Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1933. SOME BRIGHT SPOTS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 32, 8 February 1933, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1933. SOME BRIGHT SPOTS

If the world .seems to be becoming every day and in every way stupider and wickeder and poorer and less fit for anybody but Villains and martyrs to live in, there is some solid compensation in the fact that it is certainly not becoming less interesting. Nor can it in fairness be said that the interest is always of a painful character. A conscientious search reveals two unmistakably bright spots in the news of the last twenty-four hours. Half of our readers have doubtless been thrilled by the report from Paris . which shows that instead of succumbing to the slump some of the great things of life are still laughing it to scorn, and that as a result of this defiance romanticism will have its full fling again during the coming season in "an elaboration-of decorative details" recently unknown. Skirts will be of modest length, and blouses of flimsy material, adorned with flounces, ruches of needlework, with short,, full, and' flounced sleeves, with the 1900 high waistline, small capes, and waisted coatees. Though hats will be "unchanged in type," they will reveal the same defiant and romantic spirit' by being "perched on the right side, low over the forehead, leaving the crown of the head uncovered." Those who have begun to fear that mankind is surrendering to the depression are. omitting half- of it from their consideration. They must remember, as the suffrage orator said, that man embraces woman. ' •. For other readers the bright spot in the world's news will be found in the cricket report from Brisbane. Whether or-not Queensland succeeded in her uphill struggle with the M.C.C. was .a matter of no great importance, but that Larwood should have bowled at top speed and taken six wickets in the final innings for 38 runs without exciting angry criticism and further straining the peace of nations is something to be thankful for. We are also told that one of Queensland's I tail-enders contributed the "purple patch" of. the innings with a less negative result. Gamble threw discretion to the winds against Laiwood, Mtting him for 14, including one hefty drive &>t 6, off four balls before being ;caught.'• Larwood appeared to enjoy ,the fun as-much as the crowd. ; . ' , ' While the audacity of this wellnamed smiter's 14 off four balls presented a salutary contrast to the English captain's painful, 34 in 132 minutes, it also enabled the bowler to point a still more important moral. For the- laugh was on Larwood when such liberties were, taken with him, but he took:, it in good part and even "appeared to enjoy the fun as much as the crowd,"-and we may be sure" that the crowd.. was : as favourably impressed as the reporter. It is, no doubt, a small point, but has not Test cricket been poisoned and nearly killed by, a number of small points—of contemptibly small points? . A few more such touches 'of nature as were revealed at Brisbane may make the whole world of cricket kin again instead of allowing the game to degenerate into a wretched jealous, nagging, quarrelsome busi-ness-which, after defying the efforts of the M.C.C. and the Australian Board of Cricket Control to compose it, may yet provide Downing' Street or the Imperial Conference or the League of Nations with a job! While cricketers who have taught the race how to "pky the game" are threatening to forget it themselves we may welcome the reminder from Brisbane that even for the most eminent of them it is not a completely lost art. Yesterday the strange adventure of the Seven Provinces, :the. most heavily-armed vessel of the Dutch Navy, which had left Batavia in the charge of a mutinous, native crew for an unknown destination, gave' colour to the news with its reminder of the spacious days of the 17th century when the Dutch were a great sea Power and there was no League of Nations. Except in Chinese waters piracy and mutiny are now so far from fashionable that the report from Batavia had quite an. Old i World air, but the episode was given at once an unmistakably modern and a comical appearance by the bizarre details of the fleet •that has been sent in pursuit. The pursuit of the Seven Provinces has been intensified by two submarines, three flying-boats, a minelayer, the Gouden Leeuw, and the Government steamer Eridanus. But the Government and the white inhabitants of a country in which the coloured population has a majority of about 95 per cent, might be excused for not seeing the joke, and the possibility that the mutineers were making for Surabaya ■ where 423 of their comrades are imprisoned was certainly no laughing matter. The common cause of discontent was no peculiarity of the Dutch East Indies fleet. It was a cut in wages, but it had been made un-

necessarily provocative, at any rate for the native crew of the Seven Provinces, by making its cut 17 per cent, while that of the Dutchmen was limited to 15 per cent. In thus exaggerating a presumably pre-existing discrimination in favour of their own people; it certainly looks as though the Dutch authorities had blundered, but one may hope that appearances are against them, and that they will be strong enough to see the trouble through. Nobody is more concerned to wish them success than the Power which is responsible for India, for the incident, if badly handled, may have very serious consequences throughout the Eastern world. We were told in a message from The Hague yesterday that the matter has a serious Western aspect for the Dutch authorities. Holland is excited over the Javanese mutiny, ■ and agitators are attempting to create unrest in the principal Dutch naval stations. Strong coercivo measures include the prohibition of meetings, and the questioning of occupants of mo.tor-cars approaching Heldcr, the marines' home station. It is obviously a rare chance that Holland's Eastern trouble.has given to her domestic agitators, and her authorities are wise to take no risk. The interval of murderous hysteria in. Germany has doubtless' been enough;to make that mistake impossible. :' .