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Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 4, 5 August 1932, Page 7

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SPARK

FROM 2ZW, Mr. Johannes Anderson made a telling plea for the despised sparrow, and disposed of the belief that is fairly general that he spreads weed seeds. Similarly to the canary, the chirpy litile fellow. husks his seeds before swallowing them and they are then thoroughly digested. Attention was drawn to the noticeable absence of the cicada, which lays its eggs in an incision in the*bark of trees. These incisions er healed, and in the case of fruit trées the damage was enormous. The check’ upon this insect was. largely due to.the zeal of the sparrow and his kind, and. were such . birds destroyed the depredations of. the cicada. would very shortly have. an effect: that would be of national economic importance. Because of. the sparrows’ fecundity some are inclined:to imagine that he is becoming a pest,» but climatic conditions and absérice‘ of food attend to this, and although the breeding season may result ‘in a total family of fifteen from one. pair, the new season generally starts with but one pair again. Any destruction by human agency is very liable to upset the balance. This was:'observed by the South Island farmers after their concerted drive against the best friend they have, in the multiplication of the insect pests, which did much ruin to recent crops. ‘In the three weeks of ripening fifty sparrows would probably eat a quart of grain per day, and yet New Zealand’s average return was _ thirty bushels of wheat per acre as against nine bushels average in Australia. For three weeks’ the sparrow added cereals to his diet, and forty-nine weeks of the year his diet consisted very largely of pests. The acreage under cereal crop'in New Zealand averages approximately 400,000, but grass lands that need the sparrow and kindred birds all the year round for prevention against’ insect attack, totals 30,000,000. So the little thief is. paid a ridiculously small toll in wheat, to keep our food lands, wheat, grass, fruit and vegetable, free from attack that no human agency could repel. . s * e N pointing to the difference which characterises American drama and humour from the subtlety which is a feature of the English, Mr. Williams in his talk on "Film Stars" from 2ZW, omitted to explain why a difference existed, developed or was necessary. The fact is that there is very little American nationalism, and to get a meaning to penetrate the majority of the American audiences, composed as it usually is, of half the breeds of the earth, there

must be no doubts. Charlie Chaplin soon became aware of this fact, and abolished to a minimum the captions in imperfectly understood American (English) and developed his wonderful tableaux vivant technique, so eminently suitable for the pantomimic "silents." I have often wondered if Charlie would have succeeded so greatly in his art had he remained in England. It is because of the broadness and often crudeness even, of American pictures shown in Asia that the white races have lost must of their prestige in the East. This, together with the openly flaunted vice of many American females in the East, has led the undiscerning Asiatic to believe’ the European is totally without virtue. A still more deplorable thing is that the British Dominions have not been left unbesmirched by contact through the film, with American broadness, Moronism and slush. * Bd oe (MOst people will deplore with Dr. Gibb that the high hopes entertained at the Geneva Conference did not result in something more tangible than has been accomplished for world disarmament. Dr. Gibb asserted that these committees of experts had been the laughing stock of the world, but I would not be so hard as that. We all know what the obvious retort of any member of the conference would be to Dr, Gibb. Neither would I have quoted such a fire-brand as Donald Grant as an authoritative person able to tell the experts their business; nor do I take much count of the opinions of an obsequious chauffeur, Even to-day armaments are the premium ‘we pay for our -existence and many rightly

think that the experts did. not attend the conference to throw discretion to the winds. Abortive disarmament conferences are a habit. The Czar of Russia proposed world disarmament and we have had the Great War since. Dr. Gibb was on sure ground when he spoke of the hell of peace, and the missionary has a_ wide field before him in the industrialised and capitalistic world. * * % WRESTLING relay cut short the story and description of "Delhi," the capital of our great Indian dependency, that was Captain R. H. Niel’s Oriental subject from 1YA. The story, however, is to be continued at a later date. Founded nearly a thousand years before Rome was commenced, the original city is overlayed by five or six, some say eight, new cities, capitals of extinguished empires, and is not quite so ancient as Damascus, Jostling with the more or less intact citadel of the intolerant Shah Jehan, whose hey-day was about the period when Good Queen Bess was making England a first-class power, when Don John was the fear of the Turks and the Netherlander was compelled to be the best fighting man in Europe -has arisen the new capital. concieved by the British overlord. The selection of the site for the new imperial capital was a hard but deserved blow to the «Bengali, who from patronage had begun to think himself the salt and favoured of British India, whereas in fact the remainder of the sub-continent despises him for his infidelity and sycophancy. Madras would have had a better claim for the capital than Calcutta, but no one would suggest that. the virile nor-

thern Indian should be under any. sort of domination of the Madrasi, who the late Earl Roberts stated was not worth a uniform. The historical and geographical claims of Delhi are undeniable. When I was there the new Secretariat had almost been completed, and this gave an indication of what the new city is to be, but Delhi’s charm will remain with the historical ruins of three thousand years. One of the most interesting sights of Delhi to an antiquarian is one of Asoka’s monoliths, This great ruler erected many of these throughout India and inscribed them with injunctions comparable to those of Confucius. Xt ae * q

