The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1930. THE ANTI-MODERN.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 November 1930, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1930. THE ANTI-MODERN.

Dean Inge may be regarded as something" of an asset of the nation. He lias a great vision and a pleasing facility of speech. With his outlook he hap depth and sincerity, and lie can be relied on to present fresh and unusual views of passing events. 'ln his latest cabled utterances he appears as an anti-modernist, and the analysis • he gives of the conditions of life, compares the late past with the early present, the Victorian with the Georgian age. Corn pair iso n.s have been described as odious—that is Uuipopular , but the prelate in question continues to make his comparisons interesting, and certainly apropos. Perhaps he does not make the happiest of beginnings by his comparison of the earlier and modern girls, but he does point to some adjunctive aids sought after by the modern mind that more than Dean Inge would prefer to nee absent. He passed on to poets, whom w© are taught are born and not made, and because of that the shortcomings of, the present day are probably accounted for. Another cycle of time may produce higher poetic ability, but the public taste must go hand in hand if that higher degree is to be apprised at its true worth. Still, even if Tennyson and Browning were in exeelsis in their time, they too were eclipsed by a greater poet of the earlier pnist, one whom the world at large has not eclipsed—Shakespeare. Comparisons in the world of art might be made along more extensive lines, and always to the disparagement of the modern productions. Here, again, the right cycle of time is lacking, or a newer age has not the time nor the patience to produce masterpieces alone the old lines which were so outstanding. The Dean is . on happier ground when he touches off the political ipoints of the present and the late past. The comparison in grbht minds •vho led til© country is probably true, Imt in other days there was a sharper demarcation and but two parties. Now democracy has grown wild as it were, and each party must produce its own leader, and in this instance it is not true that in the multitude of councillors there is wisdom. What the Dean regards as typical of England, may bo the case also with Australia and New Zealand. A score of years or fio ago, and the political leaders were men prominently outstanding, but today with the wider democracy of the' times and the increasing study ol political economy, there are many men with many minds striving to lead the nation politically, and in the jumble of ideals and shi'vboleths there is a confusion often making outstanding issues of the day more and more confounding. Financially, too. the Dean contrasts even feelingly. He realises poignantly how the income tax has gone up and the national position has cone down. The wealth is not as if wns. and ho would have us believe life is not ns easv going as it was once. But the political leaders of our time have created a new social atmosphere. and it is because of that that changes have evolved. The world, too, in tips verv modern Period. is but. convalescent in the aftermath period of the great war—a cataclysm which lias never before overtaken our nation. The \vn r probably more than anythin" hn« dimmed I be as. nect of affairs. The wealth of Britain whether in men or nmnev literallv blown away in the defence of world security. That enormous expense will take some lecouoing. Id mnnv the task seems hopeless, and the less frail are resorting to tlm P a»ier life, instead of the harder life of

work and production, by which alone the fortunes can be retrieved, and the country again be put upon its feet. There are those prepared to lidtllo instead of working, and it is the spirit of the time,-! which seems to be rather awry. Still, the Dean has done sonic service in reviewing the outlook from his point of view. It gives food for thought, and if people will only think they will come to realise that the good times of the past can yet he brought back. The larger democracy of to-day has given us a new order of things, and it is not always for the best; but it is still possible as it is necessary, to try and redeem the situation wanted, there fore, an intelligent survey of both the present and the past so as to intertwine the two periods for the betterment of the world about us, and that certainly is not an impossibility.