PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 August 1925, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

TMT: NEWSPAPER At AX. “To open a newspaper is to he rescued from the sense of the vanity, staleness, and unprofitableness ot life. The newspaper mail lias Jiis eye mi the perpetually happening dawns: of things, of dynasties and revolutions, of arts and careers. Me can ncier fall into that routine which i liir canker of most careers and most philsaphics. lie is constantly rousing others to the eager observation of new things under the sun. Because lie a rites nnlv about the moment nevertheless like the poet, he lives in that moment completely, hike the best ot the Epicureans, lie crowds tin* instant v-itli intensity and meaning. !-cr the general populace, he is the true and universal minnesinger; he is tho freshener; and vivitier of the moments as they pass in the market places, and tumults of the world. He is writing the daily epic of his generation, though Like all other epic poets, lie is absorbingly concerned with one episode at a time.- .Air Simon l'lint. win- eoiu;i:t bast years? “Our happy years were years when as we regretfully confess when they are gone we did not know how well off we were. The wise man does not grudge (lie time spent in keeping his memory green. How much love and can- were lavished upon Us when we acre thoughtless children, nectimuhilin.g debts which we can never repay, and which ue can only acknowledge by passing on sonic of what we owe our parents to our children ! I have several eases full of my mother's letters, beautifully written and full of the wistful anxiety of a good woman for her son. The art of letter-writing has fallen on evil days; few of us have time lor it. or we think we have no time. And the young generation seldom keeps lei lers. But they are a pari of mil' post lives, and. if ue are wise, ue shall lose no opportunity of linking our days together, as Wordsworth savs. by natural pietv. Dean Inge. I'XCI.E SAM'S WAA’ WITH AI OX EY-LENDERS. “It is especially interesting to note the attempts that have been made in Hie I'nited States to solve this question of dealing with small loans for tin* neiessitoiis poor, and, if one had space, it would he worth while examining the attempts that have been made to control the activities of the ‘loan sharks,’ as they are called, by an Act kffinowii as tin* Uniform Small Bonn Act, which limits the interest on loans not- exceeding ,10b dollars to •‘B per cent, per month, which is the rate that has been worked out after mnih scientific research. Such loans are fenced round my many protective provisions for (he borrower and are carried on hv license from the Slate with very serious penalties for breach ol any of the conditions attached. As tin* Uniform Small Loan haw either in its exact form or in Statute? containing many of the important provisions has boon adopted in nineteen States I laving a populaton of over .Mt.Of 10.<)()() people, ii would apparentlv he well worth while for the Select Committee to inquire as to whether any similar .system ought to be and could lie set up cn tin's country.” l.ord Carson Til H, A AMERICAN WOAIAN. “Beautiful to look at and elegantly dressed, with an open mind upon whatever' is d i sen '-sod. adaptable, ava i!able, rich and good-humoured, the American woman as I know her is the hist# word in worldiiness and fashion. In my own country she is not only a popular, tint a privileged person, and having started b,v being what is called ‘natural’ she becomes more and more so every day.” Afrs Asquith in ‘‘Places and Persons.” TDK XKW OVERSEAS SECRETARIAT. “Since the creation of t hr* Board of Trade and Plantations in liiP.A. the history of Imperial administration has been one of deveionmenls which pioeeoded on unique and incalculable lines, determined by changing circumstances, and incapable of being reduced to an* logical system. Alnny admirable p!*in** •bnvo been formulated, hot the more symmetrical they were the less likelihood was there that they would ovei take concrete shape. Topsy-like, , At* British Empire has iust ‘growetl.’ itfuture development will )>o on -| !t . same organic ami therefore nnpredictable lines. But the creation of rh c* i

Dominions Office ''.ill undoubtedly assist in t!:o progressive solution of ninny of those problems of Imperial functioning; tlmt have hnfFled the theori.sts. Jt will ionn the centre nnd the medium for consultation, nnd will thus contribute to a greater measure of effective unity among the self-governing peoples that constitute the British Commonwealth of Nations.’’