OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16942, 26 January 1926, Page 4

OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP.

THE MOVIES. ■ USE OF BRITISH FILMS. WORKING FOR BEST USE. In the cinema world striking events arc taking place. Hie “quota” of British films which is to 'bo compulsory, the establishment of a big industry ’near Brighton, and last, but by no means least, the formation of a film society for" tho raising of the standard of films, are all three subjects of discussion. “For many months we have been hearing of the plight of the British film industry, and of various suggestionsmostly rather vague —for assisting it,” says the Yorkshire Post. “Two schemes have aow come forward which, though still in their infancy, appear to have some practical possibility in them. The first is the scheme drawn up by the film tradel itself to arrange for a certain proportion of British films to be madci a compulsory part of every cinema programme in the country. “This scheme would need legislation to enforce it, and has difficulties of many kinds to face, but most of those who have studied the* question believe that some supli protective measure will prove necessary to give the British film industry a start towards prospertv. ’“The other scheme is purely one of individual enterprise, and has been evolved by a newly-formed private company called British National Pictures, Ltd., which proposes to build a large group of studios near London, and to start at once making ‘ pictures on the most modern lines. “We must have British films for two reasons. One is that we cannot afford not to take onr share in an industry which is already of vast scope and importance!, and is plainly destined to grow far more important still. The second reason is that a British Empire persistently flooded with foreign films is constantly being subjected to an alien and frequently unwholesome influence enormously pervasive in its effect. “There are still people, who are sorry that the cinema was ever invented'; there are others who believe that, although it lias fine possibilities, circumstances will always tend to divert it from them,” says the London Mercury. “Somei see 1 in them "an instrument which is undermining the respect which the colored races are deemed to feel for the white man; others argue that tho modern child’s imagination is beincr stunted by the picture palace, and all his notions of life falsified. Whatever critics and alarmists may say, little good (as ever) is donei by grumbling at the inevitable. The movies have come to stay; fine things have already been achieved by them end finer are conceivable; and the best thing we can do is t,o worlc for the best use of the l invention.

“We should encourage those producers who try to do fine wont ; wo should co-opcrate in the investigation of the film’s possibilities; and we should do our best to organise the industry in such a, way that the most intelligent films get the best possible chance, and that that section of the public which likes the highest class of film should be more effectively mobilised and catered for.”

FAILURE AND SUCCESS. THE WORLD’S HUMAN NATURE. Mr J. A. R. Claims, the London magistrate, addressing tho Southampton Brotherhood on a recent Sunday, stated in a speech recorded by the Southern Echo that:— “He had a suspicion that the world was never intended to bo other than a place of disappointment. It was a place for discipline and triumph, but they would never eliminate tho perplexities and disappointments. Thcv might have their measure of failure and success, but they would never achieve complete selfsatisfaction. “Life might be what it liked, but it was not, logic, and again and again it outraged their sense of justice. Perhaps it was because they did not see far enough. He could recall how in three crises in his own. life there had been meted out to him, as he thought at the time, injustices, but years after, looking back with knowledge, he saw that he would have chosen, had he known, the vdrv things which he considered heartbreaking at the time. “So they could go through the whole story of sickness, disease, failure and disaster, and any religion that was worth while must have a reality that would stand the stress and strain. “What was ond to say to the wash-up of human wreckage which passed through Metropolitan police courts? Apart from the valuation of the Galilean it, was simply wastage of human life, and apart from the message of the Galilean it was not merely without value, but without future. “What was wrong with the world was that there was such a lot of human nature in it. They might change their institutions; it would not matter .much. The trouble was to change the individual.” RARE ANIMALS FOUND. ROOSEVELT BROTHERS IN TURKESTAN. SRINAGAR, Kashmir. The Simpson-Roosevelt Field Museum Expedition, comprised of Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt, sons of the late President Roosevelt, Mr. George Chetrrie, of the National Natural History Museum of America, and another, have returned to Srinagar from their tour in search of snecimens of rare plants and animals in Turkestan. The Roosevelt brothers looked like patriarchal arrivals from another world, due to the lona beards they had grown and the genera! unkempt and care-worn appearance, caused bv the hardships they had endured 1 on their long trek in the'wilds. Their camp was attacked bv. starving wolves, who, however,, only succeeded in destroying and eating some of their ponies. • From a naturalistic point of view the expedition has been very successful, some remarkable specimens _of the,rarer classes of wild animals having been obtained. Rome of these are regarded as constituting a world’s record. Specimens obtained were Bharnl. or wild blue sheep; Urns Arcturus; four heads of Ovis Poli (sheep), measuring more than 50in.; Tibetan ibex, measuring 591-vn.; and a eoitred gazelle. Most of these are extremely rare. 1300-MILES TOUR.

