TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20256, 27 July 1937, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Muddling Through. “ Lots oi' people, including many Englishmen, observing that the Englishman will not think ahead, imagine that lie will not or cannot think at all. This is a great mistake. He may be in this matter lazy, but he is not stupid. He may be unintellectual, but he is not unintelligent —very far from it. On the contrary, when he does begin to think, he thinks to extremely good purpose. It is quite true that his thinking tends to be limited in range. He is not much concerned with principles or with remote antecedents or consequences. ITis interest stops when he has solved the problem in hand. But up to that point his thinking is extremely efficient, and he is indeed one of the most intelligent creatures on the face of the earth. The really important thing about England is not that she muddles, but that she muddles through.”—From a broadcast talk, “Men and Matters,” by Principal Sir Hector J. W. Hetherington, LL.D., of Glasgow University. A French View. In the sphere of foreign politics the accord with Germany, formerly regarded with misgivings bv many Italian circles, now appears as an inevitable necessity in view of the British armaments. It is in this sense that the Grand Council was unanimous in solemnly proclaiming the close solidarity of the two countries. It is interesting to note that the reinforcement of this understanding coincides with the suppression in Rome of currents favourable to the restoration of the Ilapsburgs. Italy finds herself obliged to sacrifice more and more of her claims in the zone of the Danube to her formidable partner, and the asservissment of Austria is likely to lie the price of the reinforcement of the ltalo-German Alliance. True it is that, forced out of Central Europe, Italy seems to turn more and more to the Mediterranean. It is to this that the desire of collaboration with the Balkan peoples expressed by the Grand Council may be attributed. An entirely new Roman policy is taking shape; a policy that tends to push Fascist Italy far beyond the scope of its traditional field of activity.—From Figaro (Paris),