The Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1917. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12063, 18 July 1917, Page 4

The Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1917. EDITORIAL NOTES.

EDUCATIONAL FILMS. Modern invention, apart from that phase, of it which has been directed towards the production of engines of war, has few wonders to offer that are greater than " the pictures." The kinomatograph, even within the memory of the generation now reaching maturity, was looked upon as a flickering, freakish toy. But to-day it ranks supremo as a popular educator and entertainer throughout the civilised Avorld. He would have been declared a madman who, twenty years ago, had declared that hv this time the "magic lantern" of our childhood days would have been relegated to oblivion, and that instead of the fixed plate of stationary objects we should have projected upon the screen living pictures —people who walk, trains that travel, undulating ocean and foaming torrent, waving tre«s, flying birds and fighting armies. But the world has moved rapidly onward during these years of feverish progress, and students of " kinetna" features declare that we are but on the fringe of still greater possibilities in the realm of the camera and screen. Tho films have their part in our daily lives, and educate while they amMse. No description from the pen of the most brilliant writer can bring so clearly before the mind a picture of scenic grandeur, of manufacturing marvels, of life, in foreign parts, as can this modern marvel of kinematography, and huge audiences have been moved to outbursts of excitement and exhilaration by many of what ai*o called Cl topical " films, depicting national events or stirring deeds by heroic people.

Tn the world of sciencp the film is being harnessed, and the wonders of tho laboratory aro faithfully recorded for following generations. The modern educator, too, knows the vahio of themoving picture, and school teachers frequently make a point of taking their pupils to the picture theatre where educational films are being shown. Commercialism has raided the world of art, however, and in the. enormous industry called into existence by the demands of the nations for film entertainments, thero have occasionally been released romo pictures which overstepped tho hounds of good taste. The public, however, exercises a very healthy censorship, and no picture proprietary would last long which pandered to the tastes of that section of the community which revels in unclean suggestion. Managers know that the most popular film is that which tho average man of tho world loves to enjoy in the company of his wife and family, and it is fairly safe to assert that very little but this class of picture receives the endorsement of o\ir State, censor, Mr "W. Joliffo. It is a truism that the picture proprietaries dc. not cater for the children, nor do their records show -that they derive any material proportion of their revenue from the little ones. "We notice that the Christchurch City Council at its meeting on Monday affirmed that "in the opinion of this meaturtpj it is desirable that tho municipal authorities should have some control over all entertainments in tho municipality, and should ultimately own and run a model picture theatre." B'iit judging by the very unbusinesslike manner in which tho council has handled several of the undertakings which it has taken in hand, it may h c doubted whether that body, as at present constituted, is particularly well qualified to successfully control picture entertainments. ''The pictures'' represent a marvellous scientific advance, but people who derive their enjoyment from them devote hardly a thought to that phase, any more than the casual tramway passenger waxes eloquent upon the wonders of electricity. They are looking for clean entertainment, a broadening influence upon their minds, and fresh, untainted humour. Our experience js that, in Christchurch they get it.

G!V!L RIGHTS. The suggestion made in the House of llernvsciuativcs yesterday in the course of th<. Address-in-llcply l.y Mr G. J. Anderson, that, the property of shirkers avlio disappear should be forfeited to the Crown, and that others who refuse to do their duty to the. country which has nurtured them for so long should be deprived of their civil privileges, has much to commend it. We are aware that with the law as it stands at present the Crown Juts wide powers as far as the disposal of the property of those who disappear is concerned, but as far as civil privileges are concerned tho law makes no provision for deprivation in case a man fails to do his duty by the country of his birth or adoption. Wo believe wo arc woll 'within the mark when we say that, 90 per cent of the people of this country aro prepared to make every sacrifice for the Empire, and that the number who can rightly have applied to them the name of " shirker " is very small indeed. But that is no reason why this negligible number should enjoy tho samo powers and privileges as those who have a right conception of the duties of citizenship. Js there any logical reason why a man who will not share " the white man's burden" to its fullest extent 1 ! should enjoy the same privileges as his more chivalrous and less selfish brother? Is there any valid reason why the voice of the shirker should be as powerful in directing the affairs of the State as that of the man who is prepared to make any sacrifice for the country to which he belongs? On the face of it, such a proposition is absurd, and clearly no injustice would be done if the shirker were deprived of many of the privileges which ho enjoys at present in common with those who do not come within the scope of this term. Should a man who will not fight for his country when the necessities are as great as they are at present enjoy tho earae privileges as the man who is prepared to do his duty? We think not, and the sooner a distinction is made between the "man of honour and the cavalier," and the shirker and the poltroon the tetter for the country in

which we live. If a man refuses to fight for his country, should ho not be excluded from the privileges of the country? Would there be anything unfair in Baying that the Courts of the country should refuse to allow him to institute civil proceedings? Would there be anything "unfair in passing an Act depriving him of all further participation in the government of the Dominion, either in State- affairs or in local government? Is it not entirely illogical to place the shirker and the patriot on an equality as far as the control of the country or the municipality is concerned?

