RACES CONGRESS. A JULY FUNCTION.

MANKIND IN COUNCIL. IPBOM Otm OTVN CORRESPONDENT J LONDON, 3rd February. Considerable headway is being mada in connection with the preparations for the first Universal Races Congress which is to be held at the London University from 26th to the 29th July. The Hon. W. Pember Reeves is chairman ot the executive, and is working hard to ensure a successful termination to what is admittedly an historic event. In conversation with Mr. Gustav Spiller, the lion, general secretary, a representative of The Evening Post waa told that invitations to foreign governments had already been issued through, the Foreign Office, and the invitation to the Dominion would com© from the Colonial Office. He hoped that Sir Joseph Ward would be prevailed upou to lengthen his stay in this country in order to attend the congress. s Questioned about the Maoris being represented, Mr. Spiller expressed the hope that some of the leading members of the race would come over and ha would like to see them at the congress. He proposed to write to New Zealand at once and ascertain what arrangements could be made. Mr. Spiller explained that the chief difficulty of the congress was its hugeness., Representatives of all human groups would come from the four quarters, andi lands that know the Pol© Star and regions that lie under the Southern Cross will meet each other in friendly intercourse in the first Universal Races Congress. The official congress languages will be English, German, Italian, and French, though an Oriental tongue may, now and then announce the soul of Asia. From all parts of the world responsea have freely come— from fifty nations, from about -thirty Presidents of Parlkments, from a dozen British Governors, and nearly as many British Prime Ministers, from one hundred and thirty, professors of International Law (who would themselves constitute a remarkable adhesion), from over forty colonial bishops, and from over a hundred and twenty members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and of the Second Hague Conference. The idea of the Congress originated l with Dr. Felix Adler, Professor of Social Ethics in Columbia University, and tha proposal Was first named at a conference at Eisenach in July, 1906. That conference felt that the modem conscience, while advancing in general sensitiveness and strength, was yet internationally, weak. It is fast becoming alive to what are_ known as social problems in the interior life of the community, but it has not learned to apply itself with adequate power to the problems presented by racial divisions. With the aid of many experts thai congress agenda is being gradually elaborated, and the prime "purpose may be said to cultivate mutual knowledge andi respect between Occidental and Oriental peoples. Over fifty persons of distinction have agreed to prepare papers, and these, belong to over twenty countries, including China, Japan, India, Turkey, Persia, Egypt, South and West Africa, Hayti, United States, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia,, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Norway. , Among the writers of papers are Sir S. Olivier (Governor of Jamaica), Sir C. Bruce (late Governor of Mauritius), Sir John Macdonnell (Master of the Supreme Court), Sir H. Johnston, (the famous traveller), Mr. Israel Zangwill {who is to speak on the Jewish races), Miss Margaret Noble (Sister Nivedita), besides eminent; Continentals, such as M. Leon Bourgeois (the leading spirit at the Second Hague Conference), Baron d'Estournelles de Constant (p-ne of the most highly respected Internationalists), Professoir Guiseppe Sergi (the eminenb | anthropologist), and Dr. Zamenhof (the j originator of Esperanto), as well as dist inguished Americans, such as Professors ' Adler, Reinsch, and Boas. New Zealanders who are interested in the congress can obtain all information from Mr. j G. Spiller, 63 South Hill Park, -Hampstead, London.