The Daily News. FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1911. AN ART SOCIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 17, 14 July 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1911. AN ART SOCIETY.

We cordially welcome the Taranaki Arts tod Crafts Society, for art is the basis of our commercial life. There arc people who affect to sneer at the study of the | beautiful, the production of beautiful things and art in the narrower and wider acceptation of the term and all it implies. But if one takes the trouble to ponder a moment on the question, ono will sec how profound is the utility of I art and how essential it is in every life. The commonest objects by which we are surrounded may be mechanically contrived, but each one has germinated from the idea of an artist. The pencil with which this is written is a masterpiece of art, the chair you are sitting on took its form in the workshop of the mechanic, but the idea of it was evolved from the brain of an artist. Without the exercise of art the dull, drab monotony of life apart from the enjoyment of unsullied nature would be intolerable. The lack of art, too, is painfully apparent. Wo erect screamingly ugly buildings (New Plymouth has many) because "they will do.' It is- inevitable in a young country which has artistic susceptibilities that lie- dormant because of the necessity of concentrating on powerful work. That the New Zealander is highly susceptible to the expression of art is seen in the reception given to really great artists in the dramatic and musical world, the delight with which beautiful objects are received, and the growing ro- \ gard everywhere apparent to "live the I larger life." Art embraces so much. An art society lovingly constituted by people [ who understood its tremendous possibilities would aid in instilling a critical faculty that would help its possessor to discriminate between the beautiful and the blatant, the artistic and the banal, genius and self-assertiveness. It would not confine its operations to the mere sitting down of objects on canvas, but would probe deep into the mysteries and beauties of Nature—which is the mother of art. It would spur young minds to the expression of ideas, for it may be believed that in the apparent dullard flu-re is ever a spark of the divine flame that may be fanned by careful interest and skilled help. Many New Zealand towns have already excellent systems of-bringing out artistic points. We all know the dreadful person who insists on torturing a piano or other instrument year after year without displaying a gleam of art. We know the person who commits atrocities on canvas because painting is an accomplishment it person ought to possess, together with a knowledge of the twelveI times table. We have all heard the person who persists in singing, his persistence being the result of a misconception as to his capacity to warble, and there are even people who write who really shouldn't! These are not the persons that an art society will benefit. You can't make mind-sparks, but yon can fan them. Genius is a modest flower, and it doesn't bang a piano because it wants the neighbors to hear, or wield a brush in the front window for the benefit of the passer-by. Art either in its infant or mature form is loved and exercised for its own sake nnd for the assistance of humanity. Tt is not selfadvertising and is able to discriminate between the decoration on the garden fence and "Whistler's Mother," or between "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay" and the Hallelujah Chorus. Real art appeals to the least artistic. There is no critic so capable as the untutored one, for he uses his instinct and has no shibboleth. If any art club, understanding its great mission, can teach a limited number of persons the transcendent importance of art and can discover the possession of ideas, in-any-branch of it, it will do.good work. The world has many bright people, who are never "discovered"—and most of. the. great,artists (in all lines of m+.\ ba'vff "arrived" by accident.

PAY! PAY! PAY! I Butter is Is 5d and Is 6d per packet | in most part of New Zealand. We use I the word "packet" designedly, for the butter merchant is not called upon to specify on the wrapper the weight of its contents. Thn difference between Is 6d per packet and Is means that this very necessary commodity is kept off many working-men's tables. The reason for the increase? Ask the merchants. Bad season, small supplies, too few cows, etc., ad lib. Ask the consumer. A corner. New Zealand is "breaking its neck" to have its butter recognised in London as a superior article to the Danish product. It is sold at the moment in London at 108s per cwt. and is retailed at one shilling and a little over per pound. It must be the very best butter to get tins price—better than much of the butter that is selling in New Zealand at Is 6d per packet. In London our very' choicest butter is frequently cut and weighed before the eyes of the consumer. The New Zealander may get full weight for this expensive commodity, but there is no guarantee that he will. He is the meekest of the earth's people in regard to his food supplies, and from bread to beer and from fruit to fish he meekly takes what is given to him at whatever price is demanded, and not once in a year questions weight or measure. Why New Zealanders subsist on dear leavings when London gets New Zealand's beat at the cheapest rates passes comprehension. We make strenuous efforts to get markets to which we must sell at a lower price than can be obtained here. We flood London with best apples at a penny a pound and sell "windfalls" in this country at fonrpence or sixpence. When London is eating cheap New Zealand fruit New Zealand is meekly asking the New Zealand retailer for permission to take home a few Tasmanian specimens at an exhorbitant Tate. To revert to butter. Everybody from the Governor ' downwards has counselled combination for natural protection and betterment. Combination for the exploitation of the consumer, however, is a matter that some icolonial legislatures are fighting. The idea that a person on the other side of the world should be able to buy New Zeaknd butter at, fivepence or sixpence less per pound than the man who is surrounded % the cows who supplied it, is an excellent illustration of the extraordinary meekness of the New Zealand people. The fact that while London must have the very freshest and best New Zealand is eating stale stock is another thing the people should speak about with a loud voice. In the meantime, "How does Sir Joseph Ward like i his baronetcy?" or "Will Mr. Massey be / Premier?" or "Will the Bow-wows wal- j lop the Kurikuri'R in the rep. match ?" ( are matters of -vast importance. When cornering food-suppliers take their hob- J nailed boots off the necks of the New; Zealanders there should be set apart a I day of national thanksgiving.