It has been the custom of past ages to deprive those proving disloyal to their country of all voice in the government, at least for considerable periods following their lapse, and is there any leason why that wholesome rule idiould not! apply in tho present case? Tt has been contended with great force that unless a country is worth fighting for it is not worth living in ; if privileges are not worth the price demanded for their maintenance they are not worth possessing, and consequently if a section of the community considers that the privileges which have been theirs in the past are not worth an effort to retain, the State should certainly take steps to ensure that such persons are no longer a force in State or municipal affairs; in other words, their names should be eliminated from the electoral rolls, and as far as the control of political affairs are concerned they should rightly be regarded as nonexistent. We do not advocate that such persons should have withdrawn front them the protection of the law to the fullest extent; it is tho duty of the State to protect tho lives of all, irrespective of their value to the country, and it must continue to discharge that djity to the end. The possession of a. vote, however, carries with it certain responsibilities—responsibilities which cannot be properly discharged in the interests cf the country by those who are. as a, matter of fact, traitors to the cause of freedom and all that is clean and true and ennobling in human affairs. On an occasion like the present, the duty of fighting is solemnly imposed en all sections of mankind, and, although, the "sinews of war" are very necessary, untold wealth cannot win the light : that niu?t' be (Line by human sacrifice, and, such being the case, we maintain that those who shirk from doing their share would not be treated unfairly if they were deprived of some of the. privileges of citizenship which are now enjoyed by patriot and shirker alike Wo certainly think that Mr .Anderson's has much to commend it.

THE NAVAL WAR. German newspaper articles on the naval side of the war are usually so blustering and mendacious that they make amusing reading in spite of the. tragedy of the subject, and the latest. sea-warfare diatribe in the semi-official "Cologne Gazette." a translation of which comes from London, is no exception to the rule. The object of tho article is obvious; it pictures the German Navy as hungering for battle and tho British Fleet as reluctant to meet it. Theso efforts of fiction arc necessary periodically in Germany in order to silence the questions as to what tho Grand Canal Fleet is doing. Tha writer, Captain von K'uhlwcttor, the principal pen-wielder for tho German Admiralty, reviews the operations of the two navies. " Let ns for once," he says, " examine in reality the socalled deeds wliich have ensued since tho Grand Fleet last showed signs of life—the. Battle of Jutland. Of the Fleet itself nothing at all has again been seen except once or twice in the Xorth Sea. Our air reconnaissance, which the British cannot imitate, because they have no Zeppelins, tells us exactly what is going on in the rvdrth Sea. The protection of the British merchant marine, with which Britain's lifo and death is wrapped up, continues to rest in the hands of arnvrvl merchantmen and fisher-boats, ;d----though these, are supported by destroyers. Other warships are too valuable to bo risked. Farther north, between the Orkneys and Norway, far from danger, it js said, the. first English battleships are. to be fcund, but even then with the best of them safe in harbour. Even after the legend of victory in the, Battle, of Jutland censed to be potent here was tall talk about Minremacy in the North Sea, wliich

' has now become morn secure than prer-' That had no Former been proclaimed than our forces week after week began bringing prizes into "harbour, somrti'mps nil tbo way across tho North Sea, and latterly from even the Arctic region. Then l>ogan Hie countless sorties of our cruisers and destroyers against th© coasts of England and in tho ("hand. Soon afterwards- tho U-boat war developed, the Mocwo find Seeadlcr (raiders) dashed into the oceans, tho Aloewo came back, and finally unrestricted submarine warfaro set in with success which has Citstripped so far all expectations. Where is there a single deed by the Fleet since then?"

The "Gazette" scribe is compelled to admit the incontrovertible fact of the blockade, bub ho qualifies tho admission thus: "Of one single British deed it is possible to speak—the blockado of the German Ocean by gigantic mine-fields to close in our U-boats. In tho last analysis that is only an attempt to hamper our fleet's freedom of movement, and denotes on the part of the English the definite abandonment of tho intention—if it ever existed—of fighting another battle in the North Sea. If there were such an intention, tho waters in question are now so sown with mines that the English Fleet can no longer even venture into them." As a matter of fact," he declares, "fighting in the North Sea and in the Channel practically amounts to this: Wo go out, find nothing but ramshackle patrol craft, and come back. England says: ' Tho enemy appeared and was driven off.' She admits that English/ ships ■were lost and that it is not known whether any damage was done to Ms. Of course, in that kind of fighting there is no occasion to talk of tho Gfiajnd Fleet. But as talk is cheap, they prattle about the Fleet's ' silent effectiveness.' The last word is almost ironical. What has it done to counteract all our enterprises? ' Where has it revealed offensive spirit, capacity, or achievement?" There is a great deal more in a similar vein, and there j» au

enthusiastic eulogy of the gigantic organisation of the '"iron arms"' of the submarine fleet, as well as of the u tiroless and nerve-racking work which the High Seas Fleet, accomplishes." The protestation that the German Fleet is ceaselessly at work and that it cannot find the British Navy anywhero in fact rises to a scream. The customary promise is made that the U-boat fleet will overthrow Britain's Navy. But it is evident from the most recent developments in the enemy country that even the long-deluded German people, weary with long waiting for Britain to be brought to her knees, are inclined to sot even the puissant .submarines alongside the Zeppelins as instruments that, while capable of damaging their antagonists, am utterly incapable of decisively influencing the, war in favour of the Contra! Powers.