The Netherlands Central Asia Expedition has safely returned after having covered 1300 miles on a- tour of exploration, 600 miles of which have been through unknown and very dangerous mountain regions. The expedition has discovered the sources of the Hunza, Khunjerab, and Shimshal rivors, and has surveyed the immense glaciers on the north side of the Karakorum Mountains, in Eastern Turkestan. It has .also explored the untrodden Batura glacier, which has a length of 37 miles, probably the second longest in Asia, nnd has mapped out 2500 square' miles of previously unknown country. ~ The Karakorum, north of winch the expedition has been investigating the great glaciers, is the region stretching from North China to Afghanistan and known under the generic term of Mongolio. There are also two cities of this name. Ono was built at the) foundation of the Mongolian monarchv by Jenghiz Khan (1162-1227), but was laid to waste some centuries ago. Few people have been anywhere near the regions investigated by the Neth'er-

lands expedition (the Roosevelt brothers have also been operating in this region). The valley of the Hunza is surrounded by a chain of snow-capped peaks and brightened with all the radiant beauty that cultivation adds to these mountain valleys, but as a rule the valleys are barren of vegetation. VANISHING SKA BEACHES. SHORES CLEARED OP SAND AND SHINGLE. BLAMING OUR MILDER WINTERS. A mystery of tho soa, hitherto baffling; all attempts at solution, is engrossing the attention of scientists and engineers. Hundreds of millions of tens of shingle and sand have disappeared from the coast of England —no one knows where; no one knows why. It; is the coast from the Bristol Channel rouud tho Lizard to St. Margaret's Bay, in the cast of Kent that is chiefly affected. Attention has already boon directed by the Daily Mail to the plight of Sidmouth, Devon, from the foreshore of which practically all the shingle has vanished, leaving the town defenceless against the assault of the sea; to the state of Lyme Regis, Dorset, .where the cliffs are crumbling and the promenade collapsing; and to the conditions at Swauage, Dorset, where the bay has been robbed of great quantities of its wonderful sand. AVhat has been said of these places applies to nearly every coast town from Minehead, in Somerset, to Dover. £0 YEARS’ RECORD. These are the facts, as ascertained by Mr. Ernest Latlmm, an authority on coast erosion, whose” advice is being sought by many of the local authori-, tics in the threatened area. Air. Latham told a Daily Mail reporter recently that he has discovered that during the last 20 years the foreshore from Somerset down the coast of Cornwall and up the English Channel to Kent has disappeared to a depth of from 2ft to 20ft. It has been suggested that tho southern portion of England is tilting or gradually subsiding, but Mr. Eatham does not support this theory. Ho has discovered that high-water mark is to-day no nearer the top of sea walls or groynes than it was 20 years ago; the difference is that there is more water hammering at the cliffs and defences, the “bottom" being so much lower down. Another theory, that the Channel currents are Tunning with greater force, finds no corroboration. CLIMATE'S EFFECT. Mr. Latham attributes present conditions chiefly to the lack of replenish - ing supplies of shingle, the great bulk of which comes from our rocks and cliffs. He says: I think it is a fact that we havo had milder winters for the last 20 years than we did for tho preceding 20 years. That means that the frosts, which do more than anything else to disintegrate cliffs and rocks and so maintain the shingle supply, have been less severe, and the material which has so mysteriously disappeared has not been replaced by this means. I do net suggest Umt (his is the sole cause, but it may be a contributory one.

There is no known sure way to stop this vertical erosion. Wo can but build groynes and stockades, and hope for the shingle to eoinc back. Personally, I believe it will, for I havo discovered that this kind of thing happens in cycles. While building a sea wall near Chapel Cleovc, Somerset, an ancient oak stockade was found which had perhaps been there *or n hundred years or more, showing that in those times the same problems had to be dealt with.

