POINTS OF VIEW FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 285, 27 July 1932, Page 7

POINTS OF VIEW FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS

COMMENTS ON CURRENT TOPIGS

No Turning Back in India. i "It may be that many of us have honest and what appear to be wellfounded doubts as to the wisdom of | introducing democratie institutions in India at all. B'ut such questionings cannot, at this stage, be allowed to arise. As representatives of the British people who have already set the eourse, we eannot turn back. The answer to the question, which each one of us must aslc himself, does not depend on his views as to the merits of the case. The question is simply this: When we profess to stand by the declaration of 1917, by the preamble to the Government of India Act and by the more recent pronouncements of two Viceroys, are we being honest with' ourselves and with India ? If we are making all lcinds of mental reservations, if we are nursing impossible stipulations, then would it not be better to say so, to destroy once and for all any false donfidence that may still be felt in our community-" — The Review of India. - * * * * India's Poison Wells. "In the dark alleys of Bomhay's bazaars a wretched mendicant spreads one foul lie after another concerning the worshippers of Siva or the followers of Islam. Generations of effort alone can redeem the callous ignorance of an Indian city. Centuries will pass before the Hindu forgets his quarrel with Mohammedan, compared with which the estrangenient of Roman Catholic from Orangeman is as nothing. Whatever reforms we give to India, whatever Constitution we frame, and whatever provisions we make for the proper representation of the religious minorities, the HinduMoslsm problem will reinain." — Yorkshire post * * ::t * Safe Banking. "It is not contended that the primary business of the banks is to make profit for the shareholders. This would he too narrow a conception of the function of banking and one that would not be tolerated in a commercial community, but it, nevertheless, the first duty of banks to safeguard the interests of depositors who have entrusted their money to them. Should they fail to weaken in their trust the whole structure of business would collap'se. With this guiding principle always in front of them the banks naturally seek to minimise their risk, and if any criticism may be levelled at the conduct of banking during the past few years it is that too great consideration has been shown in the matter of overdraft borrowing, which, if overstrained, becomes a pernicious system holding danger not only to the borrower and the lender but to the qountry at large." — Glasgow Ilerald. * sfc *

Safe Railways. "The appalling number of accidents last year on the public roads to which wide attention has recently been directed — 6691 killed and 202,119 injured — is in striking contrast to the accidents on the railways, of which details are given in a preliminary statement published by the Ministry of Transport," says Engineering. "From this it appears that in the year 1931, eight passengers were killed and 414 injured, as against one killed and 552 injured in the previous year. These figures cover accidents to trains, rolling-stock or permanent way, and in addition, 63 passengers were killed and 3697 injured through' such' causes as falling at stations, crossing the line, and falling out of carriages. The total figures of 74 passengers killed and 5434 injured are made up by a number of further accidents on railway premises, but in no way connected with the movement of trains As regards railway servants, 13 were killed and 81 injured in 1931 in accidents to trains, rolling-stock and permanent way, 146 were killed and 2633 injured in accidents caused by the movement of railway vehicle's, exclusive of accidents to trains, and 35 were killed and 14,015 injured in accidents not connected with the movement of vehicles." $ $ * * Thrift. "Undoubtedly thrift may, if carried to extreme, become a vice. As George Eliot makes one of her characters say: 'Stinginess may be abused, like other virtues; it will not do to keep one's own pigs lean.' What would happen if everyone suddenly resolved to spend no more than was sufficient to keep body and soul together, and to save the rest. Luekily human nature would never allow it, and the amount of saving that is done is seldom more than sufficient to keep industry supplied with its needs in capital. Hoarding has almost disappeared in the modern world. When people save, they save for investment." — Cape Argus (South Africa). * * * A Season for Thinking. ,"The thinker may be a blacksmith who believes that he has hit on a new and better method of tempering a particular steel, a sheepman who thinks that he has found a way of breeding for a perfect fleeee in four changes of ram-strain, a house-painter who has an idea for a fireproof paint. If any of these ideas are sound, they represent a substantial advancement in applied human knowledge, the establishment of new industries, or the substantial improvement of an existing one. If they are not sound, mere following up by trial and error will only result in waste of money and time. There is only one way to test their soundness and commercial appiicability, and that is to check them against the sum total of the facts and principles which underlie them. And so the blacksmith, the sheepbreeder and the house-painter arrive eventually at the doors of the reference library — The Bulletin (Sydnsy).

