PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 May 1927, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

THE BETTING HABIT. " In any legitimate transaction there is'a benefit to both parties; in betting, one of the parties gains without giving anything in return. It is hardly convincing to argue that the loser has the excitement of the bet. The fact that the loser agrees to pay if he loses, dilferentiates betting from stealing, but does not affect the main issue. It is light lo get money hv giving something equivalent, in work or otherwise, or by receiving a gilt. But- betting means getting something for nothing; it is gain through the loss of another. The habit may begin in the first instance as an expression ol the sporting, adventurous spirit which in itself is good and capable of healthy expression. But tiie value of the readiness to take risks depends upon the object for which the risk is taken. Betting is also often due to the legitimate desire for the introduction of the spice of excitement and interest into a drab and monotonous life. It is hard to blame those whoso lives are starved of colour and interest if they seek it in what may he the easiest way open to them. But this is no real defence of the practice, but rather an additional reason for seeking to build a social order which will provide a healthier outlet for the spirit of adventure. For most of us such outlets are available in plenty.” —From “ Christ and Aloney,” by the Rev. Hugh .Martin, ALA.

IS THERE NO WAY TO PEACE? Is there no way to create a decisive confidence in the future of peace? AYe think such a way may he found, hut only if the facts as we have depicted them are gravely confronted, and if the supporters of tlie League ol Nations abandon their optimistic generalities and concentrate their minds upon the root of the matter. AVe repeat that we have no faith whatever in mechanical disarmament by itself. Physical armaments can he improvise'! only too easily. Armaments do not make themselves. They are created by industry and science. Their mechanical sources cannot lie destroyed. AVe believe in nothing hut the disarmament of minds and hearts by the peaceful adjustment of differences and hv measures for the mutual promotion of prosperity and security.—Air Garvin in the “Observer.”

A. BROKEN AYAYE. “I nm going to suggest that wo are in the beginning of an age whose broad characteristics may he conveyed some day by calling it The Age of Democracy under Revision. . . It would he easy to find quite a large number of intelligent and well-instructed people who would agree that the sixteenth century saw the germination, the seventeenth and the eighteenth the hirl/h struggles, the nineteenth the rise an,| prevalence of something (ailed Alodem Democracy. Something not merely political, but social and profoundly differentiating the literature and art of this time from those ol any previous period. That ascendency ol democracy lias culminated : and like some wave that breaks upon a beach, its end follows close upon its culmination. . . .Modern democracy is not a permanent form of political and social life, but a phase of immense dissolution.”—Air 11. G. Wells, in ‘'Democracy Under Revision.” ■ THE HOLLYWOOD VIRUS.” “No Government with a clear conception of Imperial duty could sit still indefinitely and watoh the Hollywood virus at work without raising a linger to assist its only efficient antidote complete British production. And British manufacturers who are inclined to resent Government assistance for an industry not their own should remember that any measure for the encouragement of British films is, in its ' final result, a highly effective means for promoting British industry ill general. ‘Trade follows the film’ is a modern maxim whose truth America has proved over and over again. Dominion co-operation must lie secured, and British films must prove worthy of their Imperial vocation. What is needed is some simple .scheme of Imperial preference for encouraging the exhibition of British films on Dominion screens. The British Government Bill is a direct result of the Imperial Conference when Dominion representatives asked the Home Government for a lead in combating American film interest. Hence there is every reason to suppose that with this lead now given Dominion co-operation will not be withhold.—“ Yorkshire Post.”

A UNIQUE COMBIXATIOX. “The most striking tiling in the late Mr Walter Leaf’s career was that lie was a first-rate man of business as well ns a first-rate scholar, and was no loss versatile in his sports and hobbies. There is perpetual discussion whether a university education spoils n young mail for a. business career, and whether the ‘grand old fortifying curriculum’ of the classics is a help or a hindrance to the development of the qualities which make for success in the city. The case of Mr Walter Leaf is at any rate a very encouraging example on the side of a university training and -the humanities. He was not intended for the bank parlour. He looked forward to the academic life to which his brilliant undergraduate successes were the natural introduction, and lie was already senior classic and Follow of Trinity when lie turned his back on Cambridge and sacrificed his inclination on the altar of family duty.”—“Daily Telegraph” (London)

THE CAPABLE READER. “What exactly does constitute the capable reader ? Surely he is one who by virtue of a certain graciousness of soul, is able perfectly to reproduce the author’s thought and emotion. The words themselves, and the sense of the words, impinge so musically and so forcefully upon his consciousness that author and reader naturally lorm two parts of a necessary whole. As we read from the printed page the words come to us not from without, but a.s a result of our own private declamation. We become at once lecturer and audience. We lend our persuasiveness at the same time that we await persuasion. Thus not even the friendly voice addressing us directly can he as intimate as this expression of the unseen, recreated in our minds out of mere hints given by the printed characters. When we read wo are aware that another speaks while we are silent, that someone is giving while we receive, and yet it is no passive reception. On the contrary we go of our own accord into another man’s kingdom, and what we find there proves itself in some way akin to what exists within our own soul.”—Marcus Acleney in the ‘’Canadian Bookman.’.’