The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1933. THE HOLIDAY MOOD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 954, 26 December 1933, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1933. THE HOLIDAY MOOD.

IT SEEMS to be inevitable that every public holiday shall be accompanied by its toll of accidents, and in this respect, the Christmas week-end has not been exceptional. The road accidents are accounted for by the fact that so many more people than usual are abroad, but it is doubtful if this is altogether the full explanation. On any normal day the volume of traffic in the city streets is heavier than the holiday traffic in which the accidents occur, vet the number of accidents under normal city conditions is small. The increase that takes place when normal traffic diminishes and is replaced by an augmented holiday traffic may be accounted for, perhaps, by the fact that whereas, under normal conditions, the drivers are of professional or semi-profes-sional type, the holiday drivers are, in the great majority, amateur's., many of them without the opportunity for regular practice in the handling of their vehicles. But there is another possible explanation. The care-free spirit of the holiday mood may result in the unconscious relaxation of that degree of care which is exercised under normal conditions. The toll of accidents seems to leave us no alternatives but those of inexperience or lack of care. The volume of traffic itself does not appear to be an adequate explanation. In contrast to road accidents, however, it is most gratifying year after year to note the entire absence of railway accidents, and in this respect the Dominion is entitled to congratulate itself, especially in the light of the melancholy tragedies with which the record of train travel on the Continent is marred. THE HOUSE OF LORDS. A LMOST INSENSIBLY, but none the less definitely, we in New Zealand have moved a long way from the Old Country in our viewpoint of the fundamentals of democracy, and it is probable that in no British Dominion has the same traditional view survived that so largely persists in Britain. Nothing could demonstrate this more clearly than the debate which occurred in the House of Lords on the subject; of the reform of that chamber. That debate, indeed, emphasises how sharp is the difference in outlook. It is difficult, for instance, to imagine any section of our own community subscribing to the view which Lord Salisbury expressed when he said that he had never been able to understand “ the attacks on the hereditary principle which permeates the whole of our society.” It is, of course, open to serious doubt whether the hereditary principle does occupy that place in English life which Lord Salisbury ascribed to it, and the attitude of the Government certainly cannot be construed either as an endorsement of liis views or approval of his policy. Viscount Astor revealed another point of view when he declared that he would prefer a nominated to an hereditary house, thereby advocating the system which the Dominions have adopted. It seems hopeless for those responsible for this Bill to expect to reach their professed object—a House of Lords that will be capable of defying a Commons controlled by a Labour Government. After all, the responsibility of protecting the country against a Labour Government is a matter not for any chamber, hereditary or nominated, but for the electorate, and if the electorate decides that Labour is to rule the country it is difficult to see how anything that the Lords can do will vitally affect the position. The influence of the aristocracy on society is scarcely in question. The spirit of noblesse oblige is still, doubtless, a potent force for good and still claims the respect of the community, but the fact cannot be ignored that the English nobilily has tended to weaken its position by alliances that arc unfortunate from the English viewpoint. For that reason Britons are not likely to regard as altogether sacrosanct hereditary rights that impose on them peers whose claim to British nationality is based on marriage alone. «