BOOK CORNE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 277, 23 November 1936, Page 9

BOOK CORNE

MODERN GOVERNMENT, by Ernest J. P. Benn (George Allen and UnWin) pp. 245. Sir Ernest Benn, the author of this book is the heir of Herbert Spencer He carries the Spencerian doctrine into the arena of modern controversy. The result cannot fail to be stimulating. There is some lusty thwacking and the author clearly enjoys his task. His text is that Government to-day is a busybody on other men's matters doing things not because it can do them better, but first because it must do something, secondly because there is always a lot of people asking the Government to do for them those things which they should either do for themselves or go without. Thy is a very healthy doctrine and one which is in need of emphasis to-day, Yet there is in his argument something which in plays is termer “dated.” It does not take the modern world into account enough. Large production units and the swamping ol the individual makes mass bargaining essential whether it be liked or no The machinery is a more complicated world and must of necessity be more complicated and delicate. It is not that the author does not realise that there are two forces at work in any community, enterprise and order, but he fears that there is too much order and too little enterprise. He sees with Lord Hewat the growth of beaurocracy, its dominance in matters of importance and its attitude of assuming to be the judge ol issues. The “prepared to allow” the claim or assertion of the taxpayer is not the attitude of the civil servant, but the concession of an uncivil master. Further, the development of the public relations officer in public affairs has resulted in the mass mind being not heeded but moulded to suit the requirements of beaurocracy. This means a dominance of the ordering and a thwarting of the enterprising elements. “Collectivism is far too cowardly to admit error. Although every decent individual is constantly accusing himself of wrong, there is no record of any nation or party reaching any such height. The public finance of some of the world’s smaller republics has never been of a very reputable order, but since Great Britain went off gold the public finance of the whole globe has rapidly sunk to the lowest levels. This is indeed as might be expected, for Great Britain is the home of finance and whatever she does is pre Sumed by the rest of the world to be unimpeachable. When therefore. Britain declared that the pound sterling was a piece of paper instead of a weight in gold, there was no longer any reason why America should not say that gold was made of rubber. Every day produces its grastly toll of little wrongs arising out of big collective deceptions. The New Zealand banks held a quantity of gold, the property of their shareholders and depositors. With the examples of Great Britain and the United States to support them, the New Zealand Government felt no embarrassment in stealing gold, under the pretence that the depreciated official currency would serve the banks’ purposes. A score of Governments have performed the same burglary witn appropriate local variations, supported in the dirty work by the knowledge that, although it has not used It, the British Government has taken powers to do the same. With such high precedents to support them the lesser Governments and hundreds of municipalities and corporations have reaped rich harvests.” On the subject of public debts the author reveals the tendency both of Governments and municipalities of enlarging their indebtedness in the hectic days after the war. Everybody wanted everything and pledged the toil of future generations for their present pleasures. In his dissertation on this subject, the author does not take into account the change in the value of money which occurred in the post war period and which was in large measure responsible for the increase in public debts and expenditures. That is one of the little legacies of inflation. His charge against the slum-clearance schemes is that the people who are credit-worthy can secure ample financial assistance from the large building societies, that these people can build houses leaving the ones they now occupy to be rented by people less fortunate than themselves. This healthy development is retarded when municipalities run into debt to effect slum clearance in order that people who cannot afford to build shall have houses built for them. The author does not believe in the imminence of war because there have been too many crises which have been surmounted. He things that the League of Nations should remain the propagator of an idea and implement nothing. “The secret of success in world government, just as with national government, or with family government, is to do as little and not as much as possible.” The whole problem is of course to decide on the irreducible political minimum and then the educate the people to see the desirability of keepin? to it. PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES IN LIFE, in Men and Women, by Marie C. Stopes, (Putnam). pp. 282. There are those who condemn Marie Stopes. They usually have not read her books. Those who are best able to appreciate her work are the members of the medical profession and they are’close to specific cases that they find it desirable not to discuss many of the subjects which are within their special province. Nevertheless it is desirable first to realise that Marie Stopes is highly qualified to write upon the subjects upon which she has bestowed so much attention. Secondly, it is necessary that the members of the laity should be wisely informed concerning these same matters and it is not always easy for them to be discussed orally. There is a considerable amount of misunderstanding of the various physiological problems which occur during the pro-

gress of life from its creation to its extinction and the period known as the climateric is not the least of these. The message which Dr. Stopes offers will assuredly bring much comfort to many men and women. To this reviewer, who claims no special knowledge of the subject, the advice seems to be rational and definitely helpful.

