G. B. SHAW SPEAKS TO THE “STAR.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20274, 7 April 1934, Page 13

G. B. SHAW SPEAKS TO THE “STAR.”

Unlimited Culture For New Zealand When It Wants It.

ISOLATION NO OREAT HANDICAP.

QUESTIONS OF INTEREST to New Zealanders w ere cheerfully answered by Mr G. B. Shaw at Kaikoura to-day when the great author and dramatist w r as interviewed by a special representative of the “ Star.” Mr Shaw was courtesy itself, devoting considerable time and thought to answering the questions submitted to him. “ Is that all?” asked Mr Shaw genially when the list was disposed of. Then—“ I don’t knows” w’as his bland reply when asked what time he would arrive in Christchurch to-day and where he W’as staying. Later, after inquiring from his secretary, he said that he was leaving Kaikoura as soon as possible (it was then 9.45 a.m.) and would stay at the United S'ervice Hotel.

“ New Zealand must make itself a centre of culture,” was Mr Shaw’s emphatic reply to the. question: “Is New Zealand’s great distance from the great centres of culture an insuperable handicap? If not, how should we endeavour to overcome it ? ”

“ Distance is not a handicap nowadays, except in' the case of painting," added Mr Shaw. “The wireless and the gramophone have made it easy for every New Zealander to become far more familiar with the masterpieces of music played by the finest orchestras in the world than even the richest and most cultivated people in Europe could become a generation ago. Books are the same in New Zealand as in London. The little local volunteer theatres, which have done so much for dramatic art in Britain and America, are just as feasible in New Zealand as in England. “ Photography and plaster reproduction can furnish public galleries with examples of sculpture and design, if not of colour, and New Zealand might very well urge the British Government to start a circular system of lending pictures. It has plenty to spare to the Dominion to show what the great colourists could do with the colours of nature, which are, after all, the real school for painters. You have plenty of wonderful colour in New Zealand. Why not learn to paint it? “No.* I cannot allow you the excuse of distance for any lack of culture. You can have unlimited culture in New Zealand as soon as you really want it.” “I Only Write—■** The next question provoked a truly Shavian reply. Mr Shaw was asked: “ Do you mark any definite new tendency in English literature?" “ You must ask the people who read books. I only write them,” he said. “ This is too complicated a question. I haven’t time to answer it,” said Mr Shaw when he was asked whether the influence of curent journalism was good or bad, and in what direction or directions English journalism likely to develop. Views on Depression. Mr Shaw said he was waiting to Pee whether the current economic depression was a temporary disturbance only or whether it marked the commencement of a new social and political era. “ The old ten-year cycles of boom and slump noted by Karl Marx must

persist under any competitive capitalist system, and they will always exhibit a rhythm of depression and recovery,” Mr Shaw added. “ But, over and above these, there are the symptoms of the breakdown of civilisation which have left so many empires in ruins in the past, and these symptoms are very grave at present. We must not allow little recoveries of trade and budget surpluses to delude us into believing that our troubles are all over.” Compliment to Newspapers.

Mr Shaw paid a compliment to the newspapers of the Dominion in his reply to the final question submitted to him, which was: “ Recently you expressed surprise that New Zealand still had a literary Press.—Why shouldn’t we? ”

“ Well, you must always bear in mind in New Zealand that the little percentages of exceptional cases, quite negligible with you, produce serious results in Europe,” Mr Shaw said. “We have a percentage of young men who are constitutionally inaccurate, and therefore canno N t be employed in business and bookkeeping.

“A certain small proportion of them can write, though they cannot re«id in the literary sense. Consequently they have to become journalists, as accuracy, which is all important in a bank ledger, is not found out in a newspaper. You have not enough of these human calamities in New Zealand to staff your newspapers hence their superiority. “ By the way, I did not express surprise; that would have been impolite. I congratulated you."

UNEMPLOYED MEETING.

Mr Bernard Shaw Invited to Attend.

A meeting of unemployed will be held in Latimer Square to-morrow afternoon, commencing at 2 45. The object of the meeting is to put the view of the unemployed before the public. Mr A. E. Armstrong will occupy the position of chairman. An invitation has been extended to Mr Bernard Shaw to attend and express his views on unemployment. As yet, no communication has been received from him, and it is not known whether he will accept the invitation.