SOME GLEANINGS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4176, 23 August 1939, Page 7

SOME GLEANINGS

STANDARD OF LIVING: IMPROVED STYLE.

(By

“ Ploughman.”)

In the London Times of ,4th. July last there appeared a letter of which the following-Js .an...extr-act:“ f I have “ often enjoyed a winter picnic.' With, one’s back to the sun, smoked salmon, and wholemeal bread and butter,; accompanied by a glass of fairly rich sherry, a cold duck or boiled chicken, with a bottle of M’ontrachet, plum cake followed by cheese sandwiches and a pre-decanted vintage port of 1917; and topped up with a vacuum flask of black coffee, a 1906 brandy with a good cigar, will give one a sense of well-being that no lunch indoors can stand for.” Truly, a mighty picnic ! But what if the standard of living should ever fall so low in New Zealand ?

PUBLIC EXECUTIONS FORBIDDEN.

One has to live in order to learn*-. It came as a shock to me to read only a few days ago that in France, of all countries in the world, it was still the practice to execute in public those criminals who had been condemned to death in the French courts. The well-known French newspaper Le Matin published quite recently a statement to the effect that on 25th June a decree had been published forbidding all public executions in future. The new rule is that all prisoners condemned to suffer the full pen alty of the law must be executed within the precincts of the gaol. Thetendency towards sensationalism receives a further check in the provision that newspapers may publish nothing more than the fact that the death sentence has been duly carried out. In this latter respect it would seem that French papers are even yet permitted to say a little more than, what is allowed to their journalistic colleagues in, say, Germany ?

WAR TALK AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS.

"Wjhile the war lords thunder all sorts of abuse at one another, and while they lay plans for the destruction of another generation of the best of our manhood, the need for commerce seems to be as real as ever. A nice little trade agreement was recently patched up between France and Japan. Under it French exports to Japan will immediately go up by 20 per cent. It goes without saying that the goods to be exported will consist mainly of chemicals and of metallurgical products. After all, how could they possibly fight us if some of us did not. sell them the sinews of war ? Nor can it be said that this agreement will not be worth “ a tin of fish ” to France, for it turns out that the principal article France is to take from Japan will be salmon—in tins, of course. BRITISH BY-ELECTIONS. During the month of May of this ■ year no fewer than six by-elections' were rendered necessary owing to the' deaths of sitting members. In four out of the six there was no change in the result so far as the parties were concerned; in the other two the Socialists gained the seats from theConservatives. In each of these two . cases the Socialist vote was about, the same as at the previous general election, but there was a very considerable falling off in the number’ of Conservative voters who went to the polls. The old saying holds good:- - k A people will get the Government it deserves—or, rather, the Government it asks for.” And those who do their duty and go to the polls deserve-■ all the success they get. SEE HOW THEY GROW ! In New Zealand we often talk a : little sheepishly of the rapid rise in the cost of our social services. We may take consolation from the fact that it is more or less the same everywhere—the other fellow is getting it in the neck just as thoroughly as we. are. Here are a few figures, in millions, from an English paper that camie to hand only a few days ago. Present-day costs of various items in Britain are given, with the sums’ spent ten years ago set out in parentheses: Non-contributory old age pensions, £49.000,000 (£35,500,000); contributory pensions: cost to Government, £20,000,000 (£4,000,000); housing, £18,500,000 (£13,000,000); education, £5B 500,000 (£48,500,000). Perhaps it was from England that we copied the slogan “Onward and upward.” No one quite knows where we borrowed the additional words—- “ with the brakes off.” THE FORTY-HOUR WEEK. The report of the Director -of the International Labour Office to the. twenty-fifth session of the International Labour Conference, June, 1939, states: “ The principle of the fortyhour week was endorsed by the Conference in 1935. The most farreaching of the proposals for the application of this principle is before the Conference at its present session; but, having regard to the results of the consultations of member Govern- - ments concerning the generalisation of the reduction of hours of work in industry, commerce, and offices, the conclusions indicate that Governments hesitate to take on such international commitments at a time of world crisis. The general consensus of opinion appears to be for postponing action for the present. The attainment of a reduced work week, however, remains a permanent problem of social and economic policy. The. evidence points to a realisation of shorter working hours as one of the great additional benefits that will be assured to workers when nations will agree to a just and stable peace ”