■ An experienced family physician can be heard tendering similar advice to that which is contained within this ; volume. It is difficult to be particular in a review in a daily newspaper, but it is stressed that changes of a physical nature are going on both in men and in women as they grow older, that these changes are quite natural ; and lead to no tremendously dire consequences, nor are the transitional : periods necessarily times of storm. SOCIAL EFFOR'I YOU CAN WIN, by Allred E. 1 Clark. (Robertson and Williams). ■ Alfred E. Clark tells in his volume, how, phoenix-like from the ashes of ■ criminal pasts, new and noble char I acters have arisen to live the life of normal good citizenship. ‘ We read the story of “Appy Groats” a criminal since childhood—of Mary, ’ who only wanted to be left alone, she established a reputation as a fury, a packet of dynamite, always ready to explode, until it was found that what Mary wanted was just to be left alone, and as soon as everyone • stopped “mucking about” with Mary, she took the turn towards the right, and another was saved from criminal associations and ways. There was Pudsey the Impossible, a cheeky imp; well, they found after all that he was not Pudsey “The Impossible,” for he became a great and good man, and is for reasons connected with his present worldly state, described in this book as Mr. X. Then there are the stories of Sultan, The Painted Lady, Daphne of Bulrush Flat, and at the last, the Man Who Had No Nerves, he was Grill Catchwood, his alias “The Little Emperor,” but after he had tested the slogan “You can Win!” The Little Emperor became known to a host of youthful admirers as The Chu-Chu miniature railway, and a favourite of favourites. Here is a tale of modern miracles by one who writes from first-hand knowledge of some who have learned the slogan “You can Win” and experienced that great truth “That the greatest of all human battles is to conquer one’s worst self.” “You can Win” is a distinct advance upon Alfred E. Clark’s earlier book upon the same subject, which was titled “Tommy the Growler.” It is of thrilling and unusual interest, clearly written with a definite understanding of human and criminal psychology. BLIGH OF THE BOUNTY [ Bligh’s own account of the Mutiny I of the Bounty and of his great voy- | age through the Timor Sea in a twentythree foot boat should prove of great interest to all interested in the Pacilic. It was published by Metheums in September but has not yet reached New Zealand. Bligh it is claimed has been greatly maligned, and there is more of a suspicion that this claim is well founded. He may have been overdrawn as the villian of the piece and it will be as well for the accused to give his testimony even though it |be from history’s dock. The book should be worthy of attention. FICTION THE DEMI-WIDOW, by Mary Pickford (Metheun) pp. 277. Those who have followed the strange career of Mary Pickford, the film star will read this story with several interests in mind. First, it is a good story as such, full of the atmosphere of the theatre, unreal yet true, fantastic and yet no more so than the author’s own life. The second interest lies in the quick action of the story and the degree in which the film technique is applied and with success to a novel. The third interest is to be found in the philosophy of the book itself. Mary Pickford it is understood set up an was to much for Douglas Fairbanks after her first husband had divorced her. Then followed a long period in which it was understood that the two lovers now married were endeavouring to stage a come-back to an orthodox circle. Exclusiveness was practiced, but the tedium of respectability was too much for Douglas Fairhar and he went off to Europe to get entangled this time as co-respondent in another divorce. It was an unromantic affair, but Mary was loft lamenting in Hollywood. Then came period when Mary “found God” and then followed an appearance on the stage in New York. Not quite sure whether she would enter a nunnery she determined instead to write the Demi-Widow. It has no trance of finding God in it, it has no bitterness, it has not even illusion. There is the same old insurable questing of a woman for a man whom she can love. This is the promptings for this tale. Whether Mary Pickford wrote it herself or whether it was ghosted for her may be a matter for speculation I but it is certainly an interesting docu- , ment whichever way it is looked at I As a writer’s model it is worth study- ; ing by aspiring authors.