PUBLIC OPINION

Hokitika Guardian, 12 August 1931, Page 2

PUBLIC OPINION

THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT. “You will never get a good civilisation until you get good individuals, a,.d this is the thing that the mechanistic nation, such as America or ltussia, tends to forget. You must try and civilise practical men, and you must try and induce civilised men to be prac tical. 'That- is absolutely necessary i our civilisation is td^survive.” —Earl Russell. UTILITY PLUS BEAUTY. “Railway stations, aerodromes, garages, dock buildings, and even petrol .taticns can, in the hands of a wise architect, acquire a beauty of their own. It is not a question of adornnent—that way lies disaster —but the rrrangement of masses and lines in a manner that at once provides a maximum of utility and aesthetic satisfaction in the beholder. London has already many good examples of t' e modern architecture supplied to the needs of modern transport. Since simpTcity is their key-note they will not cfl'eiid so long as they serve their useful purpose.”—v‘Daily Telegraph” (Loridi. il)* bad times for art, “It is easy enough to palilt pictures ; the really hal'd Win'lt Is selling them. There 1b a glut of pictures— far in excess of the number of people who can buy them,’’ said the Hon. John Collier, the famous artist, who is 81, to the “Star.” “Pictures are a luxury and were the first things to be cut down when money became scarce. Old masters are the only pictures that keep up their value. They, really, are an investment. This is a specially hard time for the struggling artist, and 1 clo not see any sign of improvement. In time, I suppose', the number of artists will be greatly reduced. When there has been a clearing out of the unfortunate artists, better times will come to those who survive. Meanwhile, the poor artist has to live.” PARIS OR FRANCE? Paris is not France. In such a mat ter the Press of the capital, is sometimes misleading. The fact is, to pu'te the “Observer” correspondent, the Chamber of Deputies and the Paris papers with the largest circulations are far more Nationalist than the opinion of the country. That opinion’ is overwhelmingly in favour of tire policy d" international reconciliation with which M. Briand’s name has been associated A similar opinion is expressed by the Paris correspondent of “The Times,” who Writes that 0)1 the Whole the problems Of fOreigil policy are gravely misrepresented in tlie Press of Daris, while they are largely ignbrfed in the provinces. £-0 -Unit ivilile the Customs Union may play a large part in the debates in the Chamber, and its repercussions may deeply perturb the Quai d’Orsay, it has counted for strangely little with the mass of the electorate.—“ Review of Reviews.” THE- FEAR IN GERMANY. “What do the Germans fear? They fear an almost automatic political revolution when the economic pressure which the Government is putting upon individuals, becomes at last quite intolerable. The Government are determined, as far as they are concerned, not to repeat the history of 1922-23. They are taking draconian measures to keep the public economy and tlie public finances of Germany sound. But these measures are all taken at the private individual’s expense in the form of drastic rationalisation, which swells the ranks of the unemployed in the middle as well as in the working class ; drastic reduction of unemployment benefits (already startlingly low on 'English standards) and of official salaries ; drastic increases in taxation, direct as. well as indirect. The fear is that, at the sharp touch of next winter, the individual may be goaded into political revolt against the personal economic sacrifices that are being demanded 'of him by the State.”—A correspondent of “The Economist.”

VAIN WARNINGS. So long ago as 1927 the World Eco noraic Conference warned the Governments that the economic development of the world was being impeded and retarded by the height and the multiplicity of the tariff walls which divided the world market into a number of watertight compartments, and wide’ l had grown in number and in height since the war and the re-division of Ehrope. The report of the Coriferenc: was unanimously adopted by the Council df the League and approved by a resolution of the Assembly. No fewer than twenty-nine Governments gave it', rcommendations their official blessing. But since then nothing whatever has been done to put them into effect. Much time has been spent in wearisome and futile negotiations for a. tariff truce, which in itself woukl have brought no remedy; but the tar ffs of which the Conference complained have actually been raised instead df being lowered.—“ The Times” (London).