NEWS AND NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 July 1929, Page 8

NEWS AND NOTES.

THE FOUNTAIN OF WISDOM. “Wisdom, after all, comes by suffering, and, though no doubt it is easy to point to some limiting and narowing consequences of the particular fact of his life, the splendid genius oi Dickens, far from being, as it might have been embittered or undermined emerged from a long series of ordeals not only with strength undiminished and brilliancy undimmed, but, perhaps: also wi(/!i no little gain in tenderness ui insight, and in sympathy. And so it came about that, although, perhaps he reaped and enjoyed too little of—

“The harvest of a quiet eye unit broods and sleeps on his own heart.’

nevertheless, this sad man was able to make others laugh, this unhappy man was able to make others forget this great-hearted poet in the true sense ol the term, himself self-educated, was and will be the cause of education in millions of his fellow-men.” —The Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Hewart.

WHAT CAUSED THE WAR? “The war when it came was a war for the liberty of peoples, not on count of the violation of Belgium, which was a strategic blunder on the part of the German Government and noj more, but because the peoples of South-Eastern Europe had been fighting for. their freedom from its beginning,” said Professor Elie Halevy, of Paris University, in his Rhodes Memorial lecture on “The . World Crisis, 1914-19: An interpretation.” “What was responsible for the war was the political rottenness of the Austro-Hun-garian Empire, the tfact that the principle of nationality, renewed and rejuvenated in Asia, was now at work in t Austria-Hungary, which was about to snlit into a number of independent nationalities. Could such an important event have (happened without some kind of convulsion ? I do not think it copld have happened without a miracle of some sort. European diplomacy could not work that miracle, and so we had the war.” 1

A NATION DISARMS. “The Danish Government’s plan of abolishing the country’s naval and mili tapy forces must arouse more than ordipary interest. Armament abolition by even one State is a move offering brighter hopes for the cause of world peace. It is true that the proposal has'been subjected to hostile criticism on, the ground that it is impossible for a country which has disarmed to. fulfil its obligations under the Covenant of the League of Nations. But the invocation of the Covenant —which was designed to make disarmament possible—as an argument against disarmament is surely a remarkable reductio ad absurdum. What does the complaint amount to? That a disarmed State can take no part in the military sanctions which may be called for Hiit it is still available for the more important economic sanctions. Besides rearming would be an easy matter, involving in Denmark’s case only the extension of her constabulary force.

“Against the disabilities resulting from disarmament have to he placed the great moral benefit of such and example; the fact that the disarmed Stgte cannot under any circumstances be accused of aggression; and the easing of the international atmosphere by the removal of what so oftens forms a source of provocation.”—“Glasgow Herald.”

ROMANCE OF lUNG. Mrs James Donald, who resides in the village of Ivemnay, Aberdeenshire, has just recovered her wedding ring, which she lost shortly after her marriage l\ years ago. Mr and Mrs Donald in their early married life occupied the skill croft of Nether Coullie, and one day the young wife, while working in the fields, lost her wedding ring. She and her husband searched diligently in the field and steading for the lost ring, but it was nowhere to be found. Recently a farm servant was harrowing in the field where Mrs Donald had been working 21 years before and there, glittering in the sun, lay the long-lost wedding ring—not a whit the worse of its long interment in the soil.

BAD EGG’S DOOM. No imported egg may be sold in Britain without its origin being stamped on its shell. This is the third and hist step in egg reform following the introduction of the national mark scheme in February and the compulsory marking of preserved eggs in March. TToireiforth, only British and Northern Irish newlaid eggs will be unmarked. “In mv opinion.” Mr .Tames Gateeliff, the leading authority on eggs said “this act will revolutionise the British industry. There is one thing however in this new regulation that T regret. Imported eggs may lie merely marked ‘foreign’ instead of with the name o' their actual country of origin. . v ” egg from China, for instance, is of much less value than an egg from a near European country. This measure should not only-protect home producers. but also the general public.” V '

THE FOUNDATION OF LIFE. “My experience in many lands, among many peoples, has taught me that religion is ultimately the foundation of life, and far and away the most interesting most important, and most valuable and enjoyable thing in life. Everywnere in my travels 1 found religion, and everywhere also I found drama. Both are universal activities of the human race.”—Sir I' rands \ ounghusband.

