UNDERCURRENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18346, 4 June 1931, Page 6

UNDERCURRENTS.

HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE* (By “Gleaner.”) CONVINCING CROOKS. Since the films are still from time to time blamed for demoralising the youth and thereby encouraging crime, it seems only fair that wide publicity should be given to a case where they have proved of important assistance to the police. A Berlin producer, wishing to lend an air of verisimilitude to a scene of low life, hired a number of citizens of the Berlin underworld to “walk on” in the course of the production. The police got to hear of this, 1 ’ and also decided to call round at the studio and walk on, With the result that they presently walked off with several “wanted" men whom they found among the crowd of undeniably sinster supers. This seems a great tribute to the “realism” of the production; if the crooks were good enough for the police to arrest on sight they may truly have been said to carry conviction in their faces. But what did they think about the arrival of the police, one wonders? Did they, poor things, Imagine it was “all part of the film"? It must have been a rude awakening for them; it will presumably be a long time before any more artists of the underworld report for duty at a film studio.

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NO SLITHY TOVES FOE CHINA. From time to time there are tales: of parents, or perhaps scholastlo authorities, who ban fairy tales of the type collected by the Brothers Grimm, on the ground that they are sometimes bloodthirsty and horrible, but it has been left for China to object to “Alice in Wonderland.” General HorChien, who is Governor of Honan, has announced that “Alice” must not be read by the children of his area because “bears, lions, and other beasts cannot use a human language, and to attribute to them such power is an insult to the human race.” . It would seem from this that the gallant General himself has carefully avoided contamination, for there aro not many, bears and lions to be encountered in the course of Alice 3 adventures. There is one lion (which fights the unicorn), but he is not a very prominent character. Still, there are walruses and white rabbits which bring contempt on the human species by talking after the manner of our kind. And what a shock it would have been for the worthy General to meet the Jabberwock and note the kind nf words which it inspired. The effect would have been frabjous in the ex« treme. # # * * ALL QUIET ON THE GASTRIC FRONT “The camel,” according to Mr Belloc, “excels in a number of ways; it can go without drinking for several days"—a feat which is certainly beyond even the most self-disciplined of human beings. However, we have our own internal resources, for one of the doctors of the Mayo Clinic has just issued the reassuring news that “everyone who eats sensibly has enough -vitamins stored in his body to tide through a few weeks, or even months, of semi-starvation.” Things are, then, looking up for the Genus Homo; its representatives (provided they eat sensibly) need no longer blush for their vitamin defloienoy when they stand In the presenoe of a cauliflower or codfish. And who doesn't eat sensibly—-ex-cept, perhaps, sword-swallowers and people who accidentally engulf their own false teeth? Breathes there a man with soul so dead as to admit that he dines unwisely? Everybody thinks that his own diet Is the acme of wisdom and discernment even though it Includes Bombay duck, birds’-nest soup, and dormice boiled in honey. So there we are—all happy and all admirably equipped with enough vitamins ta last at least from now till the spring. Could any news be more invigorating and satisfactory?

CONSULTING THE EXPERTS. If prisons in U.S.A. are not all they should be, it is not for want of trying in New York the authorities are even inviting suggestions from the prisoners themselves. The Commissioner of Correction has issued the following notice to the inmates of the city’s eighteen gaols:— “For the best criticism by inmates of the conditions existing in the penal institutions of New York City, and the best practical suggestions for improving them, the Department of Correction offers the following prizes: First prize, 50 dollars in oash; second prize, 25 dollars in cash. This contest Is open to all inmates of the institutions under the Department of Correction, including those who have been convicted and those who are awaiting trial." Mr R. C. Patterson, the Commissioner, has expressed some surprise that such a contest should be regarded as strange. He points out that the prisoners are better qualified than anyone else to show the way to reforms, and he says: "There Is nothing to lose in asking for the suggestions, and we may learn something or obtain some suggestions worth while." The prison warders declare that they are finding a great eagerness among the prisoners to compete. ,** * • NOT VERY ENCOURAGING.

At the same time it may be wondered whether the notice of the competition has been very wisely worded. It will be seen that though the word “prisoner" has been avoided "Inmates" has been selected instead. Now, to some of us, at any rate, "inmates” has slightly unsatisfactory associations; it suggests that the prospective competitors are there as a matter of charity, like the inmates of a workhouse and similar institutions, instead of being residents in their own and inalienable right. “Honoured or “Pious and present occupiers would perhaps have been more polita and considerate. Another point will occur —we know; there is a slump In U.S.A. at the present Lime, but are the prizes all that they ought to bo? A first prize of £lO and a second of £5 Is not very much to offer competitors, who must have been at no little personal trouble in order to acquire the residential qualification necessary for this contest. ’ The Commissioner of Correction is appealing, as lie admits, to an expert audience, but the prizes offorod are hardly the sort of fees that would lie suggested for specialists in other walks'of life. To put the tiling quite bluntly, Iho Commisisoncr seems to have underestimated both the distinction of his competitors and the valu« of their advice.