PUBLIC OPINION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18010, 22 November 1926, Page 8

PUBLIC OPINION.

WHAT OTHER WRITERS ARE SAYING.

Learn to See Through Other's Eyes. Chief Judge Dethridge enunciates the principle that every man in the communitj' should do two or three vears’ work with his hands. There will lie many to disagree with him. but any individual who through necessity or choice has done continued manual labour of some kind will give him support. The immediate financial advantage accruing from such work is usually small, but the knowledge and experience gained may, and does in later years, prove of the utmost value. To-day we may truthfully say that few men have any conception of what the rest of the world is doing, and it does not seem to be a good thing for so much ignorance to be abroad. In a community made up ot people engaged in all kinds of occupations, such a lack of understanding cannot surely promote harmony. Humanity for the sake of efficiency is divided into specialised camps. We would not have it otherwise, since the world's work must be done as quickly and as well as is possible. But it cannot be said that work is effectively carried out when the worker is blind or nearly blind to the job which the other fellows does. A mail is a better electrician if he has erected telegraph poles or turned spindles in an engineering shop; and the captain of industry who has roughed it in the shearing shed is a better man than his fellow captains who have not. —“Melbourne Ilcrald.”

Degradation of Wedlock. For most of the revolutionary changes in Soviet Russia the reasons were fairly obvious. It was a proletariat revolution, the social profits from which were to be distributed amongst its special beqeficiaries. That the dividends were not of the glittering quality prophesied for the credulous masses was less surprising to foreign witnesses of the spectacle than to the expectant recipients. It is less easy to discover the reason for the extraordinary degradation of marriage to which the Soviet Government, not without considerable opposition, has given its sanction. The institution of marriage has varying degrees of sanctity and much variety of form throughout the world. Oriental peoples, generally speaking, regard it with very deep respect. Taking the Russian in the mass, there is more than a trace of the Oriental in his character. Yet here we have him deliberately exposing himself to the execration of the civilised nations by an act of violation which strikes at the most vital of the few remaining supports of his social stability —"Dominion,” Wellington. Apprentices Act. When the Apprentices Act was passed, expectations were held of a marked improvement in the apprenticeship position. So far the results have not been encouraging. According to the Registrar of Apprentices, employers have been slow to avail themselves of the means provided for securing . the services of lads for the skilled trades. The boys themselves have been willing, but the employers have offered excuses instead of positions. While these are the facts it is obviously idle to bewail the drift of modern youths into unskilled occupations or to deprecate the rush of too many to the professions. It is eminently desirable that labour for the skilled trades should be recruited from the New Zealand-born. Without disparaging the merits of the tradesmen who come from Great Britain, it may fairly be claimed that men trained in the country arc at least of equal worth. They are familiar with the conditions here, and they understand the methods of work. But if the New Zea-land-born are not recruited for the trades, imported craftsmen must ]&. obtained: otherwise there is a shortage of labour, and employers must pay the piper.—“ Evening Post,” Wellington.