HE "Wireless World," London, has somehow got it slightly mixed, for I read that: "Considerable sur-. prise is felt in New Zealand at the omission of any representative of musical interests on the Advisory Council appointed to control the programmes of the New Zealand Broadcasting Board. Amateurs are well represented by Mr. F. T. Davis, 2ZF, who is president of the Taranaki Radio Society." Listeners know how far this statement is astray. . * * TN continuation of his talks on "Man and His Social Institutions,’’ Professor T. A. Hunter dealt with the subject in relation to the machine. age. In solving his problems of social! life’ man established institutions’ which he deemed satisfactory and consequently opposed radical change. New ideas were not objected to, but their application involving alteration of cherished institutions were sternly opposed. This attitude was seen in the reactions to Capernicus, Bruno, Galileo, Darwin and the Disarmament , Conferences. Until the machine age, ' social life was much more stable, but: increased population and_scientifie discovery have revolutionised life. © The luxuries of yesterday are neces~ sities to-day, but we have the paradoxical result of a world teeming with more goods than people can buy. Resultant upon machine production arose a new financial fabric, but the divorcement of the social contact in . finance had created a system whereby man was not obtaining the welfare that man’s power could provide. Who can say that our present method of social organisation is a success? By the purely technical and professional manner in which institutions are administered they defeat the objective of their founders and become obstacles to advances ment, This is exemplified in Parliamentary Government, the Church, and Education. In the Professor’s

The Week’s Best Par. "RAYO," of Nelson, wins this week's: prize of 5/- for the following :- Henare was the possessor of a radio set and had invited. some of his friends for an evening to listen-in. As had happened on previous occasions, the set refused to work, and Henare tried desperately to fix the trauble. Time was slipping by, and the listeners were patiently waiting OP but Henare had long since lost patience and was worked up to a state of temper. Puffing, and swearing under his breath, he sat down and took off his boots. One of his pals asked him why he did so, and Henare rebled': "Py korry, if I get te wild I kick the inside out." A prize of 5/- is awarded weekly to the contributor of the best paragraph with a radio interest. Address contributions to "Spark," Box 1032, Wellington.

ee opinion an important factor which enables us to understand some of the contradictions confronting us, is the different rates of progress made dur.ing the last century and a half, in the sphere of material. organisation. and the sphere of social organisation. Socially we are still organised in the same manner as our people were at the beginning of the period. There have been minor alterations, but there has been a revolution in man’s environment, and no real attempt has been made to remodel his social life. Empire trade, tariffs, political party changes are mere incidents that may or may not lead to temporary prosperity. The real problem is how to organise socially in order to take full advantage of machine production. In the financial scheme the basis of credit is confidence. Many commodities are bought by the public before the retailer pays the wholesaler, but little attention has been paid to the social aspect of the processes involved. As soon as confi-: dence is disturbed the system breaks down, which shows that we have ereated 2a powerful machine, but lost eontrol of it. It is clear that the machine has come into conflict with life and though a good servant it is a hard taskmaster, driving us we know not whither. The striking contraditions in life to-day are explained by the result. of man’s remarkable progress in physical science, and his failure to advance in the social sciences. For the human race to benefit by the mechanical creatures he has ereated man must free himself of the obsession that present institutions are sacred and immutable. The lucid manner in which Professor Hunter deals with his subject encourages every listener to tune to 2YA on Saturday evenings, * ws te O more stirring yarn has ever been broadcast than Lee Fore Brace’s (1YA) of a trip with a yachting party to the Auckland Islands. These wind-worn peaks of a _ submerged land teem with sea fowl and animals, although by the middle of last*century sealers and whalers had taken heavy toll of many species--almost to complete extinction. In 1806 it was reported to the British Government that seals abounded there in teeming millions, but when Ross visited the Islands in 1840 with the "Erebus" and "Terror," not one geal was to be seen. By. the way, ene of these ancient ironclads housed Australia’s earliest wireless station, and this station played an important part during the Great War. Lee Fore Brace’s vivid description of the wild life of the Aucklands I shall long remember, and never shall I forget his thrilling story of the fight between two old warriors, a. seaelephant and a sea-leopard-a fight that stilled the yachting party and all the wild life of the island. "Dragons of the prime-red in tooth and claw." Very few can tell a story like Lee Fore Brace, and no listener should miss his tales of the sea. + % x \[ THINK one of the finest reviews of a national situation was that given by Dr. Scholefield from 2YA on "Spain and Hér Revolution." This dejected country, which has been sc «trongly monarchical and devouth