American Crime a Disease. "This partidular outstanding crime (the murder of the Lindbergh baby) is a symptom and a disease is not eured by dealing with • one symptom. The disease is lawlessness, and it is endemic in the United States. A nation gets the police force and the judieiary that it deserves. The real reform of America must begin in high places and extend to the whole population. Law in Europe is based upon the enforcement of a common non- j personal standard of conduct. The good American, exaggerating hi§ traditional Puritan ethics, has cultivated i instead of this his iridividual conseienee. An individual conscence or many conseienees together, is a dangerous substitute for the.rule of law." — Yorkshire Post. * * * A Yoyage for Trade. "A pioneer trade ship has just returned to the Clyde from Montreal. The s.s. Letitia had on board the representatives of eighty-seven Seottish firms who were exhihiting their products in the liner In the selling of goods 'British' loses its meaning unless it is synonymous with 'best.' The Duke of Montrose and the eightyseven exhibitors took their goods to Canada in order to convince people that 'British' and 'best' really are syninymous. Their mission has succeeded. They have impressed Canada. They have also shown that, even in times of deep depression, people with initiative can always win." — Glasgow Herald. * * * British Loans a Family Affair. "Some very striking figures have been published concerning loaiis made by Great Britain to foreign xtnd Empire eountries. Canada hardly comes into this picture, which covers the last ten years, as her borrowings during that period have been almost entirely confined to the United States. The figures show that during this period £543,000,000 have been loaned within the Empire, and £203,000,000 to foreign eountries," says "Canada." "In the Emp.'ire loans there has been no default, but interest is in default upon £145,000,000, or approximately threequarters of the money loaned abroad The moral, of course, is that in future the Mother Country will be wise to keep its loans within the family. There has also been much Canadian capital invested in foreign fields, the results of which' have not been altogether satisfactory." — Canada. * * * M Herriot.

"M. Herriot comes from Lyons, centre of the textile industry. The textile industry is an export industry. In France politics and business are inextricably intermingled. M. Herriot is a good portent for the export trades of France, and the latter by now know that their markets cannot he regained, still less 'expanded, unless and un'ti] there is a lowering of the tariff walls which have been so beneficial to the internal trade interests, a breaking of the vicious eircle of deflation, and a resumption of confidenee due to the conclusion of international agreements which ultra-nationalist policies have so far held up." — Time and Tide. * * « Centenary of the Reform Bill. "This centenary of the passing of the Reform Bill is a summons to thought and action." We here believe that it is better for a people to govern itself badly for the ultimate good of its soul than be' governed well (as might happen for a time) by others, by despots, however efficient. But it is also true that when self -government becomes too bad to be endured longer the despots have their chance. If it is to survive, democraey must be made better than it is to-day. We must, for instance, sit easier to our traditional Parliamenary machinery. The time is over-ripe for a radical overhauling of our cumbrous methods of legislation. Some measure of devolution, in order to avoid the frittering away of Parliament's time on unimportant issues, is badly needed The sheer work of government to-day is of a scope and a complexity quite unparalleled before, and it is sufficient work for the Central Legislature to determine the general direction of policy, leaving the details to others, but keeping watch on what those details are." — Manchester Guardian. * * * Economic Nationalism in Dominion. "With' the tariff and embargo policies of Australia and Canada, and by the raising of the Indian tariff as well as by the boycott, while the trade with low tariff eountries, like Holland and the Duteh colonies, Belgium, and the three Seandinavian eountries, has been comparatively well maintained, it is easy to see that we have much to lose, and little to gain, from the Otrawa Conference if the jealous spirit of economic nationalism , which de mands a monopoly of British' markets while it piles up tariffs and restrictions against British goods, continues to prevail in our self-governing Dominions." — Mr. Franeis W. Hirst, in the Contemporary Review. * :> $ =!: Britain's Loan Conversion. "From a national point of view, there is everything to be said for the war loans operation, for not only would the taxpayer benefit from a successful conversion, but trade and industry would also derive advantage from it. The & per cent. war loan has long hung like a millstone round the neek of British credit, and once removed a stimulus would be given to all fixed-interest-bearing securities. The taxpayer at present is paying on over £2,000,000,000 of redeemable wai' stock, a war instead of a peace rate of interest. During the cheap money period of the 'nineties the discount rate fell to 0.8 per cent., and the yield on 2£ per cent consols to 2.45 per cent. At present th'e discount rate is about 0.9 per cent., while the yield on consols is only a little below 4 per cent. The margin between these two figures ^must tend to become narrower by a fall in the yield on long-tefm securities — that is to say, through a rise in their price." — The Times' City Correspondent.