THE MONEY WE POSSESS. “Jl.an has advanced through toil and struggle until lie has reached the top of. his height, and littlo more is possible to him,” writes Dr. J. C. Cailile C.8.E., in the “Sunday Mercury” “He has created a great machine. It has become ixis idol, and now he is in danger o'f grovelling in leal' of the thing ho has fashioned. Man is lonely, lie has learned enough to make >it plain that he is a species apart, akin to the brute, and yet separated by the knowledge that he can be infinitely more than he is, and by the regret that he is not better than he sees himself to be. It is the torment of the difference that makes the loneliness almost unbearable. We must have religion for comradeship.” ITONSILS MAKE YOU SAD. The modern panacea for that fed-up depressed 'feeling is to have your tonsils out. “Thousands of people in this country imagine they are suffei ing from a variety of ailments such as catarrh, ‘nerves/ and dyspepsia, when all that is wrong with them is septic tonsils a well-known Harley Street specialist said. “If people only knew how septic tonsils can poison their whole system they wound not hesitate a minute about having them out,” the specialist said. “They can cause a form ol blood-poisoning which can load to a low and depressed condition, rushing sounding in the head ,fullness in the ears, and symptoms of nervous trouble Once their tonsils have been removed the majority of people feel as lit again Their troubles drop from them like magic, and they become new men and women.”

THE FREEDOM. OF THE ROPE. “The Release of the Pope and his projected tour, if it comes off” writes Mr J. A. Spender in the “Daily News” “will he the most immediate and picturesque results, and no one can doubt their j spectacular success. But the Roman Church, which is an exceedingly well-governed institution, will indoubt see the wisdom of limiting this publicity. It has gained immensely in recent years from the atmosphere of mystery which has surrounded the piisoner of the Vatican/ the illustrious monarch who refuses to compromise and sit in .seclusion, unique among the religious leaders of the world. Foi such a figure to come out into the light of common day is to run a ceiM tain risk.” A GRATIFYING SIGN. “It is ono df the gratifying signs of the times, that,the movement to preserve the beauty of the English countryside has found generous supporters among those whose wealth enables them to . bequeath to the nation rich gifts of land and property. At a time when taxation takes a large .part of every rich man’s income, and death duties diminish his estate by a very considerable fraction, it seems anomalous that even his gifts to the nation bequeathed under the terms of a will to the National Trust for Places of Historic interest or Natural Beauty should ho subject to death duties. A such was the case. —The “ Architect s Journal.

WORKHOUSE SWEETS

Wandsworth Guardians are issuing a quarter of a pound of sweets to women inmates to correspond with... the weekly allowance df tobacco for men. “Have one with me,” is becoming quite a familiar phrase as two old women inmates meet in the grounds and swap an acid drop for a bull’s-eye. When a pressman asked an official at the institution what kind of sweets old women prefre, he smiled. “We are proposing to give them various sweets week by week,” he said. “There will bo sometimes in the nature of bull s eyes, boiled sweets, and mixed drops, varied from time to time,‘and we shall go by the kind they like best. We shall pot issue the same sort every week.” Although the modern girl smokes as never before, her grandmother—if workhouse experience is any criterion—is not nearly so fond of smoking as she was twenty years ago.” BOOTS THROWN AT PRISON governor.There was an exciting scene in the church attached to Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow, when it is stated ,a prisoner threw his boots and a Bible at the Governor, Mr Wilkinson,, during the religious service. Air Wilkinson was sitting in the body of the church with other officials when the prisoner took off his boots and threw them at the Governor. Mr Wilkinson, however, received a timely warning from a member. of the staff, and lie dodged the first missle, which struck the walls missing his head by about two inches. The prisoner (followed this up with the other boot, but the Governor again, succeeded in avoiding it although lie had to exercise considerable agility to do so. The prisoner then aimed his Bible at Air Wilkinson, but his third shot also missed. Warders rushed forward and succeeded in overpowering the man, who, it is stated is serving a term of imprisonment for theft.