PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 June 1926, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

PROMPTITUDE. “The promptitude which divines quick paths through difficulties or past obstacles is a rare endowment. It is the gift of a Caesar or a Napoleon, but not everybody’s. Yet there is another kind of promptitude which almost anyone can acquire, and which makes an incalculable difference to ordinary lives. It is simply the liabit of doing at once whatever is the next thing to do. It is common enough to acquire the opposite habit—that of constantly yielding to diversions of the moment instead of getting on with the job. How often does one notice that those who are worst at rising in the morning are the people whom bedtime, when it comes, finds aimlessly reluctant to go to bed! The same process, repeating itself through the day, implies a perpetual rusting of time and missing of opportunities, and is tantamount to a shortening of life. ‘Procrastination.’ means protracting the fault from one day to another; and scarcely anything is more fatal to usefulness or success.”—-“Daily Chronicle.”

BARRIE ON TEST MATCHES. “Test matches ao? only the fever of the game. They pass. As the years roll on they sink for ever down the horizon. The very name ‘Test Match’ may in time he forgotten, but long after that I think your far-off progeny will still.hear the crack of the bat and the native champion calling for his ale from those humpy old village pitches. It has been said of the great armies of the dead, marching always on their eternal journey, tliafi when they come to a country cricket field the Englishmen among them step out from the ranks for a moment to lean over the gates and smile. And for the Englishmen, yes, and tire Australian, how dreadful it would be if they had to rejoin their comrades, feeling that we wore no longer playing the game.” —Sir James Barrie.

A DIVINE. DESPOT. “I remember my own boyhood and the kind of ‘evidence for the Divine government of tho world which I then valued and looked for. It consisted almost entirely of manifestations of power over nature, miracles, fulfilled prophecies, signal acts of vengeance on the wicked; in apparent interventions, upsetting—the more violently the better—the order of nature in the interest of morality and religion. rt was and is the notion of a .Divine governor which commends itself to average human nature. An absolute sovereign is one whose won 1 is law ; who can reward and punish without consulting anyone or giving any reasons. The essmee of despotism is irresponsibility. The good despot is one who interferes with the operation of tho law wherever equity demands it. and •chat is what most people would tils? to sec God doing. But, natural as it Is. this kind of religion belongs to the childhood of the human race.”—Dean Inge in a discourse in the “Christian World Pulpit.”

AX ENLIGHTENED MAX. “An enlightened man should know something of the world in which he lives; he ought to have an adequate acqpaintanee with the .great currents of human progress in tlio past; and he must have a clear conception of his own nature and of its illation to the Supremo Principle of the Universe. Di other words, a liberal education, includes a fair knowledge of science, literature, history and philosophy. To the;*? essential subjects must of course be added with special disciplines connected with one’s profession.”—Professor John Watson in the “Queen’s Quarterly.”

A “NIGHT-AIR” FALLACY. “Proper ventilation of the living quarters is essential to health, ami there is no more effective ventilator than the open window. ’I he window should he open as wide as possible when practicable; for to open it just a little creates one of these small currents of air which we call ‘draughts.’ These are cV.mgerous, ami the frequent parents of coughs and catarrhs. A larger current of air does no harm, as it plays upon a wider surface of the body. We do not balk of ‘draughts’ when we are out-of-doors. There is a popular superstition that breathing what is called ‘night air’ is dangerous to health. As ‘night air’ is the only kind of air available at night, we nave -to breathe a certain amount of it whether wo like it or not. As a matter of fact, the air at night is likely to be purer than it is in the day. There are not so many chimneys throwing out smoke at night, nor is there so much tarffic in the streets stirring up the germ.-li.don dust.”— Dr Cecil Webb-.Johnsuu in the “Evening News.”

COUNT YOUR PULSE. “For once count your pulse as .toil stand—mot sprinting or climbing stairs, but merely ‘standing at ease.’ Now lie down, and. after it little rest, count again. You find a difference of perhaps ten heats in a minute. How many beats does your heart save, then, in bed for eight hours, say, as compared with even just standing at case? Few people realise what rest in bed rdally counts for; lint by this simple observation you can, in part, really count what it counts for.”—Dr C. YV. Saleebv, in the “Daily News.”

AGAINST A RESTRICTED PRESS. “The issue is something higher than the suppression of vulgar and unwholesome matter in a few of the less important journals. There is threatened the hard-won right—it is a hard-won right which had to he I ought for—of every British citizen to a trial in. ana nml every Court in this country in the light of day. which all can attend, which all can read, and, if necessary, which all can criticise. That the proceedings in the courts of law should he known to all is the very essence ol justice in a free and democratic country. It is because I think that this Bill seriously threatens that, because I think that the existing law, if it requires strengthening, can ho strengthcued in a much better and simpler way than hv practically closing part of our courts, that I look upon this as a dangerous and retrograde Bill, a step backward instead of a step forward, r think it is fraught with danger to what is the most important thing m the history of our country, a pure, open, and free administration of justice.” sjir K. Hume Williams in the House of Commons