The Christchurch Star. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1930. “JOURNEY’S END” AND ITS MISSION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18985, 3 February 1930, Page 8

The Christchurch Star. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1930. “JOURNEY’S END” AND ITS MISSION.

PUBLIC OPINION and sentiment are the tide on which conferences swing. Politicians, statesmen and diplomats watch its ebb and flow and adjust their resolutions and treaties accordingly. They measure the strength of an idea by the reception given to literature on the subject, and at this juncture of the movement towards an ideal of permanent peace a very striking indication of the world’s thoughts has been the reception given to recent war books and plays. In the midst of the controversy that “ All Quiet on the Western Front,” “ Good-bye to All That,” and “ Journey’s End” roused, in spite of prejudices detected in the two books, it is patent enough that they have stimulated much peace talk. The repetition of an idea is the way an idea spreads, and in this respect their moral result, particularly the result of the production of “ Journey’s End,” is immeasurable. The popularity, and proportionately the influence of the play, may be judged by the fact that it earned for its author £50,000 in its first year. The manuscript was sold at a League of Nations dinner for £ISOO. Its message has been preached in many languages and delivered with more potency than the finest pulpit utterances. It is as popular in Germany as in England. With not one woman character in the whole play, and with a dreary stage setting lacking variety, though not interest, it has won on the merits of the treatment of a very “ live ” subject. By such expressions of art do nations begin to know themselves. Through the strength of the desires that they create they force the diplomat to turn what might otherwise become an empty gesture or political clap-trap into binding treaties. A CITY COUNCIL PROBLEM. UNDOUBTEDLY Christchurch, as a city, should take over the control and maintenance of Ilagley Park and the Botanic Gardens, and it is to be hoped that a favourable attitude towards this suggestion will be maintained by the City Council at its meeting to-night. We have had some misgivings about the wisdom of such a course, in view of the open-handedness of certain of the present City Councillors towards these persistent sections of the community who would like to alienate garden and park sites for all kinds of public or semi-public activities. But, obviously, the gardens and park should not be a provincial trust if it means that a few local bodies on the fringe of the city and none of those further out should pay a levy for maintenance. Obviously, the allocation of these levies is supposed to be based upon the use that the residents of the city and its suburbs make of the gardens. But, as the outlying bodies have their own domains to maintain, there is no justice ife making them pay for what should be solely a city responsibility. TRE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS. THE RESULTS of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Championships must be very gratifying to Canterbury. The success of C. Angas in the Singles Championship is more than a win for the province—gratifying as that must be in a narrow sense. It represents a victory for youth, and, in conjunction with the successes of Canterbury in junior events in the last year or two, is an evidence that the province is likely to maintain the high position it has hitherto enjoyed in the tennis history of the Dominion. It cannot be said that the standard of tennis is equal to that of Ollivier’s best years, when Sims, Dr Laurenson, Bartleet and D. G. France were playing better tennis than we have to show in 1930. But young players are coming forward, and it may be that the effect, of Mr G. Ollivier’s coaching on the standard of tennis in Canterbury will induce other provinces to embark on coaching schemes, and this, in the aggregate, must tend to raise the standard of tennis all round. Canterbury this year has won the Men’s Singles, the Ladies’ Doubles—a most meritorious performance by Misses Wake and Andrew—and the girls’ and boys’ singles championships, if w r e include South Canterbury in the province. There are no veterans in the small, but select, team that has brought these honours back to the province, and that, perhaps, is the most heartening fact that stands out in a review of the championships.