into tbe melting-pot. They heard a good deal to-day about regionalism, but when they talked glibly about regionalism he thought they needed a good deal of research into the question of what elements and circumstances made up a region. Another problem that must bo faced was that of educating tho peoplo with regard to local and national government. He had found colossal ignorance on tho part of ratepayers regarding local government, though they might have some sort of understanding of the work of the central Government. There was something not quite right when it could bo said that people paid their taxes in sorrow, but their rates in anger. PRESERVING LIBERTY Wo heard it said frequently in the European crisis a few weeks ago that liberty was in danger, writes Canon F. R. Barry in a recent article. It always is. For it is in tho end a quality of soul—something that must bo constantly re-won, that must bo deserved if wo are to keep it. If its price is eternal vigilance, that is vigilance over ourselves as much as others. Whatever the pressure of external danger, its greatest peril is always from within —the drying up of the springs of conviction and slackness or triviality of soul. The call to us surely is to mobilise the spiritual resources of democracy, which derive from an attitude to life and one another which is bound up with the Christian faith in God. Whatever be the anxieties and. sacrifices which may be imposed upon us in the coming time, let us British at least regain our souls and be loyal to the things that have made us, and for which wo stand in the world. DISCIPLINE IN DEMOCRACY The most vital of all questions today was that of the positive action of British democracy in tho face of world canditious, said Sir John Simon, Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking at Sheffield. British belief in the virtues of the democratic system was so profound, knowledge of tho benefits which that system brought to life and liberty in England was so immense that perhaps they had been a little too complacent that democratic - virtue brought its own reward. Lord Baldwin had many times over declared that tho democratic system, though the best for England, was the most difficult of all systems to work. It called for discipline, and discipline which was all tho moro essential because it was self-imposed. British democracy could establish justice and maintain t peace not because of tho innate virtues of democracy, but only if it evoked from every citizen tho resolve to dedicato himself to its service and a willingness to give up everything else, however precious or jealously guarded, to help to inako Britain strong for freedom.

DIPLOMATIC JARGON It may be largely a matter of personal taste. (for, after all, the only thing that really counts in writing or speaking is to make yourself clearly understood), but some of us are beginning to wish that there could be a compulsory close season for "unilateral" and its allied formations, writes "Lucio" in tho Manchester Guardian. Strictly speaking, a unilateral agreement is one that is binding on only one party, which would make it an instrument very much to the liking of any dictator. But in what respect does it differ from what the plain man might call a one-sided arrangement? Hut the lateralists now win all along the line; any day wo might expect to find that Four-Power Pact reappearing as a quadrilateral agreement, or, if Russia should, after all, manage to "creep and intrude and climb into the fold," as a quinquelateral disposition. The infinity end of tho scalo is already staked out, for in a London newspaper there has boon a reference to "the time, which has certainly not come yet, when an effective multilateral agreement can bo made to check the growth of armaments everywhere." But what on earth is wrong with a general agreement toward the samo admirable end ? "Multilateral" is there just a piece of pompous jargon.

DISORDERLY WORLD "The first requirement of a civilised Christian society is order, the rule of law which promotes the common good and keeps under control tho selfish instincts and desires of men," said tho Dean of Chichester, in preaching tho League of Nations Assembly sermon in St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva. "If this bo true of States in their interior organisation, it is even moro true of the relations of nations with one another, because men in tho mass are swayed by lower ideals than those which control the actions of the bettor sort of individual men and women. If Christian charity is to achieve its aim in tho world at large, the nations must bo able to defend themselves against tho would-be peace-breaker in tho sfimo way as the individual citizen is defended against the murderer and bandit. The difficulty has been that in tho past no authority existed in international affairs which could make this claim. Tho great contribution of the League of Nations to tho peace and welfare of mankind was that it at last brought into existence an authority that could demand tho allegiance of tho nations in their relations with ' one another. Tho law of nature, or in other words the law of God, was embodied in a practical and adequate institution, ["which, i provided tho appropriate machinery .for preventing any nation taking tho law into its own hands, which precluded tho possibility that any nation could act as counsel, judge, jury and executioner in its own casp. What do wo see to-day? The whole world is in a stato of insecurity much greater and much more alarming than anybody has known during tho last 50 years. . And what is the cause of it? Politicians will give all kinds of excuses. But the ordinary intelligent schoolboy or girl, tho ordinary shopkeeper or workman, the average minister of religion in Groat Britain (I have no claim to speak of other lands) will give you the right answer straight away. Tho League of Nations lins boon neglected or betrayed by tho Governments pledged to its support, and that is a fact that leaps to the eyes, and no excuses can alter it one jot."