PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 December 1927, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

“ GOING TO THE BOGS.” Lamentable as it may appear, it is nevertheless a fact that multitudes of British citizens are going to the dogs, and going joyously, sonic of them two and three times a week. Nor arc they the rag-tag and bobtail of the population. The crowd one may mingle with on any greyhound racecourse is a crosssection of society. Ail the characteristic types are there, from the clei k and £lie mason to the powdered and lipsticked lady who has at some time or other appeared at tho halls. Iheie are gentlemen in silk bats and tipsteis with furtive eyes, and even perhaps an occasional parson come to see what it is that so strangely moves the people. A. J. Edwards, in the “ Millgatc Monthly.”

WOMEN AT OXFORD. Tlie English habit of sell-deprecia-tion is especially characteristic of Oxford. and not least so at the present time. I have been recently told, by people who profess to know, that now careful and respectable parents will not send their (laughters to Oxford because the standard there is so lax, and because there they would become Bolshevist in politics and would gravely suffer in manners and in morals. It is true that some of tlie women students are prominent members of Labour Clubs, and that Conservative organisers consider that their “safe” university seats will be seriously endangered if tlie “flappers’ vote” be granted ; but the facts remain that tlie pressure for admission at Oxford is—as has been said —greater than ever; and though the Conservative “undergraduette ” (il that horrid word may be used) is less assertive than her more highly-colour-ed (in views) sisters, she is much more numerous than is generally supposed, and much' more effective. 1 venture to assert confidently that Oxford, in spite of her pessimistic sons, really remains in essentials much the same as ever.— Dr. Joseph AY ells, in “The English Review.”

BRITISH INDUSTRY Occasionally, wit lieu t consulting an) hin of national pride, we may encourage ourselves with the thought of our industrial greatness. .More often we are chastened in these days by reminders that we are not tlie only workshop in the world; and that, where there was once a monopoly of supply, there are now a large number of competitors. That is true; and yet it stands to the credit of British manufactured products that they retain a reputation for quality the world over. Sweeter than self-congratulation is the sound of praise and admiration coming from overseas. At a time when our railways are a subject of constant and doubtless wholesome criticism, there is a peril!iar degree ol satislaetion in learning what American locomotive engineers think of a British built engine that lias been scut to the United States for exhibition, and has besides neon given two trial inns in order to “show its paces.” Constructed for'the everyday work of the Great Western Railway express passenger service, the King George Y lias won tlie praise of the designers and engineers of the other side of the Atlantic for its fine appearance, and its smooth running. It cannot be comparable in all respects with the huge locomotives in use on the American railways, but it lias done something by its merits to enhance the reputation of Britain and her manufacturers in a land from which in turn we are never reluctant to learn.—“ The Times.”

THE CHANNEL HOAX. Nobody loves the practical joker, and l)r. Dorothy Logan lias shown by her unhappy adventure in hocus-pocus that even the crusading hoax embarked on in the interests of the sanctity of sporting records is silly and exasperating. The need for tlie official control of cross-Channel swimming is now more claimant than ever, for we appear to require protection from the irresponsible hoaxer as well as Irom flic calculating humbug. Looking back oil this Cliauncl affair, we cannot deny a certain artistic success to the members of the doctor’s pilot boat. None of them let the side down by a careless word. Fabricating is by no means a lost art. The boatmen declared tlmt the lady swam magnificently, and the lady in her statement described her trainer as wonderful. There was the remark about the jellyfish that didn't, bite, and the cliffs that seemed so near and vet so far. Altogether one is reminded of the Irishman's. “ AVhatevor we say, hoys, see that we all say the same thing.” AVliat crowns I lie whole aflat** is the note published wit.li due solemnity after the landing to the effort that the great feat was performed.

LANGUAGE OF YOUTH

We shall never join in the attacks of middle-aged annalists on the youngest generation, which is really the oldest of all. Yet we should like to present this humble petition to them that they should deal gently with the English language, which is the greatest work of art achieved by the race. We have, no objection to that AngloAmerican slang, full of strange similes. of which Mr f\ G. Wodehouse is the greatest living master. A\ e can smile, though with joyless eyes, at such iviade-in-America eolloquilisnis as “Can you /mar it?” (used with the force of a. Greek particle), or even “1 am so angry I could gargle hattermilk.” But the universal use of syncopated English by young folk i« ";ritotiiig in the extreme, being a foohs l attempt to substitute abbreviation lor hrevitv as the soul of wit. M hen a charming child, perhaps soon to he endowed with the flapper’s vote says, “You’re l'idic,” we feel sick. M hen her escort replies. “Don’t be si . «e are downright ill. This reduction of our joyous English, a racial work of art that lias been ten centuries in the making, to a meaningless nn,! ui.musi- ,...] iaz/.ine of flies m the air has latet,U ja/./.i iip . p Herbert, one ]v keen satirised by A. I. o , of Mr Punch’s gracious good-hum muist.s. If ridicule really kills (which we doubt) his kindly satire more effect than our humble petition of protest. —“Tlio Morning P°*-