NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23222, 16 December 1938, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

MOBILISING THE NATION "It is my conviction that it is not possible greatly to accelerate the present rate of rearmament unless we take such steps in Britain in respect of industry as we have hitherto only been prepared to take in time of war," said Mr. Anthony Eden in a recent address. "Britain cannot become relatively stronger in armamepts in relation to other countries while its industries are organised 011 a peace basis and those of other countries 011 a war basis. If a great national effort is to 110 made —if saerifieo is to be endured by all sections of the community—such sacrifice can only gain general and wholehearted acceptance 011 the basis of national unity. Hence my belief, which 1 have continued to urge, for such unity and for the co-operation of all parties in a Government which shall give it expression." JEWS' APPALLING PLIGHT The .Tews in Central Europe have ceased to be human beings; they are driven like cattle from country to country and left to starve in the no-man's-land between frontiers which have become their only resting-place, notes the Spectator. The most significant factor in the whole situation is the cynical contempt shown for human, as distinguished from political, rights; loss or cancellation of a passport turns human beings into homeless animals whom no man need respect, without any protection against the most brutal mistreatment. It must be remembered that Central Europo contains millions of Jews living under Governments

| which take this view of them; and unI less other countries interest themselves I in their fate they may soon have no choice but to bo starved and tortured to death. The Jewish problem,' in all its horrors, shows how far Europe really is from the era of peace and reconciliation between men that politicians so hopefully predict. DOMINIONS AND COLONIES There is a casual paragraph in Mr. Lloyd George's now- book on tho Peace Conference which acquires a peculiar appositeness at tho moment, says "Janus," writing in tho Spectator. Writing of the allocation of mandates for tho German colonics Mr. Lloyd George notes that Canada remained the only British Dominion without any extraneous responsibilities: "Personally (he writes) I regretted the disinclination of her statesmen and her people then to share in the direct responsibilities of Empire. I had been of the opinion that Canada might undcrtako the control and administration of the British West Indian islands on behalf of the Empire. Those beautiful and fertile islands were —and still are—suffering from tho neglect which is inevitable in an immense and scattered estate needing care and capital, not only for its full development but even to prevent its falling into decay. Canada has no tropical or semi-tropical territory, and I thought the undertaking might interest the Canadian people." Sir Robert Borden at. Paris was not responsive to Mr. Lloyd George's suggestion. The idea of encouraging the transfer of small outlying colonies to tho self-governing Dominion nearest them is worth considering, all the same. PRIMITIVE ART We cannot, among primitive peoples-, speak of the artist's being "called" to his mission, writes Mr. Julius Lips in his book, "The Savage Hits Back." The complicated and pretentious atmosphere that rightly or wrongly always envelops our painters and sculptors, the artistic refinements which we are only too ready to connect with tho idea of artistic creation, the exaggerated stressing of an individual talent which is regarded as unique—all such ideas are in direct opposition to primitive thought. So one who has troubled to give primitive art even a cursory survey will ever think of the native artist in that light. This does not, however, mean that primitive peoples have no sense of quality and efficiency, that they are not proud of workmen who are specially clever in producing complicated implements and furniture. Tho profofindcst roots of artistic production, a certain pious simplicity and introspection, are, with them, more of a natural gift than is the case with their white colleague, who at times is driven by poverty of ideas to labour his work with an affected finesse. 1" or the indefatigable imagination, continual readiness to absorb, and keen observational faculty of primitive men arc qualities which our European or American artists frequently have to acquire by long study—among coloured artists they usually exist from the outset. VACILLATING POLICY We have tried everything in turn and nothing long, writes the Earl of Lytton, in discussing British foreign policy. We have collectively criticised Japanese aggression in China and acquiesced at every stage in tho aggression which we criticised. At Locarno we welcomed Germany into the League, but subsequently did nothing beyond the evacuation of the Rhineland to keep her there. As wo did not secure tho friendship of the unarmed AVcimur Republic, we have got in its place tho enmity of tho heavily armed Nazi Reich. At Stresa wo tried half-heartedly to build a collective front against Germany, and at the same moment negotiated unilaterally a Naval Treaty with her. Six months later wo tried, again with no conviction, to create a collective front against Italian aggression in Abyssinia, and having created it wore the first to propose its abandonment. Sir Samuel Hoare went to Geneva to proclaim our faith in tho League of Nations, and a few weeks later ho and Monsieur Laval were trying to compound a felony with Mussolini. We have tried to secure tho support of ono set of people by declaring that the League of Nations was the sheet-anchor of our policy, and of another sot of people by declaring that we would never light except when British interests were involved. Among the British interests for which wo would light we have always declared the security of France to be one, yet at Munich we and the French were parties to the weakening of tho Little Entente in Eastern Europe on which French security, and therefore our own, largely depended. In consequence, the British public is completely bewildered, and thero is not a country in tho world which could predict with any confidence what Great Britain will do next.