Magyar Hírek, 1987 (40. évfolyam, 1-23. szám)
1987-10-02 / 19. szám
ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND THE PREVIOUS ONE On the occasion of the new school year our previous issue included an article by Éva Árokszállási about the schools. As an addendum I' should like to mention another which was recently published covering a survey by the Institute for Cultural Research. According to the latter the number of classes completed by the population of the country has doubled, compared to the six classes, which were the average early this century. Progress was fastest between 1947 and 1956. It slowed down in the years that followed. However, the attendance at evening und correspondence classes by working people spread more than ever. Between 1980 and 1986 as many as 46 per cent of the school leavers went on studying, while working. The majority of people in adult education (56 per cent) attended trade courses. The people interviewed however criticised the education offered by schools. According to them the school demands theoretical knowledge that is not much related to everyday life. On the other hand, they held a favourable opinion about the standard of general knowledge. Only 15 per cent of those questioned in Hungary thought that there was no educated person among their acquaintances, while in similar surveys in West Germany this ratio reached 26 per cent. More people mentioned the reading of books and journas, as a criterion of learning than attending theatres or cinemas, or visiting museums. Bakony landscapes I am happy to call attention to Klára Zika’s writing in this issue, one of a series presenting beautiful Hungarian districts. The article describes the Bakony, the hilly country to the north of Lake Balaton. It is really one of the most interesting regions of Hungary owing to the beauty of the countryside, the historic monuments, and the memories it evokes. The ruins of Csesznek castle loom large on a narrow ridge. It was probably built by members of the Csák clan in the 13th century, after the Mongol invasion, when King Béla IV urgerl the magnates to build fortified places in case the Mongols struck once more. This, fortunately, did not occur. The Cistercian Abbey of Zirc, in the heart of the Bakony, was established in 1182. The present Baroque abbey church in picturesque surroundings, was built in 1732, and the adjoining building houses many ancient manuscripts and incunabulae. Most of the stories about the Bakony are about betyárs. Folklore added coloured to the doings of the outlaws, making heroes out of them, who are said to have rebelled against the rich and defended the poor. This is certainly a romantic exaggeration though there is some truth in it. When I visited the Bakony recently, I went to see the Kópincebarlang (Stonecellar cave) close to Bakonyszentlászló. According to local traditions this was one of the hideaways of Jóska Savanyu, one of the famous Bakony highwaymen- and it is still a favourite excursion place even for people from The church of the Zirc nbbey distant regions. The csárda of Nemesvámos, which was the favourite dive of Jóska Savanyu, is still open for business - the date 1834 on its facade is that of the building of this peasantbaroque inn. A present specially was the outlaw’s favourite dish. I went to see the grave of Jóska Savanyu in the village cemetery, not far from the inn. He was buried outside the cemetery proper, “in the ditch”, for he ended his own life. But posterity has not forgotten him. When I was there his subsiding grave was covered in fresh flowers. The locals told me that the grave of the betyár, who “held the rich to ransom and gave gifts to the poor” is visited even today by people from far-away parts. The other famous Bakony betyár, Jóska Sobri paid for an overly successful feat with his life. He robbed the home of a colonel in 1836, and the authorities started a manhunt making use of the army and the gendarmes of five countries. According to the official version he was caught and hanged. But the people refused to believe that, and maintained that he was wounded and killed himself to escape capture. Will there be a stockexchange in Hungary? The building that was the Excliange once, has for a good number of years been the headquarters of Hungarian Television in Budapest, yet it seems that as one of the consequences of the transformations taking place in the Hungarian economic life create the need for a piac«;, where the exchange rates of securities can freely fluctuate under the pressure of supply anil demand, even though nobody intends to claim ba«:k the building. There is an article on this subject in the Hungarian section of this issue. It is generally known that one of the drawbacks of the progress of Hungarian economic life was that capital could not flow according to needs in the absence of suitable conditions. The enterprises could not regroup their assets, investing idle capital into profitable ventures, and private citizens could invest their savings only in the form of savings bank (lepf)sits. At the same time enterprises and public bodies could not call on idle capital for new investments. Making possible the flotation of debentures — which is currently done generally offering 11 per cent annual interest — remedied that situation. Debentures do not only mean considerable outside capital for enterprises; towns do as well and other public bodies, for the purposes of — for instance — school builrling, or developing public utilities. The Post Office issue«! telephone debentures, subscribers to which get a telephone The Exchange (now building of the Hungarian Television) installed within a specified, relatively short time. A country town issued debentures with the objective of modernising and enlarging its hospital, and so it goes on. The Hungarian National Bank subjects each of the would-be issues of debentures to careful scruting and permits it only if repayment is guaranteed from profits. The government — at least so far — has undertaken to guarantee the interest and capital repayments. Nevertheless, new forms of debentures are also planned where subscribers take a certain risk, but also get additional profits if the ventures succeeds. There is some talk also concerning the issue of shares. in the interest of the further development of the Hungarian trade in securities twenty-two Hungarian financial institutions decided to enter into an agreement which regulates their cooperation. The financial institutes issued a joint declaration in which they pointed out that the acceleration of the transformation and modernisation of the Hungarian economic structure, and the realisation of the programme of social anti economic development demands efficient transgrouping of funds available for development. The developing trade in securities may strengthen this process. In order to promote this, the financial institutes decided to cooperate regularly anti in an organized way in the future to promote the broatlening and standardisation of the Hungarian trade in securities, increasing turnover. They will joinly tievelop the order of trading in securities and norms of behaviour. They will obtain and publish information related to securities and make efforts to bring about, and develop the necessary conditions. The agreement is completely open, any financial institute can join it, or leave it, at any time. Banks and insurance companies are the signatories of the agreement, which the Ministry oF Finance and the Chamber of Commerce also joined. ZOLTÁN HALÁSZ The fortress of Csesznek 29
