NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23254, 25 January 1939, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

PROGRESS WITH APPEASEMENT It is always easy to despair, writes Lord Elton in the Sunday Times. And of late the language and conduct of the rulers of' Germany have not only accumulated obstacles for all those Who liope for ultimate reconciliation (which is undoubtedly to say the huge majority of the'population of Europe), but have temporarily strengthened all those whose chief desire seems to be that we should despair. But Mr. Chamberlain has not despaired. "Encouraged by the approval of my French friends and in closo collaboration with them," he said in Paris, "I intend to continue in our common task." Already, since Munich, we have had an Anglo-American trado agreement, an Anglo-Italian pact and a Franco-German declaration. All in their various degrees must make for appeasement. CINEMA OUT OF TOUCH In my opinion 1938 has the poorest crop of new films I can ever remember, writes Miss C. A, Lejcune, the noted London film critic, in reviewing last year's output. I think the falling-off in quality is only temporary. I hope it is only temporary. My own idea is that the film industry has not been able yet to re-orientate itself to a public increasingly conscious of the practical world in which we arc living. Taxes, business slump and threats of war have taken their toll of public enthusiasm; wireless and sport have catered for our immediate entertainment needs with ever-increasing efficiency. The film studios are out of touch with modern life, and unless their stories learn to deal with honest themes, and their characters behave like normal people, more and more of us will stay away from the pictures and spend our evenings playing darts, or going to the ice-rink, or dancing, or simply sitting at home with a book and the radio. At least, that is the way I see it. Am I right? RIGHT BEFORE PEACE The criticism levelled against Mr. Chamberlain in some quarters was thoroughly un-English, said the Bishop of Sodor and Man, Dr. Stanton .Jones, addressing the Manx Diocesan Conference. Either they must pursue a policy of peace in spite of almost insuperable difficulties or be flung into the abyss of war. "I am no pacifist," he added. "I believe the moral order is first righteousness, then peace, but the sword must ever be the last dread alternative. We see blazoned before the world the fruits of the pagan philosophy of life in Communism, Nazism and Fascism. Men become the slaves of a system, and the man who is a slave is something less than a man. Where personality is crushed, how is it possible to havo a strong and righteous nation?" He pleaded for Christians to bring to their faith all the passion., sacrifice, and missionary spirit of the new imperialisms. The churches would be crowded and God honoured, he said, if all professing Christians were as much in earnest as those set on world revolution. ACCESS TO RAW MATERIALS How nations can buy from abroad what they need to run their machines and feed their people—this is the real problem of raw materials, writes Mr. Lothrop Stoddard in a .recent article. A League of Nations statistical survey has conclusively shown that no redistribution of colonies would solve this problem, which involves every country —colonies and sovereign States alike. The problem itself is distinctly a postwar phenomenon. Before 1914, the world was economically so stable and so well integrated that no country had much difficulty in buying whatever it required, because it could sell enough to pay for its foreign purchases. Ever since the World War, the world has been economically so dislocated that international supply and demand cannot effectively balance. The rawmaterial countries suffer periodic gluts when their products go begging and often have to be sold far below cost. On the other hand, the consumer countries, lacking gold or foreign exchange, cannot purchase the raw materials they so desperately need. Not until these larger aspects are tackled can the general situation improve. This does not mean that specific colonial arrangements cannot bo bettered. Certain colonial powers could help by easing exclusive, discriminatory tariffs and regulations which hinder foreign trade and enterprise. The point to remember is that all such reforms would, at best, be palliatives. The need for a solution of the basic raw-material problem transcends all other questions in relation to colonies. COLONIAL METHODS The difference between French and British colonisation has been defined as that the British respect local interests more, but associate with the local inhabitants less than the French, says Sir Ronald Storrs, writing in the Listener. The comparison between the Italian colonisation of the Dodecanese and that of the British in Cyprus reveals a different analysis. In the Dodecanese, Leros has a first-class landlocked naval harbour, some 20 hours easy steaming from Cyprus. Under Fascist Italy, Hellenism in the Dodecanese is being systematically and scientifically extinguished. Official announcements spoke of Greeks, not as Greeks, but as Orthodox Christians—"Ortodossi"; not of Turks, but of "Mussulinani." The only Greek newspaper was a translation printed on tlio back of an Italian original. Many of the houses bore on their walls a stencilled head of the Duce. There were none of what we call "liberal institutions" whatever. On tlio other hand, the energy on development and tlio money spent by tlio Italians are worthy of the highest commendation. The islands abounded with every sort of improvement—schools, hospitals, and other public institutions —in lamentable contrast with Cyprus where, though wo have left to the inhabitants the fullest liberty in the pursuit and maintenance of their traditional education, culturo and religion, hardly any money has been spent, and there is a comparative lack of civic or other institutions contributed by Great Britain. A few years ago, I was certain we were on the whole right in our "laisscr aller" Liberalism, and the Italians wrong. But judging by the ultimate advantage to Dodecanese and to Cypriots in a couple of generations, 1 ani no longer quite so certain.