LONDON, Dec. 13.—I,have just been spending a morning of typical London autumn fog in the atmosphere of a Canadian orchard. The Imperial Fruit Show, which is now being held at Holland Park rink, contains over a million samples of apples, and thei stands are ablaze with rich reds, russets, yellows and bright apple-greenfe. British Columbia has some reason to he proud of her exhibits, for they have done more than hold their own. In the British Empire class,, in which Canadian apples compete with, English ones—there are no New Zealand apples a.t tins show, because it is ‘not New Zealand’s season —B.C. came off with high honors. In the dessert class British Columbia came first with, her-exhibits of Jonathans, and took the second and third prizes with her McTntoshes and ; Winesaps. In the culinary competition, Ontario got- the challenge cup with ‘Greenings. British Columbia being second with Rome Beauties. British Columbia had' nine entries in the two classes in the British Empire section and took nine prizes. British Columbia also took high honors in the Overseas section—that 1 is. in competition within the Dominion. Nine gold andl tliroo silver medals go to lier. This is the first time (he exhibition has really put Canadian apples to. a real test in competition with ■ Englisherown fruit, for it is the first time the English'growers have taken a leaf out of Canada’s book and properly graded and displayed their products.’ Canadians apples,are steadily making their way in the British market, apfi it is interesting to observe that this'encouraging result is not so much the result of straight 'Canadian advertising as of the new group system of advertising. Instead of the old firm-against-firm and country-against-coimtry type of publicity, the fruit industry has been adopting the Eat More Fruit system, just as the milk trade have pooled interests to push theft product. Last year 40 per cent, of the fruit sold in England came from without the Empire. Therefore, it seems 'dear that Hkv problem of markets is'a long wav off, and the real issue is to vet the British consumer to differentiate between Dominion and 1 foreign produce. THE NEW VICEROY.

Mr E. F. L. Wood, the minister of agriculture—he formally opened the Imperial Fruit Exhibition —has been ap'pointed to succeed) Lord Reading as Viceroy of India, the most glittering prize of political life aside from the Premiership. Mr Wood is, comparatively speaking, unknown to the man-in-the-street. This is partly because he is not a man whose abilities are of the showy kind!, he has never, moreover, advertised himself, which is much more' than may be said of many distinguished politicians who have not scrupled! to run their own press agents. Tall, erect, with a fine head and a forceful, though thoughtful face, the new viceroy has gone through life since boyhood with but ones arm—lie lost the other in a childhood! accident. At Oxford 1 he never took any great part in the life of the university, and he was unknown in theUnion. But'. he spoke ( at the smaller Canning Club frequently. The new' ivicciTnc is an intellectual woman, but sho has .time for other things'as well.• Her hobby is elk hounds and she is president of the : Elk Hound Club,'-'

TWO VIEWS ON EXERCISE AND GAMES. “The statement by Cliauncey Depew on his ninety-first birthday that be had never in hie long and happy life.played baseball, football, tennis, golf, or any other game will not give comfort to those who maintain that modern life is unpalatable without tho sauce of exercise,” says .the Hew York Nation. ‘‘Probably no life ever was,' though the Greeks arc said to have been wise in spending their best hours in tho gymnasium. May not tho Greeks, however, have got on so well because they set a high value upon tho ‘moderation’ which Mr. Depew adds is the only thing approaching a. rule, that he has followed. Or is it at all possible to say that one thing and one thing only contributes to the success of the living? “Athletics can kill as well as cure. Games which arc tranquillising th some persons are tiresome to others; and behind the well-developed chest of a twomile runner there may be the sorriest rubbish of a heart. The moral would seem to bo that games should be saved for t.lioso who are made happy by them, and that they should not be forced upon those whom they bore.” A NEW CONCEPTION. “There are friends of education in all parties, and we are not urging participation in the elections from any political motive, but merely reminding our readers that they cannot escape some responsibility for the kind of Local Authority they get,” says the Schoolmaster. “It is time the obscurantists—who think the schools are no good unless they produce plenty of, say, 'cheap domestic servants —were shown that their day is over, and that a new conception of educational values now rules the world.” « * it * “We must get back to the greatthemes that preach themselves, to the great topics tliat a man can preach with the consent of all his faculties. If we get back to the theme that a self-re-specting man can jubilantly press upon his fellows, wo shall get back to the great preaching again.”—Rev. J. Morgan Gibbon.