Roman Catholic, has, indeed, in breaking with her old institutions, ‘touched bottom in national despondency. It was not thought by Dr. Scholefield that King Alfonso was personally disliked, although the Republican movement for some years had been a big factor in Spanish politics, and had the King conceded constitutional demands his family might have ruled Spain still. Spain’s greatest problem is the education of her children, and with a depleted exchequer this. land of limited rfesources, circumscribed factional interests-in a period of world-wide depression-has a task that only the stoutest hearts can face. Most people will agree with our valued commentator’s opinion that the delay of counter action consolidates the position of the republic. Personally I was very sorry to see these fine people rid themselves of such a man as Alfonso. He is brave, a sportsman, and level-headed, who showed the elements of wisdom when he married an Englishwoman, and | should think that Alfonso was modern enough to concede the constitutional demands, ‘but was too loyal a gentleman to forsake his ministers. No country has a worse colonial history than Spain, but any who know colonial Spaniards will cherish a hope that Spain may again acquire an Empire. ; Re 7 Oo = JN continuation of his talks on "Makers of New Zealand,"’ Mr. L. R, Palmer, from 2YA, spoke of. the pro-Consul, Sir George Grey. The unique career of this wonderful man is a romance in Britain’s colonial _ history. The effluxion of time permits a true perspective, and in the years to come he will be recorded as perhaps the greatest colonial gover- _ nor of all time. Although the vision of a united Oceania did not materialise, and other European flags fiy in the Pacific, the foundations of British institutions were solidly laid through- ; out the Southern Hemisphere by the . prescience of this high-minded gov- ; ) r ernor and statesman. His ultimate repose in St. Paul’s Cathedral is due acknowledgment of the British Gov-

ernment to the werk of the Empire’s great builder: 2 A * ADIO would have but poor justification for its existence musically, did it not encourage local talent and organisations, and the attitude of our national stations, the YA’s, relaying the concerts of local musical bodies is a most commendable one. The broadcasting of the Apollo Singers’ contribution to this winter’s season by 2YA on Saturday next should prove. interesting. Mr. H. Temple White’s experienced direction is, of course, a potent factor in the singing of the choir, which is composed of male voices. I have never known of any performance conducted by Mr. White that was not characterised by elegance and finish, and I look forward to this very varied programme with pleasure. Male choirs have always been much more popular than those composed solely of lady singers, and consequently their repertoire is more extensive. Ineluded in this programme, which should have an appeal to ali tastes, 1 notice Brahms’s "Alto Rhapsody," which has, an interest. of a double nature. It’s composer was very fond of it and it is alleged that. he slept with it beneath his pillow, though this sounds unlike the Brahms we are ac customed to think of. Had he taken his "Lullaby" to bed with him it would have been more appropriate. This "Rhapsody" is a beautiful setting for alto voice, men’s chorus and orchestra, from a fragment of Goethe’s narrative of a winter journey in the Harz Mountains. The object of Goethe’s travel was

a visit to a. young author with whom he had been corresponding, and his poem recalls their talk together. The young writer was something of a hermit, and the first two portions of the poem which Brahms has set to music emphasise the sad state of those who live apart from comradeship, taking no share in mankind’s tasks. The last part of the work, however, is in -@ happier spirit, finding consolation -in a divine thoyght, finely expressed; -it eoncludes with a prayer to the | Father ef Love to onen the selfish

eyes of the lonely one to all the beauty about him. ® ° * OF Brahms as a man less is known by the public at large than should be the case. He was distinctly a "character" who was a holy terror to musical quacks and charlatans, a man who was devastatingly outspoken, and one who had the unusual habit of always being the first to leave any assemblage in a drawingroom or salon. Standing with his back to the doorway he would make ' a profound bow to the company, and , -in audible tones would bid all goodbye, adding "to all to whom I have ' not been rude to-day, I humbly apologise!’" He had, nevertheless, his tenderer and better side, despite his confirmed bachelor habits. Children knew Brahms as "the little round gentleman" who joined in their games. The older he grew the more he. broadened-both physically and mentally. He acquired great breadth = of shoulders and developed a dis-

tinetly squat figure. At the same time his face remained very youthtfypl and with his slightly projecting under lip gave the impression of his being somewhat cynical-an impression that his speech ot certain occasions did not remove. As became a man who romped with children, dress was a matter of indifference to hitn; he preferred old clothes, hated stiff collars and ties and felt constrained in dress shirts. Qut of doors, in his brown woollen shirt sans collar, his tweed sttit, his slouch hat-more than often carried in his hand than worn and the inevitable strong cigar, with a bearded face and leonine head, he eut an unconventional figure. a * >» O give atmosphere to a vaudeville programme the B.B.C. permits an audience in the studio. There are many thousands on the waiting list for this favour, and it is feared that the length of time that elapses from the date of application to the issue of the permit has the effect of defeating the object of the audience. People who have waited two years to attend are liable to be uneritieal, and the resultant irrational applause finds no response from the listener at home. In view of this peculiarity changes are contemplated in order that mere facial. expressions do not arouse applause that leaves listeners by the loud-speaker wondering why. At all vaudeville performances from the studio, a station critic gives his impression of the performances immediately after the act, and it is thought that a similar departure would tend to improve the style of performers in other classes of entertainment.

A . Maor Concert By the Ropu-o-te-Whanganui-a-Tara Entertainers Assisted by the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Band will be broadcast by 2YA on TUESDAY, AUGUST 9.